Bluewine

Nice commentary Pete. Out BL and front person is a 34 year old female lead guitarist. No heels or short dresses. Blue jeans , t-shirts and barefoot is her thing. The rest of us, I'm 65 our other guitarist, harp and vocalist also 65 and our drummer is 50. Knowing your audience is key. We do great and have so much fun with a 60 plus crowd. Thing is we can't pick and choose our gigs, we have to take what's out there and who will pay our fee in order to keep working. But as you can imagine when were playing Robin Trower, early Fleetwood Mac, Savoy Brown, Jeff Beck Group at loud volume the 20 somethings in my part of the Midwest are lost and have no reference point to what we're doing. To be honest they seem to struggle with the concept of people playing electric guitars. I always tell them to tell their grandparents about us. I'm not kidding. Blue

As bass players when do we have to evaluate our age and where our place is in the gigging world. I'd say it depends on who we are, location, abilities. Obviously we're not going to audition for a local band in their 20s. What do we do when we start to " age out"? Is this issue worth a thread? Blue

Remember , unlike my generation, I'm 65, no longer is every kid in the neighborhood buying a guitar and starting a band. There aren't that many guys in their 20s & 30s interested in bands or gigging. But there's a ton of us older guys not willing to give up our rock & roll spot light quite yet I'm not Blue

I can't say I've ever seen a demo clip where volume was demoed. Blue

Guys isn't the best demo the one that can simulate how, when and where your going to using the amp? Blue

That's too bad, gigging has always been fantastic for me and my band members are great people, not the greatest musicians but great people to work with. The gigging experience is different for all of us. Blue

I think the only way you can demo an amp is in the types of venues you play up against guitars, keys and drums. What will your sound be coming through the PA as oposed to what you hear from your speaker on stage or your monitor. All things I consider. Demos are done in an ideal environment, a little different from playing live with a band with a lot of variables. My sound can be great one night and crap the next with no setting changed. I haven't been following new amps much. Are there bass connos that can really address high volume? Blue

I really hope the OP finds what he's looking for. It's not going to be easy. I could easily be in the same position in the not to distant future. It's been said many times on BC, opportunities with established working bands are never advertised publically. Blue

Spinal Tap, yes one of the best in my book too. Blue

I'm 65, I don't have time for iffy bands.For most of us deep into our 60s don't have time for iffy anything. Blue

That's a good idea, go out and see the established bands that are out there working 2 nights every week. I stalked my band for a while then I introduced myself and found out they were looking for a bass player. I've been working pretty much solid for the last 8 years. Sorry guys, I'm not sure the going to jams or trying to start your own band will be met with much success. Blue

Very few have the time, ability, patience, money or other resources to start their own band Blue

In my neck of the woods jams are ok, but not as a resource for finding work with an established working band that's making money. Blue

I liked the movie. I think it's hard to make a major movie about a rock band. Are the stories interesting enough for a movie considering most who go see it are not musicians. I'll make my " old guy" comment now. Best rock movie ever, " A Hard Days Night" The Beatles. Blue

Agreed I thought the drummer and some of the early FM wigs were pretty bad. Blue

It sounds great. But I'm a rock & roll dance hall bar club guy. 4 peices bass, guitars, drums and vocals. Blue

We have a place called Martin's. It's a neighborhood bar restaurant that books good bands on Wednesday nights. Place is small always packed. We've been asked to play there many times. We always diplomatically declined. They don't pay the bands they only offer a meal. Blue

I'm providing a service at these types of events. I'm not a guest. I'm no different than those serving or cleaning up. I never eat at gigs. I eat earlier in the day at home. Blue

Nice recording. I haven't seen many bands at the local level pull this sort of groove off live. Blue

I'm not above doing a crap gig for the money. But even I have to draw the line at some point. Bad name, not at these private events that wouldn't happen. There's nobody in attendance that could have any impact on reputation or long term earnings. Blue

It was a very long night. Probably the worst 4 hours of my life. Yeah, and why would she want us back. Blue

No, there the kind of bars I'm embarrassed to be seen playing in. We call it "take the money and run" gigs. As much as I need the money some gigs are not worth it. We played an employee appreciation party, a private event mostly folks under 25. They ignored us. During our break they played hip hop through our pa and they were all up dancing.A real mismatch, not uncommon with private parties for us. The owner recently asked us to play another party, we declined. Blue

Doesn't sound like a bad place to me. We have ongoing gigs at places we historically don't do well in for whatever reason. These are the places I don't promote. Blue

Ashamed and embarrassed might have been a poor choice of words. We have gigs where I invite people to. The nice higher end clubs and festivals and fairs. Then we have some gigs that are in bad clubs in bad areas that I don't promote. Blue

That pic is close to being 10 years old. And those Dan Electro basses are not bad. A lot of fun to play. Blue