Bluewine

We played an acoustic gig last night, 5:30 - 8:30 at The Harley Davidson Motor Restaurant. To me this is a great gig, professional staff, great hours, great pay and tips, very high caliber clientele. And the place is beautiful sitting on the Milwaukee River. We go back on January 25th. Blue

Last Saturday night I was ready to rip into House A Rocking and the bands starts at half the tempo. Absolutely nothing we or I could do. I've mentioned to the BL. Trying to correct the tempo after your already out of the gate can be challenging. Blue

Samantha Fish , I'm not sure why I'm going. I've seen her twice already and $35.00 is a little pricey. Sam has played a lot of " big time" gigs but this is a very small Milwaukee bar. Blue

Strive to make it to the 65 plus group. Blue

I wish I could slowly ween myself away from my pedals. I really like my bass octave pedal.

Sounds like you played a full gig Dave.😀 I have a G&L ASAT bass that I want to start gigging with again, with that active pre-amp. I haven't figured out how to get the most out of that feature. and I've had the bass for years. I don't think the active pre-amp likes my pedal board very much. The connection plug for the 9 volt battery is awful. Blue

I love those kind of gigs. Blue

5-6 hours of travel, sounds like a $300.00 per man gig. Blue

Our band leader pays us in cash before each and every gig. Tips are divided equally after the gig. Blue

For new venues we usually check the place out before the gig. If there's not enough room for the band we won't take the gig. Blue

Wouldn't that be "How To Avoid Bad Drumners" Blue

Which brings to mind some of us that play bars with established questionable clientele. Over half the crowd were recently released from prison and wearing GPS ankle bracelets. True story for us. Blue

I like your response. We're primarily a bar band outside of the summer when were playing larger festivals and fairs. Bad gigs depends on the type of band your in and if your a fit for a specific venue or event. A few examples of what my band should be thinking about. While many gigs can be hit or miss., playing a bar gig and your in a room separate from the bar it's a lose lose proposition. Either don't take the gig or as we say, "take the money and run" In general don't return to venues where you've had any issues with getting paid. Beware of bars and pubs where you know the crowd has no interest or a dislike of live music. Beware of bars that don't have adequate space to set up your band properly. If your band is a bunch of guys in their 60s, think twice about playing to 20 somethings and milenials. Just a few examples there are others. Blue

At 65 so do I. Great story and not much different then mine for last Saturday night. Private retirement event, I was expecting uninterested family and friends. Plus it was our first gig with our new 25 year old lead guitarist and vocalist. I wasn't happy with our rehearsals and didn't think we we're ready. From the first few bars everything clicked together and the crowd turned out to be cool music lovers from the 60s & 70s. The gig gave me new faith the band can survive the loss of a 14 year founding member. Blue

Open for discussion. I think we have to define what a bad gig is before we can start thinking about ways to avoid them. Keep in mind we all might have different definitions on what a bad gig is Blue

Right, the crowd had a good time. Blue

First gig with our new lead guitarist and vocalist. He replaced a 14 year founding member. Initially I had my doubts. It was a private retirement party at Ron's Cozy Inn. I assumed it would be a group of uninterested friends & family. I was wrong. Great crowd and they were gracious and engaged us. Our new 25 year old guitarist had great stage presence and a real good feel for 70s style blues rock. Plenty of space for us in the bar. The place was brand new really a great looking room. The band was well lit , we looked good. The drummer from 80s hit makers The Bodeans was there and sat in on three Tom Petty songs. This was a 6-10 gig and a 40 minute commute. Good pay and good tips. Blue

Things are not great for me right now. Health issues and my band is in transition with a new guitarist/ lead singer. I'm not ready to quit yet, but I'm realizing this has been fun for almost 50 years and will come to an end. Probably sooner than later. Blue

Good for you, good decision. I think it's best to work out a business strategy and have gigs lined up before you even start a band. Look for and only recruit guys that want to gig a lot and make money. I only mention it because things are different now. A lot of guys don't want to gig or they only want to gig once a month . I've seen really good musicians start bands with great material, but without a clue on how to get good paying gigs. Blue

I have to ask, if you didn't like the genre, why did you join the band? Blue

Show tunes , movie sound tracks all rock and rock & roll genres. Theres not much I don't enjoy playing bass guitar to. Blue

I have two 1990s MIJ Fender P 1951 reissues. One slab body and one contoured. They're my " work horse" basses ", they have never let me down Blue

I wish my band could come up with a decent video. You guys sound cool to me. Blue

I've had rehearsals and gigs where I've said; "And this is how I'm playing after 50 years" Blue

Hi Pete For some of us it's only sooner . 😀 Daryl