Got paid to play for the first time!!!! Wooooo!

[mingsta]

Just got paid the princely sum of £45, subbing for a friend at private party. Great gig, great vibe, it was easily the best 45 quid I've earnt in my life. And when we got paid cash in hand, I imagined that we looked like bohemian minstrels, performing for our next meal, rather than the deadbeat IT project manager that I am in reality.

Got married and took on a mortgage this year, so I've agreed with the wifey that I'll be putting any spare in to savings rather than toys. However, any money I get from gigs can go in to the music fund. So I only need to play another hundred or so gigs and I can get that Wal series 2 or Alleva Coppollo that I've been dreaming of...wooooot!!! ;o)

[Happy Jack]

Good feeling, isn't it?

My first paid gig is still recent enough that I remember it. Trivial amount of money, huge ego boost to a newbie bass player ...

[Mr Bassman]

My first paid gig was £5 for the band (trio)

£1 - 10 shillings (£1.50) each

10 shillings to drummers dad for petrol (50p)

My £1 - 10 shillings went to another bass player for hiring his Vox T60 bass amp

It was all worth it

I ended up with 3 Wals, all from gig money

[Lozz196]

Getting paid for doing your hobby is something that feels really sweet. Some people I work with seemed to pooh-pooh us getting £200 between us for a gig, but when I put to them, someone who plays golf on a Saturday morning doesn`t get paid for their hobby, they suddenly saw that actually, getting a few quid for doing something you love is great.

Mind, one of the best incidents I`ve ever had was being paid £100 to stop playing and go home - not in either of my current bands, I might add.

[JohnFitzgerald]

This is what turns me into a bit of an unsocial creature.
When people ask me to go on nights out, I have to ask them these two questions.

"So let me get this right. I don't get to bring my bass and I'll have less money at the end of the night than I started with ?"

I'm very often not keen.

My socialising has mostly involved having a bass around my neck doing something I love. A few quid to offset the cost of the gear and everything else it costs to do it makes it the best hobby in the world.
I have friends involved in motor racing. Even at club level, if you can either self fund or be sponsored to the tune of a minimum of around £20k/pa you can't do it. That's why I love it.