Aging musicians

[mike o]

Hey bass face folks.

As I’m about to hit 67 this year, I find it get harder to find people to gig with. I know how excited everyone is to see old people on stage, not. Just wondering how your journey is going? Are you making exceptions that you would yet have 10 years ago? Lower your standards so to speak?

 

[James Flowers]

I guess its more of an area and genre thing. Here on the southern East Coast the bands you see playing 60s&70s music, beach music, etc are typically older. They get a lot of the summer outdoor work like Dancing on The Cooper. The club bands playing current music and the metal bands are typically younger.

 

[buldog5151bass]

Change you priorities. I'm 59. I still enjoy some gigging, but at this point I'd rather play good music with good musicians in my house than drag a full setup to play out unless it is a good situation.

 

[Sam Evans]

Swing on over to the jazz and blues side of things. Old = street cred ...

 

[57pbass]

I am the senior member (67 y/o) of the band I have been working with for the past 9 years. I haven’t given serious thought to what I will do if this project ends. I do tune in to the local circuit on Social Media and see that most musicians are 40+ .. I don’t see young guys in their 20’s playing locally in metro NYC region. There seems to be a lack of artists that inspire younger people to learn how to play ?? Maybe it’s a regional thing??

I once answered a Craigslist ad seeking a bass player under 30 y/o. I was curious as to why they would eliminate a more seasoned older player from their search and contacted the guy who posted. He replied.. Do you really want to travel around the country in a van with a bunch os 20 year old kids ?

 

[C Stone]

Change you priorities. I'm 59. I still enjoy some gigging, but at this point I'd rather play good music with good musicians in my house than drag a full setup to play out unless it is a good situation.

I’m with buldog on this. I am in this camp.

Swing on over to the jazz and blues side of things. Old = street cred ...

This just might be a way to work it. Good luck!

 

[getrhythm]

I’m 68 and pretty much only want to play for pleasure now. I play once a week with two different lineups (one jazz/Bossa on URB and the other R&R/blues/country on BG) and post on CL regularly looking for more. I’m happy to just keep it in the “basement” with folks that I enjoy playing with. I get a lot of responses to my CL ad by folks that don’t really read it and want to gig and record originals even though the ad precludes those situations. I’m still pretty particular about who I’ll sign on with.

 

[pfschim]

I'm 67 (soon to be 68). Been playing pro/semi-pro for my whole life. I have moved away from cover bands as much as I can over the past 15-20 years and focus on original music. It has been an interesting and rewarding experience, and I have been able to keep gigging pretty steadily in largely original bands (at least 60% original music) during that time. I had to be more open to different music styles, but that has just made it more interesting for me. I have found that in order to have a reasonably active gigging calendar (for me that means 36-48 gigs/year ... 3-4/month) I have to be in several bands (currently in 4 active projects).

So, it can be done. It does depend on how vibrant your local/regional scene is, but I have been pretty lucky on that score. Living in N. Cal there is a pretty wide range of music styles and venues to keep bands working. You also have to be open to new opportunities and music styles you may not have considered in the past too.

good luck OP

 

[bucephylus]

My pref has always been to play with the most competent musicians possible, irrespective of age. That was true when I was 18. It remains true today as I cross into the elder ranks. Age is a poor indicator of musical skills.

There is always an age thing happening, in general. When I was a teen, the credo was that “you can’t trust anyone over the age of 30.” Nevertheless, musicians transcended that byline.

Musicians who cling to that kind of selection tend to be posers.

Duke Ellington captured the spirit when he responded to a question about retirement with, “Retire? To what?”

Milt Hinton gigged until he was 90 or thereabouts.

Those are my models in music.

The straight job is a whole separate discussion.

 

[KenD]

I think attitude and energy have more to do with it than age.

There was a live club performance posted here recently (can't recall the name) with a group of obviously older musicians doing mostly Beatles covers. The music was obviously rehearsed, the vocals (with harmonies) were excellent and their stage presentation looked like they were ready to get out and put on a show to entertain. Others posted here, to put it most kindly, have looked too casual and only semi-interested.

Each has their place, I suppose, so long as they are matched correctly with the venue and the audience.

 

[sean_on_bass]

play jazz and you will have plenty of people to play with in that age group

 

[GreyBeard]

I'm 74 and we have a terrible time finding guitar players. Drummers, KB, singers, no problem. Most descent guitar players around here are doing singles acts making a lot more money than splitting it 3-4-5 ways.

 

[Five or Six]

I'm right there with you guys in your upper 60s. I still have energy to play and I practice everyday. Load in / out are getting tougher. I won't play 4 hours much anymore either. I play 6s and 5s and I think that's going to stop. My motorcycle accident back talks to me now.

I may be "going backwards"! I dug my 93 Peavey Foundation out of the closet. Put new strings on it. Did a full setup and played it for a bit. At under 8lbs I couldn't believe the difference! All the time I'm playing it my Spector's looking me in the face. I love my 5s and 6s but, it's time to think about the weight thing and my back now.

 

[murphy]

Hey bass face folks.

As I’m about to hit 67 this year, I find it get harder to find people to gig with. I know how excited everyone is to see old people on stage, not. Just wondering how your journey is going? Are you making exceptions that you would yet have 10 years ago? Lower your standards so to speak?

Yes...I am ...I have....and I'm even having memory problems learning new material.

 

[murphy]

I'm right there with you guys in your upper 60s. I still have energy to play and I practice everyday. Load in / out are getting tougher. I won't play 4 hours much anymore either. I play 6s and 5s and I think that's going to stop. My motorcycle accident back talks to me now.

I may be "going backwards"! I dug my 93 Peavey Foundation out of the closet. Put new strings on it. Did a full setup and played it for a bit. At under 8lbs I couldn't believe the difference! All the time I'm playing it my Spector's looking me in the face. I love my 5s and 6s but, it's time to think about the weight thing and my back now.

Since I was approaching 60 , I switched back to 4 strings after 20 plus years of strictly 5 string playing...Certainly opened up my bass options.....and collection!

 

[bigdaddybass12]

The guys I gig with now are my son’s age!
My bass friend who is 77 told me that he only has 4 warrior basses now. He just spent about $2500 on a couple of acoustic guitars to start a solo gig in a couple of years. Don’t give up. Take care of your hands.

 

[aguacateojos]

Ron Carter is 87 and crushing it.

 

[Pings Bass]

I'm 59. I pretty much gave up on playing out with the pandemic shutdown. Then last month I randomly got contacted to join a band that gigs a couple times a month.

Life gets better when you give up all hope, I guess

 

[Mastermold]

56 here. COVID killed a lot of venues around here. So fewer venues, coupled with age, we play less now and don’t know how many years we will keep at it but I’ll ride the wave until it ends.

 

[GwenOnBass]

Freshly 69 here, and fully engaged in education as both a student, and as a coach to ~50 bass students.