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First real Gig.....feeling discouraged.

#61
baddarryl said:
HI all. I just realized I am feeling a little discouraged after our gig the other night. As stated elsewhere I am 50 have very little live playing experience. I joined a cover band, learned 30 songs in about 5 weeks, caught the flu on Friday and played Saturday night. 90% went well, and the band was happy with me, but I made some colossal mistakes. A lot of them. Forget songs that I know in and out, couldn't finger things I normally can and let the pressure get to me. As I said it went quite well, but I find I have been beating myself up over it. I sat down to practice some of the harder songs and just didn't have it in me tonight. I realize I am being hard on myself, but it still sucks. Hopefully I will be in a better frame of mind tomorrow.
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Don't feel bad. Performing is its own discipline and the only way to get better is through more performance. It sounds like nobody noticed any issues, so you're good.

In a way it is good that you are feeling a certain way about this. It means you care and if you stick with it, you'll get better. When performing, sometimes you can do everything right and the band still sounds like a bag of crap. It just happens. Sometimes you'll all get it wrong, then somehow pull it all together and look at each other to say "wow, how did we get out of that?"

Keep at it!
 
#64
I've been playing professionally for many, many years. Most nights are good, but there are still some nights where I'll mess up the breakdown on Sir Duke. Keep on practicing of course, but live music should be fun. Stay healthy and don't beat yourself up over bad gigs.
 
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#65
BassCliff said:
Hi,



It's much more difficult to be on point when you're ill or fatigued. Even when I'm neither I've had colossal blow-outs for no reason other than I got a little distracted or my mind wandered for a second. You'll get your groove back.

I played my first gig in a rock-n-roll band in 1970, a high school dance. I still play some of those songs. I still fumble-finger them once in a while.

View attachment 2964949


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
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LOVE that quote! How absolutely true and NECESSARY! Gotta have the passion!
 
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#67
baddarryl said:
HI all. I just realized I am feeling a little discouraged after our gig the other night. As stated elsewhere I am 50 have very little live playing experience. I joined a cover band, learned 30 songs in about 5 weeks, caught the flu on Friday and played Saturday night. 90% went well, and the band was happy with me, but I made some colossal mistakes. A lot of them. Forget songs that I know in and out, couldn't finger things I normally can and let the pressure get to me. As I said it went quite well, but I find I have been beating myself up over it. I sat down to practice some of the harder songs and just didn't have it in me tonight. I realize I am being hard on myself, but it still sucks. Hopefully I will be in a better frame of mind tomorrow.
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The good news is, most performing musicians, including the best in the world, went through the same things early on, and it gets better. Do it enough, it becomes part of your character and you can't live without it.

You probably fell off your bike the first time you tried it on your own too. And don't underestimate that getting up in front of an audience is harder than it sounds, which is why the vast majority of people avoid it. It's a dragon that needs to be slayed.

Back in the saddle, mate, live and learn. Prep well and good luck with the next one.
 
#68
Dana R Gregory said:
It really does get better. Mistakes are part of the game. We all make them.
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Amen. I always say the mark of a good band is not a band that never makes mistakes, but how well they recover from their trainwrecks.

Cheat Sheets: Just like in High School (before Latin tests esp.), I've found that the process of creating a cheat sheet is one of the best ways to learn things for good. I make a lot of cheat sheets but seldom really need them when the time comes.
 
#69
Happens to everyone, as you can see. Nobody in the crowd really hears you very well, except the bass players and they already understand. Your band can sort of hear you, but they are concentrating on their own mistakes. If you are in a bad band, they get mad if you miss notes. If your are in a good band, they laugh at you for missing notes...be in a good band.
 
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#70
Coachkellyg said:
Happens to everyone, as you can see. Nobody in the crowd really hears you very well, except the bass players and they already understand. Your band can sort of hear you, but they are concentrating on their own mistakes. If you are in a bad band, they get mad if you miss notes. If your are in a good band, they laugh at you for missing notes...be in a good band.
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Great point! Whenever I made mistakes (which was every night I played), I would look at our bass player (I was playing guitar at the time) and he would be hysterical. I had no choice but to laugh with him. It was funny (and fun). And vice-versa... if he made a mistake, I would just peer over at him with a huge grin. Then we would laugh more about it during our break. They were all cool guys. I guess you could say I was in a "good" band... and to be honest, we weren't really very good. But it was an experience I will always fondly remember.
 
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#71
I've been there too... Picked up a bass (first stringed instrument) with a serious intention to learn it in Dec. 2013 at the age of 50. Joined a band 15 months later. Played my first gig 6 months after that, 21 months after first picking up the thing. My first gig was very similar to yours, the band felt I was fine. I was mortified by every single slip I made. As others have said, it gets better and better, to the point where I really look forward to gigs now. First few times, I was sh!tting bricks!
Allow yourself your humanity... None of us will ever be perfect. It's a state of continual improvement.
 
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#72
I used to play with a band where the BL had a habit of pursing his lips and pointing out every little imperfection while the song was going on. I tried explaining that not only did the crowd likely not even notice most of them, but that it was unprofessional. No one is perfect. Strive not to make those mistakes next time.
 
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#73
lat said:
I've been there too... Picked up a bass (first stringed instrument) with a serious intention to learn it in Dec. 2013 at the age of 50. Joined a band 15 months later. Played my first gig 6 months after that, 21 months after first picking up the thing. My first gig was very similar to yours, the band felt I was fine. I was mortified by every single slip I made. As others have said, it gets better and better, to the point where I really look forward to gigs now. First few times, I was sh!tting bricks!
Allow yourself your humanity... None of us will ever be perfect. It's a state of continual improvement.
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Great post, just wondering why you are commercial user? You have 8 posts in 3 years. I'm curious what it is you are representing.
 
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#74
I played full time and near full time for 15 years.

My last real gig was warming up for Dave Brubeck when he debuted a new symphony he wrote. We had to play all Brubeck jazz pieces. That went very well.

At the other end of my career, I remember my first gig: the location, the songs we played, the people, and oh yeah, about 50,000 mistakes be me. The audience liked us and I found out that things just keep getting better and better.

Hang in there because I KNOW you'll do fine. The ones that don't make it are the ones who don't care. You obviously care so you will do very well.
 
#75
FingerDub said:
Great post, just wondering why you are commercial user? You have 8 posts in 3 years. I'm curious what it is you are representing.
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I think that's from when I had a link to my internet radio station in my profile... I've since dropped that endeavour, but the commercial tag is a hangover... wondering if an admin could remove it, if they read this... should notify them about this, I guess.

EDIT: Contacted admin and they fixed it for me... yay!
 
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#76
buldog5151bass said:
I used to play with a band where the BL had a habit of pursing his lips and pointing out every little imperfection while the song was going on. I tried explaining that not only did the crowd likely not even notice most of them, but that it was unprofessional. No one is perfect. Strive not to make those mistakes next time.
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James Brown used to fine musicians ON STAGE, for even a tiny mistake.
 
#77
I'm 55 and had my first gig last fall. Whatta trainwreck that was. But the subsequent gigs were much better. By the 3rd one, I was totally confident with what I was doing. After about 7th gig, the band let me go... :( traded me in for a younger, better looking bass player. (except he ended up not joining the band lol.... :D ) It's all good, the first gig with my new band is coming up in a couple of weeks.

Enjoy all of it; from one extreme to the other. The low points are what make the high points so good.
 
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#80
First thing to remember is that, as you said, overall it went well and your band was happy with you.

30 songs learned in five weeks is still a lot; they can tend to blur together and details of some can be easily forgotten. It'll take a few gigs for them all to be cemented into your memory firmly.

If that was your first, one one of your first, gigs, then you can expect to improve dramatically, from 1st to 2nd, 2nd to 3rd, etc. One of the great things about doing something you're not good at (or more accurately, experienced at) is that your rate of improvement can be huge.

Third, putting yourself on the hot seat is both courageous and a great way to improve in gig-related metrics quickly. I have a keyboard-playing friend who has turned down a couple of "fill-in/add-on" gigs offered to him because he's inexperienced and is afraid it'll be a disaster; he's okay when doing what he's practiced, and knows what to expect, but is afraid to be out of his element. I keep telling him, take your lumps now, so you can be better, faster, later on-- and as a rule in life, at least 50% of what you fear is definitely going to happen, never does.

Being sick doesn't make things easier either, so being well will also help your focus.

Congrats on getting out there and playing.
 

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