First 'Work' Band. Tips?

[briandavismurph]

A great opportunity popped up that I just auditioned for and won the other day. Cover band, good pay, mostly in-town shows. I just wanted to reach out to you guys in the corporate/wedding/festival band scene for any words you wished you had heard before you started. Help a noob out?

I've got a career and have an occasional 'originals only' band currently that I will try and keep alive. Been in various bands for the past 10 years, but no cover bands and no bands that made any real money.

Thanks in advance <3

If this is an ongoing gig I agree with all who say you need to learn the material [no charts] and hopefully be able to play any song in any key thats called. Can't help you with on the fly transposition but I can make a suggestion on learning material. I use youtube for learning most of it and I put all the material in a youtube folder for that band and run the folder periodically when getting close to a rehearsal or gig. Having the material ready at hand and organized into set list form [if they use set lists] burns a mental musical picture in your brain. I think it's a good idea not to practice the material the day of gig/rehearsal but rather have it become more ingrained so it becomes second nature to you by listening to it and rehearsing to it from time to time. I hope this helps you.

 

[Bass'd on a true story]

Best advice I can possibly give you is to not sweat your mistakes. You WILL make mistakes at some point. Just pick yourself back up and keep playing. Gigging professionally reminds me a little bit of the way that sports commentators always take about a player's confidence at a given moment. Confidence while playing music (at least for me) is a very fluid thing that changes as I play better or worse throughout the course of a set. Just try not to get too much in your head and trust yourself to play well.

 

[Treebeard]

Thank so much for the advice, everybody. You all are good people. There are some fantastic nuggets of wisdom here!