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Getting gigs

J

JCsuckybass

May 19, 2007
28
0
#1
Hi everybody,

I don't know if it is just me, but after 10 years of playing bass, I still can't get any gigs. I have been in a few bands, and I get to play at my church on sundays, and I am a competent player. I play upright as well as electric and I am in the LA area. I even studied music for 2 years in college.

I really am getting discouraged about playing the bass even though it's my favorite thing to do. I just have a strong desire to play out and do some real gigs. I wouldn't mind a dive bar or anything like that. I think my last real gig was 3 years ago.

How do you do it? Is there a trick? I really need some advice on this, because I am so tired of practicing for nothing. Well, thanks for listening to my rant. I look forward to your comments.
 
#4
Man this is not meant to be in any way derogatory, but it sounds like you need to get out a little more. Being in the LA area I am sure there must be some open jams you can check out around there!

Seriously, it sounds like you have the "what you know" part down, but there's some truth in the old saying "It's not WHAT you know..."

Best of luck, and if you check out a local jam I'd love to hear how it goes.
 
#6
A quick google for "open jam Los Angeles" turned up more links than I could post. Try it... I bet you'll LOVE it! And when you go to that first one be sure and post in the "humor and gig stories" forum... I bet you have at least one interesting experience that evening...
 
#7
To be honest, I don't think I could handle that kind of thing. I am shy and not that confident with my ability, and I don't feel that my musicianship is at that high of a level to just jump in and jam with people, especially if I haven't done any kind of jamming in the past 5 years. But thanks for the advice. I will at very least keep it in mind.
 
#8
Hmmmm... I see. Well, TBH if I were a stranger in a strange land, knew nobody, and was looking for gigs, any open jams in town would be my first stop.

It sounds like you might need a little confidence boost first, though. Tell you what, try this...

Go get yourself some CDs of artists/tunes that you are unfamiliar with (if you don't want to buy any there are a lot of local libraries that will loan them out). Put those in your player and start playing along with those WITHOUT listening to them first and see how that turns out. That can be a lot like an open jam... except you'll have to put up with another bass player playing alongside you!

Doing that will give you an idea of where you stand as far as "ear playing" - which is a LOT of where the "fun and interesting" things can happen at a jam session. If you feel good about what you hear then GREAT - get out there and slay 'em at one of your local jams. If you don't like how well you do, then go back and do it again, and again, and again (with different CDs of course) until you can nail the standard and non-standard changes without "lagging" the tune too much. Hope I am making sense here.

Another great tool at your disposal is play-along tracks available online. They are good at pointing out the more common changes you will likely run into. Check out this link for a start.

Gotta get up and run for now man but I will be interested to see how your situation develops. Best of luck and look forward to hearing what happens!
 
#10
Saxn said:
Man this is not meant to be in any way derogatory, but it sounds like you need to get out a little more. Being in the LA area I am sure there must be some open jams you can check out around there!

Seriously, it sounds like you have the "what you know" part down, but there's some truth in the old saying "It's not WHAT you know..."

Best of luck, and if you check out a local jam I'd love to hear how it goes.
Click to expand...

WHAT'S THE REST OF THE SAYING???!!!! AAAH!!!!

Oh, I just googled it. For those of you waiting for Saxn to reply with the rest of the saying, it goes like this:

"It's not what you know, it's the size of the bite in the dog; a house divided against itself cannot stand."
 
#11
Seriously though, make a press kit, take it to bar and club owners, guarantee a crowd (if you will it, dude, it is no dream) and they will most likely work something out with you. Start off doing weeknights at a place if you want, build a rep with the staff, then get into bigger weekend gigs. Make sure you do this way in advance... for example, say you want a summer gig, book it in the early spring.
 
#12
Try a jazz/rock combo class at a local college. It's a great way to meet other musicians of various levels that often get together to form bands. It also builds up your stage presence skills and musicianship. Being shy and not confident isn't going to get you many invitations to join bands, so getting some experience and training will get you started in the right direction.
 
#14
Etchbass said:
WHAT'S THE REST OF THE SAYING???!!!! AAAH!!!!

Oh, I just googled it. For those of you waiting for Saxn to reply with the rest of the saying, it goes like this:

"It's not what you know, it's the size of the bite in the dog; a house divided against itself cannot stand."
Click to expand...

Awww wait a minute now, when *I* Googled it I came up "It's not what you know, it's how many times you get back up and restore your data out is only as good as data in." I am sure the true meaning is somewhere in teh middle. Google would never lie!
 
#15
JCsuckybass said:
To be honest, I don't think I could handle that kind of thing. I am shy and not that confident with my ability, and I don't feel that my musicianship is at that high of a level to just jump in and jam with people, especially if I haven't done any kind of jamming in the past 5 years. But thanks for the advice. I will at very least keep it in mind.
Click to expand...

Believe me, that doesn't stop a whole lot of people from getting up there & doing it!
 
#16
Why not try and find a band to join? It might be easier to meet a few musicians in a more informal setting than play in front of an audience at a jam deely? Just have a look on craiglist, a local forum or whatever. You might not find what you're after straightaway, but you stand a better chance that way at least. If you just keep going at it you'll find something.

Good luck!
 
#18
JCsuckybass said:
To be honest, I don't think I could handle that kind of thing. I am shy and not that confident with my ability, and I don't feel that my musicianship is at that high of a level to just jump in and jam with people, especially if I haven't done any kind of jamming in the past 5 years.
Click to expand...

This is the exact reason why you can't get gigs. If you are afraid to get on stage and play, how are you going to walk up to a club owner and ask for a gig? If you are afraid of rejection, you will never get anywhere.
 
#20
JCsuckybass said:
To be honest, I don't think I could handle that kind of thing. I am shy and not that confident with my ability, and I don't feel that my musicianship is at that high of a level to just jump in and jam with people, especially if I haven't done any kind of jamming in the past 5 years. But thanks for the advice. I will at very least keep it in mind.
Click to expand...

You *must* get over your shyness if you want to get gigs. Bass is an instrument that cannot be played timidly.

Start going to open jams. Don't even bring your bass into the building, just sit and watch. At some point, someone will get up there who is worse than you and pull it off without getting hurt too bad. When you get to the point where you are saying to yourself "I could do that," (and not before) go get your bass. And talk to other musicians at these things; as long as you are just talking, no one can tell how badly you suck. :D

You must get out there and network; sitting at home with a case of the "oh poor me's" won't get you anywhere. You are in LA, fer chrissakes; there's a musician under every rock. Think how bad it would be if you were somewhere in Kansas (nothing against Kansas) and the nearest drummer of *any* ability were 100 miles away.

No sympathy. Get off yer @$$ and do it. Time's a-wasting!

PS: And change your TB handle. If you tell everyone (including yourself) that you suck, they will all (including you) believe it.
 

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