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How many gigs did you play this year?

How many gigs will you do by the end of the year?

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    180
#42
tbirdsp said:
Some of the responses to this bring up a question - What constitutes a "gig"?
Maybe it's because I'm an amateur - but to me a "gig" is playing in public in front of an audience, not a rehearsal (even paid).
My response of 36 was all paid public performances.
Click to expand...

When I started the thread, I was looking for "gigs only"....like you mentioned, actual paid performances.......not jams, not rehearsals. In my opinion, rehearsals are something that just comes along with gigging (hopefully), and for me the jams or open mic nights were just for fun. (I say "were" because I can't even remember how many years its been since I've done a jam or open mic)
 
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#46
tbirdsp said:
Some of the responses to this bring up a question - What constitutes a "gig"?
Maybe it's because I'm an amateur - but to me a "gig" is playing in public in front of an audience, not a rehearsal (even paid).
Click to expand...

Yep, that's my personal definition too, but in my world the performance has to be paid to count as a gig. But recording sessions, rehearsals, mixing jobs, teaching lessons or clinics, etc., could all be someone's gig, and many people think of their day job as a gig as well.

So this was my slowest year in quite a while, completely by choice. Five paying gigs so far, but only one until the last month or so when the crappy weather finally drove me to accept a few just to get out of the house. No mixing, only a couple of repair jobs, and way fewer open mikes/jams than previous years -- probably just under 50 of those. Not positive, but I don't think any of these were paid ones this year, whereas running the show or playing house bassist made up about half of my paying gigs for many years.

The big upside for me is that I have been able to concentrate on woodshedding and working on my own tunes, both of which always have taken a back seat when I've been working a lot. Next year looks good, as I have a couple of old friends who are transitioning to nearly all-originals, both of whom have good followings and reasonably good paying gigs. I live in a small-ish fish pool where overexposure is really common, so I think 30 or so gigs spread over 3-4 bands would be perfect for me.
 
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#49
I have 6 'regulars', with one offs here and there, and a few fill ins to average about 8 a month? As with most of us, some months are better then others. My calendar is a mess, but from what I can tell it's between 90 and 100, and I've got about 6 to go before the end of the year. I work the day gig, M-F, but it's all good. Just your average TB'er.
 
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#50
tbirdsp said:
Some of the responses to this bring up a question - What constitutes a "gig"?
Maybe it's because I'm an amateur - but to me a "gig" is playing in public in front of an audience, not a rehearsal (even paid).
My response of 36 was all paid public performances.
Click to expand...
134 all paid all in front of people this includes private parties :)
 
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#51
i was somewhere around 75... i host open mics and open jams, plus get hired by a bunch of local bands as well as my own trio. so im plenty busy but would love to go full time... one day.
 
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#54
BassCliff said:
Hi,
I do see your point. But to me, if I'm getting paid, getting a 1099, and have to pay taxes on the income, I count it as work. Work=gig. I had a total of 9 paid rehearsals this year between a Disney engagement and a musical.
Click to expand...

I had a few paid rehearsals in 2013 (fill-ins with church band including Christmas Eve and some for a jazz band where I got paid a token for gas since they were in Lincoln about an hour away) - now that I think about it I tend to lump stuff like that in with the performance they are associated with.:D

As a cover band guy I wouldn't consider an unpaid performance a gig - but if I was playing originals and beating the street trying to get my music/name out there I might feel differently about that.
 
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#57
mimaz said:
"Terrible" music scene meaning not enough gigs, or way too many bands competing for gigs?
Click to expand...

Both. Big time.

All the musicians who loath LA (for very good reasons) have come here and find there are no gigs. So competition is pretty tough. And folks in SD won't go support live music - one thing about LA is that folks do go out, so there are plenty of venues. So I'm considering a change... that and I recently met a girl who lives up there...
 

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