how old were you at your first gig?

[Rattman]

17 or 18 ... sure wish I could remember for certain.

We played for a private party.. all kids from our HS.

 

[LowEnder2112]

uhh dont forget it doesn't count as a gig if you're not paid....

then it's just a performance

 

[Mickey Shane]

I gigged once when I was 10. I didn't get my first paying gig until I was 13. Late bloomer I guess.

 

[TheJimster]

First gig?

13.

 

[Stumpy]

Trumpet - 10
Euphonium - 12
Bass - 14

 

[Feast]

14, about 6 mo after picking up a bass, been playing with the same band since, 16 now

 

[88persuader]

5 YO ... as a drummer at a beach front STRIP CLUB! My uncle was the band's drummer, it was in 60's and it was a Sunday JAM SESSION. (No Strippers on Sunday) I sat in with his band and I think played 3 tunes. Made my first professional dollar and sign my autograph for a few of the strippers who were tending bar and waiting tables. I remember having no idea who these pretty women were!

 

[LumpyGravy]

First paying gig ever was at age 12 playing the drums in a 1920s revival dinner theater show. I remember the women in the show backstage really liked me and they changed costumes right there in front of me. One even let me fool around with her! Oh, man, to relive that knowing what I know now! It was my first exposure to gay men, too. The principal male singer was gay and drank creme de menthe, he said, to lower his vocal range. He was actually a very nice guy and recognized that I was kinda infatuated with this woman singer and gave me a few pointers - the first queer eye for the straight guy (kid)!

I also remember that we only had piano, drums sax, and bass, and if I recall, the bass player used a short-scale natural-finish Gretsch.

I liked your post about the woman changing her clothes. At age 12! Cool deal! The gay thing is pretty weird. I am not insulting gays, but I think Mr. Creme De Menthe should've been after someone his sexual preference.

 

[T-MOST]

I was 16 and playing bars and college gigs in NYC. My buddy from H.S was the drummer. The rest of the band were all 4-5 years older than we were. It was so cool.

 

[therex]

i was like 10 or 11 when when i joined a band i some weeks later we got our first gig

 

[ExaltBass]

13 in '63

 

[X Wolf]

I was 16. That was 46+ years ago and I'm still lovin it!

George

 

[deaf pea]

I joined the Musicians Union 47 years ago, when I was 15 years old!

My first "public performance" was when I was 7 years old (a piano recital), but the first "gig" was at 15 years old, playing big band jazz on a guitar. First "gig" on doublebass a couple years later . . .

 

[j.a.e.r.i.p]

13 @ the chicken box in nantucket

 

[mookie]

15

 

[JeffC]

My first gig is in 11 days (August 18th) and I am 24. That being said, I've only been playing bass for 6 months. But I practice relentlessly with my band.

It's an unpaid gig but we are doing it for fun so no biggie. It is a private party, I believe a "black and white" cocktail party or something.

They didn't have any preferences for songs so we are just playing what we feel like. Should be pretty funny to jump from comfortably numb to self-esteem to Let Her Cry and so on. Short set tho, 10 songs.

It's a bunch of 20 somethings, they'll enjoy the set we put together.

 

[Winemule]

First paying gig at 16 in 1966. Still at it.

(Love the strip-club jam story.)

 

[tZer]

16 or 17 - Can't recall for sure - but I have a pic...

So this would be somewhere around 1985/'86 at Turners in North St. Louis City.

 

[mountain drew]

First gig: Violin 9 yrs old in 1972 (OMG I just realized I'm old now)
First bass gig: String Bass 13 yrs old 1976
First paying gig on Electric Bass: 15 yrs old 1978

Still at it almost every weekend since.
Bad side: Pay has actually been about the same over the years.
Good side is Equipment has gotten alot smaller, lighter and louder.

 

[billengelman]

Three years ago at the ripe old age of 51.