Making The Best 4 Hour Bar Gig

[richntiff]

If you don't take your playing seriously - no matter the context- and liken it to flipping burgers then you probably suck and display a lack of enthusiasm that makes call backs unlikely.

Or maybe I'm an ass too

 

[Joe Louvar]

I hate musicians that don’t know the difference between practice and rehearsal. Seriously, how many times does someone really need to rehearse the same old standard songs over and over again - and I hated working with bar bands that rehearsed more than they gigged (been there, done that, but no more).

 

[bluewine]

I hate musicians that don’t know the difference between practice and rehearsal. Seriously, how many times does someone really need to rehearse the same old standard songs over and over again - and I hated working with bar bands that rehearsed more than they gigged (been there, done that, but no more).

Hi Joe,

All bar/cover bands are not the same. We don't all play the same old standard material.


Areas differ as well, it might be that in your area cover bands rehearse more than they gig. In Milwaukee "biker bards" like mine gig at a respectable level. Question, are there many opportunities with cover bands that gig a lot and don't have time to rehearse in your area?

While I'm a fan and support our local originals bands, here they only rehearse and rarely gig. The gigs they have are a few unpaid benefits, fund raisers or playing to a few family members and friends in the back room of an originals club with 3 other bands.

We have new arrangements and new material that needs to be rehearsed. I wish my band could rehearse, I don't think we have rehearsed once this summer.

August

• 8/2/2013 7pm - 11pm Ozaukee Co. Fair Cedarburg Grandstand Gardens www.ozaukeecountyfair.com

• 8/7/2013 6:30pm -10:30pm Pitch's BBQ / Miss Katie's Diner Wisconsin State Fair Park Invalid Link Removed

• 8/9/2013 7:30pm-11:30pm Roberts Restaurant &
• Leadfoots Race Bar & Grill Wisconsin State Fair Park Invalid Link Removed

• 8/10/2013 7:30pm-11:30pm Roberts Restaurant &
• Leadfoots Race Bar & Grill Wisconsin State Fair Park Invalid Link Removed

• 8/17/2013 Private Party

• 8/23/2013 8pm - 12am Kim's Lakeside W303 N2582 Maple Avenue, Pewaukee www.kimslakeside.com

• 8/25/2013 3pm - 7pm The Roadhouse N3086 Hwy 67, Dundee

• 8/30/2013 9pm - 1am Fat Charlie's Hwy 175, Richfield Harley Davidson 110th!

• 8/31/2013 9pm - 1am The Concord House
• W985 Concord Center Drive, Sullivan
• ABATE Party Invalid Link Removed

Blue

 

[bluewine]

If you don't take your playing seriously - no matter the context- and liken it to flipping burgers then you probably suck and display a lack of enthusiasm that makes call backs unlikely.

Or maybe I'm an ass too

Agreed, even bar bands like mine, if you don't take it seriously you will find your band out of business.

blue

 

[bluewine]

Personally, I take the band seriously to a point.


Here are a few pics of me playing for context, I've been playing since 1979 and doing this since 1986, when I was 20.

And contrary to what it looks like, I don't spend the entire night staring at my frets!

No problem, I used to feel bad about looking at my frets. I went to Paul McCartney's Miller Park show last month, he looks at his frets. Now I don't feel so bad.

Thanks for sharing the awesome pics Kcole. Love the Rics.

Blue

 

[Joe Louvar]

We have new arrangements and new material that needs to be rehearsed. I wish my band could rehearse, I don't think we have rehearsed once this summer.

Yeah, playing/listening to the same old songs month after month or year after year gets old.

Anyway, hopefully you and your band mates will find/make time for adding new material someday soon.

 

[msaone]

Have a following. Four hour gigs not only fly by, they feel like they're too short when you have a crowd going nuts for the band.

 

[bluewine]

Have a following. Four hour gigs not only fly by, they feel like they're too short when you have a crowd going nuts for the band.

Very true msaone,

When you have the right crowd and the band is "hot" not only does 4 hours go by fast even older material you have been playing for a long time comes alive and is a blast to play.

It happened to us at WI State Fair,

Blue

 

[kcole4001]

I always find that, on the good nights when all is going well, a 45-60 minute set flies by and seems like 10 minutes.

It's the breaks in between that I find hard to fill.
You can yack with your bandmates or friends, play pool or watch the game.
Anything else makes time drag for me, but then I'm not particularly socially adept as most and tend to be a loner.

 

[kcole4001]

No problem, I used to feel bad about looking at my frets. I went to Paul McCartney's Miller Park show last month, he looks at his frets. Now I don't feel so bad.

Thanks for sharing the awesome pics Kcole. Love the Rics.

Blue

Thanks, Blue.
I usually spend very little of my playing time looking at the neck when playing material I know well.

 

[Mike Sorr]

Making The Best Of The 4 Hour Bar Gig


The 4 hour bar gig at one time and to a degree still is the bread & butter of the serious weekend warrior. Because of many variables many of you have little to no value for this work any more. Many of you would rather not play at all if you have to play these type of gigs.

I want to open up a discussion where we can make suggestions on how to make this experience more tolerable.

If you have a lot of experience in playing 4 hour bar gigs and have ideas on how to make the best of them we would like to hear about them.

I love 4 hour bar gigs and have a few ideas I will share..

Blue

If it weren't for the four hour bar gigs I'd rarely play in front of an audience. I can't imagine NOT playing four hour bar gigs.

 

[bluewine]

If it weren't for the four hour bar gigs I'd rarely play in front of an audience. I can't imagine NOT playing four hour bar gigs.

Agreed, my passion and reason I got into this local level rock & roll business a million years ago was to rock, perform in front of a crowd, to entertain people, have fun and get paid for doing it.

I did not get into this business to write songs or do the whole creative thing. Nothing wrong with that, I know plenty of very talent musicians that do that. Unfortunately none of them leave their bedrooms or basements and for whatever reason they like it that way. That scene is not for me.

I consider myself lucky to be in a working rock band, I never take it for granted.

We gigged last night, now I can't wait for Friday to get here again.

Blue

 

[richntiff]

For me - I don't care WHAT I'm playing. If people are dancing and enjoying it, that's a huge charge for me

 

[lpdeluxe]

For me - I don't care WHAT I'm playing. If people are dancing and enjoying it, that's a huge charge for me

+1.

Another thing: on those rare occasions that I DON'T play a four-hour gig, I don't feel like I ever got warmed up. I had a casual discussion with another bass player about that, and he told me that three hours was his absolute max. But he's plays in a jazz band, so maybe that's the equivalent.

 

[bluewine]

For me - I don't care WHAT I'm playing. If people are dancing and enjoying it, that's a huge charge for me

Agreed,

When you have engaged crowd with your band it always makes the 4 hours easier and more fun.

Blue

 

[morgansterne]

we never play 10-2, we play 9-1. We've picked up a tavern that's kind of out in the middle of nowhere and is more of a dinner place, so we arranged with them to play 8-12.
the mood of your average bar isn't real good after 1 a.m.

My other advice is In Ear Monitors!!!! I bought the cheapest set I could get, but the bottom line is that Sweet Home Alabama for the hundredth time is much more tolerable at 70db instead of 90db.

Even if the band is off that night or no one's dancing, I'm a lot happier knowing I'm not damaging my hearing in the process.

 

[Broadstbully22]

The best things we have done is buy a trailer, we leave the pa and everything but instruments on it (we have other stuff to practice with and a small pa), going in ear cut in half what we haul and makes sound checks a breeze and finally we are getting better paying gigs. That really helps. Lol.

 

[mrjim123]

I've found that if I'm in the habit of going to sleep around 11:00 PM then I start to fade late if I'm playing much past midnight. I try to stay up late at least a few nights before the weekend.

 

[jaywa]

I've found that if I'm in the habit of going to sleep around 11:00 PM then I start to fade late if I'm playing much past midnight. I try to stay up late at least a few nights before the weekend.

I'm a definite morning person and as a rule, playing till midnite or 1 am isnt a problem as long as the crowd is happening and we're playing well and sounding good. Where I tend to hit the wall is after the adrenaline of the show wears off... Which is usually about 1/2 hour into loadout. Thats unfortunately where by bandmates tend to see me at my worst and when I have the hardest time being patient and tactful... Especially if somebody isnt doing their share on teardown and it's slowing things up, or its been a bad gig for whatever reason.

 

[bluewine]

I'm a definite morning person and as a rule, playing till midnite or 1 am isnt a problem as long as the crowd is happening and we're playing well and sounding good. Where I tend to hit the wall is after the adrenaline of the show wears off... Which is usually about 1/2 hour into loadout. Thats unfortunately where by bandmates tend to see me at my worst and when I have the hardest time being patient and tactful... Especially if somebody isnt doing their share on teardown and it's slowing things up, or its been a bad gig for whatever reason.

Yeah, half way into that last set can be tough.

At one time I thought the answer was saving more "hot" material for the last set. But if the crowd is weak why waste good material.

Maybe another thread topic good be "How to Keep Your Crowd Engaged"through your last set/

Usually you might have a different crowd by the last set either way it's hard to keep people in the bar after a certain time.

blue