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My rules

#21
jeffbrewer said:
Trust me. The best moments of my life have been on or near a stage. If you equate "being a professional" to "sucking the fun out of playing music" then enjoy you day job mowing lawns and playing the local pizza joint for $75 on a Saturday night. In the meantime, I'll be supporting my family holding a guitar.
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Actually none of those things are correct.
I dont play pizza joints, and i dont mow lawns unless its my own.
I dont support my family 100% with music but its a nice chunk of a percentage.
All i was saying is it seemed you were coming off as the guy who shows up 15 minutes before the gig and leaves as soon as the last note has stopped ringing.
If you want to treat it like a job and punch in and out then do what floats your boat.
But you can have fun at work as well.
Just saying.
 
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#22
jeffbrewer said:
Trust me. The best moments of my life have been on or near a stage. If you equate "being a professional" to "sucking the fun out of playing music" then enjoy you day job mowing lawns and playing the local pizza joint for $75 on a Saturday night. In the meantime, I'll be supporting my family holding a guitar.
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Ease up there bro, your statement comes across as a wee bit snobbish aye? There is nothing wrong with an honest days work. There is nothing wrong with playing the local pizza joint for $75 and a couple of beers on a Saturday night for a weekend warrior. To imply such is rubbish.

You are correct that being professional does not suck the fun out of playing live music. But please keep in mind many need/want their day jobs. There is nothing wrong with being a full time musician just as there is nothing wrong with being a part time musician. Absolutely no valid reason for either party to look down their nose at the other.
 
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#23
danosix said:
Didn't I start with you don't have to be bored to be professional?
Did I also not say music is FUN?
Did I not ALSO so all those things are cool if they don't get in the way of being professional?
Based on your description of yourself that sounds like that's exactly what you do, have fun AND be professional. My second half was for the people who are offended by the idea that doing these things and staying professional are at odds. If they live within the same universe for you - as they do me and I think the OP, then you are following the OP's "rules" which I am endorsing.
If you can't play and not be drunk - than you're wrong: you aren't being professional - same with socializing - it's GOOD to be friendly with the crowd, but if it keeps you off the stage or the prospect of some pickup in the audience is distracting you from playing - you are not being professional in both cases probably having fun...
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Ok cool I see what your saying. Like I said music has to be fun for me to play and I have to enjoy the scene and hang. I have known great players who quit simply because they did not like dealing with the crowd or being in bars. I have also know others who treat it 100% like a job with little to know interaction with their band or scene it appears they are doing it only for the money.
if they are its cool I was only saying music is much more than money for me. I could never take the chance to support my family only playing music for we would starve to death. I have a good job with retirement and benefits when the day day comes I can walk away from it who knows maybe music then will be more about the money then?
 
#25
smogg said:
Ease up there bro, your statement comes across as a wee bit snobbish aye? There is nothing wrong with an honest days work. There is nothing wrong with playing the local pizza joint for $75 and a couple of beers on a Saturday night for a weekend warrior. To imply such is rubbish.

You are correct that being professional does not suck the fun out of playing live music. But please keep in mind many need/want their day jobs. There is nothing wrong with being a full time musician just as there is nothing wrong with being a part time musician. Absolutely no valid reason for either party to look down their nose at the other.
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You are correct and I agree 100%. I apologize if my response seemed a little sharp. I was in a foul mood when I posted my response and I think that Jessica may have received the majority of my frustrations completely undeservingly.
 
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#26
jessicabass said:
Actually none of those things are correct.
I dont play pizza joints, and i dont mow lawns unless its my own.
I dont support my family 100% with music but its a nice chunk of a percentage.
All i was saying is it seemed you were coming off as the guy who shows up 15 minutes before the gig and leaves as soon as the last note has stopped ringing.
If you want to treat it like a job and punch in and out then do what floats your boat.
But you can have fun at work as well.
Just saying.
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I think my response to your initial comment was completely unwarranted and I apologize. I shouldn't have been so arrogant towards you. I agree with your response to me. I had just finished a pretty heated argument on the phone and and I think I took my frustrations out on your post. I'm sorry
 
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#27
danosix said:
Agreed, when I was (much) younger I played drunk ONCE and still regret it. It does not enhance the experience and certainly did not enhance my playing. If you need to be drunk to play you are either:
Already famous and awesome and on your way down OR
The audience needs to be drunk to make you sound good too...;)
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I had to laugh at this-excellent
 
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#29
jeffbrewer said:
1. Show up
2. Play the set
3. Count the money
4. Leave
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You can do all those, and still trainwreck a gig and/or get fired.

I'd just embellish the first two (assuming it's a sideman gig where all you need to do is show up and play, not ones where you have to help with sound, lights, merch, etc.):
1. Show up on time, prepared and ready to work. Showing up doesn't mean much if you are late, clueless on the material, and don't have the resources needed to do the gig.
2. Play the set to the best of your ability. No-one from the band to the audience wants to see someone mailing it in. If you suck or don't care, there's a ton of people more than happy to get your paycheck.
 
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#30
jeffbrewer said:
I think my response to your initial comment was completely unwarranted and I apologize. I shouldn't have been so arrogant towards you. I agree with your response to me. I had just finished a pretty heated argument on the phone and and I think I took my frustrations out on your post. I'm sorry
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"Blessed are the peacemakers...."
 
#31
Music is not a necessity for me. It is not a job. It is not to make a lot of money. It is something to do during retirement and hopefully get some enjoyment out of it. Any money I make playing music is used to supplement Social Security, Company Retirement and VA disability. I don't play in a band to make close friends. I play with my current band because there is no drama and people get along. I don't drink or smoke. Nobody else in the band does either. I enjoy seeing the drunks make fools of themselves when we have a gig. I don't suck the enjoyment out of music, I just don't think I'll be a rock star at my age and really have no desire to. Due to health and disabilities I don't get too excited on stage, but I don't gaze at my feet either. It works for me.
 
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#33
danosix said:
Nearly perfect - and while I personally think these are implied in your rules - I would amend it to :
Show up on time.
Play the set, sober and well.
Count the money discretely. (it makes you look crass if you do it openly and opens you up to being jumped).
Leave quietly, sober and quickly.
Again - I think you meant all that, but the reason we have rules is there are a lot of people who need to be told them - and they need it explicit.
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I would say if you weren't on time, then you DIDN'T show up.
If you didn't play well, You FAILED to play the set. Sober is irrelevant unless drunkenness causes you to be a douche.
Anyone who would think you are crass for counting the money has their priorities backwards. It's the real world we live in a bills have to be paid somehow.
...You may have a point about getting jumped, but at what most musicians make it's a paltry sum to be worth an assault charge.
Not even sure Leave needs to be on the list in the first place. Do people really hang around indefinitely? I don't know. I always went home myself at the end of the night and assumed everyone else did too.
 
#37
Nev375 said:
Not even sure Leave needs to be on the list in the first place. Do people really hang around indefinitely? I don't know. I always went home myself at the end of the night and assumed everyone else did too.
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I think it means, don't do things that keep other people from leaving. For example, hanging out at the bar well after the show is over when the staff has been ready to close up and go home for the last hour.
 
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#39
Nev375 said:
I like shoegazers. In fact, I prefer them over the bands who "showboat" and worry about their stage presence. If I wanted a visual experience I'd go see a movie.
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Interesting side note: just a few weeks back I dropped a promo pack at a venue and the guy handling the booking wanted video. I apologized that we currently had no video with suitable audio available and that is why the pack contained a studio live CD. I also let him know when & where our next couple of shows would be if he wanted to see us live.

He then stated that, "I don't care what you sound like, I care what you look like." He then went on to say he did not like bands that "just stand there and play music." Naturally I was a bit taken back by this so I told him "Oh yeah; we got a great stage act. We dress up like circus bears and juggle bowling pins while riding unicycles. It has really helped our front of house mix!"

He has not called me as of yet :)

edit: sorry for the derail OP
 
#40
jive1 said:
You can do all those, and still trainwreck a gig and/or get fired.

I'd just embellish the first two (assuming it's a sideman gig where all you need to do is show up and play, not ones where you have to help with sound, lights, merch, etc.):
1. Show up on time, prepared and ready to work. Showing up doesn't mean much if you are late, clueless on the material, and don't have the resources needed to do the gig.
2. Play the set to the best of your ability. No-one from the band to the audience wants to see someone mailing it in. If you suck or don't care, there's a ton of people more than happy to get your paycheck.
Click to expand...
Of course you can follow his rules and suck - but you can't ignore his rules and rock the gig. THAT's his point.
 

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