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The worst thing about playing music is...
- Thread starter malicant
- Start date
I concur...although being interrupted mid-song by some drunk 50 year old shouting at you over everything asking for something ghastly like "Sweet Home" or "Mustang Sally" for their equally drunk, thick yorkshire-accented, fat/common as muck's friend's 53rd birthday is pretty damn close (yeah, I'm talking about a "floor in the corner of the room" gig with only a row of chairs for seperation...) - even worse is when you're 23 and these 52-year-old pissed slags are trying to talk to you/PULL YOU after you've been onstage for 1 and a half hours and therefore being knackered you just want them to eff off but you can't tell them to!
Getting beyond the club scene. Playing clubs absolutely sucks. To most club owners the dishwasher is more important than the band!
... Better than a bunch of guys trying to rip your clothes off! Always gotta think positive!
Well... There are a few of us who wouldn't mind that!!!!! Sometimes it's the sexuality.... Sometimes it's the beer!!!!!!
Worst thing about live gigging is more times than not, it really costs you more money to do the gig than its actually worth. Then there's the expectation by many venue owners that you'll play for free or a submarginal rate that won't even put a quarter tank of gas in a sub-compact. Probably why I lost interest in doing much live work anymore.
Publicizing the hell out of a gig and having only 10 or fewer folks actually show up.
Crap venues where you're taking your life in your own hands.
Sorry to be so curmudgeonly, but reality bites hard sometimes. Probably why I now prefer to do more studio/recording centered things.
Publicizing the hell out of a gig and having only 10 or fewer folks actually show up.
Crap venues where you're taking your life in your own hands.
Sorry to be so curmudgeonly, but reality bites hard sometimes. Probably why I now prefer to do more studio/recording centered things.
Can't stand it when....
(A) A complete stranger bugs you all night long to let them sing a song, as if we're a karaoke band
(B) Someone gets really REALLY pissed off when you don't play the song they have requested, even when you've told them the band doesn't know it or has never played it.
(C) Having to babysit the drunken guitarist or lead vocalist after a late night bar gig to make sure they don't get behind the wheel or something...
Otherwise, playing music, or even lpaying a musician on TV is the life for me... Just wish I could make a living on it....
I hate the fact that I can't make a living off playing music!!!!!!
(A) A complete stranger bugs you all night long to let them sing a song, as if we're a karaoke band
(B) Someone gets really REALLY pissed off when you don't play the song they have requested, even when you've told them the band doesn't know it or has never played it.
(C) Having to babysit the drunken guitarist or lead vocalist after a late night bar gig to make sure they don't get behind the wheel or something...
Otherwise, playing music, or even lpaying a musician on TV is the life for me... Just wish I could make a living on it....
I hate the fact that I can't make a living off playing music!!!!!!
How are you achieving that? By not playing out anymore, or finding different types of gigs? Please share.
a friend told me a similar story, about people getting torn a new one at open mic nights in Ronnie Scott's... seems like the jazz crowd can be pretty unforgiving of have-a-go heroes
About once a gig, we get asked by someone inebriated in the audience if they can sing/play/whatever "just one song" with you guys, just about anything, really, in some blues progression", "I'm tellin' you man, I used to open for ....." The OP is one way to deal with these types. Another way is to tell them "ah, man, we'll do that in our last set" and then never do it, or just "hell no, get your own band". I think all three ways are effective.
Yeah...Bird, Diz, Monk and other beboppers did stuff like this all the time to "keep the squares off the stage"--insane tempos, obscure changes, crazy keys, etc. And there's a famous story of Miles pulling stuff live to get Wynton off of the stage (although I don't know the particulars of that story--happened in Vancouver).
Musicians are always protective of their scene...
I hate not being paid promptly by the bar owner/promoter/ whoever the head honcho is. I mean yeah music is something I love, but my time and energy is worth something!
This has only happened a couple of times but still... I hate when some drunken lawyer/doctor/rich guy comes up during a break or after the gig offering to buy my bass (dingwall super J4 and a crotch walnut 5 string my father and I built) after politely declining and walking away they irately call after me saying they make "X" dollars a year and can afford to buy my bass, my car and house!... My response is I don't care if you're Bill Freaking Gates, you don't have enough money!
This has only happened a couple of times but still... I hate when some drunken lawyer/doctor/rich guy comes up during a break or after the gig offering to buy my bass (dingwall super J4 and a crotch walnut 5 string my father and I built) after politely declining and walking away they irately call after me saying they make "X" dollars a year and can afford to buy my bass, my car and house!... My response is I don't care if you're Bill Freaking Gates, you don't have enough money!
True, the leader didn't have to give him a pass, but there is no law that says you have to be a dick and humiliate someone. When people want to sit in with my band I just say thanks for the offer, but we don't do that.
Seems to me Mike should have been able to nail the key change without raising an eyebrow. I've done my share of jazz jams where the pianist just started playing. My first job is to work out what key he's in, then listen to the changes while simultaneously listening to the head to work out what the melody is. My first ever jazz jam on upright turned out to be in Db, I still to this day dont know what the tune was.
I've worked with tenor and alto players who could play easily in all the "wrong" keys for horns, and I daresay someone who cant do that should be looking for easier jams.
I've worked with tenor and alto players who could play easily in all the "wrong" keys for horns, and I daresay someone who cant do that should be looking for easier jams.
The worst thing about playing music is dealing with other musician/artist types... Lots of ego, generally flaky, moody, etc...
So, 'Mike' went to the open improv, showed he was good, asked the band nicely if he could join in for one song, to which they replied yes, and then they proceed to humiliate him.
seems the only lesson mike learned is who needs to get punched in the face.
I've done my share of jazz jams where the pianist just started playing. My first job is to work out what key he's in, then listen to the changes while simultaneously listening to the head to work out what the melody is. My first ever jazz jam on upright turned out to be in Db, I still to this day dont know what the tune was.
I've worked with tenor and alto players who could play easily in all the "wrong" keys for horns, and I daresay someone who cant do that should be looking for easier jams.
Sorry, but I think you are mixing apples and oranges. When talking about a jam session you are 100% correct; you need to be ready for whatever is thrown at you and if you can't cut it, you have no one to blame but yourself.
That is not what we have here though. This is an example of someone asking to sit in, be told yes, asked if they knew a specific tune in a specific key and then the band leader changing the key at the last second to try and humiliate the guy. That is not a jam session.
I have no issue if the band leader said no, but if you invite someone up on stage with the express purpose of humiliating them, in my book you are a lowlife dick. Others may have different books.
I disagree about the role. The role is to make the group sound the best, while providing a certain level of entertainment for the audience / venue. Their purpose is not to provide a backing band for some knucklehead in the crowd who brings a sax along. Sure, they might have handled it a little better, but when Mike asserted he was ready 100%, that actually means something.
Maybe Mike learns a little humility before trying to horn in on other people's gigs without being completely capable. If Mike had been able to cut the mustard, the story would not have been told by the teacher to the student.
In the mid-'60s a friend of mine and I went to a Pete Fountain concert. After the show we somehow managed to get backstage. We were thrilled to meet Pete. While we were back there his vibes player, Godfrey Herschel, came over and asked if we would like to see his vibes. Oh yes indeed. While we were looking at them, he said, "Wanna know how to play them?" Oh yes indeed very much. "Well the first thing you have to know is how to roll them." Huh? Oh---roll them---as in roll them to the equipment truck. OK, smartass (sorry Godfrey, but that's my memory of you).
Oh well, that ain't bad. The worst thing about music is that those who can play don't get enough respect for being able to do it. If we did there'd be no shortage of gigs, and the pay would be enough to easily live on. Sigh...maybe in the next life.
Oh well, that ain't bad. The worst thing about music is that those who can play don't get enough respect for being able to do it. If we did there'd be no shortage of gigs, and the pay would be enough to easily live on. Sigh...maybe in the next life.
