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What does the future look like for weekend warriors?
- Thread starter Jarrett
- Start date
Drum kit volume too low? Sounds great for a change to me! That is actually another valid point.
Too loud drummers are probably actually hurting all our bands. Think about it. Are the drums the loudest thing on most actual recordings??
Hell no, they sit underneath the vocals, and on many recordings the bass is as loud/prominent as the guitar parts. So why would people want to go to a show, and be assaulted by a WAY too loud drums and guitar show, where they can barely hear the vocals, and our bass at all?
Just one thing that's worth pointing out about weekend warriors- people need to get some gigging experience in order to become" pros" who can put on a great show. You can't learn showmanship in the basement. There's a tendency to get harsh on clumsy amateurs who suck onstage. To an extent that's legitimate, but if the clumsy amateurs don't get to hack through a few shows there's no way they're going to magically morph into seasoned pros.
Good point. Go watch a standup comic during his first few times at the mic. It's typically pretty painful, but that's to be expected.
It draws attention from our amateurish music stand.
That doesn't look amateurish at all.
For whatever reason, in groups with horn sections, or big bands, music stands are part of the scene. Not in 4 or 5 piece rock bands. In my experience anyway.
Wow- you all are pretty depressing to someone just starting down the gig road. And you guys in 9 bands??? Leave a few crumbs for the new guys, eh? : )
I've been looking for a band that will take an entry level bass player, no luck so far but it's only been two months. I've got a lot to learn still, so it's not like I'm bored, but I would progress much faster if I had a mentor.
I've been looking for a band that will take an entry level bass player, no luck so far but it's only been two months. I've got a lot to learn still, so it's not like I'm bored, but I would progress much faster if I had a mentor.
Gaolee
Official leathers tester and crash dummy
You will get there. Don't worry. Besides, the doom and gloom in this thread is all about the difficulty of making any kind of money playing shows. It has been like that for most of human existence. Music didn't become a profession until fairly recently, meaning over the last 400 or 500 years. And, most of the thread is focused on cover band work. That's a subset of bands. There are and always will be bands who play together because it's just what they do. There will always be places to play, but it probably won't pay much, if at all. So, don't think of this as depressing. You can think of it as sobering, but music is a far better hobby from an economic standpoint than some other things. Motor racing, for example.
Ive got about $2500 in equipment that I need to gig. I play out every few weeks, jam once a month, and rehearse weekly. I bring in a few hundred $$ a month.
I also live in a town that is mad for hockey (field hockey, we rarely get below 20 degrees, Celsius). These guys cough up similar amounts for sticks as I do for basses, pay hundreds of dollars each season in registration fees, then pay turf fees each weekend to allow them to have a good surface to play on. They produce no income at all from their hobby.
As a weekend warrior musician, we are the equivalent of the weekend hockey, football, baseball player. You play for fun, your friends come to watch and no-one expects too much.
But a few of the hockey players from my town have gone on to play for Australia, so there is no reason you cant go from weekend warrior to Olympic Hero if you put in the effort.
When I envisioned the singer with a music stand in a bar , I pictured something completely different. When the whole group are in suits and tuxes, horns, etc, It looks classy.
The way I see it is, I'm not a machine, I can't remember the lyrics to 20-30 songs. Maybe it's all the weed I smoked when I was a young adult...
My guitarist, who sings lead on about 10 songs per gig, doesn't use a stand and he keeps forgetting his lyrics (even if he's been doing the same 10 songs for ten years). At least he's a killer guitarist (and very humble about it) and a great guy.
As a weekend warrior musician, we are the equivalent of the weekend hockey, football, baseball player. You play for fun, your friends come to watch and no-one expects too much.
If Im expected to bring an audience with me to a venue where the owner is making a profit from said audience than I expect to be paid, if not, why bother ? just invite those same folks over to the house, jam, have some refreshments, no pressure, everyone has a good time. I wont do this to put money in someone elses pocket. If you want to spend alot of money on gear, spend time rehersing a band and then play for nothing, Your exactly the chump those bar owners are lookin for. Your not doing yourself or the rest of us any favors by doing that. Keep the craft of music respectable and legitimate or stay home. If your playing gigs where no one is making a profit than please disregard the last bit.
If Im expected to bring an audience with me to a venue where the owner is making a profit from said audience than I expect to be paid, if not, why bother ? just invite those same folks over to the house, jam, have some refreshments, no pressure, everyone has a good time. I wont do this to put money in someone elses pocket. If you want to spend alot of money on gear, spend time rehersing a band and then play for nothing, Your exactly the chump those bar owners are lookin for. Your not doing yourself or the rest of us any favors by doing that. Keep the craft of music respectable and legitimate or stay home. If your playing gigs where no one is making a profit than please disregard the last bit.
+1
Some people just can't open their mouth unless they have something negative to say.
I hope I'm still playing music when I'm that guy's age - with or without a music stand.
Gaolee
Official leathers tester and crash dummy
Forgetting stuff is pretty much what I do. I have something north of 150 songs stuffed into my head that are more or less on the front burner somewhere all the time. Add in another 100 or so in reserve and there's a reason I don't always remember what key a song is in or what the changes are. And, playing in two bands who on rare occasions play the same songs in different keys, it all goes to mush. I like having a music stand a lot. It is off to the side and I only glance at it to make sure I know what I'm doing, but boy would I be dumb without it.
Disagree or not, my point is how can you engage the audience when your singer is standing in one spot, head down, reading lyrics on a music stand? May as well be singing Karaoke since that's basically what it is except you have a live band behind you. Me personally, I don't dig it. If us musicians can take the time to learn our parts and memorize them, why can't the vocalists do the same with lyrics? Referring to that particular band I saw....they were horrible! 3 vocalists, doing a silly unison 2-step, heads down reading lyrics!
