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What was it like playing your 1st gig?

#41
My first gig came 2 years after barely picking up the guitar. Was at a party and ran into a friend who was looking for a bassist, and the conversation was basically "Hey man, you play guitar, right? Great, you're playing bass for us and we have a show in two weeks!". Had absolutely zero gear and the only instrument available for borrowing was a (mercifully) lined 5 string fretless. Crammed for the show, and the evening of all the bands got together to cook out and relax before playing. Great time, but since I was all nerves I was just pounding beers without really counting. When we plugged in and it was our time to shine, it dawned on me that it normally takes quite a bit less to get me entirely smashed, and needless to say, it was not the best performance ever, even by basement show standards. Great learning experience for a lot of reasons.

My second "first show" came a little while later and I was playing guitar in a speed punk / hardcore band. We had a short set and managed to get about 1-2 friends to come out for a weeknight open mic night at the Mad Frog in Cincinnati... basically played for the bartender and the sound guy. Drummer clicks in and we rip into a blazing instrumental song, and I distinctly remember feeling the blast from my 4x12 at show volumes for the first time and thinking "this... is... IT!!!". Was absolutely hooked from that moment forward.
 
#42
Late 80's at an open mike at a biker bar in Northern VT. I borrowed someone's old Fender Mustang bass and a crappy amp. My buddy played an acoustic guitar and sang. I think another friend joined in on a flute. I remember one of the songs was "Willin".

The funny thing is we thought no one knew. But when we got up onto the little stage and looked through the fog of war (lots of smoking in bars back then), we saw about a dozen of our friends had snuck in.

I was terrified. We sucked appropriately. The friends all lit Bic lighters and cheered.

I was hooked for life...
 
#44
The day after the Great Chicago blizzard of 2011. We played Subterranean, and let's see our lead singer during unloading got a boot put on her car, my bass amp crapped out during soundcheck, and our keyboardist lost his stupid skateboard that he complained about the whole night. (Mind you the boot cost $150, and my amp cost $400 and his skateboard was $35.) However, there were a ton of people there to see us and we rocked! I finally noticed all the people about half way through our first song when I calmed down and looked up from my fretboard! LOL Completely amazing and awesome experience!
 
#45
First one is on Friday for a Graduation Party, It's a set list of 20 songs. I have only been playing for 2 months and a lot of the songs have a lot of bass, like Time is Running out, Seven Nation Army, Feel Good Inc and Poker Face...... -.-
 
#46
The white horse pub, 1980, we were 13, 14 & 14. We got paid 25 pounds, and all the coke we could drink.
Nervous as hell. Packed the place (I think cos we were so young, not cos we were brilliant).
Two drunken cougars tried to pick me up, and not in a subtle way, as we loaded out. All would have been good except that all the time these two women are telling me what they want to do to me, my dad is on the other side of the bass cab I am carrying. Embarrassment rating....... 11
 
#47
Eric Albany said:
Good luck! =o]
Click to expand...


I'm getting queezy just thinking about it now. but soo :hyper::hyper::hyper: < like this guy at the same time.

I actually like this feeling... it's like right before a roller coaster does that first drop. Then it's like "weeeee" and i gots a big arse smile on my face.

as a kid on the orchestra ... i played infront of an audience but i was so intensely focused on the conductor and my music it was just like playing in class. I can't recall the first time though
 
#48
On bass?

Spring, 1978... 16 years old... House party in a big old house on top of a hill in Santee, CA (house overlooked Mission Gorge rd, just behind what was "The Jolly Jug" - it's still there!). My buddies from school and I had formed this band "Stonehenge" (yeah, I'm not kidding). We were so clueless... We played radio rock from the time (Van Halen/Foghat/Doobies/Deep Purple/Cream) but dressed in full-on disco clothes (right black "Angel's Flight" pants & acetate shirts. Notable events: Saw someone shoot smack for the first time... And I got drunk for the first time. We sounded like crap. But it was a wild experience...
 
#49
First "gig" ever was piano recital, age 8, had to memorize "The Happy Farmer" by Schumann. About 1/2 way through I suddenly thought, "where am I?" and immediately froze solid. It seemed like hours, but was really just seconds, before I re-started at the beginning of the section I was playing and finished the piece. Horrible experience though.

In 7th grade I switched to baritone horn, then tuba in high school, and did concerts and marching band and such.

First bass gig, 7 months after getting my first bass, a cover gig at the 4H country fair. I was a little bit nervous but not too bad. We did some Police, Chicago, and Bad Company, and Beatles (lol - what a mix!). We sounded pretty good on account of having a couple of good singers and my buddy Pete playing alto and tenor sax- he's a ringer, always has been just an amazing player. It was lots of fun. "Feeling Stronger Every Day" was our closer, and I rocked it out, just had a blast with it.
 
#52
Awful. Played a Halloween party my Freshman year in college that was supposed to be huge. It wasn't & we waited until 11 to play and drank ourselves silly in the meantime. Two songs into it the drummer puked all over his kit and fell over passed out knocking over a couple cymbal stands in the process. The guitarist and I played a couple more songs for the 11 people that were there and called it quits. :spit:
 
#54
I remember being nervous as hell - I had just switched from drums to bass and had to learn 35 songs in about a month. Thankfully they were mostly easy tunes - Grateful Dead, Stones, etc. I even had to sing 2 songs- and somehow, with the help of cheat sheets and alcohol I got through it. I wasn't sure about making the switch from drums to bass beforehand. Afterwards, I was sure it was the right move. Never went back to drums after that.
 
#59
I haven't had the first "big" gig yet, but rather a slew of open mic appearances which I sort of consider a cumulative first gig. I'm 41, and had never been on stage up until my first time about 6 months ago. First time out I was was pretty anxious, but got through 3 songs. I learned a very important lesson that first night: if you can get the chicks on the dance floor, nobody will notice when you miss a note.

Fast forward a couple weeks... we played an open mic where all the other musicians were seasoned pro R&B players. We were way out of league. And we were the only band that got the chicks on the dance floor.

I've been on stage a hand full of times now at these open mics, and it gets easier every time. There are still butterflies and I've yet to really nail a song, but we've always gotten a very positive reaction from the crowd. All this has led to an opportunity to play a 20+ song gig next weekend at a local car show. Looks like I'll have 10 new songs to learn this week. This whole trial by fire thing is working out OK after all. :bassist:
 

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