I'm bored and curious, what was the first gig you guys remember playing? How old were you? How skilled were you at the time? How did you get it/ how were you paid? Looking forward to the responses/ stories!
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What was the first gig you remember playing?
- Thread starter Drewbacca
- Start date
I'll bite..My first time ever gig was just 4 weeks ago. I've been playing bass for about 7 months. I've played guitar for years, but never in a real band. Our band has been together for about the same amount of time and we do original tunes. Our singer got the gig. It wasn't too hard though, this place is basically the place in town you go as a new band to kind of get stage experience. We got paid 15% of the bar take, which sounds nice, but being the dive bar it is...the whole band made a total of $10. Really cool experience though and now we have 2 more gigs at another bar and grille in town...oh, and I'm in my mid-30s since you asked.
Hmmm...
Baileyville Grange Hall just outside of State College Pa.
I was 12.
I played like I was 12. The band knew 3 songs (Jumping Jack Flash, Sympathy for the Devil and Hey Joe) and played them for 3 hours over and over.
That was 37 years ago.
The band split $24 so I made six bucks.
To this day it still ranks as one of the best gigs I ever did. We were Gods.
Baileyville Grange Hall just outside of State College Pa.
I was 12.
I played like I was 12. The band knew 3 songs (Jumping Jack Flash, Sympathy for the Devil and Hey Joe) and played them for 3 hours over and over.
That was 37 years ago.
The band split $24 so I made six bucks.
To this day it still ranks as one of the best gigs I ever did. We were Gods.
I played a Christmas gig at a church when I was 17. I was a guitarist back then. We did the heavy metal version of Silent Night and totally had everyone up in arms swearing we were being used by the Devil. Those were the days. Now days they'd probably pay us to play that gig.
It was 1976 I was 12 and my best friend and his 2 older brothers had all gotten gear (drums, guitar, Fender Rhodes) for Christmas. They needed a bass to complete the band I had been taking classical guitar lessons for about a year so I begged my parents and they bought me a $99 National bass. We practiced like crazy and 2 weeks later we played at a church for a bunch of kids. Can't remember the set list but I think it included Can't Get Enough, Jumpin Jack Flash, Smoke on the Water, Chinagrove etc. We got paid maybe $50 bucks but we were mobbed by the kids when we were leaving. Felt like a star... probably why I'm still in this crazy entertainment racket to this day!
I was 13 years old.I had my bass for maybe seven weeks in summer of 1966.
There was a pretty decent drummer down my street & another neighborhood guy who could play guitar OK.Nobody could find a bass player then so the guitarist kept coming over to my house all the time to convince me to buy a bass & amp.So I got a crappy bass &crappier amp & I was in.Both of these guys were about 3 years older than me.
The guitarist(his nickname was Smitty)would come over & show me what notes were what & bullied me into doing something that almost sounded like a bass line.I learned pretty quick that G-C-D.could be played anywhere on the neck& worked for most 60s tunes.I also learned that by rolling the tone knob down & cranking the low end up you couldn't hear mistakes very well.After about 7 weeks we knew about one &half hours worth of stuff most of it in G-C-D.
Well then we landed a paying job!
It was at an Italian family picnic and we only had to play two 40 minute sets.I think the drummer was related to some of the folks.
We called ourselves "THE DUCANES".1 guitar,1 bass & drums.We all sang.
We played Wild Thing,Slow Down,I fought the Law,Twist&Shout,Good Lovin',My Girl(that was really hard for me then!),Wooly Bully, Honky tonk,Wipeout ,I'm a believer,& any 60s/50S tune with 3 chords(OK maybe 4)we could think of!
We went over great! We wound up playing for 3 hours & we actually got paid $15.00 a man! That wasn't bad for 1966.
And the real cherry on top was when this really cute darkhaired (who was a worldly woman of 15) girl kissed me (not only my 1st kissbut my 1st REAL kiss}told me I was cute & slipped me her phone number.It must of been my Thom Mc Cann Monkee boots & department store Mod wardrobe.I can still taste her lipstick!
So now I'm fat & 55 years old & have played all over the place you know,blah,blah,blah had my ups & downs but every now & then I remember that first gig!
And you know what?I'm still playing all that stuff!
There was a pretty decent drummer down my street & another neighborhood guy who could play guitar OK.Nobody could find a bass player then so the guitarist kept coming over to my house all the time to convince me to buy a bass & amp.So I got a crappy bass &crappier amp & I was in.Both of these guys were about 3 years older than me.
The guitarist(his nickname was Smitty)would come over & show me what notes were what & bullied me into doing something that almost sounded like a bass line.I learned pretty quick that G-C-D.could be played anywhere on the neck& worked for most 60s tunes.I also learned that by rolling the tone knob down & cranking the low end up you couldn't hear mistakes very well.After about 7 weeks we knew about one &half hours worth of stuff most of it in G-C-D.
Well then we landed a paying job!
It was at an Italian family picnic and we only had to play two 40 minute sets.I think the drummer was related to some of the folks.
We called ourselves "THE DUCANES".1 guitar,1 bass & drums.We all sang.
We played Wild Thing,Slow Down,I fought the Law,Twist&Shout,Good Lovin',My Girl(that was really hard for me then!),Wooly Bully, Honky tonk,Wipeout ,I'm a believer,& any 60s/50S tune with 3 chords(OK maybe 4)we could think of!
We went over great! We wound up playing for 3 hours & we actually got paid $15.00 a man! That wasn't bad for 1966.
And the real cherry on top was when this really cute darkhaired (who was a worldly woman of 15) girl kissed me (not only my 1st kissbut my 1st REAL kiss}told me I was cute & slipped me her phone number.It must of been my Thom Mc Cann Monkee boots & department store Mod wardrobe.I can still taste her lipstick!
So now I'm fat & 55 years old & have played all over the place you know,blah,blah,blah had my ups & downs but every now & then I remember that first gig!
And you know what?I'm still playing all that stuff!
My first gig was two months ago at a Church carnival. We were just hanging out and the priest had talked to my dad and somehow our band came up in their conversation. Anyway, it was a Thursday and he asked us to play that Saturday! It was our 1st gig, all I had was a 10 watt amp and the drummer had a baseball game, but we took it anyway. I had to run to GC the next day to pick up a Fender Rumble 60 (the guitarist only had a 15 watt amp) and we had practice Saturday morning before the gig. We actually put together our opening song that morning (it was a jam
). Then our drummer's baseball game ran late, so we couldn't start until 7:30. Then the guitarist's strap fell off on the 1st song, his string broke on the 4th so he had to use his backup guitar which wasn't very good (Squier Afifnity Strat), the drummer couldn't keep a beat. I don't mean to brag, but I was the only one that really played their best. But in the end, the crowd screamed until they got an encore, and we had fun, so it was all worth it.
). Then our drummer's baseball game ran late, so we couldn't start until 7:30. Then the guitarist's strap fell off on the 1st song, his string broke on the 4th so he had to use his backup guitar which wasn't very good (Squier Afifnity Strat), the drummer couldn't keep a beat. I don't mean to brag, but I was the only one that really played their best. But in the end, the crowd screamed until they got an encore, and we had fun, so it was all worth it.
Cool 
It's fun to hear how people get started and their experiences! I'm trying to find people around me who play but so far, no luck. Eventually I will.
It's fun to hear how people get started and their experiences! I'm trying to find people around me who play but so far, no luck. Eventually I will.
Assuming that crappy little bands that we had in high school don't count, my first gig was April 26th of this year at the Weathervane Music Hall in Brattleboro, VT.
My first gig was in a church basement. I was 12 or 13 so this must have been '68/'69.
I don't remember how we got the gig because none of us were particularly religious. Maybe through the drummer's mom or some such.
It was a late afternoon thing from 3-6. We weren't even really "A band", we just got together after school and jammed on faves of the day. Cream, Hendrix, Beatles etc
We played and people danced and seemed to enjoy it. We used the church's Vocal Master - no monitors (didn't exist for another 10 years).
We didn't get paid. But seeing as I was at the height of my @$$h*o£Æ stage I went upstairs to the "Big Room" and found the collection monies and took that. Afterwards we all went down to the "Arctic Circle" Drive-In and bought loads of onion rings.
I'm gonna have some 'splainin' to do for that one!
I don't remember how we got the gig because none of us were particularly religious. Maybe through the drummer's mom or some such.
It was a late afternoon thing from 3-6. We weren't even really "A band", we just got together after school and jammed on faves of the day. Cream, Hendrix, Beatles etc
We played and people danced and seemed to enjoy it. We used the church's Vocal Master - no monitors (didn't exist for another 10 years).
We didn't get paid. But seeing as I was at the height of my @$$h*o£Æ stage I went upstairs to the "Big Room" and found the collection monies and took that. Afterwards we all went down to the "Arctic Circle" Drive-In and bought loads of onion rings.
I'm gonna have some 'splainin' to do for that one!
at mine i was playing guitar, this was last year 17th june 07, we'd been practise the same song for ages and ages and ages (about 6 months) because the rythm guitarist couldn't play very well (i was lead but switched to bass as i find it more comfortable, my guitars now just a show piece my basses get all the playing now). o yeh i was 14, we were playing for free. unfortunatly we had never heard the singer sing. star play, all goes smoothly them BAM...!!! the vocals come in and makes it sound like cats being thrown against the wall. good job we played our one song for free otherwise they would have demanded refund.
i think it was my senior year in HS when my friend needed a bass to play a showa few weeks away at the 3rd rail in brooklyn where my other friends band was headlining. i played thru an ampeg 6x10 and sounded great allthough i fuked up left and right...and mind you we didnt play with lyrics because our siunger got stagefright. after that show i was a permenent member until we broke up a few months ago :-/... those were the days
We didn't get paid. But seeing as I was at the height of my @$$h*o£Æ stage I went upstairs to the "Big Room" and found the collection monies and took that. Afterwards we all went down to the "Arctic Circle" Drive-In and bought loads of onion rings.
I'm gonna have some 'splainin' to do for that one!
I'm not religious either and (i'm 14 lol) still partly in my "@$$h*o£Æ" stage but taking collection money?!? (how much did ya get?...)
My first gig was in 1965. I was 16 and my band had been playing together for about three months. We played a friend's sister's wedding. I borrowed our guitar player's dad's '53 P bass for the gig. "Wooly Bully" was our showstopper. We were to receive $35 (5-piece band). At the end of the gig, the bride's father tried to offer us $20 and asked if we would "take the rest in chewing gum." We didn't 
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bump for kicking the **** out of other bands yes i drank an energy drink you should see my opinions on that on the other thread here 
yes i drank an energy drink you should see my opinions on that on the other thread here 
