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Why Some Musicians Don't Gig

#142
Marko5657 said:
Lemme get this straight…

“Jamming”, as in being able to read other musicians and create music on the fly isn’t part of being a musician?

Yes

Writing original music isn’t a worthy part of being a musician?

I would say it is worthy.

Is a musician just an instrumentalist, only copying what someone else wrote, or playing as instructed?

That's one way to look at it

Is a musician someone who finds playing their instrument alone, boring?

If all I did was practice bass alone, for me, I would be bored. But I don't think it makes an individual boring.

Someone who can’t enjoy it unless someone accepts him into their band and gives them a place on a stage?

Not really, however, I love being in the right kind of band and I keep track of my audition wins and losses. I think that stuff is important to me. Being in a band really defines me, it's why I hate being in between bands.

Is being a musician about getting attention, money, chicks? What does that have to do with being a musician?

[I like attention, money and chicks. However those things have nothing to do with being a musician.]

Is a true musician someone who can only enjoy playing one type of music?

I was in a Pop Rock Band last year and I recently joined a blues band. Most musicians have a preference , mine is Pop Rock, but playing in a blues band will be cool and a different dynamic and the opportunity to learn something different.

Forty years gigging, and can’t even imagine organizing a group themselves?

No, I get a headache just thinking about it.

You speak down to people as though you’re advanced, when you appear to me to be quite stunted. I just don’t know where you get the nerve, but since you can dish it out, I’m gonna assume you can take it...

I hope I don't speak down to people or my peers. And I certainly would never want to bring anyone down.

I'm opinionated and yes I can take it just as I dish it out. Remember opinions, mine, yours, anyone's really doesn't mean much.

I am not advanced, my abilities as a musician and bass guitarist are limited. I am your typical "ham & egg" bass player. I can get the job done, nothing more, nothing less.

In MY opinion, you’re not quite a musician, you just play one on stage.
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That would not be a bad gig.
 
#143
fingerbun said:
Sure, strokes for folks and recording is not for everyone, just like live is not for everyone. But believe me, if you had started on a TEAC 3340S as I did, Logic, or even GarageBand, is an indescribable leap forward.

A relevant side track...my wife and I have some involvement with the local ukulele collective, and after the elitist bitching, backstabbing and bs of most music scenes, the inclusiveness of the uke guys comes as an unbelievable breath of fresh air.

Not going to change my mind about what I like artisically, but sure makes me question a lot of the nonsense that goes on in the music industry. The notion of everyone joining in, noone excluded, kind of appeals. A couple of sample clips:

Invalid Link Removed (a bunch of amateurs in bedrooms around the world made this. There is a whole community called the ukulele underground supporting this sort of stuff on the web.)

Invalid Link Removed (why should only the folks on the stage be playing? Before this concert they put sheet music and rehearsal recordings on the web so anyone could practice and join in.)

The point being that there are lots of ways to get involved in music other than playing Mustang Sally in the corner of a bar somewhere.
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Interesting that you mentioned ukes, I was looking at ukes at GC the other day.Always have been facinated with ukes and The bandjo. If I ever picked up a second instrument it would be one of the two.

George Harrison played Uke, very cool.
 
#144
bluewine said:
Is a musician just an instrumentalist, only copying what someone else wrote, or playing as instructed?

That's one way to look at it
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Some amazing music is made in this way, and doing it properly takes huge skill. The hardest thing I have ever done is read dots in an orchestra on double bass. Similarly when you hear good section work in a big band.

Admittedly rock is different, but imo it's much easier to be a competent rock musician than a competent orchestral musician.
 
#146
I can see why this would be a perplexing question to people who considers themselves musicians. As someone who considers himself a musician (and that's being quite generous to myself lol), I had the whole "go big or go home" attitude instilled in me since I was a teenager playing in a band....the goal was always "Get signed, make an album, go and tour the world" and if you didn't do that then you weren't a "successful musician".

I will admit that while my view of success has been broadened (i.e.-session guys do QUITE well for themselves and the average listener doesn't even know their name), the focus is still on music as a profession. This all boils down to what your goals are in your musical career (or in some people's case, hobby). Spending $4k on a Wal because I just got signed and want a high quality bass while I'm on tour makes perfect sense to me, but some other guy might buy the same Wal just to bang out a bunch of covers in his basement playing along with his iPod. If playing in my basement was all I could do for the rest of my life, I'd probably just end it right now lol. But everyone has their own goals, for some people that goal is playing guitar hero on expert....to each his own lol
 
#147
fingerbun said:
Some amazing music is made in this way, and doing it properly takes huge skill. The hardest thing I have ever done is read dots in an orchestra on double bass. Similarly when you hear good section work in a big band.

Admittedly rock is different, but imo it's much easier to be a competent rock musician than a competent orchestral musician.
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I’m sure in my rant, I said more than one thing that was unreasonable (especially if taken out of the context of a silly rant… :o)


And blue, God bless that old stubborn coot just can’t be rattled. :)
 
#148
VanillaThundah said:
I can see why this would be a perplexing question to people who considers themselves musicians. As someone who considers himself a musician (and that's being quite generous to myself lol), I had the whole "go big or go home" attitude instilled in me since I was a teenager playing in a band....the goal was always "Get signed, make an album, go and tour the world" and if you didn't do that then you weren't a "successful musician".

I will admit that while my view of success has been broadened (i.e.-session guys do QUITE well for themselves and the average listener doesn't even know their name), the focus is still on music as a profession. This all boils down to what your goals are in your musical career (or in some people's case, hobby). Spending $4k on a Wal because I just got signed and want a high quality bass while I'm on tour makes perfect sense to me, but some other guy might buy the same Wal just to bang out a bunch of covers in his basement playing along with his iPod. If playing in my basement was all I could do for the rest of my life, I'd probably just end it right now lol. But everyone has their own goals, for some people that goal is playing guitar hero on expert....to each his own lol
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You are hitting exactly the point!!! This goes straight to Blue's original question

I had similar goals, started down the path, then realised it wasn't for me, and had to re-evaluate. Others have said the same.

At the time I was a full-time player, was making a living, had started recording, heard myself on the radio, done a bit of telly work. I came to the conclusion first that I was nothing special....the odds of even "making it" were not great and if I did it would only be temporary. So I decided it was not worthwhile, yet the bands I then went on to play with as a part timer were at a lower standard and it was incredibly frustrating. (That included my own playing being a lower standard due to less practice time).

For me, adjusting to all that and finding avenues where I could play again and be happy basically involved stopping playing for a while. That was late 80s / early 90s and while I dabbled in various hobby projects I've really only come back seriously to music in the last three years or so. I think I am as serious as I ever was, though with very different goals.

If the time comes, and you have to take a break from music, you will know. And when it's time to restart, you will know.
 
#149
VanillaThundah said:
I can see why this would be a perplexing question to people who considers themselves musicians. As someone who considers himself a musician (and that's being quite generous to myself lol),

I had the whole "go big or go home" attitude instilled in me since I was a teenager playing in a band....the goal was always "Get signed, make an album, go and tour the world" and if you didn't do that then you weren't a "successful musician".

I will admit that while my view of success has been broadened (i.e.-session guys do QUITE well for themselves and the average listener doesn't even know their name), the focus is still on music as a profession.

This all boils down to what your goals are in your musical career (or in some people's case, hobby). Spending $4k on a Wal because I just got signed and want a high quality bass while I'm on tour makes perfect sense to me, but some other guy might buy the same Wal just to bang out a bunch of covers in his basement playing along with his iPod. If playing in my basement was all I could do for the rest of my life, I'd probably just end it right now lol. But everyone has their own goals, for some people that goal is playing guitar hero on expert....to each his own lol
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Thats the way it was done and if you had the ability and were willing to take the risk you had a chance. I didn't have the ability and was afraid of the risk, so I went to college. It was probably the right choice.

I am not sure where all this "musician" stuff came from. But now that I think about it, for me I think I will give myself the label of Bass Guitarist.
 
#150
For me music is an inherrent part of my soul. If I'm not playing there's a piece of me missing like an empty corner I can't figure out how to fill any other way. I took a sabbatical from playing for quite a while and just recently started woodshedding again, and it's been interesting rebuilding my gear again after having sold most of it about 5 years ago.

I thought I was done performing. That I was getting too old for it and it was just too much of a hassle to deal with. I was wrong. For me nothing gets my creative juices flowing more than performing live. Recording can be interesting but it's not really fun and although I've done my share it just doesn't trip my trigger the way a live performance. I guess I just get more out of the immediate feedback I get from an audience then any personal satistfaction from something I just laid down on tape, or zeros and ones.

I'm a performing musician and I have been for 40 years and I'll still be one 40 years from now if I make it that long. Whether it's singing or playing I'll find some venue to play and some outlet for my muse because the next time I stop......I'll be gone. Thank God for the blues and all the famous old farts who still play it and make it possible for the rest of us not so famous old farts to do the same.
 
#151
If i was not in a band today or my band kicked me out I would be very bummed..as a bassist that is. As a guitarist and singer/songwriter I would not since I could now put more effort into my solo project that has been in the works for the last year or more. I have been writing songs since I was 15 or so and really enjoy it. I have yet to perform or record one. I have quite a few now after writing allot in the last 10 years and many are very personal almost a diary of my life and events a focus of event's in my life.

I have a drive to get some of these recorded and If they never get played live I could live with that, although my goal is to perform them live form time to time.
I would still be looking for a bass playing role in a good band but if the recording, songwriting took off...maybe not.
 
#153
my interest in music was rekindled by woirking with a number of software developers who had home studios. Even amongst the home studio community there's a division of sorts between those who use the home studio like a sophisticated tape recording on whole songs (with some audi editing/cleanup) and those that work in patterns and compose by piecing patterns together (and those patterns may be moused in or played in)
It's possible to compose fairly sophisticated music with very limited playing skills.
The more I got into home studio, the more I wanted the feel of live playing, so I may be the rare case of that evolution.
But of the people I know who play and/or compose, the vast majority don't actually play out and certainly not as a living.
The biggest issue with home studio production is there semmes to be a lot more music getting crerated and posted than listened to. The most pedestrian cover band playing out has the adbvantage that people are listening.
 
#154
bluewine said:
I am not sure where all this "musician" stuff came from. But now that I think about it, for me I think I will give myself the label of Bass Guitarist.
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And this is why you have to ask the question. If you don't get it no one can explain it to you.

I haven't played a gig (other than to occasionally sub for a friend) in 7 or 8 years. I don't need anyone to validate my music. I know that some people will love it, some people will hate it and 99.9999% of the people will never hear it or give a damn if they do. That's fine, I'm not trying to be the McDonald's of music.

By the way- all of this musician stuff came from the title of your thread, "Why Some Musicians Don't Gig."
 
#157
aborgman said:
Nope.

Is there some moral necessity for Peyton manning to be a great quarterback?
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Word.

I think this thread just shows how much some folks live in their own little worlds. I honestly couldn't care less what motivates other people to do anything, especially something harmless like learning to play a musical instrument. When I give advice, I always give it assuming people want to pursue it at a high level, but if they don't, my life goes on.
 
#159
I would love to do gigs. But alas, family and career prevent it at this point. I work strictly weekend nights now so there isn`t any possible way. Just playing in a band would be satisfying, even if it wasn`t out in public. But, I have had almost zero success finding a group; everybody in town has the goal of playing out. I`ve found it a bit curious that there is NOBODY around home content with gtg`s for the sake of having fun playing with other musicians - everybody seems to use the music part as a means to an end. I do find enjoyment in the learning / playing at home side, though....seems I`m the odd man out in my area.
 
#160
Personally I love stepping up and playing, but all the other stuff outside of actually playing music tends to become a grind, especially if you're maintaining a job, and a family outside of your music. I don't have any delusions of grandeur, but because I do have a day job it allows me the freedom to pretty much play whatever music I like, as opposed to only playing what's playing. I'm transitioning from a period of creativity where I removed myself from playing live and worked on new material for a couple of years, and now I'm moving toward playing gigs again. I've always had that drive to play live, but I can see how some people would be satisfied just creating music on their computer, or with a local crew of guys.
 

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