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Your Last Gig
- Thread starter J-Fev
- Start date
I'm 61 and the band I'm in has worked hard to become a well paid private party band with gigs on the calendar into Sept. My problem is my guitar player/lead vocal has health issues that might take him out permanently. It's been an 11-12 year run with the same band and I don't think I have the interest to start over again. Also the drummer is 71 and I think he is closer to hanging it up than me. The next few weeks will determine what happens. I will remain a bedroom player regardless.
OP, for you...you might not be gigging anymore but you will still be a musician. The only one that can remove that identity is you. We are all with you on the same journey to the same place. Hang in there....all the best.
OP, for you...you might not be gigging anymore but you will still be a musician. The only one that can remove that identity is you. We are all with you on the same journey to the same place. Hang in there....all the best.
I refuse to think about such things. I might as well think about the day I can no longer drive or feed myself.
Life unfolds the way it does, it's what we do with the allotted time that counts... so I live each moment, neither dreading the future nor longing for the past.
Way better than nicotine.
I started playing bass in 1971. The intent was to learn the instrument, and play with others. I did. Fast forward 50+ years, I still play my instrument often, sometimes with other musicians, SOMETIMES in a gig situation. With a few thousand gigs under my belt, I’m not 100% done, just ready for a new musical chapter of my life.
I’m 64, and still improving as a player. I gig every weekend I’m not on vacation, plus a few weekday gigs here and there. I realize there may eventually be a limit, but I’m gonna run into that limit at full speed.
I have told folks where to donate my basses when I’m done with them, but at this point there’s no clue as to the timing of that.
The Rolling Stones are much older than me, and they’re on tour.
I have told folks where to donate my basses when I’m done with them, but at this point there’s no clue as to the timing of that.
The Rolling Stones are much older than me, and they’re on tour.
Intellectually, I accepted my death in my early teens, and have come close a couple of handfuls of times over the ensuing decades, and now, with at least 75% of my life in the rearview, it's not so much that I won't be able to gig, but rather, that I won't be available for any mortal functions.
Don't get me wrong, not trying to be macabre, and there's no depression, I'm just mindful of the limitations of age. The gym is on my schedule 4-7 days a week, depending upon work scheduling, and I can probably do a 2 hour set with a late-70's Fender without undue fatigue.
On the other hand. I did a set Thursday with a really good guitarist, Nick . . . Who's 80 years old. Sure, he plays sitting down, and is missing a finger on his fretting hand, but man can he play!
Don't get me wrong, not trying to be macabre, and there's no depression, I'm just mindful of the limitations of age. The gym is on my schedule 4-7 days a week, depending upon work scheduling, and I can probably do a 2 hour set with a late-70's Fender without undue fatigue.
On the other hand. I did a set Thursday with a really good guitarist, Nick . . . Who's 80 years old. Sure, he plays sitting down, and is missing a finger on his fretting hand, but man can he play!
I'm 78, broke my hip last Fall. Still gigging (with a rollator!) but I wonder with each one if it's the last one. I'm OK with that, and yes, I will still be a musician, and a bassist, but I don't really think I'll know how it will work out until it does, one way or another.
I'll make a long story short.
I loved to play, and I still do. But I got to the point I simply couldn't face roomfuls of drunks and worse. I got to the end of my patience, I played one more gig I had to honor, and I walked away 7 or 8 years ago. I hung up my guns as far as gigging when I was more than ready, and never think 'what if' and would not go tonight if somebody offered me a thousand bucks. I do not miss it at all after 20-odd years in the saddle.
I often used to joke that if you were reasonably well-adjusted, happily married, your ego is in check, and you have no drink or drug problems, Get a Straight Job, you're just not cut out to be a musician. In my case, ultimately it was true.
I loved to play, and I still do. But I got to the point I simply couldn't face roomfuls of drunks and worse. I got to the end of my patience, I played one more gig I had to honor, and I walked away 7 or 8 years ago. I hung up my guns as far as gigging when I was more than ready, and never think 'what if' and would not go tonight if somebody offered me a thousand bucks. I do not miss it at all after 20-odd years in the saddle.
I often used to joke that if you were reasonably well-adjusted, happily married, your ego is in check, and you have no drink or drug problems, Get a Straight Job, you're just not cut out to be a musician. In my case, ultimately it was true.
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Plus 1 on this. When my cousin had the c scare, the first doctor had her picking out her casket. She tried another doctor and was cured. It was.a tough road of kemo and stuff but she made it through it all.
I recently found out I have a degenerative neurological condition that will rob me of my ability to make music soon, possibly as soon as 2-3 years, which I refuse to accept. Instead I plan to keep playing another 5 years. I can’t speak to courage, but I couldn’t care less about grace at this point.
Some day soon I won’t be able to play or sing. Until then, I will play and sing every chance I get, and make every minute count. Just today I found out my old drummer is suddenly available. I’ve already got a singer lined up, so all we need is a guitarist.
This post has some rather heavy philosophical undertones that seems out of place on TB. I can only speak for myself, but after playing all over the world for nearly 60 years and fighting debilitating arthritis, I’m still not ready to call it quits. I may be too much of an optimist, but I’m going to keep playing until i can’t. We all know that Father Time is undefeated, but he hasn’t gotten me yet.
That's a scary thought and NO! I have not contemplated that and I don't expect to. I thought of myself as a musician from the time I was about 14 until I was 26 when all my gear was stolen. So then I stopped being both a bass player and a musician. Then I got a 12 string for Christmas and continued on feeling like a musician again. Then, in 1985 when I managed to replace my stolen '65 Jazz with a 1982 Jazz that had the same neck profile, shape, and radius on it. Then I became a bass player again as well as a musician. At age 71, I continue to do both and expect to keep being both...especially since I have such great gear now!!!
You can have my '82 Jazz Bass
when you can pry it from
my COLD DEAD HANDS!
(Actually, you can't. I'm leaving it to my son in my will...)
I have a son that has his eye on my bass too. There rest of it? He could care less. S’pose it goes in the coffin with me..LOL!
That's a scary thought and NO! I have not contemplated that and I don't expect to. I thought of myself as a musician from the time I was about 14 until I was 26 when all my gear was stolen. So then I stopped being both a bass player and a musician. Then I got a 12 string for Christmas and continued on feeling like a musician again. Then, in 1985 when I managed to replace my stolen '65 Jazz with a 1982 Jazz that had the same neck profile, shape, and radius on it. Then I became a bass player again as well as a musician. At age 71, I continue to do both and expect to keep being both...especially since I have such great gear now!!!
You can have my '82 Jazz Bass
when you can pry it from
my COLD DEAD HANDS!
(Actually, you can't. I'm leaving it to my son in my will...)
I have a son that has his eye on my bass too. There rest of it? He could care less. S’pose it goes in the coffin with me..LOL!
At 67 I'm winding down from gigging, but I think I will always love going in my music room and playing my bass everyday. The covid shut down gave me a taste of not having a gig schedule for the first time in my adult life, but I also discovered the joy of just playing just for me, not preparing for a gig.
I won't stop gigging, but I now just pick the gigs I enjoy doing.
I won't stop gigging, but I now just pick the gigs I enjoy doing.
I've had to teach myself to "go with the flow" at 50 years old. I get very passionate about things. Then, the passion wears off. So I take a break. If the passion never comes back, no biggie. I have other things I'm really into.
Of all those things I'm passionate about, bass has been in my life the longest. But, it's no more important (in the big scheme of things) than anything else. So it will get the same treatment. If I wake up one day and don't feel it, I'll sell down to a couple of basses and one rig. If the passion never comes back, those will go do. And I won't shed a tear over the process.
Of all those things I'm passionate about, bass has been in my life the longest. But, it's no more important (in the big scheme of things) than anything else. So it will get the same treatment. If I wake up one day and don't feel it, I'll sell down to a couple of basses and one rig. If the passion never comes back, those will go do. And I won't shed a tear over the process.
I contemplate playing my last gig all the time. It’s a great reminder to play each gig as if it might be your last. It’s also a great philosophy of life in general, come to think of it.
J-Fev, you’re not alone.
2018 was my lost year as I battled lymphoma. I never had any doubt about getting back out there and playing. I KNEW I was going to get better. December 2018 I played 3 songs with the band at a holiday party. 6 months later, I was doing gigs again.
I don’t know your particulars, but stay positive, stay focused.
