Your Very first real gig?

[SpecialBlender]

1972 was the year I got my first paying gig at 21 years old.

Bunch of us used to get together on Friday nights for beer & pizza to jam. Three guitars, keyboards and drums but no bass. One of the guys showed up & said he got us a talent night slot in the Junior Ranks mess on the Navy Reserve base in Vancouver. Since we needed a bass I volunteered to borrow one for the night. Everyone loved the 3 songs we played, passed the hat & made 20.00 split 5 ways. They immediately booked us to play there every 2nd Sunday for the club starting in 2 weeks. Had that long to learn/polish 40 more songs and pulled it off.

Turned out the owner of one largest catering companies in Vancouver at that time was an officer there and we became one of his main house bands. Also got tied up with another officer who was a booking agent. Between those 2 guys we were playing between 3 & 5 one nighters every week within 4 months. Even then we still went back regularly to that Sunday night gig for not much pay to continue polishing the act & testing new material.

I was making almost us much playing as I was working for a living. There was much discussion going on (& offers) to take the band on the road. Our daughter had just been born and I was offered a promotion at work that involved a move to another town. As much as I wanted the "rock star" life the decision was a no brainer on my part. Family came first.

Fast forward 10 years the core of that band was still together on the road having had some recording success, radio rotation etc. when they came through my town. Turns out it was their bass players last gig with them and I was asked to join them again. Still no real decision required, they hadn't been home to their families in 3 months. I kind of liked being in my own bed at night.

 

[BassmanA440]

1989. Bay Ridge Brooklyn, "Our Place For Ribs." Despite the name it was really a classy restaurant. paid 60 bucks, a free dinner, all I could drink, 6 months after I started playing.

I was given the intensive crash course. we literally practiced religiously at least 6-8 hours a day - reading real book charts, transcribing the likes of Ron Carter and Ray Brown.

I was a tuba player in the 26th Army band, Ft Hamilton NY. When the month was longer than the pay check, every one would eat hot dogs and ramen noodles. Yes it happens in the Army - not just college. Then came "crazy" old Sgt Herman Write, sax/clarinet player. Herman would go into the subways after duty, open his case up and make quite descent beer money. He'd come back with boxes of rib eye steaks from the commissary, no ramen. I was convinced, but he was the crazy one? OK eccentric. You could see him walking around with his clarinet practicing some Charlie Parker lick, or playing two saxophones at once while wearing red suspenders and red beret. None of the real bass players wanted to deal with him and his fantasies of gigging right outside the post. No one wanted me on the bass and the "Higher Ups" really tried to discourage me from the bass, to the point of being abusive. So we both had something to prove (it was so nice to see them eat crow). Also I was lucky to be a soldier/musician. We could hang out in the practice booth all day and not get in trouble, get paid by Uncle Sam, take it to the restaurants and clubs and get paid again. But don't you believe for one second that we got over on the Army. As soon as the commander found out that we were gigging, he gave us extra duties as a Jazz Combo. Oh wow, more practice on the clock. Yup, tough job but someone had to do it

 

[Gaolee]

I don't know if this counts or not. When I was in college, I played with a number of different people in different combinations, all informal. There was a show getting put on by some organization, I don't remember who or why, and a friend who was a country singer and acoustic guitar player asked if I would play the show with her and another guy. I said, sure. That was Tuesday, and the show was Saturday. We got together for the first time on Wednesday. There were no written charts, so I was going to have to wing it completely. That was bad enough, but to make it worse, I started turning one of the songs into a reggae groove and another one into a more Motown groove, just messing around as they played and as I learned the songs. They liked it and decided that's how we should do it. I was just messing around but too dumb to know that this would screw them up. I really didn't know the songs at all, and because we had scheduling problems, we didn't play again until a quick tune-up in a ladies room right before we were to go on. No amp in the ladies room, of course. I figured if all else failed, I would just listen to what was going on and go from there. We got on, and of course I pretty much blew a fuse looking at a whole lot of people. During the first song, the other two lost their places and started looking at me to hold it together. I didn't know the song very well, but kept chugging along as well as I could. It was pretty bad. Then we got our act together and got through the rest of the set somehow.

It wasn't going to be a paid gig, and that's good, since they got what they paid for. I think most of the audience was stoned anyway.

 

[Neon Blues]

My first gig was bizarre.

Ever since I started bass around 8 years ago, I have always loved Blues/ Blues Rock. I enquired at the local Blues Club around gigs/bands.

They had a Blues Brothers Tribute Band headlining their yearly concert and needed a Bass Player for the Opening act.

I was way out of my realm when I arrived to rehearse. The lead guitarist/singer was the greatest musician I have ever played with to date. He wanted to do a Gary Moore Tribute and you could not tell the difference between the recordings and this guy. He even had Gary Moore's equipment spot on including an Original 59' Les Paul.

Anywho, a month of rehearsals and we were set. Expecting a small intimate Blues club. I walk into a giant hall with an SVT CL and an 810 playing to 500 patrons.

The weird thing was, I felt less nervous that night than I do at some Blues Jams in front of 40.

The gig went flawlessly, I nailed the songs except for missing a stop on Walkin' By Myself. The crowd didn't notice.

I got many compliments that night, attributing mainly to the fact the other bands that played were playing fairly rundown Fenders and a Yamaha RBX and I was gigging a newly bought Musicman Bongo.

 

[Tylersteez]

The first time I played on stage was when I was 13 at an open mic night at a bar, played good times bad times and another song I can't remember but I don't count that as a gig. The first gig I did was with my first decent band. We had our songs produced by mike vescera who sang for yngwie malmsteen, pretty sure there's a vid of the performance but here's one of our songs before we broke up-

 

[RevCrookedMouth]

My first show was when I was 15 and playing keyboard and singing in a crappy Christian punk band (weird I know), and it was for the guitarist's grandmother's 70th birthday. We were booked on the basis that we were a Christian group and they had no idea what we sounded like. We got there and the drummer told us he had forgot his drumsticks. It came out later that he had left them on purpose because he was scared to play. We managed to get a set for him and played the show, which went awfully, since he couldn't even play a basic beat, having only played drums for 2 weeks at that point. And the guitard decided we were doing a guitar and vocals only version of Happy Birthday, and attempted to play the vocal melody of the song, which he had learned an hour before. Needless to say, it was not well received. Luckily I had caught the performance bug way earlier, having performed in church and at piano recitals since I was about 6.

 

[joebar]

it was 1985 -I was 14 years old.
my best friend's band was already playing gigs and they lost their bass player 6 days before a show.
they were playing a free concert in the high school cafeteria.
they asked me if I would play-I had never played a bass before.
the songs were super easy and I had 6 days to learn them.
it sucked I am sure but at the time it was exhilarating to be in a band.
I fell in love with the bass 30 years ago and never looked back.

 

[dangnewt]

My first gig was as a guitarist and it was a fashion show at one of the local middle schools. I was 14 or 15 at the time but my bandmates were 13 and attended the school. My only memory (hey, it was 50 or so years ago!) was that since I was in high school I got a disproportionate amount of attention from the middle school girls much to the chagrin of my bandmates.

My first gig as a bassist was at a post-wedding ceremony party for my pastor's son about 12 years ago. The bride was Catholic so the party was in the church hall - we were just a singer, me and a guitarist and we set up in front of a niche with a statue of a saint towering over us - can't recall which one. We had fun and since many of the guests knew us from church, it was a friendly crowd which made it easier to get back on stage after so many years.