how much gigging is too much gigging?

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Lt. Bob
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how much gigging is too much gigging?

Post by Lt. Bob »

man ..... I'm on a roll .... played Wed, Thurs, Fri , two gigs today (Sat ) and one tomorrow .... then Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri, and Sat.

I don't turn down work since I have a mortgage but I think more than 6 gigs a week starts to be more like an ass-whoopin'
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Greg_L
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Re: how much gigging is too much gigging?

Post by Greg_L »

For me, I don't wanna play more than once a month. Hell, not even that much. Once every other month is plenty. When people know you play all the time they don't go.
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Armistice
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Re: how much gigging is too much gigging?

Post by Armistice »

I always found that the more I gigged, the less I liked music. I'm not gigging at all right now, but once or twice a month is fine when I am.

At my busiest I was probably playing 3 or 4 times a week - but that was many, many moons ago.
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Lt. Bob
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Re: how much gigging is too much gigging?

Post by Lt. Bob »

the more I gig the better I play and my ultimate goal is to play the very best I can so it helps for that purpose.

But the physical aspect of it is 'ow, my back!'.
:D
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Bill L
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Re: how much gigging is too much gigging?

Post by Bill L »

For the moment, I'd welcome that kind of schedule. I'm playing more than ever lately and I'm really starting to feel like I'm progressing as a player. Though I'm sure that kind of schedule would eventually wear me right down.
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JD01
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Re: how much gigging is too much gigging?

Post by JD01 »

I think if you have a normal day job then more than a gig every week is probably too much.
There's just not enough time for adequate rehersals and just not enough time to just enjoy playing/writing/recording.

The year before last I was doing a gig a month for about 6 months and 'cos it was quite a big band we'd reherse in a local studio in Bristol about once a week. That was a pretty good balance for me as I had enough time to learn and practice all my parts (just) but also enough time to have my normal life, go surfing, write and record my own stuff and just play the guitar for fun.
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Bill L
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Re: how much gigging is too much gigging?

Post by Bill L »

JD01 wrote: Sun Feb 12, 2017 12:36 pm I think if you have a normal day job then more than a gig every week is probably too much.
There's just not enough time for adequate rehersals and just not enough time to just enjoy playing/writing/recording.

The year before last I was doing a gig a month for about 6 months and 'cos it was quite a big band we'd reherse in a local studio in Bristol about once a week. That was a pretty good balance for me as I had enough time to learn and practice all my parts (just) but also enough time to have my normal life, go surfing, write and record my own stuff and just play the guitar for fun.
I'm in one band that has been practicing twice a week for about 3 months and still haven't played out. There's a lot of originals and the covers we're doing are very intense (especially with vocals). The band I run doesn't practice but we run an open mic. We use that as a paid practice. Tougher to work on nuances to songs but you tend to get the songs together quickly because no one wants to look like an ass. And since I usually record this stuff it's easy to hear where you screw up or need to work on something. The other bands I play in are usually fill ins and the rest of the band knows the songs. That's just a matter of knowing when to be quite because you don't fully know the song. :lollers:
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Re: how much gigging is too much gigging?

Post by Bubba »

I play out regularly, as most of you know. We never play more than once a week and we have a band rule to not book gigs for more than five weekends in a row. We love it, but the WAGs would start to bleat and so would I if we never had any weekends off. Then again, I have a weekday job.
Haggard Musician :mad:
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Lt. Bob
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Re: how much gigging is too much gigging?

Post by Lt. Bob »

Bill L wrote: Sun Feb 12, 2017 12:28 pm For the moment, I'd welcome that kind of schedule. I'm playing more than ever lately and I'm really starting to feel like I'm progressing as a player.
yes ..... the more you play, the better you get.
I play at a pretty high level but I continue to grow and improve ..... it's exciting on one hand but realizing I'm on the tail end of it is a bit of a downer ..... not so much time left , have to get better!

A long time ago I told someone that i wanted to be the best I could be and I couldn't do that unless I played all the time ..... and you can't play all the time unless it's your job.

That was what sent me down the path my life has run on.

But for sure, anyone that chooses a regular life with family and a real job certainly can only play a certain amount.
I chose to not do the family thing.

Of course, on my deathbed I'll have no one gathered 'round to see me off.
That's a bit sad but there's always drugs!

Alrighty then ..... time to shower and go gig .... ya'll have a good Sunday!
:)
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Greg_L
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Re: how much gigging is too much gigging?

Post by Greg_L »

How does gigging make someone better? I'm no better than I ever was and I gig fairly frequently.
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Bill L
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Re: how much gigging is too much gigging?

Post by Bill L »

Greg_L wrote: Sun Feb 12, 2017 10:04 pm How does gigging make someone better? I'm no better than I ever was and I gig fairly frequently.
First off, you're way better than you give yourself credit for.

Secondly, not for nothing but I think lots of people sound great in practice. And a lot of those very same people can't play in front of an audience/crowd. Not unlike some people have a serious aversion to being recorded (or at the very least can't seem to perform on a recording when necessary) but are otherwise great players. And in my case, I find playing out a couple of times a week, playing songs I don't know with people I don't know in front of a bunch of other people I don't know makes me not want to play like ass. Throw in that I'm usually jamming with some top notch players and you find some motivation to grow/get better. Alas, our circumstances are quite different. :twocents:
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Re: how much gigging is too much gigging?

Post by Roman »

Anything you do repeatedly will make you better, or at least more at ease with.
If you challenge yourself with players better than you, it will lift you up as well.

Reminds me of two short stories to illustrate my point.

1) In my youth, I did a lot of boxing with a highly advanced boxing friend. His dad was a boxer and I became his son's sparring partner.

The boy kicked my ass every day. The rules were simple, stay in the ring and live, escape the ring and get the shit kicked out of you....for real. Lol

It was frustrating and humiliating, as I never saw myself getting better. My freind had size and experience on me, not to mention his dad coaching him.

Anyway one day this much larger HS kid was picking a fight with me and he sucker punched me.

Immediately I kicked into action and knocked him out with one carefully aimed upper cut.

Nowadays we'd both be in jail, but luckily this was the old days. All we got was a trip to the nurse's office and detention. The Bully asked me where I learned to hit like that. I just smiled inside.

Point being , if you're around people better than you, you WILL get better, though it nay not seem like it at the time.

2) When the Black Crowes finished their debut record, one of the first shows on the tour was at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles. They were horrible, absolutely Horrible.

They toured and a year later I saw them again.
Now they were actually a good tight band.

Playing every night will do that. :D

Anyway, thats my two cents, and it cost you nothing.
:D
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Re: how much gigging is too much gigging?

Post by Greg_L »

Bill L wrote: Sun Feb 12, 2017 10:18 pm First off, you're way better than you give yourself credit for.

Secondly, not for nothing but I think lots of people sound great in practice. And a lot of those very same people can't play in front of an audience/crowd. Not unlike some people have a serious aversion to being recorded (or at the very least can't seem to perform on a recording when necessary) but are otherwise great players. And in my case, I find playing out a couple of times a week, playing songs I don't know with people I don't know in front of a bunch of other people I don't know makes me not want to play like ass. Throw in that I'm usually jamming with some top notch players and you find some motivation to grow/get better. Alas, our circumstances are quite different. :twocents:
Ha thanks.

I see what you mean. I've never had any real anxiety about playing in front of people or recording so I hadn't really considered how playing live can eventually coax someone to just get over it. I've been blessed with an extrovert personality and nerves have never been an issue.

I don't do any improvising live. I'm never at a jam or open mic. I do all of my "creative" shit in practice and then just repeat it live. Once a song is written and arranged I just play it the same way every time. That kind of puts me on autopilot and I pretty much never fuck up. Works out great! :coolstorybro:

I'd be totally lost and useless in a situation where I had to just sit in and jam with people. Not that I'd ever want to do that. Well, I could do it on drums. That's easy. No notes! :happytrees:
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Re: how much gigging is too much gigging?

Post by Lt. Bob »

First off, Greg is a bad-ass musician. I don't give such shit away and I would never say it if it weren't so. He plays that fast blast beat thing better than anyone .... he has great timing.
And his guitar chops are killer.
OMG .... palm mute champion of the world! And, of course, he's the tone master.
I have much respect for him and his chops and when he downplays his own skillz he's full of crap .... lol ....
Yes, he is limited in the number of styles he knows but that's purely because he does what he likes and doesn't do what he doesn't like .... but I have zero doubt that he could quickly cop absolutely any style in short order.

What I do is different ..... I am a reactive player ..... even when I know a song, what I play is a surprise to me .... it varies night to night .... being able to jump up on stage with guys I don't know doing songs I've never heard is the most fun there is for me and that requires constant practice on being able to hear chords and immediately play something complimentary. And the thing about live is there are no second takes .... you do it or you don't.
For me, when I play it's 4 hours of concentrated practice .... every gig every time regardless of audience.
My specialty is virtuosity on my axes and improv capability.
That;s what gets me hired ..... playing long flowing lines is really a matter of doing it.

I'm basically NOT going to practice at home other than working up new tunes that I'm gonna do.
And even then I don't pick up the guitar .... just get the sequence the way I want it and practice singing it a time or two.
Usually the first time I gig a tune is the first time I play it on guitar ..... that's not really a problem since I just play guitar without much thinking about it ..... I wouldn't be able to do that if I didn't have 100,000 hours in.



Wasn't there a study that said to get good at something you needed 100, 000 hours?
Anyway ..... I'm better now than I was this time last year and I'll be better than I am now next year.
It's a non-ending thing for me.
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Re: how much gigging is too much gigging?

Post by Roman »

^^^ All good talent there. The both of you. And I've heard a bit from both.

Different approaches, no right or wrong, just get the job done.

:coolstorybro:
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Re: how much gigging is too much gigging?

Post by Roman »

Greg_L wrote: Sun Feb 12, 2017 3:11 am For me, I don't wanna play more than once a month. Hell, not even that much. Once every other month is plenty. When people know you play all the time they don't go.
True true true. Especially the last sentence.

When you're touring you have a different audience in a different town every night.
When playing locally, as in when you're done you go home and sleep in your own bed, it's different.
The same audience sees the same band, and any sense of urgency or specialness because they won't be able to see you for a year is gone.
They go see someone else, or stay home, or decide that bowling is more important.
:D
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Re: how much gigging is too much gigging?

Post by JD01 »

Yeah - the more you play the better you get... I'd add a caveat to that. Provided you just aren't playing the same thing over and over again or you just won't get better.

The amount Bubba plays would be way too much for me... but then Bubba probably knows his set backwards and I bet they don't even really need to rehearse much.

I think to get really good you need to "Do a Bob" and completely live it. I can't get any better at playing than I am now with the time I have available - I think I've just reached my level and its all I can do to maintain it. If I don't play at all or much for a couple of days I find myself struggling to play parts that I have written myself!

I was re-tracking a metal song yesterday and I was fucking shit. Could barely play any of the tricky bits straight off and had to do millions of takes... and it still all sounds a bit messy and shit, so I'll have to re-do it. In hindsight I should have used my valuable recording time to record something that was within my capabilities properly. That was just 'cos I was working late at the office a lot last week (getting home at 7:30PM) and by the time I'd eaten and tried a bit of mixing I just couldn't get warmed up and get into my playing. Anyway - I've download my shite track from the weekend so I can practice it this week to record it properly next weekend.
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Re: how much gigging is too much gigging?

Post by Lt. Bob »

what the hell?

Double post
Last edited by Lt. Bob on Mon Feb 13, 2017 2:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: how much gigging is too much gigging?

Post by Lt. Bob »

Roman wrote: Mon Feb 13, 2017 5:17 am
True true true. Especially the last sentence.

When you're touring you have a different audience in a different town every night.
When playing locally, as in when you're done you go home and sleep in your own bed, it's different.
The same audience sees the same band, and any sense of urgency or specialness because they won't be able to see you for a year is gone.
They go see someone else, or stay home, or decide that bowling is more important.
:D
I think there's a lot of truth to that but there is one way around it.
Know lots of songs ..... my current list is running around 650 songs ..... that's a lot of tunage.
So I do have regulars that I see every week and they get wildly different songs each gig .... it makes me worth seeing again because they're always wondering what I'm gonna play.

More importantly .... it keeps me fresh and unbored.
Plus I add songs continuously ..... it's very rare that a week goes by without me adding a couple.
AND I can play any gig regardless of genre desired.

Like tomorrow is Valentines Day and I have a decent money gig where they want me to Lionel Ritchie out.
So I'm learning about a dozen songs just for tomorrow.
I'll spend today (after recovering from my hangover) sequencing the tracks (drumbs and bass mostly plus maybe a few keyboard parts all done in a keyboard).
Then I'll spend a couple of hours tomorrow learning the words and tomorrow night I'll be crooning.
The guys will be bored .... the women will be all romantic .... I'll make a shitload of tips and there'll be another dozen songs on my list.
It's better than flipping burgers.

As JDO1 says, I live it ...... it really does consume my life. One time someone asked my wife if I played music around the house or sang or anything. She said, "Steve IS music" and I am. For better or worse I'm likely to sing my side of a conversation with her ..... lol .... insane in the membrane!

I like it!

:wank:
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Re: how much gigging is too much gigging?

Post by JD01 »

Lt. Bob wrote: Mon Feb 13, 2017 10:58 am As JDO1 says, I live it ...... it really does consume my life. One time someone asked my wife if I played music around the house or sang or anything. She said, "Steve IS music" and I am. For better or worse I'm likely to sing my side of a conversation with her ..... lol .... insane in the membrane!

I like it!

:wank:
There was a programme on the BBC a few years ago - one of them classic album things - and they were talking about Pink Floyd. David Gilmore's mrs was talking about how she writes his lyrics and that Dave is a man of few words. She even went as far as to say that if they were having an argument she feels like she'd get more out of him if he had a guitar in his hand and could reply with guitar licks.

EDIT - Just had the realisation that I don't think I can possibly get any better on the guitar with the amount of time I have on my hands.
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