To try to get gigging, or not to try to get gigging, that is the question

thecolourbox

Sorry for the essay!

I've hit a rut, the same kind of rut I hit frequently so apologies for the broken record! I don't much like the guitar player I've become, because my practising is not progressing me as much as I'd like in the directions I'd like to go in. There are a number of reasons for this, I think, including possibly:
1) I set myself the target of gigging, either in a band or solo, but I feel this target was too high so I've got disheartened at not reaching it
2) GAS and generally having too many things to mess with while searching for "tone" instead of trying to learn the playing techniques first (and also having to battle with horrendous noise issues at home that either make playing very fatiguing on the ears due to the humming, or very expensive due to the number of batteries I'm getting through with the wireless unit I use as the only effective weapon against the noise). These noise issues also mean I can't use headphones for practising
3) Not really having any friends to play with (ooh er) and lacking the guile and personality to make friends that want to make the same kinds of music
4) While I'm quite good at classical piano but don't really have the inclination any more, unfortunately I think my guitar (and singing) ability is directly improportionate to my enthusiasm for it, so the opposite.

So I'm thinking of trying to give up the thought of gigging proper, then only do it if the opportunity presents itself for small scale stuff (got a couple of busking type things). In resolving to try and do this in the first place I did a huge move around of accumulated gear in order to fund gig worthy equipment. People have previously persuaded me not to move this on to get a more "home based" set up before, on the off chance that a gig opportunity presents itself and also because the Amp I have (hot rod deluxe) is relatively suited to home use. The nagging problem is that a fair amount of money in my "gear fund" is tied up in that amp, and I know I could buy and sell the amp at the price I got it at any day of the week if I needed one again, but for the same money I could get some killer home/studio type gear.

But then as per point 2 above, these home/studio options would likely be something like Axe FX or Eleven Rack, which would inevitably lead to incessant tweaking and not enough practising still. The alternative is to get a cheap decent sounding amp (had experience of Blackstar's ID amps recently, or even just the Zoom I already have into my Hifi) and pocket the change in the Gear Fund reserves in case I do ever suddenly need it, and try to enjoy simply playing for fun?

What do you guys do in these kind of situations? Is there any shame in turning my back on my wish to play in public or should I just be excited about playing for myself and recording stuff? I want to remain positive.

Also I need you guys to police me in the classifieds if I try to buy anything ha ha

Roland

Playing as part of a band will help you improve in the areas you need to improve, and should give you great personal satisfaction, plus a track record as a gigging musician. Finding a band is not easy, particularly because guitarists are two a penny. Your BIG selling point is that you can offer guitars and keys. Even though you don't want to be a concert pianist it is an easy entry into gigging because there aren't enough keyboard players to go round.  Ideally you will find a band that needs key with some guitar, and work up from there

EricTheWeary

Doing (most kinds anyway) of gigs does give focus and general improvement in your playing/ performing capabilities - actually, even just some interaction with the public and/ or other musicians, doesn't have to be 90 minutes in a pub. You can learn what you didn't know you didn't know. That might even be that you are better than you think you are.

It can be with diminishing returns though and you just learn to be good at what ever it is you need to get through that level of performance and other apects of your playing don't improve or even suffer. Sting used to say something like always aim to be the worst musician in the room so you keep learning. Seems good advice although being a massive pop star probably helps.

Still, you could break down the gigging goal into smaller more achievable steps. At a guess you might need to refocus on what you want to play as well - invariably guitarists are poor team players as they tend to only develop a niche style and there are far too many guitarists out there so that unless you happen to find someone looking for that niche you are stuffed.

If its gigging for the experience then be as open minded as possible and ignore what the music actually is. If 6 months down the line you would rather die than play Mustang Sally again then quit, but cool people don't get gigs. Honestly, playing Mustang Sally ( or insert terrible cliche song of your choice) is much more fun than listening to it.

If you want it only to be your music or a specific style of music then you have to put the effort in - book rooms, do ads, phone venues,etc,etc - and you will get a response as many musicians just want to play and don't want those hassles. They may never have thought of playing your particular brand of Peruvian psychedelic folk but if all they have to do is turn up and play and you have the hassle then the bloody mountain will come to you. 

At the moment if I get to pick up the guitar for ten minutes and lose myself in some tuneless clanging that's ten minutes less shit in my life TBH. I think you do have to answer your own question and follow your passions. Its not your livelihood, find a way to enjoy it. 

thecolourbox

Hmm, I don't offer keys really to be honest, I don't play modern keys at all, one of my pet hates in fact haha though take the point it could be used theoretically to get "in there". I do find it very hard to meet musicians, probably because of my musical snobbery I suppose, and there are things I do and do not want to play (for eg I play blues privately but would never want to with anybody else present as it's done to death)

thecolourbox

Thanks erictheweary, points duly noted, some points I'd find hard to do, like playing the Mustang Sally gigs...i am the niche type player you mention and find it very hard to play music i don't like, even in my classical days this was the case. This is why i am thinking I'd be better doing something else, ie by myself mostly. If any of my own songs got written along the way I could always do it solo later down the line and sort everything out myself rather than have to try and develop a personality to get friends haha

PolarityMan

Are you looking at gigging originals or covers? I think it makes a huge difference in how I would go about things.

For originals the first step is of course getting some material together, this can be done either solo or maybe with 1 or 2 other collaborators before getting a full lineup together and tbh VSTs are plenty good enough for demo'ing up amterial at home and shouldnt suffer from the same noise problems.

For covers I'd say that the best bet would be to jump in and go get gigging asap, it will really give you the motivation to get the songs down and will also focus your practice on what you need.

Personally I find one of the most rewarding parts of music is palying with other people so I would definitely encourage you to keep this as your goal in either scenario. 

TTony

Maybe start lowkey with a bit of jamming with like-minded casual / informal musicians?

There's plenty on here @IanSavage in the Brummy area who might be up for something themselves, or able to point you in a useful direction.

It's not, by and large, the gear that's "gig-worthy" - it's your mindset and enthusiasm.  Talent comes after those.  So, whatever you've got, is good enough.

I'm trying to imagine what your noise issues are that can't be worked around with headphones???

Cirrus

You're the guy I bought the wangs off iirc? Don't be down on yourself, you seemed outgoing enough to do a band type thing to me! What kind of music are you actually into? What makes you want to pick up a guitar?

John_P

I'd say get gigging...

but one of the main things I like a being a musician is playing in a group and performing.  (almost!) regardless of the material so I'm happy playing most things if the dancefloor is full and then if I like the songs that's a bonus

Playing with other musicians is always (imho) the quickest way to improve and give some motivation - there's nothing like an approaching gig to encourage me to actually learn my parts.

thecolourbox

Thanks all, all good points though when I've tried those approaches ive not seemed to get anywhere, finding like minded people is hard haha i like playing some indie type tuff (but too picky as to the ones i don't like, I'm aware of this), i like playing White Stripes, Strokes, that kind of indie, but also still have a bit of a taste for proper musicality like Jeff Buckley. In my little dream world I'd be somewhere between Buckley and Casablancas from the strokes. I definitely would prefer more originals than covers, though theyd probably sound like covers or rip offs or something. To answer cirrus' question, i think really i just want to be heard, to talk to people through music, if I'm honest that's probably more important than the social bit, hence my temptation to stay insular

Ahh my noise issues. A constant bane of my life. There's something wrong with my house whereby i get a horrid hum/fizz noise all of the time when playing guitar, the only cure for this is having a wireless system between guitar and amp/pedals or to use a piezo pickup Variax. It has long puzzled many people including my sound engineer cousin. Baffling and intensely frustrating

IanSavage

Whereabouts in Brum are you based? Most of the jam / open mic stuff I'm aware of seems to happen on the south side of the city (Stirchley, Kings Norton, Moseley, Solihull); I'm pretty tied up with my new band at the minute but I know a fair few people who're around the 'scene' should you just fancy jamming a bit? 

Cirrus

The mains hum's a strange one. Dimmer switches are a common cause, if not then there must be some crazy noise coming from somewhere in your electrics.

I can cope with White Stripes and Strokes. I'm also a secret drummer. If you fancy a jam sometime for an hour or two, give me a shout and a few songs to learn and you're welcome to pop along to my band's lockup.

monquixote

Some things I have learned from many years of gigging:

Gigs as a guitarist are fekking hard to come by

If you want to be a guitarist in a band there are several things that are more important for landing a gig than being a shit hot guitarist namely: being able to sing, doubling up on another instrument, owning a PA, owning a van, being prepared to book gigs, not being an arsehole.

Gigs as a bass player are much easier to get and also quite fun

Playing live and performing is a thing to be learned entirely separate to instrument technique

If you play covers you will need to do a certain amount of old favorites be that Mustang Sally or Sex on Fire. If you can't face it then you don't want to be in a cover band.

If you do covers you can quite easily get paid decent money to do two hour sets whereas if you do originals for a lot of the time you will find yourself scrambling around to do unpaid or pay to play 20 minute sets. 

My advice would always be to try and get a gig playing bass in a rock covers band and learn the craft of playing live then once you've got a taste for it and the experience you can take it from there.

thecolourbox

Thanks @cirrus and @iansavage you may regret that but may well take you up on your kind offers!

you also speak truth monquixote, though i cant learn bass haha i assume its harder than it looks. Definitely not up for the usual cover band gig haha even if it means only expecting 15 mins here or there! True though that performing is a different skill to playing, especially true on piano.

JAYJO

Cirrus said:

The mains hum's a strange one. Dimmer switches are a common cause, if not then there must be some crazy noise coming from somewhere in your electrics.

I can cope with White Stripes and Strokes. I'm also a secret drummer. If you fancy a jam sometime for an hour or two, give me a shout and a few songs to learn and you're welcome to pop along to my band's lockup.

  Take his hand off!! This is a generous offer!   .

digitalscream

For what it's worth, the Eleven Rack is relatively free of the tweakery temptation. You get the controls on the pedals/amps that are being modelled, and that's it (apart from a few level controls). Hook it up to a computer, and there's the new standalone editor which is really handy - very much along the same lines as Guitar Rig or Amplitube in terms of the user interface. I say go for it; it's definitely my favourite tool for inspiration.

monquixote

thecolourbox said:

you also speak truth monquixote, though i cant learn bass haha i assume its harder than it looks. Definitely not up for the usual cover band gig haha even if it means only expecting 15 mins here or there! True though that performing is a different skill to playing, especially true on piano.

Contrary to popular myth it's no easier to play bass well than guitar, the main advantage is that there are usually a lot more want ads for bass players.

thecolourbox

I shall indeed bite that hand haha

Definitely not taking up bass, more likely to try keys than take up yet another instrument. I do take the point though, that you either need to do something extra or offer something else.

ha on a related note (pardon the pun) i tried singing tonight...and my throat has gone again...damn it

monquixote

Keys is even more gold dust for bands. 

I would think you could apply for an ad for a keys player and say you want to do 50% keys 50% guitar. 

EricTheWeary

FWIW I did mean Mustang Sally as a metaphor rather than literally every cover band has to play it. |)
I'd have thought there was plenty of mileage in an indie covers band. Just might mean having to play the indie equivalent of Mustang Sally as part of that.

thecolourbox

The idea of using keys as a selling point is growing on me but would still need a re-jig of equipment to get a useful keyboard and amp for it i suppose

Thanks guys for the viewpoints and perspectives. Am still undecided but for now have some food for thought and time to try and get some songs together for either purpose (or porpoise)