First "dep" gig

JayGee

Tonight  I will be going on stage in front of a paying audience with somebody else's band for the first time ever.

 It's just a 50 minute slot as the middle act on a 3 act bill in a tiny club behind a pub in Colchester, I'm "the other guitarist" rather than "the guitarist", I'll probably be on at least nodding terms with 50% of the audience, and I've played all the songs with the same people (if not neccesarily at the same time) dozens of times before at jam nights. Heck, I've even got up to do impromptu guest slots with them at gigs before.

Nevertheless I am bricking myself in a manner I've never known when going on with my own band...

vasselmeyer

I love dep gigs and jam nights. I feel I'm far less comfortable than with my own band but that makes it more exciting somehow.

John_P

I do a lot of deps and really enjoy them. Nice to have some extra nerves for a change and have to listen while playing to fit in. Nice simple notes if you need them and watch for the stops. Hope you have a fun night.

Fuzzdog

I love dep gigs, there's something extra fun about playing continually on the edge of sheer panic which seems to bring out the best in my playing.  I'm always at my most creative when I'm not entirely sure what the hell is going on.

Best one ever was when I got the set list when I arrived at the gig - was all fairly simple classic rock covers, I knew maybe three songs to giggable standard, and most of the rest of the set to 'I think I heard that on the radio a couple of times' standard. 

It was also a power trio with nowhere to hide.  Apparently I did a good enough job that when the singer/bassist announced at the end of the gig that I'd had no advance notice of the songs, nobody believed him.

DesVegas

Just stay with the drummer .. and be sure to stage dive after the first chord has rung out : )

ESBlonde

I once got a dep call to cover guitar in a three piece rock band, I said yes before discovering it was that very evening!
Never met the bassist before but he sang a couple, Drummer could sing a couple and I just went for it with the rest. PI played and sang and they had to keep up. I don't really do rock stuff so it was a tough call and I scraped the barrel with 70s rockers I could recall from my earliest days.
That was the hardest Dep I ever did, the rest have been fun in an on the edge kind of way. Never been put off having a go.

koneguitarist

I have done lots of deeps, probably more as a bassist than a guitarist.

Got a call once to stand in on bass for a country band re uniting for a big party gig,  no idea what songs in the set, never met any of the guys before, so just turned up in Okehampton, literally walked in with gear put gear on stage bought pint and started, 

As a bassist you need to work with drummer, which means eye contact, but this drummer would just look through me and blank me the whole of the first set. It was only when they led him off stage that I realised I had been trying to catch the eye of a blind drummer! 

Guitarist was quite good, old guy by the name of Jim Gibson, played a strat and a steel guitar.

JayGee

Well, that actually went quite well I think. 

No evils from the bass player or drummer (which is where most of my attention tends to be when playing in the second/rhythm role), no cold stares from the other guitarist (which I assume means I wasn't stomping all over his parts), and the singer is not only still speaking to me but also cued me for a couple of extra solos beyond the ones I was expecting.

I'll count that as a win. :-)

koneguitarist

Excellent, it's great fun as well ain't it.

lustycourtier

Its very enjoyable edge of seat stuff. It'll make you think a lot more about your playing too.