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Losing your Gigging Mojo


deepbass5

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Well, this year I will be 50 and my 32nd year of gigging having starting in 1988 at the age of 18. Last year I did around 90 gigs and the year before 119 so I clearly still love it. This year we have consciously cut back to only 40 as it was taking over our lives and finding that the quality was dropping and we were getting burnt out. Still, 40 in a year is still 3 gigs a month.

It is important to share the load, to try and make life as easy as possible, have as much fun as possible with the right people and have a positive attitude. It's also important to remain flexible and open minded and make changes if something is not working. Even more so as you get older and as they say, when something is no longer fun, then it's time to make a change or stop.

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The simple fact for me is that if I wasn’t in a gigging band I wouldn’t play bass. 
 

I’m not a home player. I’m temporarily bandless and looking for a new opportunity. I have a few irons in the fire currently but if they come to nothing that’s me done, in all likelihood. Back to my solo singer-songwriter stuff.

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16 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

It's not your age, it's the mileage.

I was 63 last week, but I've only been a gigging musician for a dozen years so I still get a real buzz out of doing this.

The fact that I'm retired means that, far from gigging being hard to fit into my life, I can build my entire life around gigging.

Best of all ... Silvie feels the same way! :heart:

This aligns very much with my circumstances.  I'm 62 but the figures are more or less the same.  Getting music back into my life after a 25-ish year hiatus felt like that bit of me that had been missing all those years was back in place.

And I'm not married to Silvie of course. 

Edited by Paul S
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41 minutes ago, MacDaddy said:

Local gigs, and lightweight gear and trolleys go a long way to helping the gigging experience be more enjoyable.

Ah yes, the addiction of Amersham, the lure of Leighton Buzzard, the craic of Camberley, the buzz of Bracknell ... the sheer living hell of Hemel. :laugh1:

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1 hour ago, Happy Jack said:

Ah yes, the addiction of Amersham, the lure of Leighton Buzzard, the craic of Camberley, the buzz of Bracknell ... the sheer living hell of Hemel. :laugh1:

As a Hemeloid I can only agree with you on that, Jack 😩

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God  - Its 40 years since i gigged in Hemel we used to do a lot of the Kodak staff functions.

Also my first experience of seeing cars going both directions round a roundabout, that was freaky. I prefer Swindon for Roundabouts 😲

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21 hours ago, NJE said:

1. The same old crap covers that everyone expects at big function, sex on fire, brown eyed girl, anything by the bloody Beatles

4. Young people rarely want to watch bands in my experience, in fact to sum up a conversation I heard at work with younger folk than me ‘if they see a band of “old men playing old music” we just turn around and leave’.

 

 

These are the two main reasons I packed it in over two years go and I was only a middle aged f@rt of 48 summers back then! I've said to the mrs I'll probably offload most of the rest of my gear this year and she's quite sad to hear this! I'd said if I got my mojo back after a couple of years then I probably never will.  I've not yet and tbh I've been to a few pub gigs over the last several months but I've not seen any band that's made me envious

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still enjoy gigging but not as enthusiastic as I used to be, we're cutting back a bit, or trying too, we were supposed to last year but still finished up doing 58, don't like doing more than 1 a week, but being retired with no health issues what else would I do? and the buzz you get from good one like NYE's makes it worthwhile

As someone else said, if I wasn't gigging (or in a band) I wouldn't play bass, can't see the point

Edited by PaulWarning
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18 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

Ah yes, the addiction of Amersham, the lure of Leighton Buzzard, the craic of Camberley, the buzz of Bracknell ... the sheer living hell of Hemel. :laugh1:

There's definitely no craic in Camberley unless you count the 5 squirrel's having their own party this morning in my garden 😁

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On 02/01/2020 at 15:24, Jakester said:

I love gigging, it’s everything else that can be interminable! The endless rehearsing where the singer flaps about with printed sheets without ever learning the words, the half-hour pause where the guitards teach each other which part to play; lugging gear in and out of rehearsal rooms in pouring rain, the million texts/emails/WhatsApps about exactly what time we’re on, where it is, what we’re all wearing (for the tenth time).

I do love it, though. 

Uhhhh.......WhatsApp :dash1:

I recently came back from a couple of days away, to over 200 messages on WhatsApp, from my fellow band members.

There was absolutely nothing worth reading.

They all have too much time on their hands.

 

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8 minutes ago, gjones said:

Uhhhh.......WhatsApp :dash1:

I recently came back from a couple of days away, to over 200 messages on WhatsApp, from my fellow band members.

There was absolutely nothing worth reading.

They all have too much time on their hands.

 

Try working for a voluntary organisation or charity to see WhatsApp diarrhoea in full flow. Don't ask me how I know ...

 

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17 minutes ago, gjones said:

Uhhhh.......WhatsApp :dash1:

I recently came back from a couple of days away, to over 200 messages on WhatsApp, from my fellow band members.

There was absolutely nothing worth reading.

They all have too much time on their hands.

 

Sup wi ya?

Banter is the best part of being in a band. Without the banter I wouldn't be interested. 

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6 hours ago, gjones said:

Uhhhh.......WhatsApp :dash1:

I recently came back from a couple of days away, to over 200 messages on WhatsApp, from my fellow band members.

There was absolutely nothing worth reading.

They all have too much time on their hands.

 

We don't communicate with each other much. The only messages we get are to confirm gig availability. And we only see each other at gigs.

Blue

FB_IMG_1578007070333.jpg

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On 02/01/2020 at 10:20, Roger2611 said:

It's great to read that Blue, at 53 it gives me hope I can get back to regular gigging, I am slowly going out of my mind sitting around weekend after weekend doing nothing yet still apparently being in 2 bands! Between the two I have one single festival in August in the diary, yet I was pressured by both bands to give up the covers band because they had too many dates which meant the originals bands couldn't gig.....something that clearly worked out well then!!

I am starting to go through the Join My Band experience again looking at hundreds of adds from dreamers, wasters and bands full of 17 year olds that want to play doom metal (whatever that is!) but hopefully "the one" I need will appear at some point

Despite working full time in a stressful job the getting on stage and all that goes with it brings a balance to life that at the moment is sadly missing.

Hi Roger,

You need a break in the right direction.

It's so hard to find a good band with good people when we're limited to non professional opportunities, meaning people that don't play for a living. Life circumstances like family, friends and full time jobs come before playing.

Don't give up. If there's any local gigging bands you like go to their gigs. Introduce yourself and see if anything is happening. You never know, they might be looking for a bass player.

Blue

Edited by Bluewine
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43 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

Hi Roger,

You need a break in the right direction.

It's so hard to find a good band with good people when we're limited to non professional opportunities, meaning people that don't play for a living. Life circumstances like family, friends and full time jobs come before playing.

Don't give up. If there's any local gigging bands you like go to their gigs. Introduce yourself and see if anything is happening. You never know, they might be looking for a bass player.

Blue

That’s a good call, Blue, I told my band I would be leaving back in August however we didn’t put anything out until Nov about it so no-one was aware. You never know what the situation within the band framework is, never hurts to chat to a good band anyway, whether or not they may be in the lookout for new members.

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The band I'm with has a  limit of 2/3 gigs a month,

We pick and choose our gigs  as we are a functions outfit with occasional pub gigs to trial new songs. Also other members have commitments outside of the band which keeps up the energy for gigs , rehearsals are booked well in advance and everyone has their homework to do before practice ,time is money after all,😀

It works out just fine for us

I'm 59 this year and started playing in my late teens, and the oldest in the band by a long chalk , it's still working out  ok for me, I suppose it's about getting the balance right ,

Oh and lightweight gear is a must......looking for a barefaced as the TC electronic is a tad bulky 😋

 

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