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When will you start gigging again?


julietgreen

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36 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

There is a man who didn't grow up in a university town :D

 

Nottingham 😁 but I must admit I don't venture into the city centre very often, I perhaps could see the logic in shutting down City Centre pubs, but not the local boozers in the suburbs

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20 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

Nottingham 😁 but I must admit I don't venture into the city centre very often, I perhaps could see the logic in shutting down City Centre pubs, but not the local boozers in the suburbs

Shut them all down. I don't drink these days anyway. 😋:D

Except for the pubs and venues i play of course.  :drinks:

Dave

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3 hours ago, PaulWarning said:

not sure I see the connection between education and pubs

There is no connection, the point was, over the range of options available, these are two (basically unrelated) options which address the spread over the virus by breaking/not creating transmission opportunities.

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I'm getting somewhat pessimistic about the prospects of gigging returning in any meaningful way for some time. I see gigs being advertised for March 2021 for venues holding about 500 and I think 'fat chance'. 

I'm 50 in 2023, maybe by then gigging might return to something recognisable, I'd be able to have a celebration maybe :D

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I've already moved on, in a way. Music was/is a hobby to me, but playing on your own is a small fraction of the enjoyment of playing with others, in a live situation. We haven't rehearsed together for 6+ months now. We did 3 or 4 recordings initially when everyone was in lockdown/on furlough, but that's passed now and the interest has waned. I'll keep playing, but its "idling" along and I pick up the guitar once or twice a week nowadays. I bought a keyboard and was initially enthusiastic but more recently I've only played that once/twice a week too.

If/when it returns, I'll get back into it, but for now, my interests are gradually shifting towards other things, which are easier to do on my own (at home).

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36 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

If its 2023 i think many musicians will lose interest in their bands as they find alternative hobbies or pastimes.

More than likely i could be one of them. I'm already falling into the "cant be bothered practicing the set lists.

 

21 minutes ago, paul_c2 said:

Music was/is a hobby to me, but playing on your own is a small fraction of the enjoyment of playing with others, in a live situation. We haven't rehearsed together for 6+ months now. We did 3 or 4 recordings initially when everyone was in lockdown/on furlough, but that's passed now and the interest has waned.

 

I make no effort to keep practising the set lists of the bands I'm in if we're not gigging. I know the songs and I'm unlikely to forget the basslines in anything less than a decade.

My solution to the whole 'lack of music' thing is to get involved with other bands and projects. Last week I was rehearsing with a Pink Floyd tribute in start-up mode, this week I joined an established soul band that has just lost its bassist, next week I expect to do a bit of session work for a singer/songwriter.

For the first time since I joined my first 'proper' band, it's virtually impossible to have a diary clash, at least for gig dates, so being an active member of half a dozen different bands is a perfectly reasonable thing to be doing. I'm learning new material, meeting new people, finding new uses for old pedals, you name it.

 

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I’m not in a gigging band, tho we do have one (and our only) gig booked, but I’m really enjoying rehearsing and learning new material at the moment. It’s more difficult material than I’m used to (I actually use all of the strings, and up to the 14th fret!) so I’m finding it very rewarding. I miss gigging but as I left my old band I don’t have the option of it anyway, probably makes it easier I suppose.

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There's a possibility that within the next 3 months, we will have moved back to the UK, permanently, unless of course after about a year we think we have made a serious mistake in doing so. 

Reading all the posts in this thread,  it sounds absolutely dire and depressing, which has not really been the case here in France. I've played the last three weekends and that has only come to an end because it's the end of the public gig season.

My pro mates in Blighty are all suicidal due to no gigging and are dreading when the government stop the financial help. It's going to be weird coming back to all this. Fortunately, I think I was coming to the end of my gigging days anyway as I can't really hack the late nights and humping gear any more. Not on a regular basis anyway. 

I've just officially left my band here in France which was probably the busiest band in the whole department but deep down, I suspect I'm  looking forward to gig retirement and getting into home recording. (Unless of course I  start chatting to another couple of old lags in the Dog and Partridge who just fancy dusting off the gear for a couple of village fete gigs) 😂

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1 hour ago, leschirons said:

...we will have moved back to the UK, permanently...

Off topic, but Good Luck with the move back. You have your reasons (I don't need to know 'em...), but it's inconceivable for me to even consider such a step. I really can't imagine how I could go back now. I sincerely hope it works out for you and yours. :friends:

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1 hour ago, Happy Jack said:

My solution to the whole 'lack of music' thing is to get involved with other bands and projects.

Totally agree, and as @Happy Jack mentioned in the sister thread to this one, the situation is what it is but you can use it to your advantage.

I've met more musical contacts in the last 6 months that I think I ever have. Everyone is out of their band/safe zone at the moment and many are looking for music, I've been playing one-offs and jams with players i never would have had the time/chance/luck to play with before.

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2 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

I'll still be a few months older than you, and I'll still be gigging. :D

I'll be 75 next year(I still can't believe that...it seems so old) but I hope to be gigging as soon as I can. The two bands I'm in haven't rehearsed or gigged since March but I have been working on all kinds of music on my DB including trying to work through some Simandl  and using the bow. I don't play EB much anymore but I found some transcriptions of some ABBA tunes and I'm having fun reading them and trying to play along with the real thing. I have iRealPro to work with and have also been doing a bit of recording on my Mac using Garage Band. 

Gotta keep learning, I try to play every day including days when I play through the 200 or so jazz standards my two bands play.  

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1 hour ago, FinnDave said:

Still gigging I can accept, but picking up the pieces and starting again in 2023 might not be so easy.

Agreed, which is one good reason for not putting the pieces down in the first place. Not trying for a smile here, I'm perfectly serious.

 

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7 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

Agreed, which is one good reason for not putting the pieces down in the first place. Not trying for a smile here, I'm perfectly serious.

 

I've been rehearsing every week for the last few months, and we enjoy that enough to keep going - even with no gigs on the horizon. But we have been rehearsing outdoors using battery powered amps, so far the weather has been kind to us, but we are not sure what we'll do when it gets too cold and wet to stand in a field anymore. Hopefully, there'll be a suitably large indoor space for us to keep apart. We're a six piece, two of the people in the band have had C 19 and don't want to see anyone else suffer from it, and another is a GP, and so takes social distancing, etc. seriously.

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Obviously the good weather was a factor but it surprised me that during the time I was furloughed how little time I spent with music and really didn't miss it that much. I visited nearly 25 different bits of countryside/country parks etc, some of which although relatively local I'd not been to before. I've picked up the bass a few times, knowing full well from when I've between bands in the past and not practised much my playing goes south very dramatically and quite quickly (I'm not a natural at all, its all graft with me). Sure enough my playing is pretty awful to the point I wonder if I've reached a tipping point where I might consider selling up the gear and resign from the bands, both still mothballed.

If the regulations get strict again for another long period or its on and off for another couple of years then I'll be pushing 60, a point where I've thought in the past would be a good time to spend doing a bit more of other things I enjoy away from music just as I found in lockdown. I'd be surprised if either of my current bands survived another full year of no gigs at all even though the other members of both still seem relatively positive at the moment (despite neither doing anything since about February, not even a rehearsal). If we ever get back to a true 'normal' gigging wise I might already be happily in self imposed semi retirement from music. I started later than most gigging players my age so maybe it's never ingrained itself as a full on lifestyle.

Edited by KevB
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I've been playing quite a bit since lockdown. Not with any of my normal live bands, but on Jamulus with a bunch of new people I wouldn't have met otherwise. It's pretty doable. Here's one we did earlier with me making my debut on double bass (apologies to all the db players out there - I will learn it properly, I promise). I've also done eb and sax . That session included the violinist from the states - playing with 150+ latency. You can hear a bit of burbling and we're constantly trying to improve sound quality and latency. But for live rehearsal and working up new stuff and trying all the things you've ever wanted to do, it's great. I'd never get that opportunity with my real life bands. https://youtu.be/tlGfu1dG_2c?t=1992 Remember - this is live. No pre-recording and editing.

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