Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

I used to play a lot of solo gtr gigs playing instrumental jazz and classical at wineries, restaurants, and of course the big money weddings and affairs that those would lead to.

and i mean a LOT.....a while back i was a regular at this one winery and playing 70 gigs a yr there in addition to other solo gigs elsewhere. solo gigs are easy enough for me....good money w no split, and i just show up w a FENDER Deluxe, my GODIN nylon string, and an archtop jazzbox. i can walk in to a solo gig fifteen min before I need to drop a downbeat and be ready to go.

that said.....solo gigs have always been my least favorite and i got quite burnt out on them. i'm a band guy and always prefer working w other musicians.

now, i do a handful of those solo gigs....really to keep my chops up and because they're easy money. last night i played a three hr solo gig for Valentines Day at a winery (different place than above). it's a place that i've been playing at for about five yrs w Planet Jazz and have recently begun playing there w the new rockabilly band...The Spincasters.

They just wanted some low key/low volume bkgrnd music and asked me to do my solo bit. I gave them a quote for two hrs.....they agreed but wanted me for three hrs (ugh). i upped the price and asked them to throw in the special dinner they were serving up. yep....we're good to go.

so, i'm doing my bit in this small, awful sounding room (we usually play outside in warmer weather)...it's just a friggin din in there! but i'm actually enjoying it and people are being very complimentary and being very generous w contributions to the tip jar.

i do my three hrs....and start putting my gtrs away and this guy who had recently sat down w his lady asks "we were really enjoying your music, are you packing up?"....."yeah, been here since 7:30 this morning!" i joked. (laughs all around) "so, what's it gonna take to get you to play some more?"......"how much money ya got?"......"would a hundred get us another hr?".... "yeah, sure thing".

and now, the gig that i was counting on being two hrs when first considering it, became a FOUR HR solo gig. damn.....and this when i've pretty much bored myself shitless w my playing after 15 min!

it was a long one...but i did enjoy it.

Bet your fingers were worn out. A guy I know played a 6 hours solo show New Years Eve. No thanks.

Love to see a video of you playing solo guitar, do you use backing tracks?

GuitarMikeB wrote:Bet your fingers were worn out. A guy I know played a 6 hours solo show New Years Eve. No thinks.

played two three hr P-JAZZ gigs this past Saturday but there was some down time between them. nah....i'm tough but i could never do a six hr solo gig.

my fingers were ok tho i did get a scare while loading in when i slammed my left hand index finger pretty good.

Ancient Vegan wrote:Love to see a video of you playing solo guitar, do you use backing tracks?

no videos of the solo stuff, but that's ok...nothing to write home about there.

i don't use backing trks. i have toyed w the idea of trying to book some solo vibraphone gigs where i would use backing trks like Jamie Aebersold stuff. I have a cpl of Hal Leonard books of jazz arrangements of Lennon/McCartney tunes that include an acoustic jazz trio playing backing trks. We'll see. It's a lot easier just showing up w two gtrs and amp.

great show Planetguy!

not sure about the relevance of your post there, dayne nobody. was your gig particularly long and you just failed to mention that? is THAT the connection, here?

i think you maybe you meant to post that in one of Gtr Mikes threads, no????

Yes.you are. Correct..

if that's the way you feel then...

'Laundromat busking'??!!??

Lots of foot traffic when there are no 40 mph wind gusts..but no pizza service/oven so a let down if you get a hankering for pizza pie..

We generally play outside in front of the laundromat under the awning..

People are more appreciative of buskers when they have no intentions of encountering free entertainment at random. With it being their option to tip or not as opposed to seeing a boring band that they deliberately had high expectations of when purposely seeking entertainment..and them walking out early cause they either sucked or were boring or both..if u are losing a crowd audience as the night rolls on then the band has quality issues..what little audience we garnered were all smiles and helpful voluntarily looking up lyrics for us/me ..

Dayne Nobody IV wrote:I did not want to appear self-centered so much as to create another thread so I lumped it onto yours..

so, if i understand you correctly...your concern was to avoid appearing boastful, self centered, and self aggrandizing? in other words...you didn't want to come off as someone talking themselves up by bragging and giving yourself self serving pats on the back.....

gotcha. yeah, who would want to come off like that?

glad you did well in the tip jar. i bet the people going there to do laundry appreciate having someone who can make change for them!

Again and again.you misrepresent and take everything out of context.. Was George right about you? I am starting to agree with him..you..without knowing how the laundromat is set up within a mall gives you no right to make logical assumptions but go for it if it makes you feel like a bully

Name of my next band......

LAUNDROMAT BUSKING