General Music Chat

Well, I suspect that I am, one of the oldest, if not, the oldest poster on here.
I play; Piano, Lead Guitar, Bass, and Mandolin. Most of my life, I have been pretty active as a musician. But, in the last eight-ten years it has been extremely hard to find a band that will accept me as a member.
One thing, that happens a lot lately, I get the job over the telephone, or internet. When I show up, they start making excuses as to why they have decided they can't use me.(No, I don't have one big eye, in the center of my forehead). But, I am officially a "Geezer" white hair, wrinkles, and all.
The music I prefer to play: Rhythm & Blues, Soul, Blues, Traditional Country. And, In that order.
As of late, I am relegated, to playing as a "solo" musician, when an
opportunity affords itself. (Or) jammin' with Bluegrass musicians(they couldn't care less about your age).
I DO, have alot to offer as a musician. But, I don't wear tight pants, and a cowboy hat. I am no longer, one of the young pretty boys.
Perhaps, I can play for free, at the senior citizen center.

A sad sorry state of affairs, that.

Term limits suck, no matter who they involve.

Bluegrass, polka, big band, & some country & blues is all that's left is you ain't young, for a lot of ppl.

Yes that does suck but if Keith Richards can get away with you can too. Get rid of the white hair number one; dye it, shave it off or wear a wig. The other option: forget about joining other bands and form your own. Best of luck.

My guess is that I'm older.

I'm older then dirt, which I expect to be my new home in a few years. But I still play about everything that comes up as long as I like it. You NEVER have to limit yourself to one venue.

Some musicians are close minded as to what they will play or even listen to. But they only slight themselves by placing self imposed limits through their narrow mindedness.

Don't even think about going there. Play what you want to play.

There are lots of old rockers around that you can collaborate with on the Internet if you are any good at all. Every forum has their share. In fact a lot of us have come out of retirement after 20 - 30 years to pick it up again. I am one of them. 25+ Years retired from picking... and now playing once again.

To be fair, some bands will place the overall look of the band above the sound and, if that's what they want, then I think you got to say fair enough - their loss.

I've got to admit that I've got pre-conceived opinions about teenage bands and wouldn't even try and get involved. They're too young for me. Now if the Blues Brother's line up had asked me to sit in on a tune or two - hell yes! If I got a chance to sit in with the Funk Brothers? Hell, yes!

Then again - I heard Buddy Rich do a fantastic duet with a brilliant 17 year old bass player - out of this world!

It's all about the sound!

Having said that....looked at your pic and - sorry man - the shirt's gotta go!

I think you have to find folks in your general age range in order to play music together.

It just takes time and patience to find folks.

Good Luck

When i got back playing a few years ago, I tryed out for a few bands that were younger and were loking for a certain look. Thats understandable. I ten to play with folks in my age range these days. My band we are all within 3 yrs of one another.

Having said that....looked at your pic and - sorry man - the shirt's gotta go!

This from the guy with the blue face...

He's right, though. It's a shitty shirt. You need a daishiki, man. I wear 'em all the time on stage. MUCH cooler look!

There's a cover band here that plays 70+ gigs a year, and the average age is probably 65. They can bring it as well as any band I've ever met - and they all do what they can to appear "youthful", even thought they clearly are not. Some of it is about looking old, but much more of it is about acting old.

There's opportunity out there, and you aren't wrong to believe that the cards get increasingly stacked against you.. but you need to work that much harder for the same..

Sucks, but nobody really claimed that life was fair..

Having said that....looked at your pic and - sorry man - the shirt's gotta go!

You talkin to me? My shirt? Which one? Should I run? Are you guys the fashion police?

I'll never color my hair (or my bald head) if they cant handle whom I am screw em.
The guys in our band range from late 20s to late 50s
If they are more interested in your age than your talent you don't need them.
I dont care 8 to 80 if you fit the bands needs and mix well with the chemistry your in.

I just hope I am fortunate enough to be able to still be playing when I am your age (just kidding) I am 51. My beard is almost completely white LMAO! Anyway I have an audition day after tomorrow (Thursday) so last Sunday I broke down and started using the old Just For Men beard coloring. What a shock. I have used it for the last 12 years and I quit last October. Anyway if you can fight the grays for a little longer why the hell not! I intend to play till I die even if I have to play by myself.

I was having a hard time finding a new band to play with and had some of the same thoughts cross my mind. You are going to have to realize you are'nt going to fit with everyone you try out with. I don't think you would want to really. You'll find a place to fit in if you keep trying. My drummer is 26 and plays with another punk band called the 'Prom King Cobras" . The other guitarist that just joined recently is 25 and we are having a lot of fun putting this thing together. We will play our first battle of the band competition march 19 and the other bands around town are going to get a real surprise when we take the stage for our 45 minutes. Its all about your attitude. My bass player is the same age I am and we have played together for almost 40 years. I turned away a dozen premadonnas trying to find the right guitar player, most were disapointed they didn't make the cut. I play bass in a cover band and most of the people we have are older than me. We're having problems filling a guitar spot as most don't want to play country or classic rock. All said just keep looking or try starting something of your own and it will come around. it only took me 16 months to put mine together.


And its another day in Paradise !!!!

All great advice, but you guys left out the option I'm going after
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8akmP6Sjv2o

Well, I suspect that I am, one of the oldest, if not, the oldest poster on here.
I play; Piano, Lead Guitar, Bass, and Mandolin. Most of my life, I have been pretty active as a musician. But, in the last eight-ten years it has been extremely hard to find a band that will accept me as a member.
One thing, that happens a lot lately, I get the job over the telephone, or internet. When I show up, they start making excuses as to why they have decided they can't use me.(No, I don't have one big eye, in the center of my forehead). But, I am officially a "Geezer" white hair, wrinkles, and all.
The music I prefer to play: Rhythm & Blues, Soul, Blues, Traditional Country. And, In that order.
As of late, I am relegated, to playing as a "solo" musician, when an
opportunity affords itself. (Or) jammin' with Bluegrass musicians(they couldn't care less about your age).
I DO, have alot to offer as a musician. But, I don't wear tight pants, and a cowboy hat. I am no longer, one of the young pretty boys.
Perhaps, I can play for free, at the senior citizen center.

I've been around a long time too, and it's been several years since I've played with a cover band. I have it in my head that I have something of my own to offer instead of doing covers so I've been mostly doing studio work and collaborating with others on the net, developing ideas and learning to produce my own stuff. I think the industry is changing bigtime and this sort of thing is becomming more and more common. The world is one big recording studio anymore. People should learn to embrace this rather than fight it. Appearances are not nearly as important as talent.

Acceptance comes only with a look or age? For the majority of us yes, tell you what if you were to become famous solely on the strength of your song writing and ability to perform do you think people would care of your look?

Think Susan Boyle.