GIG TALK HERE!
The next gig I have will be August 29th at the Philadelphia Free Library at Montgomery Auditorium in center city Philly. It's the main branch on Vine. I start at 2PM and will be doing a 1 hr set. I will be playing some solo jazz, (Johnny Smth things) as well as some originals from my CD and my next CD. Its a chance to showcase some of my range. Hope to see you there!
Below I am posting some thoughts on gigging. Please gimme a shout if I touch a nerve.
First, here are some tunes you will need if you are over 45 and still gigging:
1. Hermans Hermits: "Mrs Brown, You've Got a Lovely Walker"
2. Ringo Starr: 'I Get by with a Little Help From Depends'
3. Bee Gees: 'How Do You Mend a Broken Hip'
4. Bobby Darin: 'Splish Splash, I Was Havin a Flash'
5. Paul Simon: 'Fifty Ways to Lose Your Liver'
6. Commodores: 'Once, Twice, Three Times to the Bathroom'
7. Marvin Gaye: " I Heard it Through the Grape Nuts"
8. Leo Sayer: 'You Make Me Feel Like Napping'
9. Temptations: "Papa's Got a Kidney Stone'
10. Tony Orlando and Dawn: "Knock 3 Times on the Ceiling If you Hear Me Fall'
11. Willie Nelson: 'On the Commode Again'
Next are some VERY IMPORTANT tips on playing in a Jazz group or attending a jazz jam session.
You MUST master these techniqes before you can expect any measure of success:
1. Everyone should attempt to play the same piece.
2. Observe the repeat signs only if what you just played was
interesting.
3. If you play a wrong note, fiercly glare at one of the other players.
4. The right note, at the wrong time, is a wrong note. (And vice-
versa.)
5. A wrong note, played timidly, is a wrong note.
6. A wrong note, played with authority, is simply your interpretation
of the phrase.
7. If everyone gets lost except you, follow the ones who are lost.
8. Strive always to play the maximum notes per second. This will
intimidate the weaker players and gain you the admiration of the
ignorant.
9. Markings for slurs, dynamics, and accidentals should be completely
ignored.They are only there to make the score look more complicated.
10. If a passage is difficult, slow down. If it is easy, speed up.
Everything will even itself out in the end.
11. You have achieved a true interpretation when, in the end, you have
not played one note of the original piece.
12. When everyone else stops playing, you should stop also. Do not
play any notes you may have left over.
Master the above and SOAR at your next jam!
Here are some guidelines for some of you younger people who are considering various gigs. SHOULD YOU TAKE THE GIG? Well, if you follow some of the guides below, it should be an easy decision and it will help get you away from folks who will burn you out and waste your time playing nonsense that you may not care about. Let me know your thoughts!
I receive many requests from folks asking me to help them work on their particular project.
Generally, its simply a request for me to play guitar for them. On occasion, it is recording assistance or advice, lessons, or some other advisory service
In this instance I am going to focus on the folks asking me to play. I post this here for‘guns for hire’ (which I am not one) to closely consider whether or not to take a job. I understand for many players starting out, it can be a tough decision to weigh the pros and cons to whether or not you should commit to someone else’s project.
I have found a very easy way to do this. I use 3 simple criteria. I do NOT need all 3 to be met! Just meet ONE of the criteria below, and Ill be there at your gig on time and ready to play.
Here is what I need if you want me to join you on your project:
MONEY. Lets define what that is. This is easy!!! Here is what I do.
- I go to my Yahoos local Yellow pages .
- I look up 3 local Plumbers
- I call with the specs of the job. For example, I get a young plumber on the phone. Maybe he has 4 or 5 years experience. He is not the owner of the plumbing company..just one of the average workers. I ask him for a quote for the job. Here is the job: He must drive 30 miles, He must bring a carload of equipment to do the job, The job is 4 hours long and on top of that, there is 4 or 8 hours of prework (rehearsal) which adds almost an additional work day. Then he has to load in then out and drive back home 30 miles AT NIGHT from 8pm to 12 am.
HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK HE WOULD CHARGE FOR THIS?
I have 25 yrs experience and a lot of education in my trade. Much more than the average 27 yo. So if he is getting $1000 or more for this job, why should I be doing it for $100? That’s what I mean by money.
There are not many jobs that meet this criteria. You will rarely play for money because there isn’t any. Few will pay you anywhere near that to play your guitar or anything else (although..it does happen sometimes!). So, if the only thing your gig offers is 'money' you now have a ballpark price to work with.
Criteria 2.
THE MUSIC
This is the most important reason to pick up an instrument in the first place! The band is great and we play NOTHING BUT straight ahead jazz all night. (You can put in the music of your choice, mine is SAJ). If at the end of the gig, I learned 3 new Coltrane tunes, or a new Parker head or expanded my song list or chops in some way, I will do the gig for free. Yes..that is, critiria 1 is ignored. I dont care if you pay me if the music fits what I like to do.
I do a lot of these..in fact many are just get togethers at peoples houses where we play this music. I am available anytime for this, and money is never a factor. But this means just players who want to expand and explore. Please be careful not to mix this up with someone who ‘says’ you can play anything you want, when they don’t really know that youre only into Snake Charming music. Soon as you start playing they will try to sneak in crap that everyone else wants to do. Or, if its backing a singer who wants to sing pop tunes or blues or ANY THING OTHER THAN straight ahead Jazz (or snake charm or what ever your thing is) then please refer to criteria No. 1.
Its important to play ‘above’ your level as much as possible. Always try to be the ‘worst’ guy in the band. This is the best way to advance and expand your skills. Take jobs where you have to play at the PHD level. However, once you get to PHD level, it becomes very hard to go back and take First Grader gigs. …unless you refer to Criteria No. 1.
Conclusion: the better you get, the smaller your audience becomes and the harder it is to find others that can hang with you. Try to determine up front just how far you are going with this thing.
3. MARKETING
Last but certainly not least, is MARKETING. I remain on the product end of the biz unless you make it worth it for me (see No 1 or 2). So, if by playing the job, 100 (or 150 or 500) people are going to go home and download my CD for $10 each, I will play the gig for free. The job will be ONLY music from my CD that I am selling. No jams, no sit ins …nothing else. This is a marketing gig…much like what a typical concert is. The only purpose for this outing is to promote your material for future sales.
If I can sell a lot of CDs, I will do the gig free. Most full time and successful musicans only do marketing gigs. They appear ONLY if it will result in sales. They are not expanding their repitroar or chops, they may only break even on the event, but they will make a great living selling their products if they can perform well enough to get folks to open their wallets buy the product. This is what the music biz is ALL about.
There you have it!
These are the ONLY reasons you should ever play in public. I have never met a musician (not a professional one anyway) who plays anywhere for any other reason but one (or combination) of the 3 criteria above. Never.
Why else would you ever consider loading up your stuff and going out?
If you;re very young and inexperienced, then it is important for you to play ANY place you can and ALL that you can in order to increase your repertoire, gain experience and NETWORK…(but even that is criteria 2).
Other than the very young and inexperienced, did u ever wonder why good players take crappy jobs then bitch and complain that they are not getting paid or doing what they like? It s because they didn’t follow my 3 criteria above.
If you follow that, you never have to second guess why you are doing what you’re doing.
You will never look around a karaoke bar and ask “What the hell am I doing in here?”
You will never waste your time learning or playing music that you don’t REALLY care about (unless your compensated fairly for throwing your time away)
So friends, when the next person hears that you play an instrument, and want you to do something for them, run down the list above. It should be an easy decision! Good luck and email me with any comments or questions!
Thanks to the players who dropped in to Johnny Mananas, Malcolm, Mel, Billy, Kyle, Jamie and James and a million others! It was an awesome 6+ months of solid Jazz without having to play any crap!!! Hope we can do it again sometime soon! This was one of the longest running gigs we had..and we just play jazz! So..thanks a mil..stop back soon to find out where the next one will be. OUT
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