The Gigging Musician Part 1: "Finding a Band"

A better title would probably be "The gigging guitarist" because that's what I am, so that will be my viewpoint. Not to slight other musicians, but I can only write about what I know (well kinda, that is still out to jury).

The reason for this post is to give those of you on the "outside" an idea of what goes on behind the scenes, so to speak, of your typical gigging musician.

1. The search is on-
Okay so to start we need to find a band. In my case right now I am only playing in what is called a "covers" band, meaning we only play songs by other artists. No originals, or songs written by us. This is both good and bad. The upside, cover bands tend to make a little more money per gig, and there isn't a whole lot of creative struggle going on, you just pick the songs, learn them, and gig them. The downside is, if the creative juices are flowing you have nowhere to channel it, and your known as a cover band guy. Generally as a cover band, you are looked down upon by all the original band artists (snobs). ;)

In my defense I have played in both types of bands and enjoy both about equally.

2. The replacement guy-
Now back to finding our band. Best case scenario you find a band who just had a musician that plays the same instrument as you leave the band and that band just happens to play the exact type of music you love playing. Even better you already know a majority of the songs on their song list, so you can step right in and start gigging right away.

3. HaHa That is funny, now the real world-
Back to reality, this almost never happens. In my case the band I'm with, did have their guitar player leave the band and they had a lot of dates booked that if they didn't find a guitarist who could learn the material in a very short period of time they were going to have to cancel a lot of shows. So the first part of the above scenario is in place, I found a band with an opening and shows booked.

4. And tonight you will be playing-
Now onto part two of the above scenario, the music. Not that I don't enjoy the music we play, I'd just never heard 85% of it prior to joining the band. That makes it pretty tough. Your trying to familiarize yourself with the song in general while also trying to learn it on guitar. All the while knowing you have a very short period in which to do so. My wife would quiz me on song titles every night. Obviously it all worked out because here I am a year later with the same band.

5. Can’t we all just get along?-
Most of the time what your going to find when your looking to join a band is other musicians just like you. So if you can't find a band that is already started your going to have to start your own. This really isn't a whole lot of fun. You place ads on music bulletin boards via the internet in the area you live. Maybe even on Craig's list if you’re desperate. You head out to all the local clubs and jam nights hoping to "bump" into musicians that are also looking.

You set up auditions with various bands and musicians, where they are not only auditioning you but you them as well. Your not only trying to figure out whether they can play their instrument well enough you also have to figure out if this is a person you can stand to be around for extended periods of time. Oh and you have to figure it out in about thirty minutes or less. No pressure.

6. Picking a song out of a hat-
Now you've found your band mates, hopefully by this point you've figured out what type of material you'll want to play. Sure you had songs that you used to audition but that doesn't necessarily mean that those are the songs you should be playing. Here lies the key to a successful band that gets to play when, where, and however much they want to, and the band who only plays gigs at crappy dive bars that are so bad you don't even want your friends to know your playing there.

Well I think that is a good place to end Part 1. Tune in next time when we'll talk about song selection, and various other things one should know before gigging out for the first time.

Until then go out to one of your local clubs and SUPPORT LIVE MUSIC.

Peace Love Music-

k-zen ohmmmmmm