First Paid Gig

[AllanAllen]

I never turn gigs down unless it's a lousy band or the pay doesn't warrant me loading gear in my ride. Never know when you'll be sitting around just practicing in your crib again waiting for the phone to ring, and you'll learn a lot more on the bandstand anyway.

It’s funny to reflect back on this. August seems like a year ago and I can’t imagine stumbling over things now like I was then. Playing live is the best way to improve, rehearsing is a good second. Only because of all the homework you have to do before. But learning how to keep plowing through mistakes on stage in real time, priceless.

[AaronMColeman]

It’s funny to reflect back on this. August seems like a year ago and I can’t imagine stumbling over things now like I was then. Playing live is the best way to improve, rehearsing is a good second. Only because of all the homework you have to do before. But learning how to keep plowing through mistakes on stage in real time, priceless.

I'm very much a beginner but I'm also a jump first and figure out how to land on the way down kind of person. I attended my first jam after about 6 months of jazz playing. I learned really fast that the highlighter in ireal is a MASSIVE crutch. I practice with just the lead sheets now and that has helped so much. And it's wild, my first jam was in March and I already feel like I'm 10x the player I was then. The problem is most local jam locations tend to close quickly

[AllanAllen]

I'm very much a beginner but I'm also a jump first and figure out how to land on the way down kind of person. I attended my first jam after about 6 months of jazz playing. I learned really fast that the highlighter in ireal is a MASSIVE crutch. I practice with just the lead sheets now and that has helped so much. And it's wild, my first jam was in March and I already feel like I'm 10x the player I was then. The problem is most local jam locations tend to close quickly

The venue we use is closing and the last one is 12/21. I've been frantically contacting other places without much success. Once place wants to talk after the holidays, that's about it. A lot of places are giving up live music out here. I have to keep looking though, if I don't find a place I won't have a band.

[pamosmusic]

The venue we use is closing and the last one is 12/21. I've been frantically contacting other places without much success. Once place wants to talk after the holidays, that's about it. A lot of places are giving up live music out here. I have to keep looking though, if I don't find a place I won't have a band.

My move was always to sneak in with a solo gig and then slowly start adding musicians.

oh hey no I’ll just be over there in the corner you won’t even notice!

three weeks later: hey i know this bass player.

Meaning see if maybe the bass player from your session wants to do a duo thing. And then work your way up. A full band and a session can be a big ask for folks who are on the fence about having music in their spot. But guitarists have the luxury of being sneaky.

[AllanAllen]

My move was always to sneak in with a solo gig and then slowly start adding musicians.

oh hey no I’ll just be over there in the corner you won’t even notice!

three weeks later: hey i know this bass player.

Meaning see if maybe the bass player from your session wants to do a duo thing. And then work your way up. A full band and a session can be a big ask for folks who are on the fence about having music in their spot. But guitarists have the luxury of being sneaky.

I think I need a 3-4 song solo set to take around to open mics and try and to book from there. But... it's a lot of hustle, and I'm really trying not to burn myself out treading water again. I also still need a website with pictures and a decent video.

[Liarspoker]

I also still need a website with pictures and a decent video.

I can do that for you. I've build a bunch of sites including some that I've sold.

This is one of my own

MGH Home - Modern Guitar Harmony

I made this very basic one for a local musician

Home - Pat Sexton Music

Just send a pm if you want to talk more.

[pamosmusic]

Ah yeah. Not a bad idea on both of those.

Another thing is just seeing if anyone in the house band wants to get together for a session at someone’s house. Just a hang but also doubles as an opportunity to keep working. If folks are okay with it, you can get some video for that website too. That’s a good thing to do while it’s still on peoples minds. Strike while the irons hot etc

[AllanAllen]

Ah yeah. Not a bad idea on both of those.

Another thing is just seeing if anyone in the house band wants to get together for a session at someone’s house. Just a hang but also doubles as an opportunity to keep working. If folks are okay with it, you can get some video for that website too. That’s a good thing to do while it’s still on peoples minds. Strike while the irons hot etc

I brought up a rehearsal at the last jam and they were into it. Just a matter of cramming it into my already overbooked weekends.

[TAA]

Ah, those older than old memories!

I kept the group's date and financial records. Our first "gig" neted each of us $1.50. There were (5) in our group. This was Dec. 1964. Moving up to Feb. 1965 that crept up to $5.70 each. Fast forward to March 1969, one of our last "jobs", we were paid $265 each, after booker's fee. I guess we were fortunate for that income progression. Having a local 45 record on the radio probably helped.

Tom

[Dave70]

Ah, those older than old memories!

... Fast forward to March 1969, one of our last "jobs", we were paid $265 each, after booker's fee...

Tom

Adjusted for inflation, $265 in 1969 is equal to $2,216 in 2023. Nice!

[SethB]

I'm really enjoying all the great ideas and comments about paid gigs!

When my group went from jamming for fun to playing for pay, one of the guys told me that "once money is involved, everything changes," and he was 100% right. I've since learned that getting paid gigs isn't always about how great your music is, but more about how many patrons you can bring in or attract to the venue, and for bars or clubs, how much food and drink the audience buys. In other words, it's not what the venue can do for you, but what can you do for the venue.

If you think jazz guitarists have trouble getting booked, consider my group, the "Vintage Jazz Band," which plays popular standards from the 1920's, 30's & 40's. Although we loved playing these tunes, we found there was basically zero interest from bars, clubs and restaurants in that type of material. So we turned instead to local public libraries and offered a 60- or a 90-minute concert called "From Ragtime to Swingtime" (see attached playlist). In between tunes, we added short commentaries about the tune and/or the composer, or an interesting anecdote. For example, I'd explain that the jazz standard "I'm Confessing" was originally a 1929 song called "Looking For Another Sweetie," which went nowhere until a "song doctor" was called in, and a new title and new lyrics were added in 1930.

Playing libraries has worked out well for us, especially since most of them had already budgeted money for various events, so getting paid wasn't an issue; they also weren't worried about how much food/beverage would be purchased! Since they had lots of daily foot traffic, on-site flyers seemed to be especially productive in boosting attendance. Sometimes we were playing to SRO audiences in rooms that held up to 150 people (see attached photo). Since libraries are always concerned about their circulation stats, I always reminded the audience to "check out a book or two" on their way out. The librarians appreciated that and said their circ numbers often went up after our show.

So if you can put a similar educational-style jazz program together, it might be worth your while to consider this niche market. SETH

[AllanAllen]

I'm really enjoying all the great ideas and comments about paid gigs!

When my group went from jamming for fun to playing for pay, one of the guys told me that "once money is involved, everything changes," and he was 100% right. I've since learned that getting paid gigs isn't always about how great your music is, but more about how many patrons you can bring in or attract to the venue, and for bars or clubs, how much food and drink the audience buys. In other words, it's not what the venue can do for you, but what can you do for the venue.

If you think jazz guitarists have trouble getting booked, consider my group, the "Vintage Jazz Band," which plays pop standards from the 1920's, 30's & 40's. Although we loved playing these tunes, we found there was basically zero interest from local bars and restaurants in that type of material. So we turned instead to local public libraries and offered a 60- or a 90-minute concert called "From Ragtime to Swingtime" (see attached playlist). In between tunes, we added short commentaries about the tune and/or the composer, or an interesting anecdote. For example, I'd explain that the jazz standard "I'm Confessing" was originally a 1929 song called "Looking For Another Sweetie," which went nowhere until a "song doctor" was called in and new lyrics were added in 1930.

Playing libraries has worked out well for us, especially since most of them had already budgeted money for various events, so getting paid wasn't an issue; they also weren't worried about how much food/beverage would be purchased! Since they had lots of daily foot traffic, on-site flyers seemed to be especially productive in boosting attendance. Sometimes we were playing to SRO audiences in rooms that held up to 150 people (see attached photo). Since libraries are always concerned about their circulation stats, I always reminded the audience to "check out a book or two" on their way out. The librarians appreciated that and said their circ numbers often went up after our show.

So if you can put a similar educational-style jazz program together, it might be worth your while to consider this niche market. SETH

I've been thinking about something like this. Jonathan Stout does something similar. Playing a song and also having something interesting to say about it.

As far as the drinks and food thing, I'm hoping having a band that's not loud will keep the people who came without knowing there was a band in the venue. I have gone out a few times to see a local band and nobody is there to see them and gradually the place empties out as they get louder and louder. There is a local guy though who is VERY volume conscious and he can keep the patrons in the bar. He's also got the most gigs of anyone I know, so there might be some correlation there.

[SethB]

Volume is a very tough nut to crack, especially if you're working without a sound person who can hear what it sounds like out front. I'm always concerned about the balance between the singer and the rest of band, as well as the overall volume. In my opinion, it's better to have a little less volume than too much -- despite what some rock bands apparently think, louder music does not always equal better music.

Our group works with a dedicated 40-watt 8" PA system for the vocalist. The horn player isn't miked, and the bass player and each guitarist have their own amp; I use a 90-watt Fender Acoustasonic. The drummer also mics his brushes and bass drum with an S1Pro Bose unit. This arrangement is light to carry, easy to transport and set up, is fine for small gigs and can comfortably fill rooms of up to 150 people with sound if the acoustics are good. We've tried running everything through an 8-channel mixer and a 10" JBL Eon610 powered speaker, but that was way too much extra work and gear, and it also didn't seem to make much difference.

In our experience, it also helps to raise the guitar amps about 12' off the floor with portable folding footstools, and to use a stand to put the vocal PA unit at or slightly above the audience's shoulders, so the sound doesn't get lost in everyone's pant legs. The idea is to fill the entire room with sound at a comfortable level for all, rather than just pushing sound at the audience.

Since we don't have a soundman, I will sometimes ask an audience to let us know if we're too loud or too soft, or if they can't hear the singer well enough. But aside from that sounding a bit amateurish, I don't think we've ever gotten any feedback that way. So either our settings were perfect (very unlikely!) or the crowd was just too polite to complain (much more likely). SETH

[Liarspoker]

When I play solo I always ask someone that works there to signal to me if I need to turn it up or down while I'm playing. Works a treat when the room volume changes

[SethB]

That's a good idea. If he/she is at the gig, I should really ask the person who hired us or the one who's in charge to monitor the volume level and give us feedback on it during the show. Got to make them happy, too!

And as you noted, people do soak up sound, so when there's more people, the sound volume may probably need to go up a bit -- and vice versa.

That's also why in our experience, a pre-show soundcheck in an empty room isn't always that helpful, except maybe for balance and to make sure everything is plugged in correctly and actually works. SETH

[JazzPadd]

I like the library gig and song anecdote educational angle. I been thinking of doing something like that.

The book “Stardust Melodies” is worth a look for interesting biographies of popular standards.

[SethB]

BTW, I have found Wikipedia (the non-profit online encyclopedia) very helpful in researching the history of songs and their copyright/publication dates.

Just type the name of your tune in the search box, hit Enter, and most song entries will have some interesting and useful information. For example, I had no idea that the theme from the original "Star Trek" TV show used the same chord progression as "Out of Nowhere," but I'm not musically knowledgeable enough to verify that assertion. And I also didn't know that "Rose Room" was originally titled "In Sunny Roseland," and was written in 1917 to publicize the rose-themed dining room at the ritzy St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. Sometimes I don't even know what I don't know!

Anyway, our band usually donates $50 a year to Wikipedia because we do use that resource very often in putting comments together for our shows. SETH

[AllanAllen]

. For example, I had no idea that the theme from the original "Star Trek" TV show used the same chord progression as "Out of Nowhere," but I'm not musically knowledgeable enough to verify that assertion.

Guess what I’m starting my Out of Nowhere solo with from now on.

[CliffR]

Guess what I’m starting my Out of Nowhere solo with from now on.

Go for it!

One of our esteemed constituents recently pointed out the correspondence a couple of months ago and certainly opened my ears:

Out of nowhere

[SethB]

Thanks for the clip, that was great!

When I asked Wikipedia about this, I found that in classical music, a musical work based on a prior work is called a "contrafact." In jazz, a contrafact is a musical composition consisting of a new melody overlaid on a older harmonic structure. This allows jazz musicians to create new songs without infringing on anyone's copyrights, since melodies can be copyrighted, but not the underlying chord changes. As another example, Dizzy Gillespie took the lovely 1920 song "Whispering," and used those changes for his 1945 tune "Groovin' High". SETH

[SethB]

I just finished a really good book about the nuts and bolts of forming and maintaining a band, getting and keeping gigs, performance tips, handling the artistic and business sides of music, and being a good musician in general. Although the book is written from the viewpoint of a rock musician who plays mostly clubs and bars, it contains a great deal of useful and practical information for anybody who wants to play paid gigs.

"Gig for Life: The Ultimate Guide for Musicians," by Georges Elchakieh, is available from Amazon in hardcover ($26), paperback ($20) and as a Kindle e-book ($9). SETH

[SierraTango]

Also, check out Ted Gioa's book "The Jazz Standards". Lots of great information and well written.