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If I'm playing to that room of five people and I let the scrub up to play the other four patrons will probably leave. I'll drink an extra beer just so I can tell the guy no. If someone at my gig is gonna abuse my ear drums then I'm gonna pull an Everly bros and let it be me, lol.
Originally Posted by AllanAllen
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01-03-2025 05:58 PM
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I play a room of 5 people the same way I play a room of 100 people. In every endeavor, I always do my best. Originally Posted by DawgBone
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Agreed but a packed house always generates more energy. Originally Posted by Stringswinger
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Well yeah. You gotta use some judgement. If the guys got dress shoes and a button up shirt on I’m more likely to entertain him than the guy in work boots and ripped jeans. I would also announce the special guest and make the people think they’re getting something a little extra. Originally Posted by DawgBone
I haven’t gotten burned yet, but I’m sure one day it’ll blow up in my face and I’ll be surprised Pikachu.
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It happens to all of us. One time some little fella with permed long hair bops into a gig I was doing in downtown St. Pete. Immediately approaches me and says "you should let me play your guitar!" Ok little fella sure I will, lol. He exclaimed "I'm David Lee Roth's guitarist!". But the bass player who knew everybody recognized him and it was indeed Brian Young of the DLR band in town to play rib fest. He even got us backstage a couple days later, true to his word. I'll always remember that. Killer player, good guy. Originally Posted by AllanAllen
My experience has been that blue collar people guzzling beers tip a whole lot better than collared shirts sipping wine 9 times outta 10. We played last saturday to about 15 or 20 rednecks and made 100 bucks in tips in three hours. True, I play blues which probably does a little better than jazz in the rural parts but good is good don't matter the genre. The last big collared shirt score were some dudes who showed up late to the gig at the speakeasy last winter. "we'll give you a hundred bucks to play an extra 30 minutes". Naw, no thanks. "Ok, 200 bucks". Deal. Plus they tipped on top of it. That was more of an exception. They just wanted to have a good time and had the money to get their way.
One thing you'd like about down here is even working people, work boots and ripped jeans, would appreciate what you are doing if you do it well. People just like good live music down here. It isn't uncommon at all to have 200-600 bucks in the tip bucket at the nights end. I'll tell people to tip and when the first guy puts money in I'll say on the mic "THAT GUY JUST PUT A 100 DOLLAR BILL IN THERE, THANK YOU!!!" Works like a charm.
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When I talk to patrons, the most common thing they say is I can't believe how good you are and nobody is here, followed by how much better someone else they saw yesterday was who had even less people. But you drive by the casino and the parking lot is full. I hear it's like people forgot how to go out and have fun during the pandemic, I wouldn't know, I wasn't doing this back then.
Maybe your almost permanent warm weather (and looser lockdown) got people back out sooner.
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I play maybe two indoor gigs a year, lol. Even indoor gigs downtown the windows/doors are open to the street to attract customers. Plenty of weekday "can't believe there is no one here" gigs. But Austinites are spoiled with music so you could be the next George Benson and nobody would give a shit at a lot of the gigs. Soul crushers I call them, lol. Dues paying. I was down there a month or so ago on 6th playing to a club packed wall to wall with 250-300 people and made about $25 total in tips for the band. People enjoyed it but some of the 6th street hipster gigs don't bring big tips. The club will offset that w/ pay better than the dirty 6th clubs where anything could happen. Lots of different scenes. E 6th, dirty 6th, W 6th, Congress, Rainey, Manchaca, plus a lot of side street off 6th, 5th street clubs, hotels,and neighborhood places. Never mind everything outside the city the best of which is easily west Travis co and further south in Comal county. The suburbs of Austin are the worst, lol. Pflugerville, gags. Originally Posted by AllanAllen
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That’s like the opposite of Chicago. You go into the city and all the bars rotate 5 bands and the whole scene is on lockdown. Same bands on the same night at the few jazz clubs with like 15 year streaks. It’s been hard to break into that.
Outside of Chicago it’s been easier, owners are tired of the same old and I’ve been told a young jazz band is a breath of fresh air.
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If you want best results you still need to press the Chicago issue and hit all the jams available, become a regular face, and meet all the players and then you might get a foot in the door if only through someone else's band as a sub or getting invited to sit in. Every scene has it's gatekeepers and the smaller scenes seem like the gatekeepers are more aggressive to keep what they have cause there is less to get. It's also can be chalked up to it being easier for most people running a club to book the same acts than to chance it on a new group of morons. Originally Posted by AllanAllen
I've played some of the better clubs (and most of the worst lol) here but a couple of them won't give me the time of day. I also haven't hung out at those places enough either. There is only so much time in a day and some clubs won't let you in no matter what you do. You look at the stuff on their roster and a lot of it's forgettable but it's a social deal as much as it is a musical deal sometimes. Musical merit must be backed by people you know and people who know of you and know other people. Name+face=gig. Soundmen, other musicians, and bar staff I was cool with who go to work a different club have netted gigs. And you need a little hype. Chicago has the name. "I'm a blues guitarist based in Blanco sounds less impressive than "I'm a blues guitarist based in Austin" even though Jimmie Vaughan lives in Blanco now, lol.
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01-08-2025, 01:46 PM #385Mulgrew Miller Guest
When the band comes down for electric guitar as if it's naturally a quiet instrument. Lol! The electric guitar is not naturally a quiet instrument. Just turn it up you idiot.
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Hi Mulgrew Miller. I see you're new around here. Welcome! Originally Posted by Mulgrew Miller
We're a community of nice people who share a love of guitar and (hopefully) respect for each other.
As a newbie, maybe you can be considerate enough not to be using insulting language towards fellow members until we know whether you've got a cheeky sense of humour or whether you don't know how to be sociable.
Thanks and welcome.
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The ELECTRIC guitar CAN be a quiet soulful intelligent instrument. It often is (in the hands of players who are not idiots) This is a jazz (and music oriented) forum.
Music has many forms and many dynamics.
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01-08-2025, 07:32 PM #388Mulgrew Miller Guest
^ Yes, you can play it tenderly. I think it's dumb when the band comes down for it as if it's naturally quiet and can't match the volume of the band like a flute or something.
Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
Yo, thx for the welcome. The rough criticism isn't directed at anyone specifically, sorry. Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
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An excellent classical guitarist colleague of mine often gets asked by unknowing friends/family "So when are you going to get into a good band?" He kindly replies "Well I just do kind of a solo thing."
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people who list a guitar for sale and take pictures of it in sections and don't show one picture of the whole guitar. OR, when people take a picture where the headstock or bottom is partially cut off....
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People (especially on FB) who make videos of themselves playing songs they don't know. I don't want to hear something they're 'working on' - I want to hear something that's performance ready. Not quite as prevalent on YT but FB is rife with them ( I should really stay off of it - it mostly just infuriates me)
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I answered this thread on page one 5 yrs ago but I'll add lack of common courtesy, like not answering a question posed to someone online or returning a phone call/text instead of just ignoring it.
I think the kids call it ghosting.
Oh, and printer ink prices. I got tired of buying it for whatever it cost, $50 for all the different colors?
Anyone need a low mileage printer gratis?
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the fact that digital cameras don't have digital audio input. it would be amazing if you could get high quality audio from a usb interface into a digital camera without having to sync in post production. post production is a huge buzz kill
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Picks that I like are the same colour as carpets/flooring.
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Lol, my Pro Plecs dissappear as soon as they hit my dark wood floors. Originally Posted by garybaldy
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Never lose my white celluloid Fender heavies. I also don't drop them, so that helps.
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This is going to get us off topic, but why not, I guess... Originally Posted by AllanAllen
I've been using Fender heavies on my acoustic lately, I like a little bit thinner pick than the pro plec on that...now I SWEAR the "tortoise" Fender Heavies sound different than the other celluloid colors...am I nuts?
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I don't know about tortoise, but the Fender "Tortuga" picks not only sound different, they feel a bit weird, too.
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Often, different material is used to make picks of a different color by the same maker and so a different sound is to be expected. Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
I have a pick story: Some years back, I bought a guitar from a Japanese seller who gifted me two real tortoise picks. I did not bond with those picks and eventually sold them. But one night, I was doing a concert at the Throckmorton Theater in Mill Valley, California. We got a standing ovation and of course, we all got up to take a bow. When I stood, I dropped one of those tortoise picks and it bounced out of sight. The curtain came down and the lights went out while I was looking for my pick. While everyone else went into the green room to relax, I crawled around on that dark stage for about 10 minutes until I finally found that pick (whew!). That experience confirmed for me that expensive picks are not for me. I have gone back to Dunlop Jazz III's. If I lose one, Oh well.
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I've noticed I can't play as fast with the tortoise picks. Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
- the power of subliminal suggestion perhaps.
Well then you do know about them because "tortuga" means turtle or tortoise in Spanish. Originally Posted by Peter C
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