Musicians check in here. If you play, tell us about it!

[DaveP]

Starting a band is like watching grass grow. At some point, you get a few gigs where you get exposure and you take off. Most of your gigs will come from satisfied people in the audience who want you to play somewhere else. Getting out in public as much as possible gets your name in front of more people.

It doesn't hurt to employ a non-exclusive booking agent who only gets commission when he books you. They usually have contacts and can put you into places you normally wouldn't know about. They might have you traveling to other cities, but you can specify how far you are willing to travel.

In the early days, we played a lot of college frat party gigs that we wouldn't have gotten if it wasn't for our booking agent. Those can be fun if you are single.

 

[Subject:09141987]

I am music maker!

In all honesty, I have been a singer/songwriter for 13 years now! I play the acoustic! I am a mediocre singer, and my style is a bit western.

Here's my youtube page! polarisradio's channel - YouTube

 

[Black Strat]

Hi all! It's been a while since I visited the thread. I thought I would insert a couple of videos from a show last spring. One is footage of Great Gig In The Sky taken during tech rehearsal and the other is a teaser of Money taken during the show. Just reminiscing and jonesing for another show

The first one is the Money montage. Sax is by the great Kevin Young.

 

[Black Strat]

And here is the Great Gig In The Sky.

 

[DaveP]

I am music maker!

In all honesty, I have been a singer/songwriter for 13 years now! I play the acoustic! I am a mediocre singer, and my style is a bit western.

Here's my youtube page! polarisradio's channel - YouTube

Welcome, Subject! We have all sorts of musicians in this thread and it keeps on growing. I'm surprised at how many vapers play. It's a good thing, though.

 

[DaveP]

And here is the Great Gig In The Sky.

Black Strat, those videos are really good. You guys have the Pink Floyd vibe flowing in your group. Everyone must be hard core Floyd fans. You have to be to put that much effort into it. Their music isn't always easy to copy and perform well.

 

[Mac]

It's good to be the singer...

 

[DaveP]

It takes a band to make a singer really stand out. Without a band, it's a karaoke performance. That said, without a singer, a band is just instrumental.

Singers are lucky, though. They just need a microphone case, kind of like the picolo player.

 

[Black Strat]

Actually piccolo players don't even need a mic even in a stadium!

BTW, how many in-tune piccolo players can you fit in a phone booth?
Answer- all of them!

(My daughter plays piccolo in the UC Berkeley marching band)

 

[DaveP]

Actually piccolo players don't even need a mic even in a stadium!

BTW, how many in-tune piccolo players can you fit in a phone booth?
Answer- all of them!

(My daughter plays piccolo in the UC Berkeley marching band)

We have a female member of our praise band who plays acoustic guitar, sings, and plays flute. She's pretty good at all three and is teaching her daughter to play. She says that the daughter loves flute and practices for hours. I think it's great when people love music enough to put in the work. If you don't do the individual practice thing, you never leave the mediocrity level. I think that's why most people who try music and give up fail. They aren't willing to pay the rehearsal dues it takes to get out of the beginner level.

Even after playing all my life, I find myself occasionally fumbling through a fast lick that I used to play well. It's always because I have put something else in place of finger exercises and scale practice. I like to do scales and runs while watching TV. I play along with the background music in whatever I'm watching. It's a mind expanding exercise because you are exposed to types of music you normally wouldn't play.

 

[Hypnophone]

Hi all! It's been a while since I visited the thread. I thought I would insert a couple of videos from a show last spring. One is footage of Great Gig In The Sky taken during tech rehearsal and the other is a teaser of Money taken during the show. Just reminiscing and jonesing for another show

The first one is the Money montage. Sax is by the great Kevin Young.

Howdy there Black Strat!

I haven't been to this thread in a long time myself. ...just kinda stumbled in here.
Y'all have a very nice show there. Sounds great, cool video and lighting. Do you own all that stuff?
Heckuva show! Do y'all play small venues also?

We're re-tooling with keyboardist #2, and a new hotrod guitarist. Neither of their multiple strats from different eras are black, unfortunately.
God willin' and the river don't rise, we should be giggin' again by March.

 

[Hypnophone]

Here's some Lone Star Floyd from Dec 2011.

We've made some changes since then.

Lone Star Floyd | Facebook

 

[Hypnophone]

Here's some more:

 

[DaveP]

Nice videos, Hypnophone. Floyd has always been a tough act to get right and put the character of the music into the performance .

 

[Hypnophone]

Thanks Dave,
We're all about getting it right while adding our own weirdness. The videos are old. We now have two new players, an additional keyboardist and a replacement guitarist.
Everyone does thier homework and it sounds like the album versions in spots.
BTW, both guitarists and the second keyboardist are in praise-bands.

We're currently getting back up to speed, it'll take a little while. I pop in and keep y'all posted from time to time...
Shoot, I may just audio-waterboard y'all with stuff like this:

 

[Hypnophone]

Speaking of covers...

These guys are technical monsters. I think we can all agree.
It's a good job, but if you do an A-B comparison, well...... golly, what happened to details and dynamics???
Still, it is pretty dang good.

Here ya go:

 

[Hypnophone]

This is some kinda kewl stuff from PA.
'taint bad.

**********ATTENTION**************

Disregard the video krappe. It is krappe, and has nothing to do with the band, the song, or the album.
Just listen.

 

[Hypnophone]

Are you a guitar/bass/keyboard player?
Here's how a drummer constructs a tune.
This is the best album...ever. It don't get no better than this.
Damn! These Fers are some badass motherers.
Danged if they ain't!
This is what is missing these days. Just get in there and fin play!
No sequencers, no autotune, no lip-flappers, no hippity-hoppity turntable abuse.
How many of you could handle this?
I know that I cannot. I'm just a simple counTry docKtor...
I invite all of my ECF bretheren to check out Billy Cobham Spectrum. The best album ever.
It's got Jan Hammer and Tommy Bolin.
Enjoy, my friends!

 

[Pipeous]

Hey guys, loving all the pink F. I am a huge fan and have every recording they ever did right back to 1964...

so I picked up the godin a8 yesterday... wow what a sweet mandolin. while talking to my guitar guy I asked him to find me a mandocello... he said they had this Gold Tone octave mandolin just came in. has the built in braggs radius pick up.. he gave me a bros price and I said hold it until I come get the godin... well it was amazing and I took it. got it for basically half price and they knocked off $50 for the damage to to the mandobird...

I met a new acoustic guitar player/singer through bandmix and we have spent the last 2 weekends working together. you know when you meet some musician and within 5 minutes you know you click? well we have played a couple 4 hr sessions now and have harmonies and such worked out. I get to play mandolin or octave mandolin pretty much exclusively, so you know I am in heaven.. I am joining his band tomorrow/later today and taking my guitar/keyboard stuff to play in behind, maybe do some mando.

the other group I have well the drummer now owns the alesis pro midi kit. the newest biggest baddest set. can't wait to see. I have to head out there soon and get him to lay drum tracks down on some originals.. the bass player packed his gear and went home... oh darn LMAO

all I know is a duo acoustic is what I really wanted to do. we have a couple small gigs coming up we are just opening acts for a set, a party to play at with a bunch of other acts that rotate, and we are going to get our busking license and head out to the sidewalks

 

[DaveP]

Hey guys, loving all the pink F. I am a huge fan and have every recording they ever did right back to 1964...

so I picked up the godin a8 yesterday... wow what a sweet mandolin. while talking to my guitar guy I asked him to find me a mandocello... he said they had this Gold Tone octave mandolin just came in. has the built in braggs radius pick up.. he gave me a bros price and I said hold it until I come get the godin... well it was amazing and I took it. got it for basically half price and they knocked off $50 for the damage to to the mandobird...

I met a new acoustic guitar player/singer through bandmix and we have spent the last 2 weekends working together. you know when you meet some musician and within 5 minutes you know you click? well we have played a couple 4 hr sessions now and have harmonies and such worked out. I get to play mandolin or octave mandolin pretty much exclusively, so you know I am in heaven.. I am joining his band tomorrow/later today and taking my guitar/keyboard stuff to play in behind, maybe do some mando.

the other group I have well the drummer now owns the alesis pro midi kit. the newest biggest baddest set. can't wait to see. I have to head out there soon and get him to lay drum tracks down on some originals.. the bass player packed his gear and went home... oh darn LMAO.

all I know is a duo acoustic is what I really wanted to do. we have a couple small gigs coming up we are just opening acts for a set, a party to play at with a bunch of other acts that rotate, and we are going to get our busking license and head out to the sidewalks

With the right keyboard and amp, a keyboardist can BE the bass player these days. I like hearing a good bass player, but I've seen groups where one guy with a split or dual keyboard setup did it all.