PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Off-Topic Gig Prices

Yes, I still feel sorry for younger musicians.

Yes there are more resources to teach you how to play.

But there are fewer places where you can gig and more musicians/karaoke jocks/DJs/Sports Bars, etc. filling those positions.

When I was growing up every hotel from a Holiday Inn on up had 6 or 7 nights per week of live music. Weddings, parties, school dances, and almost everything else was live too. If you played recordings, the party was considered "less than". Singles clubs, adult bars, of any worth all had live bands -- the only bars with TVs as the entertainment were corner taverns consisting of a barkeep and a dozen bar stools, and none had DJs.

Yes the Internet is a great teacher -- but -- As far as instruction is concerned, we taught each other.

I remember one of my early gigs. I was fresh out of High School, playing in Lenny's Lounge in Fort Lauderdale FL.

There were two bands, the black band and the white band. We took turns, when it came break time whoever was on stage started the break song, the other band members came out and as they picked up their instrument, the corresponding player in the other band left the stage.

Me? I walked across the stage and played with the black band. The sax player and I used to have fun together. He'd lead off and I'd try to follow the best I could.

Before the gig we all spent time in the back room. The black sax man (I wish I could remember his name) taught me so many of the things about playing Blues and Rock that the schools didn't teach. Like how to use your throat and vocal cords to get and regulate distortion, when to scoop up to notes from flat to pitch for effect, when to over-blow the horn, how to change mouth shapes to influence the tone and the vowel sound, how to play without breath support and a weak embouchure to get sub-tones, and more. He was a grey haired old guy and used to say, "I am the past, and you are the future" and told me that one day I'd be doing the same thing to some younger musician.

I wouldn't have traded that for a zillion internet lessons. As time went on and we gigged in other places, I shared info with other musicians. We were everywhere, and although some kept their secrets to themselves, most of us shared.

I was taught guitar and bass by guitarists and bassists, never had a formal lesson in either and I got good enough to play bass for Freddie Boom Boom Cannon for a short series of concerts.

I've passed on things I've learned to other sax players, and even taught a trumpet player how to play sax. He's quite good now.

Another beginner I took under my wing has played in New Orleans Jazz Fest a few years in a row. She moved to NOLA and continued to blossom.

It's what we did when there were working musicians everywhere. We passed on the tradition to the youngsters. We didn't do formal lessons, didn't take money, just shared.

Things are different now, and I just roll with the changes. Some things are better now, and I miss other things. It's just the way it is.

I started playing professionally in 1964, and other than two 'straight jobs' where I investigated what being normal was like, I've made a living playing music. Even in those two bouts of doing day gigs (neither lasted that long) I played music on the weekends. Since 1964 I've missed only one gig, I was in the hospital with food poisoning and they wouldn't let me out. I've played with big stars, recorded at Motown and other studios, partied with headliners and was treated as a peer, felt comfortable on stages with thousands in the audience, and even though I'm of retirement age, I have no plans to quit what I'm doing, because it's what I love to do.

And yes, we are playing for the same money as we did years ago, but it's a game of supply and demand, and I have to go with the flow. Still we get more than most duos, because of our reputation and because we do a good job. True we've lost some gigs to DJs and KJocks who undercut us but we've also gotten gigs where people say "Wow! You actually play your own instruments!"

Things change, accountants are replaced by TurboTax, the post office is hurt by e-mail, newspapers and magazines have taken a hit by the Internet, small restaurants put out of business by big chains, and so on.

Things change, some adapt and survive, some don't, and that's the way it has always been. Nobody sells cranks for Model T Fords anymore.

Live music is a state of decline, which is why I think I'm lucky to be born when I did so I could ride it at its peak.

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