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Gone from HC for a while-- In the meantime reached a musical goal


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I’ve been away from the HC forums for a while. Several reasons such as job change, work, and the many changes/issues with HC forums contributed to my absence.

 

I remember at some point posting that one of my goals was to play in a “real” (i.e. one with paying gigs) band by the time I’m 50. I was a couch player until my 40’s and then I started playing in the church band and also at weddings as a solo acoustic act.

 

I always thought it looked like bands were having so much fun performing and I just knew I had to try it myself sometime, but was not confident in my abilities as a singer or guitarist.

 

My goal was to be able to perform with a band as a second guitarist, switching from acoustic to electric as needed while singing a good portion of the songs in the set list.

 

Fast-forward a couple of years and now I’m 47 and playing in a real gigging band with real (paying) gigs. We only play out about 3 times a month, which is about the most I can commit to considering my work and family commitments, but we’re developing a following and keep getting asked back at the venues where we play.

 

I switch off playing acoustic (new Taylor 314ce) and electric (MIM Tele with Blues Jr) and sing close to half of the songs on the set list. I also do all the promotion (fliers/Facebook, etc.).

 

What I’ve learned is that it’s not the music part that’s hard about playing in a band (I learned/memorized over 50 new songs in a matter of weeks) but it’s dealing with the people in the band that is the hard part. For example, we’re currently on our 4th lead guitarist at this point. He’s great but he’s involved in other projects besides ours. We’ll make the most of him while we can.

 

Anyway, I’ve always enjoyed reading about the experiences of all of you more experienced performers and seeing how you all deal with your bands, band drama, venues, groupies, promoters, etc.

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Sounds about right. I'm in a similar situation but I'm a smidge younger and suspect I have a smidge more experience.

 

The band I helped found in the summer of 2012 has now been through a bass player, a singer, a guitar player, another singer, another guitar player, a drummer, and ... I'm sure I've missed some of the changes. Never mind the countless auditions. Of the five pieces, only two are original (me and lead guitar). We were also a four-piece for awhile.

 

We're not gigging much, only 4 shows this year :( but we're getting there musically. We have a stable lineup now of 5 mature guys who get along well, are musically compatible, and available for rehearsals gigs. I never thought that would be hard part of being in a band again.

 

Wes

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