Members wkendhacker Posted February 22, 2011 Members Share Posted February 22, 2011 Being a mediocre player who plays solely to gig, I am in awe of the people here who have these incredible studios jand compose or record pieces for themselves and their friends and family. In my 30 years of playing keys, it never occurred to me to sit down at a work station and create music just for the sake of creativity. It SEEMS to me as a newb here, that most people don't gig, or don't gig anymore (more sympathetic I could not BE. 3am gets later and later as I age.) So, if you don't mind, take my poll: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wkendhacker Posted February 22, 2011 Author Members Share Posted February 22, 2011 I should add, that any gig is a gig. You can play Madison Square, or a kid's birthday party. It's all the same Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wwwjd Posted February 22, 2011 Members Share Posted February 22, 2011 I used to get paid for my stuff, just haven't played in that arena for a while. Still active in others endeavors but refuse payments because it takes the fun out of it for me and I don't need it. Getting back to paid personal production some time in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AJP Posted February 22, 2011 Members Share Posted February 22, 2011 I'm strictly a solo gigging musician now (plus day job). At this point in life, coordinating schedules with three or four other people in a band (who also have day jobs, families, etc.) is pretty much impossible. I do fantasize regularly about writing and recording, though. Have started carrying around a notebook, in fact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Conbrio Posted February 22, 2011 Members Share Posted February 22, 2011 At this point in life, coordinating schedules with three or four other people in a band (who also have day jobs, families, etc.) is pretty much impossible. Yes, it's difficult to find good musicians that have free time to rehearse and gig on a regular basis. When I was younger, I played in a couple of small bands regularly and really miss that now. I only get an occasional gig these days... I guess it's time to think about doing more solo stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Nillerbabs Posted February 22, 2011 Members Share Posted February 22, 2011 Playing live with my original electro/rock/jazz band, but the main music dough comes from various cover bands. I haven't played live with my own jazz tunes, but my repetoire grows steadily, albeit slowly. I'm a sad perfectionist on that account - but it's what I enjoy the most. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Conbrio Posted February 22, 2011 Members Share Posted February 22, 2011 my repetoire grows steadily, albeit slowly. I'm a sad perfectionist on that account - but it's what I enjoy the most. Me too. If I spent more of my free time writing and recording, instead of "fine tuning," I'd have two hours of original music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soundwave106 Posted February 22, 2011 Members Share Posted February 22, 2011 So, if you don't mind, take my poll: I've done both. Though at this point the studio is more being used for "tinkering around", whereas I have somewhat regular gigs. The cover band recently went on hiatus due to the all-too-familiar "band drama" thing, so maybe I'll actually be writing stuff in the studio soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AJP Posted February 22, 2011 Members Share Posted February 22, 2011 I guess it's time to think about doing more solo stuff. I'd recomment it! Truthfully, it took me a little while to get comfortable with, what with the "backing track" thing. But it's cool because ultimately 1) you have complete control, over EVERYTHING, and 2) Doing the first third of the evening in an "unplugged" fashion can show those who are "in the know" that you're not ALL ABOUT backing tracks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ChristianRock Posted February 22, 2011 Members Share Posted February 22, 2011 What kind of music do you play, AJP? And what instrument do you play along with the backing tracks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wkendhacker Posted February 22, 2011 Author Members Share Posted February 22, 2011 2 quick observations:1. I don't know why the first choice "I play Live" was in italics That was accidental.2. Based on what I've read in this forum, I'm surprised to find there are more live players than studio players. I may not be paying close attention, but it seemed to me that most of the posts and post-ers seem to be focused on personal creativity and not gigging with keys in a live setting. and 1 quick admission: I do and have played live almost exclusively, but I am growing weary of it, and have been daydreaming about setting up a nice studio like many have here, figuring out how to use the equipment, and then doing some creative composition on my own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tomkeen Posted February 22, 2011 Members Share Posted February 22, 2011 I used to play live but don't anymore. Too much drama with too many bands. I'm starting to write some music myself (or at least, I'm trying..), but it's going very slowly. I always need to remind myself to play more to get ideas and write them down instead of turning on the computer and start recording instantly, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AJP Posted February 22, 2011 Members Share Posted February 22, 2011 What kind of music do you play, AJP? And what instrument do you play along with the backing tracks? First set, when people are usually finishing dinner, etc., is usually 1/2 piano/vocal and 1/2 guitar (acoustic/electric)/vocal. From Billy Joel, Elton, James Taylor, Bowie, Green Day, Plain White Ts, etc. My backing tracks are all homemade on the XS7's sequencer, and depending on the tune, I'll play guitar or keys. Part select on the XS7 allows me to switch between sounds in the song quickly. I'll also grab a "utility" part on the MicroKorg XL from time to time (the "Phatline" preset is GREAT on "And We Danced" by The Hooters). And the Mini-lead type sounds for things like "Follow You, Follow Me". And then, of course, all the stuff that they can't do without, like "Brown Eyed Girl" and "Margaritaville". FACEPALM!!!! Guitar on stuff like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cygnus64 Posted February 23, 2011 Members Share Posted February 23, 2011 Are you a gigger, a paid composer/recorder, After 25 years of being a performer, I'm developing an additional career as an orchestrator/arranger for symphonies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kpatz Posted February 23, 2011 Members Share Posted February 23, 2011 I'm horrible at playing anything "live" so I just compose/noodle at home. Music and synths a hobby for me... thank goodness I can write (computer) code because my music skills would leave me homeless... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members clusterchord Posted February 23, 2011 Members Share Posted February 23, 2011 i answered b) , but its somewhere btwn a) and b) .. mostly i live of composing for media and perf arts..i.e. jngles, series, film, contemporary dance, theatre.. my side gig is audio-post, and on rare ocassion i produce/arrange for other ppl. in free time i have a sml band doing ambient/psyhedelic electronics.. we perform half a dozen or more payed concerts per yr: festivals, art galleries, installations etc.. so it doesn't exactly count as a career, but we still enjoy it, like another form of expression, and also time off from regular projects. naturally, i wish i could dedicate more time to the latter.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Nillerbabs Posted February 23, 2011 Members Share Posted February 23, 2011 Me too. If I spent more of my free time writing and recording, instead of "fine tuning," I'd have two hours of original music. I'd by far prefer having a handful of exquicite (spelling?) tunes at hand to having a {censored}load of mediocre music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Conbrio Posted February 23, 2011 Members Share Posted February 23, 2011 Truthfully, it took me a little while to get comfortable with, what with the "backing track" thing. But it's cool because ultimately 1) you have complete control, over EVERYTHING, and 2) Doing the first third of the evening in an "unplugged" fashion can show those who are "in the know" that you're not ALL ABOUT backing tracks. Regarding performing solo music live--it does take awhile to build the confidence to go out there alone. I'm used to being on the side or back of the stage, accompanying the band and maybe taking an occasional solo. Being the front man all the time takes courage, and since I enjoy performing original tunes along with covers, I'll need to write more music. Just curious... how do people respond to backing tracks? That's one of the reasons I haven't pursued this further, as some people think you're just pressing "play" and not really performing anything live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members girevik Posted February 23, 2011 Members Share Posted February 23, 2011 and 1 quick admission: I do and have played live almost exclusively, but I am growing weary of it, and have been daydreaming about setting up a nice studio like many have here, figuring out how to use the equipment, and then doing some creative composition on my own. I don't have a nice studio, but I'm finally learning how to use my Korg M3 workstation as a workstation. I've played live, but not consistently. I joined bands because I had no musical ideas of my own. Now I do, so the M3 will be my main tool for putting together my more arranged music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members girevik Posted February 23, 2011 Members Share Posted February 23, 2011 Just curious... how do people respond to backing tracks? That's one of the reasons I haven't pursued this further, as some people think you're just pressing "play" and not really performing anything live. It depends on the stage presentation. We used to have a guy in the scene who played under the moniker "Donna Summer". He'd press play on his laptop and dance madly along with it. He was popular here because his arrangements (mostly based on sequenced samples) were well put-together and high energy, and the laptop playback was usually accompanied by video which he'd also edited together. One hit that he had here was samples from his 30 or so favorite punk rock songs edited together into a 6 min. track. There's another guy here who is also a press-play type, but he also sings along with his backing parts and occasionally slips in some stylophone and melodica. People like him too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Conbrio Posted February 23, 2011 Members Share Posted February 23, 2011 I'd by far prefer having a handful of exquicite (spelling?) tunes at hand to having a {censored}load of mediocre music. I was referring to composing two one-hour sets of great tunes, not filler. If I start performing original music live, I'll need to have a large repertoire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ChristianRock Posted February 23, 2011 Members Share Posted February 23, 2011 First set, when people are usually finishing dinner, etc., is usually 1/2 piano/vocal and 1/2 guitar (acoustic/electric)/vocal. From Billy Joel, Elton, James Taylor, Bowie, Green Day, Plain White Ts, etc. My backing tracks are all homemade on the XS7's sequencer, and depending on the tune, I'll play guitar or keys. Part select on the XS7 allows me to switch between sounds in the song quickly. I'll also grab a "utility" part on the MicroKorg XL from time to time (the "Phatline" preset is GREAT on "And We Danced" by The Hooters). And the Mini-lead type sounds for things like "Follow You, Follow Me". And then, of course, all the stuff that they can't do without, like "Brown Eyed Girl" and "Margaritaville". FACEPALM!!!! Guitar on stuff like that. Very cool I wonder how people would respond to original music played by a one-man act. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Meatball Fulton Posted February 23, 2011 Members Share Posted February 23, 2011 I play live but not on keyboards, I'm a bassist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AJP Posted February 23, 2011 Members Share Posted February 23, 2011 Just curious... how do people respond to backing tracks? That's one of the reasons I haven't pursued this further, as some people think you're just pressing "play" and not really performing anything live. I guess it's all in the presentation. Like I said about the first set... depending on the type of gig, of course, you can show your chops in real-time. And even late in the evening, when some of the audience is nice and sauced... they like to yell out requests! Then you can go into full-on "piano-bar" mode. Truthfully I haven't noticed any responses, good or bad, to the backing tracks thing. Everyone seems to enjoy themselves, I still get to do music without worrying about three or four others' schedules or tastes, and I take home a few bucks. It's all good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Karma1 Posted February 23, 2011 Members Share Posted February 23, 2011 I do very occasional solo gigs of ambient electronic music on synths, and I also play in a group that gigs maybe once a month. In the group I play mainly electric and midi guitar and a bit keyboard - mostly for atmospheric textures. But I'm generally more focused these days on studio work. I have five CD's of ambient music, and I also do some producing and studio work for other recording artists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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