Extending Your Gigging Years: Why Grandpa Still Plays Out

[Crustee]

Yeah, the capo can be your best friend. Plus, I also carry a guitar tuned a half step down, so when I feel my voice strained a bit, I just switch guitar and that usually helps a lot.

 

 

Jackson Browne tunes down to D nowadays, and still sounds just as good if not better.

[Dingoist]

 

I hope I am nowhere near the end of my gigging days, but I already subscribe to much of what has been said in this thread. I try to keep my equipment light while not sacrificing in the sound quality department. My full set up is 2 EV SX100+ speakers (just under 32 lbs. each) on sticks, wedge monitor(s) (13 lbs. each), and a Yamaha EMX512SC mixer (17 lbs.). Sounds VERY good to me, gets plenty loud for our venues, and is pretty light. As a guitarist, Arthritis is my biggest fear. No signs of it yet, though...

 

 

I'm in the tail end of my 30's so I'm still pretty young compared to a lot of this crowd but I have to struggle a bit with arthritis in my hands. I got really depressed in the spring when it was so painful to play, and I could barely move my hands. But I find if I keep playing, than it's not so hard.

 

But age? Consider my father is not quite twice my age and does over twice the amount of playing and gigging that I do still (more since he retired from his day job) I can only hope to be as fit as him, musically and physically.

[Miket156]

I'll turn 64 the first week in October. I played in rock bands until the mid seventies, then partnered with a guitar player/singer and we teamed up with my Yamaha Electric grand, PA, with both of us singing. We harmonized well and worked together almost 4 years. After that I went solo and have played music as a solo act ever since. Because of where I live and the changing music scene, I had reduced the number of gigs I played each year to gigs that were fun and paid well. As a KB player with a good sounding PA, rack case, and Yamaha Motif ES8, I was transportable, but it has gotten more difficult as I have aged. Last January I tore my rotator cuff at work. I haven't played since then and at this point, my music career is over.

Doing gigs has been a lot of fun over the years and it kept me interested in learning new material, being prepared, practicing instead of sleeping more, exercising to stay fit, and reduce drinking alcohol. I haven't used alcohol at a gig in over 30 years, I sing better and don't fall asleep at the wheel.

Time marches on, our body will eventually tell us when its time to bag it.


Mike T.

[RupertB]

1) I'm choosy about where and how often I play. I'd rather do a few quality gigs a year than a bunch of gigs that add to my frustration. 5) I am serious about what I do, but don't take it seriously. Making a mistake in my practice as a therapist can have serious consequences. Hitting a wrong note or flubbing a lyric not so much.

 

 

Two important and frequently overlooked points here. I figured out early that I had an exceptionally low tolerance for drama, shady business practices, and divas (among the reasons I dropped any pretense to be "in the business").

 

A predisposition toward the positive; in bandmates, business managers, really everyone you deal with, letting the little things go & allowing yourself to walk away when things get really stupid will make the time you spend playing immeasurably more enjoyable and likely extend your gigging years.

 

Life is too short to spend it around people who interfere with your passion for playing music.

[Voltan]

Last year when i was still a teenager... *cough*... I remember sitting at a county fair watching a dixieland jazz band cook some old tunes...and the chief cook was the drummer who weighed in at 82 years young... kicking it up and doing all the old jazz drummer tricks, popping his sleeves as he played, stick twirls, fancy sticking etc... and most engaging was the huge smile plastered across his face the whole time he played... doing something he loved and doing it very, very well... that we all could be so lucky...

[ChordGirl]

Doing solos as a woman, I've learned to work with a pretty pared down system. I've always been relatively strong for a chick, but I ended up buying 12's because I always had problems getting 15's up on the sticks, unless they were plastic, which is a no go for me. I ended up buying 300W Yamaha speaker/wedges, using them occasionally as monitors with a larger band but as speakers for solos/duos. Also, the venues I play are usually small enough that I very rarely use monitors. So I haul a powered head, 2 12's, a chord/mic bag, mic/guitar stands, and 1 guitar for duos, 2 for solos. Pretty simple and quick, especially since I keep the hardware in the trunk of my car. I am just very careful not to let anyone know that.

[daddymack]

Doing solos as a woman,

Wait a minute... do you also do solos as a man?

[ChordGirl]

Wait a minute... do you also do solos as a man?

[Stackabones]

one wonders how they did all those folk act coffee house gigs back in the 50s without anything but an acoustic guitar...oh, yeah, people cared enough to be quiet and listen...they weren't texting, taking calls, webcrawling, etc.... Actually, when I started out doing duos in the early 70s (yeah, I'm a grandpa for real ), some gigs we didn't even have a vocal microphone, we had to sing pretty loud over 2 guitars... I saw Pete Seeger in a 'very intimate' setting around that time, and he was totally 'acoustic', in a 'small room'...Tom Paxton, and several other folk acts too...they would show up with one guitar and play for a couple of hours, unamplified, drinking...coffee... ahhh, those were the days...

I just finished about a 2-yr run of around 400+ shows going all acoustic -- no mics, no amps. Though towards the end I started using my Strat with a Pignose, but still no mics or PA. Each show was two hours. I learned a lot about singing and playing in that setting.

Load-in and -out were a breeze.

[John Bartus]

The Fish Stick is great -- it fills the room with sound better than my old pair of 15" EVs, although not as much bass. If all you're doing is acoustic guitar and vocals, however, it might be all you'll need for your solo act.

I still have a band, and for that I haul out the big PA (dual 15" column speakers on subs, wedges, amps, etc.). I also keep the bottle of ibuprofen close at hand.

I second the idea of having a cart or dolly for hauling one's stuff in and out of gigs -- a real lifesaver. One other thing that saves my aching bones a little bit is a rug or carpet on which to stand. It makes a real difference at the end of a three-hour gig, and it also helps keep my pedals in place as well.

I turn 50 in a couple of months, and I have no plans on slowing down at all. (Not that I could afford to slow down...)

[John Bartus]

By the way, the fisherman with the grouper lives in my hometown of Marathon in the Florida Keys. His name is Chris Johnson, and he's one of our local charter captains!

It's nice to see friends on the forum...

[Shaster]

Low action on my guitars, helps me. I've got some electric Guilds and Ibanez Artcores that are easy to play - cuts down on fatigue. No more macho rasing the action for better sustain nonsense. Who cares about sustain when you're playing Stand by Me.....

I always use something with wheels and often carry just one speaker for quiet gigs.

I've got one system where I can fit everything in one large suitcase with my mic stand tied with a bungee on the outside. Sometimes if I'm doing an early gig right downtown I get my wife to drop me at the Skytrain station (subway above ground) and get to work in half the time. And I don't have to pay $20.00 in parkiing and $15.00 in gas.

Yea I try and keep it simple and light and make up for it by by giving a bit more at the gig.

[Notes_Norton]

I'm a little late to the thread, so I'll start at the beginning

I play tenor sax, vocals, flute, wind synth, guitar, percussion controller, and sometimes keys on the gig. I leave the alto sax, bass, and other instruments home.

My duo partner (also wife and best friend) does vocals, synth and guitar.

We carry a lot of gear, but I don't know what I'd leave home. Some people pay big money to lift heavy things at the gym, I do one-nighters so I get the weight bearing exercise for free.

I do have a light guitar (Parker DF), but a heavy sax. I bring a folding stool, but only sit on it when I have to use the wah-wah pedal a lot (it hurts my left heel to stand on it for an entire song).

For singing, I breathe properly, through my diagram, and I drink warm tea (green and oolong mixed).

The joy of performing is far greater than the inconvenience of lugging the gear around.

In fact, more often than not, we are having so much fun, we don't even take a break.

If you do for a living what you would do for free, you will never work a day in your life. And other than a couple of day gigs I tried while checking out the straight world, I've never worked a day in my life.

Insights and incites by Notes ?