Any of you perform at private parties , wedding etc? I have some questions!

[dsouza]

when is your next twitch stream?

I'll do one right after my next song is smooth enough to demo.

I don't do streams just to make concerts. ATM I have very little material so instead of boring the audience with repetitive shows I only do a stream when I release a min of one new song to add to the list I've already done. I took the summer off to enjoy the great weather here. I'll be back in the game by Sept.

 

[TG3K]

...I was thinking three big names for my original creations--- The Edge, Hendrix, and Slash. Do you think an audience appreciate original instrumental creations in the style of other artists or would they rather just hear covers of the artists?

In general, audiences want to hear songs they are familiar with. Unless you are playing to a musicians-only crowd, I think you'll get a lot more playing opportunities with covers than with originals, especially at parties/weddings/etc. Solo instrumental acts are a hard sell in the first place. Solo instrumental acts are even harder to get booked, although they stand a better chance if they play a wide variety of music.

And this is just my personal opinion, but if I heard someone doing solo instrumentals in the style of Slash, I'd probably just leave. Try to put yourself in the audience's shoes. What do you think would go over better at a wedding reception...Buckethead, or a cover band called Flashback that's playing hits from the '80s to current? I've been gigging (both covers and at times, originals) for over 40 years, so I think I have a pretty good idea of what sells.

 

[Sleestak]

In general, audiences want to hear songs they are familiar with.

This is the truth for most "let's hire a band" gigs. One of my bands is a variety act that plays pretty much everything... Tom Jones to Journey. We do a ton of weddings and corporate events. It's fun, and pays well. It isn't exactly high art, and obviously we don't do originals in those settings, but it's a great way to expand your playing chops AND a great opportunity to delve into programming your AxeFX tones to match a wide range of signature tones.

I've seen a number of quite talented solo performers doing these kinds of events as well, and in my experience, there are two paths to success here: (1) be a total showman and be entertaining as hell (and be prepared for requests / drunk singalongs), or (2) be innocuous and just provide background music. Path #1 means you'll have to be quick witted, funny, comfortable in front of potentially weird / disinterested audiences, and ready to respond when someone says "my great-step-aunt-in-law used to sing in high school and we want her to sing [insert name of song you have never attempted to perform]". Path #2 gives you some insulation from that, as you can just sit in a corner and play material that you have prepared in advance. I sometimes get hired to play classical guitar at wedding receptions, and most of the time people are only barely aware I'm there. I had a super crappy wedding gig once where I was playing a bunch of classical music (selected by the bride) and people kept making requests for radio hits. I adopted a phony (but nonspecific) foreign accent and looked at them as if I didn't understand. Keep that strategy in your back pocket for social emergencies.

If you want to get more gigs and referrals, go with #1. If you want to hone your solo performance, go with #2.

 

[Dave Merrill]

Another possible angle is the supper club thing. Not an expert, but my impression is that they really do want background music. If your originals tend towards ambient stuff (I think you said they do?) you may be able to just do your thing while people eat, and get paid. Don't know if that appeals, and availability of those highs depends on where you're located, but it might be worth investigating.

 

[Rex Rox]

This is the truth for most "let's hire a band" gigs. One of my bands is a variety act that plays pretty much everything... Tom Jones to Journey. We do a ton of weddings and corporate events. It's fun, and pays well. It isn't exactly high art, and obviously we don't do originals in those settings, but it's a great way to expand your playing chops AND a great opportunity to delve into programming your AxeFX tones to match a wide range of signature tones.

I've seen a number of quite talented solo performers doing these kinds of events as well, and in my experience, there are two paths to success here: (1) be a total showman and be entertaining as hell (and be prepared for requests / drunk singalongs), or (2) be innocuous and just provide background music. Path #1 means you'll have to be quick witted, funny, comfortable in front of potentially weird / disinterested audiences, and ready to respond when someone says "my great-step-aunt-in-law used to sing in high school and we want her to sing [insert name of song you have never attempted to perform]". Path #2 gives you some insulation from that, as you can just sit in a corner and play material that you have prepared in advance. I sometimes get hired to play classical guitar at wedding receptions, and most of the time people are only barely aware I'm there. I had a super crappy wedding gig once where I was playing a bunch of classical music (selected by the bride) and people kept making requests for radio hits. I adopted a phony (but nonspecific) foreign accent and looked at them as if I didn't understand. Keep that strategy in your back pocket for social emergencies.

If you want to get more gigs and referrals, go with #1. If you want to hone your solo performance, go with #2.

There is an option 3. Mix in a limited amount of originals. Just ask the audience if they would like to hear an original. We almost always got a rousing yes from the crowd. But keep it limited. You are not there to showcase your originals. But the cover band I was in (also lots of weddings, corporate and private events) had about 6 originals that fell out of band practices. We honed them to the point where they were tight and danceable, but we probably never played more than 3 of them in the course of any event.

The other thing I would suggest is to go both shallow and deep in popular artist's material. You certainly have to know the main hits, but we would squeeze in stuff we really wanted to play too (usually better, deeper cuts by an artist). We just let the crowd know we were going to play a hit track by someone and then after we would announce here's another one by same artist. Then we would immediately follow the hit with a deeper cut that is more fun/satisfying to play. That helped to keep things a little more interesting for us than playing the same canned setlists of "hits" from the 70s, 80s, 90s and beyond.

I believe it also set us apart from the competition. We published our song lists on our website and we got quite a few jobs because people noticed material different from the boilerplate that other bands were doing.

 

[dsouza]

I don't know where the heck in the world you guys live but you make the option of gigging sound too difficult.

I know this one producer very well who has a team of performers he recruits to perform every week. The entire group performs alone but goes together. They each bring their own equipment. If one performer craps out another will jump in. The producer tells you I'm holding a performance next week at city hall, for example. It's going to be in an auditorium that holds 2000 people. Possibly 100 will attend to check out the newcomers. Want to go? The pay is what you negotiate with him. He is in charge of all the booking, fees, lawsuits etc. You are a musician hired to show your stuff. Depending on the audiences reaction he'll book you in the type of gigs which they will have your specific type of music in the future. If people love you you'll get more and bigger gigs. You perform you don't interact with the audience for requests etc. It's a show where you share the stage with other musicians of like nature.

He will take a cut of course for his work but its a small cut like 10%.

Why make gigging sound so difficult? Of course if you're serious about reaching the top of the world you don't do this, but I'm 40+ and by the time I gig with him I'll be looking for a part time stash to supplement my future retirement pension.

In the meantime I record, and perform on twitch where people tune in to see what I'm about and can donate/tip the performance with cash.
I looked at twitch , there's not to many people there who are doing much more than video games. The music biz there has less competition. And it's a great way to hone your skills and know how to pose for the camera, how to dress, how to workout to get in better shape for the show etc. It all helps when translating later to live gigs like I outlined above.

 

[Dave Merrill]

I don't know where the heck in the world you guys live but you make the option of gigging sound too difficult.

I know this one producer very well who has a team of performers he recruits to perform every week. The entire group performs alone but goes together. They each bring their own equipment. If one performer craps out another will jump in. The producer tells you I'm holding a performance next week at city hall, for example. It's going to be in an auditorium that holds 2000 people. Possibly 100 will attend to check out the newcomers. Want to go? The pay is what you negotiate with him. He is in charge of all the booking, fees, lawsuits etc. You are a musician hired to show your stuff. Depending on the audiences reaction he'll book you in the type of gigs which they will have your specific type of music in the future. If people love you you'll get more and bigger gigs. You perform you don't interact with the audience for requests etc. It's as show.

He will take a cut of course for his work but its a small cut like 10%.

Why make gigging sound so difficult? Of course if you're serious about reaching the top of the world you don't do this, but I'm 40+ and by the time I gig with him I'll be looking for a part time stash to supplement my future retirement pension.

In the meantime I record, and perform on twitch where people who tune in tune in to see what your about and can donate/tip your performance with cash through paypal.

Where do you live?

That's an interesting arrangement.

Have to admit though, I've never heard of such a thing, and I live near Boston, which isn't exactly the outback.

It's totally possible I'm just out of touch, and that's how it works now. Actually, let me rephrase: I AM completely out of touch with every gigging scene, so.maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about in relation to the modern world.

That "industry" sounds like a potentially positive development for folks who for that model.

 

[chris]

I don't know where the heck in the world you guys live but you make the option of gigging sound too difficult.

If you haven’t done a gig yet, it’s hard to know what is and isn’t difficult about it.

You should find an open mic that will let you play 2-3 songs and bring gear, do it for free, and in exchange you’ll receive a ton of experience rather than thinking about starting in 5 years from now, potentially working on the wrong things the entire time.

We can suggest things, tell you about our years of working experience, and you can refute or not believe them endlessly. You can tell us how things are in the gigging world without having any experience endlessly. It’s all hyperbole at this point.

Until you try it yourself, things said here may seem unbelievable. We all start at the beginning, and that’s ok. But someone who starts now is miles ahead of someone just thinking of potentially starting in the future.

 

[∞Fractals]

I’ve met some of the guys here offering you advice… These guys are professionals and know what they’re talking about.

Have you ever played in front of an audience for pay?

For free?

Wedding music is entertainment for the guests and hosts; generally not an area for virtuosity of a soloist doing covers of a popular Irish rock band imo ymmv good luck

 

[Rex]

I know this one producer...

What are you waiting for?

 

[Rex Rox]

I don't know where the heck in the world you guys live but you make the option of gigging sound too difficult.

I know this one producer very well who has a team of performers he recruits to perform every week. The entire group performs alone but goes together. They each bring their own equipment. If one performer craps out another will jump in. The producer tells you I'm holding a performance next week at city hall, for example. It's going to be in an auditorium that holds 2000 people. Possibly 100 will attend to check out the newcomers. Want to go? The pay is what you negotiate with him. He is in charge of all the booking, fees, lawsuits etc. You are a musician hired to show your stuff. Depending on the audiences reaction he'll book you in the type of gigs which they will have your specific type of music in the future. If people love you you'll get more and bigger gigs. You perform you don't interact with the audience for requests etc. It's a show where you share the stage with other musicians of like nature.

He will take a cut of course for his work but its a small cut like 10%.

Why make gigging sound so difficult? Of course if you're serious about reaching the top of the world you don't do this, but I'm 40+ and by the time I gig with him I'll be looking for a part time stash to supplement my future retirement pension.

In the meantime I record, and perform on twitch where people tune in to see what I'm about and can donate/tip the performance with cash.
I looked at twitch , there's not to many people there who are doing much more than video games. The music biz there has less competition. And it's a great way to hone your skills and know how to pose for the camera, how to dress, how to workout to get in better shape for the show etc. It all helps when translating later to live gigs like I outlined above.

It has nothing to do with where you live. We have the same "producers" here in Front Range Colorado. It usually translates into the "producer" making the lion's share (often because they give the venue gatekeepers a kickback) while they pay the individual acts sh*t rates.

We didn't play a show for less than $500 per band member (which was capped at 4 hours). In our 5 piece that meant $2500 guarantees . If you have a producer that will pay you $125/hour for a "backing track based solo act" then get busy and go earn.

If you don't care about the money then you don't care about the money. If the money is good enough for you then it's good enough for you. Have fun and the cabbage doesn't matter. I donated all my payouts back to the band since I didn't need it. But to others in the band it meant the difference between making a car payment and rent - or not. Making sure everyone could make ends meet kept the band going. The only reason I'm not still in the band is due to a fretting hand injury. But I'm healing up and hope to rejoin the fold.

 

[Habuman]

^^^
Had a long response but...

All of the above is solid advice from professional performers whether touring artists or weekend performers.

Done.

 

[dsouza]

What are you waiting for?

I don't have enough material for performing down right now to make any decent cash. And I certainly won't risk bringing 12k CAD of NEW equipment with me to a gig for $100.

If all I owned was a Vox AC10 tube and a Fender Strat, ($3500 CAD) I wouldn't mind. But the FAS systems, my new guitars, and RS Elis 8's are worth too much to risk damage, or theft.

Luckily I've got multiple streams of income..