Non-gigging players sound off!

I always got a major rush from a song I was writing coming together in my home studio - much more than playing live ever did for me. And with kids/work etc its become near impossible to jam with other people.
 
rodzimguitar68 said:
I joined KOMPOZ for free about 18 months ago - an online collaboration site. Just signed up for $50 earlier in the summer so I could upload and download full WAV files. If you have an Axe II, you can be a star. Haha. Well, your recordings will sound better than most other people's gear. However, there are some really great musicians of all instruments/vocals on there and from time to time the projects turn out very nicely. Anyone that doesn't have the time or doesn't want to put the effort into a band situation can feed their need to interact with others, with the side benefit of bailing when your schedule gets too busy - the projects keep rolling on, as other players sign on.
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Thanks buddy, I'll be looking into it
 
DLM said:
I've always played simply for my own pleasure. The only band I've ever been in was a student band where we did three songs for an outdoor show at a music store my first year of playing. That was back in like 1988 or so. Sure I'd love to play with other people, work on tracks or whatever, but I've just never been around anyone who was serious about doing it. For me it's always been about the enjoyment of playing, no matter what I'm doing.
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I know what you mean it's pretty hard to find people you can click with, have the same schedule, musical tastes and talent be reliable committed as you would like to be... wait a minute is that even possible :?. maybe once or twice for me :lol.
 
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Sixstring said:
I know what you mean it's pretty hard to find people you can click with, have the same schedule, musical tastes and talent be reliable committed as you would like to be... wait a minute is that even possible :?. maybe once or twice for me :lol.
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I've just never really found anyone to play with. It wasn't a lack of desire to do it on my part, it's just hard to find dedicated people. I think if I'd have ever just found one other person I really meshed with we could have turned it into something, but I've never really had a lot of personal exposure to other musicians. Most of the ones I know are from online. The few I ever have tried with in the past turned out to be total flakes, so those fell apart quickly. I think my thing is that if I do it, I want to really do it and be serious about it. It's hard to find people with that same level of devotion. My nephew-in-law just quit his band because they wouldn't practice all that much, and he got tired of the unwillingness of the other members to put the work in. He'd be great to play with, but he lives like an hour away, so it'd be a pain trying to deal with that.

Oh well, maybe someday.
 
I haven't played a real gig in nearly 25 years. My last relatively serious band was seven years ago. I'm trying to pull some jam-buddies together and am seriously considering trying out School of Rock's adult program but can live without a conventional band situation.

Not so much into chasing tone anymore. My guitar time these days is split between woodshedding, writing, and recording. I'd like to play more with others but not particularly inclined to be in a regularly gigging band. To be honest, I get off more on collaborating and rehearsing than I do on performing. If I'm clicking with other musicians, I don't really care if an audience is there to witness it.
 
For the past few years I have had a few opportunities to play with some guys that come through the place where I work at. They setup and have an open jam and I will bring my gear over and sit in for a few hours toss a few bears back and have a laugh it's fun but that's really it. Im in a place where Im fairly isolated from civilisation as most everyone knows it and it makes trying to get together with others pretty much impossible.

So when this happend I told my self that I was not going to get rid of my gear but rather sit down and try to get as colse as I could to the guitar sounds that I liked. It has been fun and at times has really inspired me to play at a different level. I just watched a DVD last night called The Stars and their Guitars very cool documentary by the way. The thing that caught my ear is that most of the guitar heros did the exact same thing only from players that I was not the familiar with. So I don't feel like I'm wasting away right now in the situation I'm in but rather honing my ears and skills.
 
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Yep. My regular gigging days are LONG over. Nowadays it is just the odd open mic jam for me.

I'm pretty much the full time roadie for my sons now... :rapture:
 
I'm in a band, and we rehearse regularly but we might as well be a non-gigging band given how many times we get to play somewhere. :p I'd say both cases have their merits: it's pretty cool to play for a crowd that digs what you're doing, but I love simply getting together with my friends to write and play music among ourselves during rehearsals. No band drama, just having fun.

Just playing for myself is something I get bored of, I need something to work on/towards, but I doubt that will happen anytime soon again because of all the strides in home recording (drum programming, AxeFX). I suppose I'm pretty happy music-wise. :)
 
swervedriver said:
I'm in a band, and we rehearse regularly but we might as well be a non-gigging band given how many times we get to play somewhere. :p I'd say both cases have their merits: it's pretty cool to play for a crowd that digs what you're doing, but I love simply getting together with my friends to write and play music among ourselves during rehearsals. No band drama, just having fun.

Just playing for myself is something I get bored of, I need something to work on/towards, but I doubt that will happen anytime soon again because of all the strides in home recording (drum programming, AxeFX). I suppose I'm pretty happy music-wise. :)
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Always cool when you can pull it off with your friends. The open jam I posted about earlier is a lot like what your describing, no drama just plain old fun.
 
I last gigged in 2010 in Denver and Colo. Spgs. Since moving here 2 yrs ago, on the island of Boracay, I haven't been on stage at all. 90% of the gigs here are along the beach path, out under the stars and 50ft. from the surf. I've gotten to know all of the musicians working this beach. It's a tough environment for the equipment! Humid, salty air and fine beach sand that gets into everything. Sudden tropical squalls can form in a heartbeat making you grab tarps to cover up the equipment. There used to be large tents to play under but 3 months ago the Gov. forced all of the bars, resto's to tear them down in compliance with a new law.(no permanent structures 25 meters from high tide) This place has a little of everything. Classic Rock, Top 40, Acoustic folk, Reggae and sometimes Jazz. (Sorry to say...no metal!) Disco,techno and hiphop is always indoors and back away from the beach. The pay sucks and the low season is 85% Korean and Chinese tourists. We are just now coming into high season with a huge influx of European, Russian and Australian folks. (ooh, the Russian girls are hot!) I am slowly putting together equipment and musicians for classic rock. I don't see anything happening before Christmas. The audience is always cool as hell because when they come here, they leave all their problems at home and they're all upbeat, happy and ready to party. Anything goes...it's great!
 
I got into guitar because of a friend of mine, and never thought I would play live, so it was always a hobby for me, so I've never gotten to gig (yet?) but I end up jamming occasionally with a friend who intends on playing shows. Maybe Within a year I will get a chance at a first gig, but guitar playing for me is a past-time hobby, so it is all tone chasing and sharpening skills... slowly... very slowly :p.
 
Working a full time day job has made it near impossible for me to jam anymore. I used to play out every so often, but I got to jam with my buddies ALL THE TIME! Now everyone has jobs, lives, wives, and a million other distractions. I am one of the few guys out of my entire group of old bands and jam buddies that is still writing music :( It gets lonely sometimes haha.
 
I have absolutely no desire to spontaneously musically connect with others. I much prefer to stay alone and play alone. I have always been a loner and I am content this way.

Edit: As far as what I am doing: currently I am working on polishing Judas Priest's Victim of Changes, Iron Maiden's Phantom of The Opera (guitar and bass), and playing the entire For Those About to Rock CD front to back.

 
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Alien Ore said:
I have absolutely no desire to spontaneously musically connect with others. I much prefer to stay alone and play alone. I have always been a loner and I am content this way.

Edit: As far as what I am doing: currently I am working on polishing Judas Priest's Victim of Changes, Iron Maiden's Phantom of The Opera (guitar and bass), and playing the entire For Those About to Rock CD front to back.
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All great tunes to play on, love the For Those About to Rock album :encouragement:
 
I just got sick of 'the life' and stopped gigging about 13 years ago - that's been a good decision however every now and again, it'd be great to let my hair down (well if there was any left,) . Now I enjoy recording the occasional song and improving the quality of the sound which has really come along in the last few years. The problem with that is It is genuinely hard to get enough time to relearn bass, guitar, & piano so I am below average on all of them! Haha
Still love music - would rather be dead than be without it.
Pauly
 
If I played in rock bands living "the life" I'd have gotten tired of that too, undoubtably. Too much extra curricular stuff. I mainly play jazz type gigs, sometimes a great variety, so musically it's tough to get bored. I play with different people a lot, different music, different audiences and types of places. And sometimes I get hired to play rock 'n roll, funk, studio stuff. With the Axe II it's a lot I of fun!!
 
Casual/home player here also. Chasing the Petrucci sounds mostly. Haven't gigged out since about 2005 and really have no interest in doing the traditional band thing again. However, I still perform as a trance DJ and producer, and I do plan on incorporating more guitar into live EDM performances soon. Bottom line is it's much more enjoyable to perform when the only person you need to rely on is yourself.
 
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