How many band shows do you play?

How many times in a year do you play with a band in front of a crowd?

  • 5 times or less

    Votes: 75 51.0%
  • 6 to 15 times a year

    Votes: 25 17.0%
  • 16 to 30 times a year

    Votes: 21 14.3%
  • 31 to 45 times a year

    Votes: 7 4.8%
  • 46 + times a year

    Votes: 19 12.9%

  • Total voters
    147
My group (KC GRIT) is currently on hiatus - but were playing out (at least) a couple times a month. That's enough for 4 ol' farts. Kansas City is a great blues, jazz, and classic rock town with plenty of small venues hiring bands and hosting open blues jams. That could change with recent smoking bans, the economy, and the price of gas. I notice a few of you say you might be too old or past getting out to have some fun. As a more senior member here (in years) - I'd encourage you to open yourselves to varied possibilities. Music...the more - the merrier!
 
I agree - if you've never played in a band (even if it's just for the fun of it) you should definitiely do it. It's way more fun than just practicing in your room.
 
It's funny that now that I'm not playing out any more that I've finally decided to build my own custom guitar.  Irony is a bitter mistris....
When I was playing in a band we averaged a show a month. 
 
Got about 20 gigs under my belt so far this year, would love to do more per week. We're booked through June at the same restaurant/bar that we always play, but just got word tonight that we will be bounced because we're...TOO LOUD!!

How cool is that, 43 years old and still getting the cops called, all the while getting paid for it!
 
ildar said:
Got about 20 gigs under my belt so far this year, would love to do more per week. We're booked through June at the same restaurant/bar that we always play, but just got word tonight that we will be bounced because we're...TOO LOUD!!

How cool is that, 43 years old and still getting the cops called, all the while getting paid for it!

Nuff Respect.  :headbang:


I used to be in a funk band playing 70's style porn music.  We gigged all over London for a year or 18 months or so during the last bit of uni.  The band kinda fell apart after that, cos we all got jobs traveling a lot, me especially.
Basically been a bedroom guitarist since then.  Though annoyingly, I've got more, better equipment now than I ever had when I was playing for real.  Back then I had the time but no money, now I've got the money, but no time.  I'm sure you guys know the score.


 
jimh said:
Back then I had the time but no money, now I've got the money, but no time.  I'm sure you guys know the score.

That's word right there.   :glasses9:

All my band playing was during my years in grad school and med school.  A few of my friends in grad school had a band that played all original heavy underground alternative.  Sounded kind of like U2, Pink Floyd, and Black Sabbath blended together into a single style.  They ended up firing their bass player.  I had been playing guitar for about 7 years by that point, but was dying to play in a band.  They offerred me the bass spot, if I could get a bass.   Sooooo, when the next set of student loan checks came through...  At first, I was a guitarist noodling on a bass, but after a couple of months of practice, I really kind of started to understand the zen of bass and how to form a solid rhythm section with the drummer.  We did about 4 gigs a month for about 2 years.  I got band experience and learning how to truly play the bass made me a better guitarist.  I had developed an improved sense of rhythm .... and a much stronger left hand.  Sadly, the band fell apart.

I later landed a spot as lead guitarist in an all original metal band (think hair metal).  At 26, I was the oldest guy in the band.  We practiced about 3 times a week and did 2 to 3 gigs per week.  I was in grad school at this point and the only band member in school.  The other guys had delusions of grandeur about stepping up the gigging to try to land a record deal.  I had my education to think about and decided to leave the band.  It was time for me to get a haircut and finish up the last two years of med school.  Since then, there's been no time to even consider another band.  Just me and Dr. Rhythm now.  0 is "5 or less."
 
100+ each year for the past 6 years... about 1-3 gigs per weekend year round, 3 per day in March around St. Patricks Day...
Tons of work for a 3 piece Irish rebel band in Boston.  Times I've played "Danny Boy" = 0.
 
I was playing about 45 shows a year until this year.  I started a fusion group and had quit the club scene for a while.  Now I've quit the fusion group and am back to the club scene again.  I've played in front of crowds as large as about 10,000, doing Country, Jazz, Rock, Bluegrass and R&B and toured around the mid-atlantic states.  I've shared the stage with some fairly famous people over the years, but I get tired of all the crap in the music biz, so I tend to just quit everything for a while and reset.
 
Well, I kinda lost the taste for it after a while (so am in the <5 category), but usually averaged ~ 100 per year round the turn of the century.

Played some bigger shows as an opening act, but mostly small-medium clubs... Some house gigs where you play 5 nights a week - I preferred that to being a road warrior (which in canada often means driving 4-12 hours to your next gig, several times per week)

Of course, they passed all the non-smoking laws AFTER I inhaled a lifetime's worth of second hand smoke...  :tard:
 
46 +. 


I have played in churches large and small since about 1977 and regularly every weekend since about 1988.  That plus any special musical event like Christmas and Easter or Youth Event.    It’s been great and I have had the opportunity to play with some of the finest musicians around. 

The most fun I had was in the late 90’s doing the youth group for a mega church in town.
We blew the house down with that band, no volume issues and total jamming freedom. 
 
i'm another 46+ man

formed The Howling Tongues in january this year, been rockin the scene pretty hard since then

www.myspace.com/thehowlingtongues for a shameless plug or two.
recording our debut EP in january next year

nothing improves your playing like jamming with other musicians  :guitaristgif:
 
I used to play out about once a month a few years back. Seems the closer you get to 40 the less time everyone else around you has for band stuff. Me? No kids so I'm open for practice and gigging anytime I like, and my wife supports my sickness 110%.
MULLY
 
rightintheface said:
i'm another 46+ man

formed The Howling Tongues in january this year, been rockin the scene pretty hard since then

www.myspace.com/thehowlingtongues for a shameless plug or two.
recording our debut EP in january next year

nothing improves your playing like jamming with other musicians  :guitaristgif:

I really liked that video and song!
 
I was all music until I met my first wife.  She had two kids from her first marriage so I became Mr. Mom then we got pregnant I had to "grow up" so I went to school to learn computers.  I played on and off throughout the 1990s.  In early 2003 I started playing bass with The Ukulele Man & His Prodigal Sons but it wasn't until mid-2008 that I was finally playing guitar in a band again.  That band had a few gigs in 2008 but fell apart in the late Fall.  Around that time the other guitarist in the band asked me to join a new band and that one has taken off.  Since January 17, 2009 we've played almost 50 gigs (we have 4 band gigs in December).  I also have two acoustic gigs and two gigs with The Ukulele Man (he and I are basically a duo now) in December.

I'd need to go through the calendar to know how many total gigs I've had in 2009.  Between playing Bass with Ukulele Man, a few acoustic trio gigs, and my band gigs, I've had quite a few shows.

Now...why don't I have a single Warmoth build?!?!?!?!
 
we play at our annual Cultural festival event here in india. its always funny to see an auditorium of indians wondering what the hell are we doin on stage waving out guitars around and jumping and screaming. lol but its really fun.

so about 1 or twice a year we play. not much time. although i'd like to do it more.
 
Well, I did 5 live shows in 2009, which puts me in the 0-5 category; I left it til the end of the year to vote in the hope I would do one more gig as 6-15 sounds so much cooler. :dontknow: But it wasn't to be. Maybe this year...
 
I actually managed to squeeze in 8 gigs in 2009, too bad I can't change my vote :icon_scratch:
 
I've been in a cover band for the past 10 years gigging regularly - probably 75 shows a year, or so. The money I make I funnel back into my GAS fund - it's a vicious, self-sustaining cycle.
 
Well I guess I voted already but didn't post anything.
For 2009, 51 performances. Mostly weekly, took a couple weeks off, but did an extra performance as well. Was just working on this number for tax reasons.
Back in the early/mid 80s, about 100-150 annually (used to have 6 nights a week gigs for 1/3 to 1/2 the year)
 
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