stories of our first gigs

[Shibby]

share you stories of your first gig... anything cool happen, did you tank, courtney love try to pick you up :p ect.


my first gig was aroun a year and a half ago at BOTB at my school.
we'd only been with our singer for three weeks so we wearn't that great together. we should never have played, i was still writing the songs for us the week before. anyway we're the first band because we were "the freshman" started smoothlly but then when the singer stepped up to song he couldn't be heard. the mic was on and everything. so after that song we signalled to the tech and he said that the school wouldn't let him turn the PA plus halfway! so we turned our amps down as much as we could that the drums would drown them out. so the rest of the performance you could kinda here the vocals. the next incident that happened was during the next song, my guitar just suddenly cut out, and wouldn't work. then it would start working again. this kept happening throughout the concert. it made me and the rest of the band play crappily. the singers guitar also got unplugged.

but yeah,then we played at school and blew then away later that year so it all worked out. :metalhead

[MistaMusicMan]

That must've sucked

[tiredollie]

i think all first gigs suck

[StoneDragon]

My first gig didn't suck. I had a blast.

We (the band) sucked bad, though.


I think I've told this one once or twice before, but what the hey... we got a lot of fresh faces here, now.

I had just started 8th grade, and just managed to con my dad into buying me an electric guitar that summer. I had a cheap little acoustic before that, but I never learned to play the thing more than hacking at a couple of cowboy chords.

My best friend at the time was a drummer who had just started highschool. We had aspirations of forming a band and becoming big rock stars one day.

Anyway... my drummer friend happened to meet this guy in high school who played some guitar, so he invited the guy over to see if he wanted to join our band. This guy actually knew how to play barre chords and could bang out the opening riff to a few cool songs, so we were pretty excited about having him over.

After an evening of torturing the neighborhood at high volume, we actually had a band... well sorta... two guitars, drums... no bass player... and no vocals... but we were on our way and started rehearsing whenever we could get all three of us together at the same time.


Now... we had been together all of about 2 months when the other guitar player comes in and tells us he got us a gig. His sister is getting married and needs a band to play at the reception... so he volunteered us!!

At this point, we don't even have one song that we can play all the way through... we just bang out the intro and as many verses as we can make our way through with me trying to handle the lead vocals on a mic plugged into one of the guitar amps... but we weren't going to let those small details stop us.

Somehow, the other guitar player talked the high school band teacher into playing bass for us, so we'd actually have a real band for the gig, and we planned for a couple rehearsals as a four-piece. (We only managed one rehearsal together as a four-piece, though. I don't remember why. But to this day, I still wonder why the band teacher agreed to do the gig after the one rehearsal we did have.)


So the big night arrives.

We managed to hack our way through the few songs we sorta knew as our first set and figured we might as well take a break seeing as how we didn't have any more songs to play.

After such a rousing first set, the drummer and I were powerful thirsty and made our way through the milling throng of guests to the table where the drinks were laid out. On this table were two punch bowls... one of which had an empty wiskey sitting beside it... indicating that this particular bowl was spiked. I'm sure you can imagine which bowl we gravitated toward. We must have spent about a half hour hovering around that punch bowl quenching our mighty thirst.

The next thing I remember was feeling really warm and fuzzy as I watched my drummer friend helping himself to the wedding cake... by tearing off chunks with his bare hands and stuffing it into his mouth.

At that point, I started wondering what had happened to the other guitar player. I vaguely remembered him saying something about trying to score some weed, and that's the last I saw of him.

The wedding party was getting pretty restless for more music at this point, but nobody could find the other guitar player.

Finally, one of the guests made his way to the stage and grabbed a guitar. He said he knew some blues, so he was going to entertain the crowd until our other guitar player showed up. that was fine with us, so we got back on stage and got ourselves ready to accompany him.

I can remember the bass player/ band teacher calling out chords to me... but I had no idea where these chords might be located on the guitar neck... or even how to play them if I did know where they were located. I didn't let that stop me, though.... I was jamming for all it was worth!

After this rousing blues extravaganza, we took another break.... so naturally, I headed straight for the punch bowl.

The rest of the evening is pretty blurry. At some point the other guitar player showed up and we attempted a third set. I do remember being in the middle of a song(?) and having this lady keep trying to get my attention. I finally gave in and bent down to hear what she had to say.

My first gig ended with these fatal words, "You guys are really bad. You really should stop playing."

[Briza]

My first gig ended with these fatal words, "You guys are really bad. You really should stop playing."

HAHAHAHAHAHA thats a classic.

My first gig was with a band me and a few mates had formed called "opprobrium" We were doing mostly Fairly heavy originals and a few covers - Sepultura, down, mqachinehead ect...

Any way our drummers mum had booked us the gig at this Little pub in a little Bush town called murwillimbah. We were backing up a country rock band that i cant remember the name of ( their support had pulled out at the last minute.) So we were nervous as hell.

Needless to say- being a metal band backing up a country rock band in a little bush town we were getting hammered with calls from the crowd of " TURN IT DOWN" and "YOUR'E IN MURWILLIMBAH NOW!!!" etc... But we kept playing and even had a few oldies come up and dance when we played the down song- Cant remember which it was but NOLA had just come out.

We got payed a carton of crappy light beer that looked like it had been sitting there for 10 years, but hey whos to complain we didnt really even expect to get paid.

We all had fun though, thats the main thing. :D

[Slipstream]

I liked Stonedragon's story too. As I read it I was thinking back (way back) on my first gig. When I was about 24 I had been playing for about nine years, but just for myself, and whoever might listen. I was living in a cheap hotel over a bar. One day I answered a knock at the door, and it turned out to be three big bikers and a chick. I was scared, but didn't let on. They said "you look kinda wild (I had long hair and a long beard) you wanna come to a party?" I said sure.

At the biker gang's clubhouse there was plenty of beer (17 cases to start, two beer runs afterward). The cops came to the door complaining about the noise. Sick Rick, the guy who's name was on the lease, told them "that's just the stereo, wait 'til the band shows up". He invited them to join us, they declined, but one of them, Mike the cop, came by after he got off shift.

When the band showed up they started to set up, but the guitar player wouldn't get out of the car. He was too afraid of the bikers. I asked the bass player if I could sit in. He said that nobody was to touch any of the equipment. I said "if it's ok with you, and it's ok with Rick, it should be ok, right?" He said sure, let's go ask Rick. Rick said yeah sure.

Well the guitar player wouldn't let me use his axe, so the bass player got his acoustic out of the trunk. I started out with Talkin' Candy Bar Blues (Peter Yarrow), then played House Of The Rising Sun (Animals version), then about half an hour of partial songs. I ran out of stuff I knew, so I stopped. Some big ol' biker came over and said "what'd ya stop for?". Not wanting to let on that I had already played everything I could think of, I said "I need a beer". He said "you just keep on playing, I'll get you a beer". Well, back to 'Bought a candy bar the other day, only ate half gonna throw the rest away . . .

It was a real blast though. I got plastered by the time it got dark, but the bikers didn't care if I played any 'songs', just as long as they could stomp their feet. I may have invented the 100 bar blues :)

[gtrhrcane]

I liked Stonedragon's story too. As I read it I was thinking back (way back) on my first gig. When I was about 24 I had been playing for about nine years, but just for myself, and whoever might listen. I was living in a cheap hotel over a bar. One day I answered a knock at the door, and it turned out to be three big bikers and a chick. I was scared, but didn't let on. They said "you look kinda wild (I had long hair and a long beard) you wanna come to a party?" I said sure.

At the biker gang's clubhouse there was plenty of beer (17 cases to start, two beer runs afterward). The cops came to the door complaining about the noise. Sick Rick, the guy who's name was on the lease, told them "that's just the stereo, wait 'til the band shows up". He invited them to join us, they declined, but one of them, Mike the cop, came by after he got off shift.

When the band showed up they started to set up, but the guitar player wouldn't get out of the car. He was too afraid of the bikers. I asked the bass player if I could sit in. He said that nobody was to touch any of the equipment. I said "if it's ok with you, and it's ok with Rick, it should be ok, right?" He said sure, let's go ask Rick. Rick said yeah sure.

Well the guitar player wouldn't let me use his axe, so the bass player got his acoustic out of the trunk. I started out with Talkin' Candy Bar Blues (Peter Yarrow), then played House Of The Rising Sun (Animals version), then about half an hour of partial songs. I ran out of stuff I knew, so I stopped. Some big ol' biker came over and said "what'd ya stop for?". Not wanting to let on that I had already played everything I could think of, I said "I need a beer". He said "you just keep on playing, I'll get you a beer". Well, back to 'Bought a candy bar the other day, only ate half gonna throw the rest away . . .

It was a real blast though. I got plastered by the time it got dark, but the bikers didn't care if I played any 'songs', just as long as they could stomp their feet. I may have invented the 100 bar blues :)



That is truly, bad a$$. one day I hope to have my story to share. I've played for a couple people at at a time, but nothing more, and nothing really crazy happened. I have a feeling it won't be too long though.

[Slipstream]

Thanks man, hope ya have fun at yer first 'gig' when it comes. It'd be cool if ya record it.

[thunder_bird]

My first gig was me and SG_74 playing "apache" by the shadows at 10 years old in our local youth centre. It was great everyone loved us espeacially SG_74 with his cap on backwards, he was such a rebel

[SG_74]

Haha yea that was fun, was I really wearing a cap backwards?

[thunder_bird]

Yep and a bikermice from mars t-shirt

[supercobra]

My first gig wasn't supposed to be a gig at all. It was at the end of my Freshman year at Indiana U. in 1982. Some buddies of mine had a band, and they were playing a party at a house out in the sticks for a bunch of firemen. They invited me along to help set up the gear. Anyway, the lead singer, a very good friend of mine, really didn't have the range for classic rock (he's a good baritone). After a couple sets his voice was burned up, so they asked me to stand in. This was one of those moments you pray for, but really don't think will ever happen. Anyway, back then I could sing like a cross between Daltry and Plant, and I let it rip. After the gig, they offed me a spot in the band starting in the fall when we'd all be back in town. I accepted, and spent the next four years as the frontman for one of the top bands in Indiana.

The only thing I regret is that it stunted my development as a guitar player because I wasn't good enough to play with those guys, and was kind of wrapped up in being the singer anyway. So I didn't play guitar seriously for a few years.

Now I'm 41, can't sing like I used to, but have learned to play. I guess you get to see everything if you hang around and keep tryin' long enough. And even though I never had a shot at the really bright lights, I've had a great time and still get a lot of joy out of rock and roll. Ain't that what its all about?

[DAguitar]

My first gig was great, my band is made of golf pros that have lost their way, and what a wonderful detour it is. We played for a golf outing and we knocked it out!!!!!!!!!! Everyone was dancing and asking us to keep playing for hours. We only did 10 songs and they just wanted us to play them over and over. We amazed ourselves.

[rockfacef200]

My first gig was recent... I was in alternative school for embarrassing reasons; my 30th good day was the day of the Talent Show tryouts. Since it was illegal to go on my good school's campus, it was fate to get back one day ahead of my ratty 30 day sentence. I was really [white and really] good; got back two days ahead of time. I went up against my old best friend guitar rival who raped me of my pride a long time ago, but because I did my good solo called The Howling and he just ripped off the top of his head, I made it.
I did really good at the show; people that I didn't even know went up to me and said 'Did you hear me scream _____???'. My gf couldn't go, but she was really proud and was really sad she missed it. If I wasn't at school right now, I'd put in the pictures... Bell's about to ring... later

[0.1 watts]

Talent contest at school, we played 'another brick in the wall' by pink floyd, i think we ruined a classic song. Well the audience were loving it because we were called 'the harvey robinson experience' after our singer, who couldnt sing at all, and was a bit of a legend at our school. We came 2nd, we were beaten by a bunch of girls dancing to some pop song which we found rather insulting anyway

[thunder_bird]

Talent contest at school, we played 'another brick in the wall' by pink floyd, i think we ruined a classic song. Well the audience were loving it because we were called 'the harvey robinson experience' after our singer, who couldnt sing at all, and was a bit of a legend at our school. We came 2nd, we were beaten by a bunch of girls dancing to some pop song which we found rather insulting anyway

Harvey just read this man he went ape ******

[rodie]

my first gig: my own graduation party...june 1994

backstory: one guitar player was also my boss, who i had hooked up with a fender vibrolux amp my granddad was selling. i had just bought my first drum kit (cb700 internationale, drk blue, cheap cymbals) 3 months before (having no training but beating on anything i could find). the other guitar player was a female friend of my family, and the bass player was my boss's nephew, playing thru the jazz bass copy and no name amp we borrowed from my granddad.

it couldn't have gotten any more interesting, i swear. we had pre-show entertainment (cousins playing hacky sack in front of the building), an opening act (my granddad and his martin d18, my stepdad with his yamaha acoustic, and my stepgranddad with his les paul thru a tube amp), and groupies (girls i didn't know asking incessant questions).

we played a bunch of classic rock covers, and 2 originals my boss had written. mostly drunk people dancing poorly, and me embarrased by my cracked and asthmatic sounding 16" crash cymbal. the lowest point came right at the start of my solo...

my mom said she would only be impressed when i could do the drum solo from "innagaddadavida" by iron butterfly. at this point, she had never heard me play. right before fritz started the tell-all guitar riff, my bass pedal beater head came loose. he kicks off loud w/ distortion, so he didn't hear me yell wait a sec! so, two measures into the bit i finally kick off. i soloed for about 10 minutes to give the band a break, and the signal was: i would stand up while playing, bring the audience down low, and play "mary had a little lamb" on my floor tom, one foot on the head bending it to change notes. then fire a staccato roll over cymbals, stands, drums, rims, etc., get back on the throne, back into the song, and we'd all wrap it up.

went over famously, the room roared with the cheers of just under 100 people, who all seemed to be too drunk to realize that, halfway thru sitting back down, i dropped a stick, screwed up the beat, and cussed rapidly while turning beet red.

one of the few sober folks came up after we finished our 2 hr.+ set. i sheepishly asked, "so what'd you think?" and my female friend for the last 18 years said: "you were better than i expected." i took it at face value then, but owning video of it, i often wonder what she expected, because i don't show ANYONE that video!!!

[Eclectifish]

I'll tell two stories. This one is about my first gig of any real consequence. I was a freshman in high school and had had my electric guitar for about a 6 months (I'd been playing for 4 years, but no real lead guitar up to that point). I was playing with the school jazz ensemble for this beauty pageant they have every year. We played a few songs that the band knew, then we just played blues. The pageant actually went on for about three hours, but after the first hour the horn players were all shot. That left me and my very skimpy pentatonic scale knowledge (mostly from copying Jimmy Page and B.B. King licks) to play the next two hours non-stop. I literally learned to play that night.

[Eclectifish]

My second story is about my first gig with an actually 'gigging' band (at least one that played more gigs than one before we broke up). We were playing at a party at a local church. The church had a small stage which we augmented using some risers they had, which were then covered up by some carpet scraps. I got to the setup a little late so the stage was already set up when I got there. First song of the night (Skynyrd's Gimme Three Steps, I remember it well), I just finished the guitar solo section and kind of strutted over to the side of the stage. What I didn't know was that the risers didn't quite fit together very well and there were spaces between the sections that had been covered up by the carpet scraps. I did a big Peter Townsend jump right onto the biggest hole (which, of course I had no idea about) and just kept going... all the way under the stage, guitar and all -- poof. Of course, the crowd just thought it was all part of the show.

[Weak as Hate]

^^
hahahahahaha, dude thats a great story...i can see it happening

[derwoodski]

it has officially been 12 years since my last gig.....my first gig was at an 8th grade talent show....we had keys, base, drums, and me on guitar. We almost herniated our selves humping the keyboard players antique organ up on stage, we played Stairway to heaven, and Rock and roll......that was one of only 2 gigs I played with that band. 3 mos later i was in a country rock band giging twice a week...I was fifteen. I stayed with the second band for 4 years, then some odds and ends of bands in college. looking forward to the next 1st gig.....since not playing at all for 12 yrs not even owning an axe....does that meen i'm a gig virgin again??

[GuitarGretta]

it has officially been 12 years since my last gig.....my first gig was at an 8th grade talent show....we had keys, base, drums, and me on guitar. We almost herniated our selves humping the keyboard players antique organ up on stage, we played Stairway to heaven, and Rock and roll......that was one of only 2 gigs I played with that band. 3 mos later i was in a country rock band giging twice a week...I was fifteen. I stayed with the second band for 4 years, then some odds and ends of bands in college. looking forward to the next 1st gig.....since not playing at all for 12 yrs not even owning an axe....does that meen i'm a gig virgin again??

Yes, I think your hymen has regrown! Can I say that here? :confuse:

[derwoodski]

Yes, I think your hymen has regrown! Can I say that here? :confuse:
ROFLMAO........Leave it to a woman to put it so Eloquently. D

[shinybob]

Our first gig wasnt so long ago...I went really really well! I was great. We sucked a bit..only played 4 songs, but people seemed to like us. Our second gig was 3 months ago, and halfway through the first set, my e string breaks! I didnt have a spare, it was a new guitar, so i thought it'd be ok! I had to borrow a friends crappy encore strat and play the rest with that, then it unplugged by itself..ugh! It was a bit crap, but still, people seemed to like us and we're playin at a party in june! Whooo! lol...

[Gibson075]

at my first gig, I was the rhythm guitarist. I held the pick kind of loose
(i was told that youre supposed hold the pick loose when playing rhythm), anyway, i tossed the pick in the air on an upstroke, and so i had to bend down to pick it up, very embarrassing i know...

[gtrhrcane]

I guess I can officially join this elite group now... I have officially just had my first show of sorts last night. We got the whole band up at the local pizza joint and bar for the weekly open mic night. Did about 6 songs... only had one train wreck, we kind of screwed up Miles from nowhere. Ended on Something by the Beatles. All in all, it was pretty cool.

[Slipstream]

Yeah, ya said it wouldn't be long, and sure enough, got yer stage cherry popped! :toohappy:

[Ranger]

at my first gig, I was the rhythm guitarist. I held the pick kind of loose
(i was told that youre supposed hold the pick loose when playing rhythm), anyway, i tossed the pick in the air on an upstroke, and so i had to bend down to pick it up, very embarrassing i know...

Dude, do what I do. I always have the volume on my guitar all the way up, so I don't need to worry about adjusting stuff... jam a pick in between your guitar and the knob. If you can, one up after the nut too.

[ModestCargo]

at my first gig, I was the rhythm guitarist. I held the pick kind of loose
(i was told that youre supposed hold the pick loose when playing rhythm), anyway, i tossed the pick in the air on an upstroke, and so i had to bend down to pick it up, very embarrassing i know...
I hold my pick quite loose, and have dropped it. I wedge a pick under the pickguard of my LP, and my dad wedges one under the Rythym/Treble ring.

[derwoodski]

at my first gig, I was the rhythm guitarist. I held the pick kind of loose
(i was told that youre supposed hold the pick loose when playing rhythm), anyway, i tossed the pick in the air on an upstroke, and so i had to bend down to pick it up, very embarrassing i know...
Duct tape.....mic stand.....half dozen extra picks...funny story...grabbed for a pick and got the whole strand....my drummer about died. (I guess i should have grabbed the PICK and not the TAPE...LOL)

[Slashman11]

at my first gig, I was the rhythm guitarist. I held the pick kind of loose
(i was told that youre supposed hold the pick loose when playing rhythm), anyway, i tossed the pick in the air on an upstroke, and so i had to bend down to pick it up, very embarrassing i know...

i was watchin a decent band gig at some club when the guitarist dropped his pick. luckily there were two guitarists so when he got quiet no one really noticed. he had a solo coming up so he got down on his knees and started playing with his thumb. he picked up the pick barely missing a beat and began his solo right on que. it was hilarious to me, but it worked, cause i was the only one who noticed it

[Pick_Master]

My first gig was a bit ... well we didnt do good

it was a school rockfest and we were only doing one song "sweet child o mine" by GNR. Our band had been practicing for about 6 weeks we knew the song well and we could play it

before we even started we messed up the bassist tuned half a step up ... well because hes an idiot and one of the rally good guitarist at the show offered to let us use his line6 amp. At the time we thought Yes. But then we went on stage and began the kewl intro we then realized that the amp was almost turned to silence so the lead couldnt be heard . which um SUCKED!!
then the bassists strap came undone... so his bass fell to the floor but its ok cuz he sucks. my solo went good but then our singer realized he couldnt sing
well properly at least so...
we sucked...
but it was fun.
yay :D :cool:

[crimso54]

I have never had a good gig. A good gig, to me, must be perfect. The audience, if familiar with the music, will notice one wrong note or beat. That ruins it for 'em. I used to play in a band where everyone was better and older than me (by 2 years). I don't know why they put up with me. Probably because it was a Christian group. What grace to put up with such sorry guitar playing!!

[Eclectifish]

I have never had a good gig. A good gig, to me, must be perfect. The audience, if familiar with the music, will notice one wrong note or beat. That ruins it for 'em. I used to play in a band where everyone was better and older than me (by 2 years). I don't know why they put up with me. Probably because it was a Christian group. What grace to put up with such sorry guitar playing!!
I've been playing for almost 40 years and have yet to play a night where every thing was perfect. Only once did the audience ever notice (when the lead singer forgot the words to Smoke on the Water).