First gig

[Jagboy]

Just curious -- How old were you, and how long had you been playin.


JB

[StoneyBrigand]

I was 17 years old.

It was an under 21 club.

We gave the owner of the place a set list, and he had us perform a few songs to make sure we didn't totally suck.

We started off the night with the set list we provided, but after the first break, we came back out and started playing our own stuff, and things not on the list.

The crowd was loving it, but the owner wasn't :(

He did not have us back lol..

But his club shut down not long after that anyway :p

[dkitt]

Around about 14. Started formal lessons at 12. I used to play in Church. I'd get up and do a little Classical number while they were passing the plate around. I still remember the wonderful acoustics of that Church...would have been even better without carpeting.

Does that count as a gig?

[JimmyBlood]

My first gig was when I was 15 or so. It was a birthday party and I was lead singer and lead guitar and our bassist didn't come because his mom wouldn't let him. Then after the show I hauled both my rig and the other guitarist's rig in the back of a truck in the rain. Our amps and pedals filled up with water. I remember pouring water out of a pedal. It was pretty crappy, but the beginning of a really great thing!

J.

[Keith]

My first gig, I was 14.I played for 2 years on and off and learned Smoke On The Water,Led Zeps Rock And Roll, Rock and Roll All Night(Kiss)Detriot Rock City and Stairway to Heaven. My gear consisted of a "Sears special" no name brand guitar, and one amp that had 2 input jacks that myself and the other guitarist plugged into, that went to a power amp of a whopping 100 watts.we didnt even have a bass player at the time.Our show was at the Ukrainian Labour Temple at Bathurst and Dundas.
We played the music for a kids party, or something like that.(too far in time for me to remember)
It was a blast for a first timer though.

[YowhatsupT]

i was 15....how strange i am 15 lol....at a party there were like 3 bands there and a bunch of muscisians who weren't in bands....i grabbed a friends guitar and busted out with some hendrix

been doing similiar parties since

[hammer]

I was 13 or 14 and we played at a school social. I had been playing about 6 months and we were BAD/SAD :frown:

No one seemed to mind except the teachers who turned the power off on us when the crowd got a bit too excited for them.

It just goes to show that ability is not required too have a good time. I think the students just got off on the fact that we had a go.

:riff:

[Shibby]

i was 14. I'd been playing guitar for around a year and our band had been together around a month.

It was a school battle of the bands.

[b3n]

Um about 16 I think - played a bunch of Nirvana covers (had only been playing for a few months...) It went over ok with the other students but we also had it recorded on VHS - funny how we didn't sound all that good on tape.

[StoneDragon]

13, I think... been playing a couple of months.

[Jagboy]

It incouraging to hear that people have gigged when they weren't great and the crowd loved it. Im 14 and have only been playing a couple months.... so i hope to get a band together soon! Keep Postin'!


JB

[0.1 watts]

I had just turned 16 (i still am 16) and we played at school in a talent contest. We played "Another brick in the wall" by pink floyd because we felt so rebellious and wanted to play it in front of all the teachers. I made loads of mistakes on the solo cos i was nervous even though i knew i could play it perfectly, and our singer was crap and unpopular. We came 2nd place due to sympathy votes. We have now sacked our singer and replaced him. We also solemnly swore never to ruin pink floyds classic song again.

[Pick_Master]

i was and am 12 playing for 2 and a half years played at a skewl rockfest we sucked they rocked
but we all had fun...

[BrettMan]

i havnt got to play my first gig yet. we are gonna start our practices this summer and hopfullyy be ready for our school battle of the bands. Oh, and im 16 right now. started playing about a year and a half ago

[PerianArdocyl]

First giggly? ONLY IN CANADADANADIA!

[goldentone]

First gig, eh? I had been playing guitar on and off since I was about 6-7 years old, but never played in public until about 4-5 years ago when I started joining in on jam sessions with this oldies band that I have now become a member of. I am now 44 years old and I am more serious about playing guitar than I've ever been. I used to be heavily into sports, with playing ice hockey as my main pursuit. Now I'm getting too old to play that young man's game any more. Playing music has become my new passion and I intend to pursue it until the day I die.

[ForReal]

I was 12 or 13 and my band, The Skinny Dippers, were playing at a huge Summer party. We only had one song and we didn't know it that well. We bombed that one.

[Emixolydian]

I'm, 17, and I was 17 if you wish to call it a "gig"

It was just a fill at a Fine Arts night at school. I played with my friend, we're great players. We played a few Clapton songs, and a song we wrote, then some improv. I think it went well, except the mics were totally screwed up, and we sounded like crap to everyone but ourselves (because we could hear everything, they couldn't).

[suiroc]

*sniff* ah, the joys of crappy equipment...

[stratmanstl]

I was 16 (I think) around the time of my GCSE's whenever that was. Anyway, I had these exams on a Monday and I was offered my first gig at this biker festival miles away from home over the weekend before the tests.
I was terrified and unprepared, only having been playing for a year and a half or so, and the band I was in had to change the setlist and play classic rock (to suit the bikers) which I didn't really know.
Anyway, about the second or third song in, this unbelievble feeling came over me and I knew in that moment that I was going to do this for the rest of my life, one way or another. It really was a life changing moment.
That said, I'm glad no tapes survived of the gig!!