Getting ready to pack up to go to work, and I'm tired..

I had my first paying job 49 years ago tomorrow. In that time I've had 9 weeks off from playing at least 4 nights a week.

Music has been good to me, but seems like now, it's more of an obligation than a joy.

I miss playing with other musicians. Arrangers have been an invaluable tool, but
now, the places I play are avenues for business contacts for my daytime business. The private parties I play in the winter are generally for clients.The venues that pay are high-end restaurants or corporate dinners
where the music is an "adder", not a draw.

A decision must be made to upgrade my equipment and continue or bow out as quietly as i can. My health is good and my hands are in fair shape, but that sense of pure joy isn't nearly as strong as it was.

How do you folks get over the slumps?

What is your primary source of satisfaction?

Russ

Hire a cute female singer for a change of pace....then after a while you will be glad to go solo again..

Fran has the right idea--the younger and cuter the better. However, failing that, download some new style files, mess around with them and that usually works pretty good for me under those circumstances. The next step, and Uncle Dave can verify this, is buy a new keyboard, which means you have to learn a new system, new styles and gives everything a fresh, new meaning. Finally, a tall glass of Kickapoo Joy Juice over ice, put your feet up and say the hell with it! That's usually good for a couple days, then I've got to go back to the real world, play music, take photos and write columns so I can pay the bills.

Bottom's up!

Gary

Russ...get some rest, start to take it easy..
when it's over, you can't come or go back, by then it will be to late to rest in this world.....my friend, you have paid your dues,
now enjoy the fruits of all your labor....how
is your new daytime business going???I can't wait to sell this place and relax on the beach in a hammock drinking a cool tropical drink watching the young semi-nude girls walking the beach....anyone interested in buying a bar/restaurant in Cozumel????
Russ...ENJOY your life...

I can't answer your final question but I'd say maybe you need to form a band of some sort. Even if it's twice a month gigs. I think that could keep you going.

I know where you're coming from on this one, Captain, having played my first paid gig in 1959.

I just think to myself hey, I'm still capable of giving joy and a bit of entertainment to a lot of people, and that's as worthy a goal as any in this life. We should be proud to be in such a privileged position. I find all the encouragement I need in that alone, and I hope you can as well. Also, could you truly get along without music in your life? I know I couldn't. The thought of just having my day job alone puts the bejeebers up me. It's the music that keeps me going. Good luck, Cap'n.

Russ,
Slumps are an all-too-common reality in this business. I can usually get out of my dreary moods with new gear, new rooms or new songs. Take baby steps ....... use a raggae beat on some old standard that you know inside and out. It's so easy to adapt, once you get into it and the fresh sound just might snap you out of the cellar.
Reinvent yourself.
Buy a new suit.
Paint a room in your house. (Wives love that stuff!)Better yet - paint a CEILING. You'll be king!

Burn outs don't last too long after you recognize you're IN them. Now that you know the feeling ...... FIX IT!

Take a vacation. It recharges your soul batteries.

Also - and this idea may deserve it's own thread - I wonder if it's possible for members of this forum to do a little harmless gig-swapping? That would combine vacation with work and make both more interesting. One group I belong too offers a forum for people who swap houses for a week... perhaps we could think of something similar here? Just a thought...

I work a day job but on a couple of weekends a month I play with a rock band Red Rhythm at local bars. The money isn't great split 6 ways but none of us are playing for the money but for the pleasure of playing with a live rock band with some good people. The band has been together for almost 5 years which is amazing in itself. I just really love to play live with a full lineup as it always makes me feel good and my guitars really get a nice bite when playing at band volume level. That's how I relax.

I'm lucky that my day job leaves me the weekends free to do this. It would be more difficult for a fulltime solo musician who is most probably working bread and butter jobs over the weekends. Even if it is just for an occasional jam session you should play with other players from time to time just for your own musical enjoyment. And being a guitar player yourself you know how much energy and attack there is in the sound of a band playing tightly together. Though it probably won't help your bank balance it will definately satisfy you muscially and may help to make you feel better.

And you even have all those beautiful guitars and tube amps just begging to be wound out a little with a good rhythm section pumping underneath. What are you waiting for Russ ?

In fact I am posting after arriving home from playing at a local bar. In a lot of ways it's much easier playing in a band now we are all older and don't have the same egos and expectations that we did when we were doing it in our teens and 20s. It's just about playing now which is all it ever should have been. There's no disgrace in playing in a hobby band.

[This message has been edited by Nigel (edited 01-30-2005).]