Have you ever taken time off from gigging?

[telequacktastic]

I’m fortunate to still get calls to play live music usually as a hired gun which is only part time only as I keep a day to support the family. I feel very grateful to get called to go to work and work hard on the set lists of the artist’s I support to foster a sustainable reputation and to do my part on the bandstand at downbeat.

My wife is very supportive of my part time job playing music on the weekends but lately it’s been getting harder and harder to find time to woodshed these setlists AND stay on top of my personal practice schedule that is SO important to maintain what I’ve worked at over 30 years of playing.

So I’m at a crossroads here and I’m considering taking some time off from playing live music to either play at home for the enjoyment of playing what I want to play and practicing to get to the next skill level.

What I’m afraid of is once I start turning down work nobody will call anymore and in a couple years when I do want to go back it will be hard to get something going.

Tell me about a time when you or someone you know took time off from playing live and what kinds of challenges you went through finding work again after time off.

 

[Downshift]

The hardest part is to get going again. But if you've got the skills, word travels fast. I wouldn't be too worried. Take some time for you, come back refreshed, and there will be work for you.

I've done it a number of times. It seems just about the time I'm ready to get going again, an opportunity presents itself.

 

[dannyh]

The hardest part is to get going again. But if you've got the skills, word travels fast. I wouldn't be too worried. Take some time for you, come back refreshed, and there will be work for you.

I've done it a number of times. It seems just about the time I'm ready to get going again, an opportunity presents itself.

I totally agree with this. I “quit” playing out for a few years (I’d still do a few gigs a year if they sounded fun, but nothing like I was doing before). I got away from it all, got my personal life straightened out quite a bit. Made several life changes. Eventually I got some desire back. Started taking gigs and seeking opportunities (the calls had dwindled considerably, no surprise there). It felt a little like starting over, but with a very different attitude about things it didn’t bother me. Wasn’t too long til I was working gigs about as much as I wanted to. If you can do the job and have a pro attitude there’s usually gonna be opportunities to play out, IME.

The break did me a world of good, too. I needed it worse than even I realized at the time.

Best of luck OP.

 

[ChicknPickn]

Roughly the last 35 years or so.

 

[StratDal]

Do whatcha gotta do. That said, playing before a live audience that is enjoying itself is a nice afternoon/evening for the soul.

 

[Tenderfoot]

Thanks to the US Navy, I took several months long breaks from gigging as I cruised around the world. However, to avoid getting rusty, I would play on a cheap acoustic guitar and jam with some shipmates. At another time, after playing four nights a week, I got burnt out and took a four month break. As for today. I have been on a 27-year break from regular gigging. To tell you the truth, the older I got the harder it became to withstand the rigors of setting up, tearing down and driving to and back from gigs that hardly paid for the gas money.

 

[brookdalebill]

No.

 

[39martind18]

In my 55 year career, I have never voluntarily taken an extended break from gigging. There have been times when I was forced to gig much less than I wished, either because of a paucity of places to play or because of needing to concentrate on the day job. During my 21 year teaching career, I relegated my playing out to primarily weekends. After I retired from teaching, I was able to ramp up my playing to a couple of nights a week as well as several day gigs at senior living centers. The great viral unpleasantness put a screeching halt to gigging, especially at the senior living centers for the vast majority of a year, and then slowly opened back up to the point where I'm now gigging as much as I wish. Interestingly enough, I'm still losing the occasional gig, as lately as last month, to closures due to Covid.

 

[loudboy]

After 40+ years of continuous playing/gigging, I stopped cold for about 3 years, after a few bad band experiences made me realize that I didn't feel like playing anymore. Put 'em away, and didn't miss it one bit.

Did a cross-country move, renovated our house, and then just sort of slid back into it. Joined a fun little combo 3 years ago, and I'm back at it full force - have done over 250 gigs since then.

 

[dougstrum]

I have been at this a long time and like a lot of things there's an ebb and flow. The balance shifts at different stages of life.

When my kids were little I backed off quite a bit.

Gigged a lot for many years with my old band, but I just got tired of being the main organizer, though we still get called out a few times/year

For the past dozen years I have played with a vocalist who does all the booking, and has the sense to leave room in our schedule for holidays and family.

 

[telequacktastic]

In my 55 year career, I have never voluntarily taken an extended break from gigging. There have been times when I was forced to gig much less than I wished, either because of a paucity of places to play or because of needing to concentrate on the day job. During my 21 year teaching career, I relegated my playing out to primarily weekends. After I retired from teaching, I was able to ramp up my playing to a couple of nights a week as well as several day gigs at senior living centers. The great viral unpleasantness put a screeching halt to gigging, especially at the senior living centers for the vast majority of a year, and then slowly opened back up to the point where I'm now gigging as much as I wish. Interestingly enough, I'm still losing the occasional gig, as lately as last month, to closures due to Covid.

You live in Spring, I just played Rowdy's Roadhouse 2 weeks ago

 

[blowtorch]

not intentionally, no.
i enjoy performing music in front of an audience and i get a little wiggy if I haven't done it in awhile

enough time off from gigs in the grave, i figure

 

[sixstringbastard]

Yes, I have. I walked away from performing back in 2018.
I had been playing in a band with close friends. I had been the bandleader and I was burnt out.

The pandemic ended up stretching that performance break for much longer than I intended.

I happy to report that I'm playing my first show in a few weeks, on Saturday April 29th with a new band. I set down my CA Fat Telecaster and I'm stretching out by playing a Squier CV 60s Jazz Bass, along with a Hofner Club as my backup.

It took a lot, both mentally and emotionally, to get back into it. The rehersals have gone well and I'm looking forward to the 29th.

 

[Chiogtr4x]

Not really, unless I've been sick, or when things get slow ( ****ing Winters!)

- I quit working my job too early ( 2007), wrongly thinking I could play
music as a living. ( was burned out, but playing a lot of gigs...)
It was a mistake, but since that moment, I've been kind of locked-in to playing as much as I can, in a variety of groups- always hustling for gigs. Never really coming near decent, steady, full-time employment. But love to play, love gigs!

I have a bunch musician friends in similar situations, and we are now also in our 'retirement/SS' years- gigging, plus taking our SS Benefits ( some of us)

So it's this weird 'community of musical survival'- we all look out for each other to keep gigging together, but we are also looking out for ourselves- first!

I often take any gig period!, if I'm free, then figure out who can play with me...others do the same, and we somehow, survive!
Calendars are always out-dates/texts in perpetual motion...

It a constant state of 'flexible musical anxiety'- that's me!

 

[39martind18]

Not really, unless I've been sick, or when things get slow ( ****ing Winters!)

- I quit working my job too early ( 2007), wrongly thinking I could play
music as a living. ( was burned out, but playing a lot of gigs...)
It was a mistake, but since that moment, I've been kind of locked-in to playing as much as I can, in a variety of groups- always hustling for gigs. Never really coming near decent, steady, full-time employment. But love to play, love gigs!

I have a bunch musician friends in similar situations, and we are now also in our 'retirement/SS' years- gigging, plus taking our SS Benefits ( some of us)

So it's this weird 'community of musical survival'- we all look out for each other to keep gigging together, but we are also looking out for ourselves- first!

I often take any gig period!, if I'm free, then figure out who can play with me...others do the same, and we somehow, survive!
Calendars are always out-dates/texts in perpetual motion...

It a constant state of 'flexible musical anxiety'- that's me!

Like you, I'm in my retirement income years, so with Social Security and Teacher Retirement for both myself and my spouse, the music income is not the cake, but the icing on the cake. Being able to "get by" without music income if necessary was a daunting task when the pandemic shut things down. We pulled our horns in a bit spending wise, but not to the extent that we were cramped, and found SS and Teacher Retirement were more than sufficient to get by- it sure took the pressure off of playing strictly for income concerns and was very liberating.

 

[Chiogtr4x]

Like you, I'm in my retirement income years, so with Social Security and Teacher Retirement for both myself and my spouse, the music income is not the cake, but the icing on the cake. Being able to "get by" without music income if necessary was a daunting task when the pandemic shut things down. We pulled our horns in a bit spending wise, but not to the extent that we were cramped, and found SS and Teacher Retirement were more than sufficient to get by- it sure took the pressure off of playing strictly for income concerns and was very liberating.

Definitely, a constant 'work in progress' as we age...
not only the $$ side, but (now) just keeping R&R, Blues, folk, Country, alive, by us older/aging folks!

I admit, I'm just playing older music to an older audience ( of course, it's for anyone that likes it),

not breaking any new ground- more a 'preservation'?

 

[Tone Quest]

Yes, during covid.

 

[39martind18]

Definitely, a constant 'work in progress' as we age...
not only the $$ side, but (now) just keeping R&R, Blues, folk, Country, alive, by us older/aging folks!

I admit, I'm just playing older music to an older audience ( of course, it's for anyone that likes it),

not breaking any new ground- more a 'preservation'?

works for me!

 

[schmee]

Not long, only about 25 years in the 80s-90s

 

[Lou Tencodpees]

I got weary of the usual suspects; band dynamics, everything that goes along with clubs, etc. I took time off to focus on writing and recording, my first passion. I started diving into music forums, GAS, building, modding, musical frivolity. That was almost 20 years ago. A few brief moments with basement jams, one which I really enjoyed because of the group dynamic. I had stretches of prolific recording projects which were fulfilling. But the gigging got away from me and I no longer consider myself a viable band member for a variety of reasons.

If gigging is in your blood, taking time off is ok for a reboot. But don't let it drift too far away because after a while life's currents may be too strong to get back.