Landed My First Gig, Now What?

The first step anywhere is never exciting in itself. Where that step leads is AMAZING

What happens once you Get In?  Let’s say you found someone who offered you some rando gig. Not exactly what you wanted but at least it’s something in the outer ring of the production. 

Now what? Now pay attention! No, not to me right now. To the gig. 

Nothing you learn or experience is a waste.  You will always use it in some form. It will also give you some talking points you can use as you meet new people. 

I started out I wanting to be a musician playing in bands. Being a recording artist wasn’t even a thing back then. You played in clubs, maybe got seen by a label and then maybe got a record deal.  For most of us it was making a living playing in clubs.  

I bought a drum pad (look it up) and took a few lessons. Saved a couple dollars from my paper route (look it up. Haha yea… I got a few years under my belt.  I told you I’ve been in the biz for thirty plus years and I didn’t start when I was two)

I used that paper route money to buy a drum kit. Next move was figure out how to play drums and join a band. BTW all this was when I was in sixth grade. The first band I was in played house parties (not raggers! More like birthday parties for pre-high schoolers.) 

Eventually, I decided to switch to guitar and bass, (got tired of being stuck in the back of the band), sold the drums and bought a guitar.  Picked up some licks from other local players and bounced around a few bands.  I pretty much sucked as a player but I had a car and was willing to hump gear around. 

Hang in for a minute there is a point for you in this story.  

Working my way into the local network of musicians I ended up hanging out at a local musical instrument store. The owner and “the” sales guy were both pretty cool and let me try a bunch of stuff while I annoyed them with a million questions. Since they were older (prob in their twenties haha) and both played in “real” bands that played in clubs, I couldn’t get my fill of their stores and insights. 

That relationship hooked me up with the next level of players who also needed someone with a car. 

Now here comes the twist. The owner also did repairs on guitars, amps and some keyboards in the store.  He knew I wanted to buy more gear but was broke. In my neighborhood there wasn’t much chance of making enough money at a local job and playing in bands paid crap, but I wanted better gear.

He offered my deal… “I’ll teach you how to repair stuff and whatever you fix we will apply 50% of what we charge the customer towards gear you want.” 

At the time I didn’t realize what a stupid offer financially that was for me but hey… I would be in a music store everyday talking and working with local musicians and I would be learning how to fix gear. 

Bam there it is!!! That last part, learning how to fix gear was the pay off. 

Fast forward a couple of years and I opened my own repair and customizing shop called, synthesizer servicing specialists (known as Triple S and in the pro music industry I became known as “Joe from Triple S”)

 That one decision, to grab a gig I had no real interest in as a career nor even saw the tie between that and advancing my music career. That one decision set in motion the foundation and spring board to 30 plus years of an amazingly diverse and exciting career. 

The bottom line is … you have to find a way to Get In even if it means climbing through a window, or in my case taking a job I didn’t care about but in the industry, I wanted to be part of.

Once you Get In the next step is Get Skills that will enable you to Get Ahead. Each step of the way you will begin to see all the choices you actually have. Choices you didn’t even know existed.