Live solo gigs !!

[pjpastir]

Hello,

I am a new Pa800 owner ( 2 weeks ) and plan on using this for live solo gigs. I was using Biab with a laptop and keyboard, but it was a lot to haul and I think this is going to work out so much better. So I am interested to know if any of you are using this for solo gigs ?? How do you market yourself, What type of music do you perform, what types of venues do you perform in, in general any tips or tricks that you found useful for marketing yourself with this keyboard.
I feel that there is great potential with this keyboard and am finishing up a demo cd, but I haven't actually got out to try marketing myself yet and am very interested if any of you do this and your suggestions !!!!


Thanks and Best Regards

Paul

[Rob Sherratt]

Hi Paul,

A similar thing - I use my Pa1x and now Pa2x for accompanying "gospel rock" type church services, where I never know what I will be playing 'till I get there. You have to "go with the flow" as they say. I can quickly find a suitable backing and program for most things that need drum and bass. Quieter music is just played live with one of four different piano and strings program settings.

Best regards,
Rob

[karmathanever]

Hi Paul

Know your venues, age-range of people, and simply have a big enough repertoire to be able to cater for the quieter moments (during meals etc..), the louder moments (up for dancing) and select songs that are popular - most people on a night out want to sing and dance to songs they know.

As for marketing, this depends a lot on what and where you are prepared to play. When I was performing duo with a guitarist friend, we worked through the restaurant/dance venues pages of the Yellow Pages and eventually got some good gigs. We would offer a demo CD and also to play for a couple of hours at no charge as a trial in some venues.

I also played a number of solo gigs in a restaurant and would not charge them whenever they had a bad night (few customers). It seemed that they respected this and I ended up getting a lot more paid work from them.

Note that I did not play for a living - I think your marketing approach should be somewhat different if you are relying on music for an income (business cards, flyers, references, agents...etc...etc)

Good luck, hope this helps....

Cheers

Pete