Musicians And Club Work--Small Crowds And How They Make Your Band Better

By Mark Grove



This article is important to all players who've ever played small club gigs with 5 people in the crowd, to playing to the bartender and the manager only and making it work.

I was reading an old copy of Guitar World from 15 years ago on the top 100 guitar players of all time.Normally I don't read that shit on the top players.

But this one was about Gerry Garcia and the Dead.Yes even the Grateful Dead played small club gigs back in the early 60's. Crowds that had maybe a total of 5 people.Gerry learned in small clubs and came out with basic riffs that mesmerized other players, music industry people and especially fans.

I thought I would adapt the Dead's playing in small clubs with virtually no crowds to this article.



Your fans at times may only be the bartender,server girl and the owner who happens to love your brand of blues.If you have a band that plays locally and regionally and makes money, and that that never happened to your band.

If it didn't then you're damn lucky.Chances are it happens to every band. Most don't know how to deal with small crowds or no one coming to see you. And if you're playing for the door you literally make zip.

Sounds pretty sad? Get over it!!

Your band can't worry about that when you're starting out.Yeah, you're making no money--but it's a great opportunity for your band to free wheel a bit and improvise more--there by coming up with more innovative riffs and chord progressions.

As well it's a chance to play some of your more obscure material and placing no limits on your band.This will also teach your band to jam properly and the real fans who come to see your band will see and understand the depth of your music,and what really goes into it night after night--despite any small crowds.

Listening to Other Players In Your Band:

Listen to how other players actually play and adapt their timing
yet your own improvisational methods to your playing. This can
be done more efficiently in smaller club settings,jams and practice.

Yeah,I still say real players,if you are a bonafide real player,should
learn from the masters of blues guitar.Not Jimmy Page,Eric Clapton or even Dimebag Darrel or Zakk Wylde.

They are great players who are among the best,but you need to learn from players like old blues players like Elmore James, Eddie Taylor,and Tampa Red.Even players like Dee Curtis who I represent. He's a Canadian blues man who now is working with a well known artist here in Canada,Tomi Swicks.

Don't just learn from the top lead guitarist's.Think about it, if no one is coming to see your band,your band can play what you want and how you want which is how it should be.But if you're opening for a big act or the main act,you tend to play more tightly,fixed,scripted--what ever you call it, based upon practiced arrangements.

But being able to free wheel at your small no crowd gigs, your band's improv quota goes up.This will help your band come together more and play better at higher tempos in big gigs.So your small gigs are the best time to record these long improvisational jam sessions to give you a better idea of where your band is going.

These more intimate and soul searching gigs could become some of the best material your band plays.There are major opportunities for you to also work with the club manager and do Q and A sessions with local musicians and fans.


Write articles on other bands for the club.Give before you get guys.These shitty gigs for no money can help your phrasing on guitar and come up with a lick or riff you may not have come up with at a big gig.

The little riff can become an element of your style that even the best players may never have come up with at the concerts they make millions from.You can make money as a regional player,just be patient and ready to pounce on those opportunities.

But what it come down to is this.That great euphoric moment as a player that is just a moment in time,but your playing a certain riff was played in a way that just blows you away and other players and fans.

But you played with guys and for fans who cared about your music even in a small setting.

Mark Grove mdgrove@rock.com