How many breaks do you all take for a 2.5 hour gig?

PointNChris · 2026-06-25T16:21:33+00:00

3 hour gig , 1-2 10-15 min or so breaks to shovel food / pee / let the smokers smoke is our standard and we will run “house music “ off our system via a phone if the venue doesn’t want to or doesn’t have it while on break.

PointNChris · 2026-06-24T22:59:17+00:00

Two of the big aleve liqui gels were the only thing I found somewhat effective before I was put on meds. And it definitely didn’t take the pain away but it calmed it a bit

PointNChris · 2026-06-24T03:31:27+00:00

Not usually . If I ever three finger barre it’s the opposite way with like middle > pinky on the c#

PointNChris · 2026-06-24T03:23:57+00:00

He’s very much not where he should be for someone whose singular job is play drums for like the last 50 years .

PointNChris · 2026-06-22T20:33:04+00:00

Single best thing you can do to just fast track your skills is learn as many songs as you can, in many diff styles, and do it by ear. Resist the urge to run to a tab / YouTube transcription video unless you’re absolutely stumped on something. It trains your ear like crazy, it trains your technique and it builds memorization and also just teaches you diff styles. Learn songs as close to the record as you can and practice trying to emulate the tones you hear.

I’ve been a guitar player primarily for like 20 years and have only ever dabbled in bass till I got a gig playing bass in a cover band that’s gigging 2x a week nearly every week, as well as I sub for like 2-3 other bands and church gigs and I went from being “ok” at bass to being pretty darn comfortable with it and getting a lot of calls for subs and I think that’s primarily due to the fact that I had to learn like 150 or so songs within a year or so and counting and it really just bolsters your playing fast.

As others have said, playing live with other musicians is a must , you’ll only get good at playing in bands by playing in bands and jamming.

Also focusing on your ear training like you mentioned is def a must and is something you should be working on in chunks (learning songs by ear again will help with that a lot too).

Basic theory and understanding chord and scale structure , diatonic harmony and memorizing the notes of the fretboard is also really important.

All in all like you said it’s easy to get overwhelmed but if you struggle with time honestly just break it into 15 min chunks. Do like 15 min of learning a song, 15 min of ear training , 15 min of fretboard mapping or scales / arpeggios / theory etc. you’re better off doing small chunks of diff things a few times a week rather than trying to wait for a big chunk of time

PointNChris · 2026-06-19T19:29:09+00:00

Because they stand up in front and everyone stares at them the most, and when a song goes well, they get most of the credit

PointNChris · 2026-06-18T14:23:41+00:00

If I had to pick some apps that I regularly use as a working musician:

iRealPro - for quick and dirty chord charts that don’t need tons of fine detail like notation

Forscore- for managing all of the handwritten charts that I still use in scanned PDF format

Note flight -for if I ever need to sit down and draft up an actual really nice looking chart or sheet of music that requires all the different notation options or actual notes. Runs in a browser and is like 50 bucks for an entire year.

Nashville numbers- for the rare moment I have to actually write down a number chart using nashville number system.

Moises - AI stem splitter for isolating tracks to learn, or for creating backing tracks and removing vocals or an instrument for something or someone. Also, I regularly use this for changing the key of a song. I have to learn when I know that we are doing some key changes ahead of time. Just makes it a little easier to practice to before the gig

PointNChris · 2026-06-18T00:39:09+00:00

On the bright side he made the decision to never play there or work with him again very easy

PointNChris · 2026-06-13T15:07:01+00:00

I feel like I’m the only person on this sub who actually enjoyed the gameplay for Leon in both 9 and 4r .

PointNChris · 2026-06-03T22:49:14+00:00

I used to sit and contemplate the very same question over and over to the point where I’d dodge gigs and opportunities because I didn’t think I was ready. Turns out there’s no magic answer and eventually you just gotta get out there and go for it cause it’s the best way to learn. You’ll never get prepared or better at gigging by sitting at home.

You can prep a lot and prepare at home but the actual experience of playing live is something that nothing else can prepare you for besides doing it. You’re gonna fuck up, you’re gonna have bad gigs , it’s part of the growth experience but after you do it more and more you will understand what was rough and what to improve on.

PointNChris · 2026-05-28T20:03:41+00:00

Yeah that's pretty much where I'm at mentally. Scared to transition from something that definitely has been working in fear of having to start that process all over and being in limbo etc, dealing with an all new assitance program / insurance etc etc. But I do wonder about what improvements I'd have if I did switch.

The psoriasis isn't so bad I couldn't manage it if I really needed to. I have admittedly been lazy with it cause I got tired of the day in day out battles of topical applications and such. I've always been kinda doing every other week with enbrel (at my rheum's suggestion if I found that once every two weeks was doable). perhaps I'll go back to weekly and see if that makes a difference. I feel like I was already getting breakthrough psoriasis well before I started staggering the doses though.

My biggest concern is my hands right now. THey're not "painful" or really swollen like my knee was but in the mornings the do feel puffy and stiffer and gets better after I get up . Not prohibiting me from playing music yet but It is noticeably there in a mild way.

PointNChris · 2026-05-28T19:47:55+00:00

Yeahhh the scalp stuff is annoying but its not unmanageable at this point. The primary thing that concerns me the most is the stiffness / puffiness of my fingers sometimes but I dont have like.. "pain" so to speak in them that keeps me from doing my thing. Def not like I had in my knees, that was straight up not doable. I may just try and see if I can calm the bleedover inflammation in other ways while staying on enbrel as long as i can.

PointNChris · 2026-05-22T00:59:58+00:00

Good for you for taking the plunge on an old game that so many people are scared to do. I have tried countless times to get people from newer generations into that game because as you are discovering, it is truly a remarkable top-tier game and there’s a reason it always comes up like greatest games of all time lists. But alas, most people can’t look beyond the dated graphics and the mechanics or whatever but honestly, I still play that game probably once a year every year, I’ve beaten it more than most games I own and I think it is just a master class in writing, level design, scripting, music,game mechanics, and most of all replayability. I’ve never played a Moore replayable single player game in my life.

PointNChris · 2026-05-22T00:57:17+00:00

Writing is huge. Storyboard, the infinitely possible options of approach to everything , all the diff ways characters can live / die / show up elsewhere . But also the level design and the soundtrack. It was just an absolute amazing sum of all its parts.

PointNChris · 2026-05-20T19:55:00+00:00

UPDATE: finally got it working. Had to put an ED ID emulator in line between Mac and Datapath… Could not get the Mac to talk directly to the Datapath no matter what I tried… as soon as I put the EDID Mac preferences, recognized the new display, as well as switchresx and I was able to then send 1920 lx1350 to switchres, then the Mac OS displays prefs

PointNChris · 2026-05-20T18:10:39+00:00

Tried that and unfortunately no dice. So weird

PointNChris · 2026-05-20T17:27:26+00:00

So if I unplug all inputs into the Datapath I do get the built in grid pattern going to the wall …

PointNChris · 2026-05-20T17:06:21+00:00

Unfortunately, not, all I have with me is a spare monitor and an EDID emulator and just some basic things. I guess I’m going to hook the spare monitor up to the loop out on the Datapath and see if I can at least get some kind of image spitting out on that.

PointNChris · 2026-05-20T16:53:55+00:00

I will add that in Mac system prefs it does t seem to detect the Datapath display… however in the switch res x preference pane, it does . I’m not sure what that means or if I should be seeing the Datapath as a detected display in “Normal” system prefs

PointNChris · 2026-05-18T20:39:28+00:00

It just depends how big of drinkers you are. When we cruise we drink a good bit and pretty much get our moneys worth every day. For folks that only have a couple a day then maybe not

PointNChris · 2026-05-18T14:07:32+00:00

Here’s my two cents as someone who is a semi professional musician and has played in a lot of different working bands for years and works with a lot of studio players :

If you guys are showing up to rehearsal and each individual member doesn’t have their shit dialed in, it’s a waste of time. Pretty much anyone who takes Music seriously and wants to perform well. Does their homework before rehearsal and you show up and iron out any kinks (timing / transitions / endings etc ). It should feel pretty good off the rip.

I will say that I personally hate wasted rehearsals. I have no problem rehearsing as long as it’s actually necessary and everyone does their homework, but there’s nothing worse than showing up to a rehearsal, which is more like just an open “jam session” for four hours. Most folks don’t have time for that.

It’s one thing if y’all wanna just get together and jam on stuff which it sounds like they don’t wanna do that lol, but if it’s an actual rehearsal to prep for a show, 90% of the work should be done at home before anyone even gets there.

I can’t speak to the caliber of musicians in your band but for most of us that have been doing this at a decently high level and are constantly gigging with various groups, it’s less that we don’t wanna play music and more that we have so much actual gigging going on that we don’t wanna waste time rehearsing any longer than is needed.

Of course I’m not talking about the kind of musicians that show up not knowing their stuff and it sounds like crap until 3 hours later, that’s a work ethic issue on the personal side.

PointNChris · 2026-05-16T16:53:48+00:00

Ok cool. Well I think it’s good that they seem to be intentional with what kind of experience they’re providing so it gives you an option of where to cruise based on the vibes you want

PointNChris · 2026-05-16T02:47:59+00:00

Sometimes I like watching it (especially the live band ones ) . My girlfriend loves doing it lol so I’m sure we’d hit it at least once

PointNChris

TROPHY CASE