Piano bar gigs? .... paid practice with tips for me ...it's all cream ....complaining about "Playing Music" doesnt exsist in my world.....its a labor of Love FOR LIFE!!

Ditto. What a shame to get paid for doing what you love. I've played many a piano bar gig in my time and I've had great followings and I have a lot of happy memories. At this point in my career I don't have to do one on a regular basis, but they're still fun to do.

Rock on!

Joe

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Songman55
Joe Ayala

The Music Pad Pro is my music display and MP3 player. It's not perfect - the v4 software and the XMMS media player in particular for the Music Pad is buggy but managable. You can read my thread on Freehand's forum for details here .

But yes, I replaced a laptop on stage with the Music Pad Pro. I combined it with the Kawai ES4 piano (which I chose because it had an internal speaker system to plug my MPP's audio output into) to get this stage rig:





[This message has been edited by Esh (edited 11-12-2006).]

Kool good looking setup Jim.....would love to hear a few tunes with this combo.

Esh,

Thanks for the reply. I am using acoustic guitar, so the Music Pad would be overkill for me. I'll probably go the cheap (used) laptop route unless I can find an MP3 player that will play one song at a time and has good reliability.

Thanks

I'm still using Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox 3 for both recording and MP3 playback. It is no longer being made, but you can find them on Ebay fairly easily.
They will record and playback stereo WAV and all stages of MP3s. Mine have 7 gig hard drives.
DonM

Don,

I checked them out and they look like they might be great. Thanks!

I play piano bars almost every friday and saturday. I must say I really love it! The money is good, the tips are great, and the gigs are short! But not everyone is suited to play a piano bar. It's about entertaining, not playing or singing. You can be the worlds greatest pianist and singer, but that doesn't neccessarily make you a hit at a piano bar. It's about making the people laugh, sing and drink! If everyone is wasted at the end of the gig, humming and laughing you did a good job. The bar's register is full and your tip jar is filled to the rim. When you play a piano bar it is important to let people know that you are in charge. Shure they can make requests, but ultimately it's your choices that affects the evening. And if you don't put on a good show, well then you woun't get the attention of the crowd.

Doc-Z

Doc.....great post...sounds like you really have it all under control as an entertainer.

This piano bar is not like that. I don't care what the piano player is doing. He could be standing on his head, juggling, and playing; I honestly don't think they would notice. I think the owners make the volume be low and he's wallpaper and that is all. I base this on what I saw and what the other guys who quit told me.



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Bill
Yamaha PSR2000