Does anyone enjoy playing at weddings?

Stuart Legg · Post by **Stuart Legg** » 30 Oct 2009 11:12 am

Last Saturday afternoon Bo played steel guitar in the air of country with fugue and grave by adding the plinking keys of an invention.
I noticed that the galliard and gigue was not the best giusto and he received a lot of Kapellmeister when he went into ostinato on his pedal steel.
However I’m not the least bit disturbed by this when it was applied to my polyphony but I know they could not wait for the postlude.
Well this tafelmusik resulted in a food fight just as Bo started his tutti.
They told me that next year our band would be replaced by a transverse flute player. I told him he could go play tubular bells.
If your not up on your musical terms please consult this web site
http://www.naxos.com/education/glossary.asp#

Tim Whitlock · Post by **Tim Whitlock** » 30 Oct 2009 12:43 pm

In a word, no.

Thomas Ludwig · Post by **Thomas Ludwig** » 30 Oct 2009 2:33 pm

in my early years I played a lot of weddings.
I never liked it, but payment was goooood.

Thomas

mtulbert · Post by **mtulbert** » 30 Oct 2009 2:38 pm

My Band did a couple of weddings in the Hill Country of Texas. I played the first one and Mickey A subbed for me on the second.

It was two of the best gigs that we have ever played.

Lot's of fun and the crowd was really enthusiastic.

I guess they like country bands in the Hill Country

M

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 30 Oct 2009 3:54 pm

The Tony Harrison Band played a very cool wedding at the Barton Creek Country Club a few weeks back. We did ZERO country or western swing. It was all Real Book jazz, Sinatra, Darin, and bossa.

Absolutely the most enjoyable gig I've done in years.

Jim Robbins · Post by **Jim Robbins** » 30 Oct 2009 3:58 pm

"Bo started his tutti"? How many of him are there?

I've played some fun weddings, most memorably a biker wedding in rural Manitoba.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 30 Oct 2009 4:49 pm

Better than funerals .....

Jeff Hyman · Post by **Jeff Hyman** » 30 Oct 2009 5:04 pm

Money talks, and BS walks. Everything has a price. Some of my friends argue this depending on what is expected for how much money. Let me say, that for USD$500,000,000.01, cash, after taxes, I'd kiss Mike Tyson on the 50 yard line, half time at the next Super Bowl. Let me remind you that's $500,000,000.01. Yes I'd be the talk of the world, but I would have bought my own little island with all the beautiful woman I wanted at by beck and call. There would be no TV or Radio to remind me how rich I'd be.

I'd do weddings for a little less then that, and no kissing allowed.

Terry Winter · Post by **Terry Winter** » 30 Oct 2009 5:29 pm

Over the years I've played a lot of weddings but now the DJ thing seems to be the rage....Even my children when they got married didn't want a live band

I got over it though,I guess!!

Terry

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 30 Oct 2009 5:54 pm

For the most part I enjoy playing weddings,although a couple of years ago in the middle of a song a woman in her mid 80's walked up to me and punched me in the shoulder and told me the band was to damned loud...It was pretty funny,Should I have hit her back??

Ronnie Boettcher · Post by **Ronnie Boettcher** » 30 Oct 2009 6:07 pm

I have played only one wedding, as a steel player. It was right after I bought my LDG. The only thing I knew on it was how to play on it like my old Fender 400, with 4 pedals and no knees. I did have my 400 set up E9, using the first 8 strings. I faked it through the evening, and the worst part was the lead guitar player didn't show up. That left me with all the lead, intros, fills, and endings. Was a dandy way to get my feet wet on steel. The crowd loved it. Very few country bands do weddings in the Cleveland, Ohio area. That took place in the middle 70's.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 31 Oct 2009 1:51 am

Better than funerals .....

Hey Barry, aren't they the same?

Always liked checking out all the good looking, gussied up babes. Some gigs were good, some bad.

Charles Pompe · Post by **Charles Pompe** » 31 Oct 2009 5:37 am

I used to play one/month. The only one there who liked the musc was the father of the bride. Pay was good , the guests often drank to much and some one always got sick or unruly. Not my favorite gig.

Les Green · Post by **Les Green** » 31 Oct 2009 5:59 am

I've never minded playing wedding dances. Pay is usually good and playing time is usually cut short a bit. The only thing I don't like about them is all the little kids running and sliding and screaming on the dance floor. I also found out early on when you go on break don't leave your picks and bars lay on your steel. May not be there when you get back!

Billy Wilson · Post by **Billy Wilson** » 31 Oct 2009 9:23 am

Songs about lost love dont go over well at weddings

Allan Munro · Post by **Allan Munro** » 31 Oct 2009 11:04 am

I hated playing at weddings coz there was always someone who had to come and sing with the band.
I have had a lot of laughs playing at weddings but on balance, Nah!

I must have played at literally hundreds of them. Nah, not good gigs.

Billy Tonnesen · Post by **Billy Tonnesen** » 31 Oct 2009 9:12 pm

This was back in the middle40's at the 97th Street Corral (dancehall) on Main St. in So.Los Angeles. A couple of our regular custormers who were terrific dancers decided to get married Prior to the start of a evening for the Dancehall they got married on the stage of the Corral with the whole band and many custormers in attendance. They spent the whole night dancing. There was a regular local Pastor who did the ceremony and it was a happy evening for everyone. They did not have to rent the Hall and everyone brought presents and refreshments. These were lean times and they could not afford a Church wedding. Everyone thought it was better than being married at the City Hall with a Justice of the Peace.

Mark van Allen · Post by **Mark van Allen** » 31 Oct 2009 9:50 pm

Blueground Undergrass does a wedding every now and then, always for fans of the band, so we get treated great, no hassles and the pay is often phenomenal.

Great people and great parties.

We just recently played a tenth anniversary party for a couple whose wedding we played in the early days of the band. Pretty cool.

Jack Francis · Post by **Jack Francis** » 1 Nov 2009 4:50 am

Stu...an 80 year old lady hit you and you actually felt it???? What a "WOOSE"!!

Stuart Legg · Post by **Stuart Legg** » 1 Nov 2009 7:59 am

Bob Blair · Post by **Bob Blair** » 1 Nov 2009 9:36 am

I only remember playing one, and thinking that it was a pleasant change from the smoky rooms full of drunken criminals that I used to do six-nighters at. I used to like community hall dances in eastern Ontario for the same reasons. Good money, friendly people.

John Cadeau · Post by **John Cadeau** » 1 Nov 2009 10:56 am

I do, but unfortunately the two most popular songs that I sing, are The Other Woman, and Rose Colored Glasses. They don't seem to fit very well at weddings.
John

Jim Walker · Post by **Jim Walker** » 1 Nov 2009 11:09 am

I love Wedding Reception gigs myself. Most pay pretty well. I've even ended up dating a few bridesmaids over the years. When them single womens watch their best friends get hitched then down a few glasses of champagne, they go into auto gotta find a man mode!

JW

Bill Bassett · Post by **Bill Bassett** » 1 Nov 2009 11:21 am

I played one particularly beautiful wedding. Valentines Day 2006. The daughter of a good friend was married on the lawn of The Blazin M Ranch. I played solo steel guitar, Wedding March and all.
The young couple still thanks me now and again.

BDBassett
Rimrock AZ

Ray Montee (RIP) · Post by **Ray Montee (RIP)** » 1 Nov 2009 11:37 am

I've found that it is much easier merely to attend a wedding and get married, than it is to pack in all that cubmersome, heavy gear, set it up and play and then tear it down and pack it all out to the car. Just MHO.

The Steel Guitar Forum

Does anyone enjoy playing at weddings?

Does anyone enjoy playing at weddings?

Weddings

Does anyone enjoy playing at weddings

Based on my personal experience.............