If you're reading this, you're either already gigging and wondering why nobody warned you about half of it, or you're thinking about starting and haven't yet discovered the joys of hauling a PA up three flights of stairs for a wedding that pays in "exposure." Either way, you're in the right place. I've been doing this for 28 years. Somewhere north of 4,000 paid gigs, more bad PA systems than I can count, and enough stories about drunk Garys requesting Wonderwall at 11pm to fill several lifetimes. Most of what I know didn't come from a textbook. It came from standing in front of a room and figuring out, often the hard way, what actually works. This community is where I put that down in a form you can use. Expect real talk about the money side of gigging, the stagecraft side, the confidence side, and the stuff nobody puts in a YouTube title because it doesn't sound exciting enough to click on. A big part of what I want to cover here is the psychology of a room, reading the energy, knowing when to push it and when to pull back, and how to navigate a crowd that's decided collectively it would rather talk about someone's renovation than listen to you. That skill matters more than any scale you'll ever learn. I can also help directly with vocals and guitar, rhythm and soloing both, if that's the part that's holding you back. Grab the 20 songs PDF if you haven't already, it's a solid place to start building a set that works. A few ways to get more out of this than just scrolling. Post your questions, the specific ones tend to get the best answers. Introduce yourself below and tell me where you're at, whether that's your first open mic or your five hundredth wedding gig. And if you want more direct time with me, there's a paid group coaching option and 1-on-1 slots available, details are pinned. No pressure on any of that. Free content here is genuinely useful on its own, not a teaser for the real stuff. Stick around, ask questions, and let's get you gigging smarter.

Firstly, a quick heads up for everyone who's joined recently. This community is here for you to chat, ask questions and help each other at any time. I'm generally gigging Thursday through Sunday, so I'll naturally be a little less active in here over those days. Monday is when I emerge from the wreckage and catch up. 😂 Which brings me nicely to this weekend... Has anyone ever been playing a gig and had the venue turn the SPORT on through the actual PA while you were still performing? Not just TVs on around the room. I mean the commentary coming through the venue's sound system WHILE you're playing. That happened to me this weekend. I posted a Short about it and it got a lot of comments. Most people understood why I was pissed off, but a few suggested I should take it down because it wasn't my usual humorous take on gigging. I'm leaving it up. I love finding the funny side of this business, and most of the time I will. But I also want to keep things real. Sometimes something happens at a gig that's genuinely disrespectful to the performer, and humour isn't necessarily the right response. So I'm curious... Has anyone else had the venue PA competing with them WHILE they were actually playing? And what did you do?

What is the furthest distance that you have driven for a solo gig? I live in an area of Ontario, Canada where there are limited venues. The greatest distance I have driven is 45 minutes to a gig (about 50k, 30 miles) one way. Is any distance worth it if the price is right?

I've been gathering and learning songs for 6 months now (not starting from scratch, I can reuse many from my past), and I did some trial gigs when I had about 60 songs. Not all of them were completely memorised, so I relied on an iPad. I did the gigs because I also needed to get back on stage and get used to playing solo for the first time in my life (at 69). Now I'm backing off to consolidate and regearse a lot more before I start looking for gigs. So the question is: how many songs need to be under my belt before I start serious gigging? Gigs here are usually 3x45 minutes which equates to 45 songs, and you need to have more for variety or cater to different audiences. I've been told 150-200, but it will take a very long time to memorise that many. There needs to be a mix of gigging and learning, so what is the best approach?

So I used to play in Rock bands many moons ago. During that time I was the lead singer/rhythm guitarist. In those bands we always tuned down a half step (that made it easier to sing Zeppelin, AC/DC, etc.). That has carried on with my solo acoustic performances. My question is, how many of you tune down and if so, how low do you drop your tuning?