Get Paid for Playing Drums

Getting paid to play drums is a simple, yet long and drawn out process.  It’s going to take a few months of dedication, a lot of patience, and some brains.  I’ll start from the top.

Unfortunately for most drummers (including myself at one point in life), you’ll need to find a committed group of musicians to form the band.  Don’t throw words and phrases around such as, “getting signed”, and “go on tour”, or you’ll irritate the other guys with false hopes.  In fact, if that’s what you want, stop thinking about it!  The first step, after getting the band established, is to decide on a song list.  You don’t want to write all original stuff, and you don’t want to play 15 green day songs, but an even balance of a few originals (not required at first), and a strong list of cover songs that will suit your audiences in local bars, clubs, or outdoor paid festivals.  Unfortunately for me, my entire area seems to be stuck in the 80′s, so I get to play a bunch of AC~DC, Dio, Black Sabbath, and some other bands I grew up playing, and eventually ‘thought’ I grew out of.  Nothing against these bands, but I’d rather be playing Avenged Sevenfold, more Godsmack, Chevelle, and Three Days Grace!

Getting into a groove of practicing on a regular basis is essential, because tightening up your music will be the more important of a lot of these steps towards your goal of playing drums for money.  You’ll need to front some money (or someone will) for a PA System, including a vocal and instrument mixer, a decent set of speakers, enough watts with power amps to power the speakers, as well as some optional effects, EQ’s, compressors, and crossover units (for use with multi-speaker systems, such as sub cabinets under the mid/high cabinets, which will project the best, and most professional sound)

After all of the sound equipment is obtained and the band is a few weeks away from being ready to play a complete show (most bars in my area book a 4 hour show, which is 3x 1 hour sets, with 2x 30 minute breaks between), you’ll want to begin to establish who in the band is going to take charge in trying to get shows.  This person needs to be very reliable and easy to get in touch with, and has to know the cardinal come-back’s when being asked to play a show, and needs to find out and WRITE DOWN the following:

  • Where is the show located?
    • Address?
    • Inside or outside?
    • Is there a stage or platform?
  • When is the show?
    • Date?
    • Time Starting?
    • Time Ending?
    • Any Interuptions? (announcements, birthdays, etc..)
    • When can we set up?
    • When must we be out?
  • Is there sufficient power for the band? (usually there needs to be at least 2 separate 15 amp 110W breakers (or 220W with adapters)
  • Will You Sign a contract?
    • (will get into this, but it’s very important to protect both the band and the venue)
  • ***MOST IMPORTANT***   I’ll get in touch with everyone in the band to make sure they’re available, and get back to you tomorrow with yes or no.

To make money playing drums, or any other instrument for that matter, the person who talks to venue owners must keep his or her word.  After getting details from the venue’s entertainment committee, they must immediately contact ALL members of the band to be sure they’re available, give details about the venue, and let everyone know when the show will be held.  Luckily, after you get yourselves established at a few places, you know what their stipulations, times, and details are, so it becomes, “Hey Joe Shmoe, can you play a show at the hanover moose on July 28th?”  Eventually you’ll start to memorize the times of different places, and hopefully nothing goes wrong that you would have to discontinue a business relationship with a venue.

Upon booking your first show, you want to take extra steps, if timing is available and works out, to ensure that the show is going to go well.  Mistakes need to be addressed (on stage, minor mistakes won’t be noticed by very many people that are downing their alcoholic beverages, so don’t make big deals and get upset over a minor note miss, or a missed beat), as well as songs need to be arranged in an order that allows you to flow your songs from one to the next, ensuring that the crowd watching you doesn’t get bored from “piddledicking” (a word my girlfriend came up with for us when we were really bad with tuning changes back and forth between songs).  The first time in a location, even if it’s only a $500 gig, be sure to bring your best, professional looking equipment, as well as any bright and colorful effects lights, props, and the biggest drum set you can fit (without being the only instrument on stage).

A few days after the first show, be sure to contact the person who originally booked you, asking if they were there, if everything went well, if they heard any complaints (usually volume is the only one we get:), and if they’d be interested in giving you another show.  If you do a good job, and keep everything rated specific to the location’s request (curse words, heavy metal, etc..), you’ll most likely be given another shot, in which case you can start to lighten up and shake off the jitters, and begin to get paid for playing drums, or other instruments.

If you would like more information about getting paid to play drums, including details, a contract template, or a list of music specific to certain locations requests, feel free to comment or contact us directly.