Gigging with a Bad Back

I have a wedding reception gig coming up on September, Saturday the 13th. Here’s the setlist:

• All the things you are 
• Autumn leaves 
• All of me 
• Alice in wonderland 
• But beautiful 
• Beautiful love 
• Body and soul 
• Days of wine and roses 
• Fly me to the moon 
• Just friends 
• How high the moon 
• I love you 
• In a sentimental mood 
• Like someone in love 
• Misty 
• Night and day 
• Someday my prince will come 
• There will never be another you 
• When I fall in love 
• What is this thing called love? 
• Have you met Miss Jones? 
• Lullaby of Birdland 

Lots of familiar tunes that I have played on many times. Normally I wouldn’t worry too much about prepping carefully for this kind of gig, but this is actually going to be one of the more challenging gigs I have played in a while.

For one, it’s going to be a trio with a trombonist, a drummer, and me on bass. I can’t rely on cues from a chordal instrument to help me find my way in case I lose focus and get lost.

The main factor, however, is that I haven’t been practicing much because my chronic back pain has been so debilitating lately that I spend many evenings lying down on a heating pad watching TV. I almost cancelled the gig, but since it pays decently well I decided to try something new. I am going to use part of my pay to hire my friend to help me load and unload my car at my house and at the gig. None of my gear is particularly heavy, but my back is so sensitive that even loading and unloading my gear cart can elevate my pain levels significantly and make me feel dizzy and out of it. This is no fun when you are playing back-to-back jazz standards for two hours with one break. And with the lack of practicing, I can tell that my plucking-hand fingers are losing their calluses.

I decided that this gig is going to take extra prep, so I ran through the tune lists and made notes of any up-tempo tunes or tunes in challenging keys such as Ab, Db, and Eb and am going to focus on those tunes:

1. All the things you are
2. I love you
3. Like someone in love
4. Lullaby of birdland
5. What is this thing called love
6. There will never be another you

I also looked at my calendar for the week and I am going to block off 30 minute practice times to focus on specific technical exercises to get my time, tone, and intonation in shape as well as designate a couple dedicated sessions right-hand plucking exercises to strengthen my calluses. I’ll also block off time to work on the six above tunes. Maybe two or three of these tunes per session.

The day of the gig I am going to skip my morning workout, spend lots of time resting, maybe go for a short walk, and do only a very light warmup. The key is going to be having my friend help me with loading. Hoping that all this prep and care makes it possible for me to play well, enjoy myself, and not suffer too much pain afterward. We will see!