Every gig is a good gig and an important gig. And every gig is different. Sometimes you play for a listening crowd who hangs on every lyric and your bantering songwriter intros – bless those people! Sometimes you’re there for ambiance, leaning on playing covers of familiar cover songs. You’re there to help provide a good time, and you get to spend a gig running through songs by some of your favorite artists.

And SOMETIMES you’re asked to be part of a very special private event, such as a marriage proposal. You you get to bear witness to a truly amazing thing happening – especially when she says “yes” and provide just one more cool thing to a very cool event.

I’ve been fortunate to be asked to do a few of these. A few years ago I was hired to play “random guitar guy” up in Davenport, along with an also-hired photographer, hanging around the beach, with pre-selected songs at the ready. The groom-to-be and I worked up a scenario where he wandered over and asked if I could play anything. I then serenaded the couple and he proposed. Here’s the complete story on that.

Last year I did something similar up at a hiking trail off of Empire Grade near UCSC. I learned the couple’s favorite song. And as they approached the guy asked me “What’s your dog’s name?” I said, “Meadow. Hey want to hear a song I’ve been working on?” (I felt like a spy in this one, with our back and forth code sentences worked up beforehand.) More detail on that one here.

Last week I was fortunate to play for yet another married couple-to-be. This one took a bit of ad libbing. “Andrew” contacted me months ago and said he wanted to propose to his girlfriend down on Carmel Beach. This time, I’d just do a short set of selected tunes for them after he proposed. We bounced a LOT of songs back and forth – turns out we’re both music nerds. When the day came, the weather was TERRIBLE. Wind, bouts of hail, and freezing cold. So we improvised. I play regularly in Carmel-by-the-Sea at a lovely De Tierra Winery. I contacted Jeff the owner, told him the story, and he opened early for the couple.

After Andrew proposed – she said “yes,” I walked up, introduced myself, and we headed back De Tierra, where they had a table waiting and complementary champagne ready for the couple – and their guitarist, who played a half hour for them. Pretty cool!

My wife says, “these are wonderful gigs. Hope you never have a situation where the woman says “no.” 😉

Fun fact: Want to book me for a private gig like this? Contact me through my profile over at Gigsalad.com, or just shoot me an email.