Another First For Me.....

[MikeJackal]

Well I went to my Dad's as planned yesterday for our second practice session, had a good three hours working through some new songs and tuning the ones we practised before, took a few videos so I will share them as soon as Dad get's them on YouTube. It was another thoroughly enjoyable afternoon and I'm now totally comfortable playing in front of my Dad which is a major step forward for me.
After we were finished he asked me if I wanted to go along to the open mic night at his local pub....and do one of our songs....well I must have not engaged my brain because I said yes before I had a chance to say no.
So I packed up my guitar, amp and laptop and took them along to the pub. Luckily for me the attendance was not spectacular so I didn't have to worry about impressing a large audience.
I plugged my laptop into the pub's PA system and did a very short sound check which consisted of making sure the backing track was audible and strumming a few strings to make sure that was working (I was very nervous and trying to draw as little attention as possible).
Then came the big moment, we were ready to do our song....the shakes started and the butterflies turned into rampaging wilderbeast...as a T Total alcoholic I really could have done with some Dutch courage right about then.....here we go.....
We did Gravity by John Mayer, it's a nice slow song with a simple solo that was one of the first songs I ever learnt to play so I was very comfortable playing it, due to the shakes there were a couple of times where I almost missed the right fret and my picking sometimes lost the right amount of attack but overall it went pretty well.
So we decided to do another song, I had worked on a version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps and my Dad is a Beatles nut so we both enjoyed that one, you will see the version we did in practice when the videos get uploaded.
To finish off we did Walking By Myself by Gary Moore, a really fun one to play and a great solo that all went according to plan.
For an encore we did my arrangement of I've Got A Mind To Give Up Living by Fleetwood Mac which as you know is my favourite blues song of all time so I really enjoyed letting loose and playing some moody licks.

I walked away with the amazing buzz that everyone always said I would get from it and I was itching to play more songs but there were other people there to play so that was all we had time to do. I got chatting to one of the regulars after and he is a great guitarist with decades of experience in playing and with bands, he gave me some really good feedback and commented on how good I was for only playing for just over 3 years, particularly the natural feel I have for putting emotion into a lick rather than just playing it so that was another highlight of the night.
My only regret is that we didn't film my first ever live performance because that would have been something to look back at and be proud of but the memory will be enough.
We are going to have another practice next Wednesday and play again that night...I can see this being a regular thing now.
It also has me itching and craving to find another similar event at another pub with a bigger audience, maybe even starting to look for a band, who knows, the sky is the limit now and my live performance journey has begun with the best possible start.
Thanks Dad for giving me the confidence to make the big leap. And I hope you enjoyed reading my story too.

[12bar]

Congratulations! Sounds really like a great appearance!

It's was a good idea to start with something well known, this builds up confidence for the next ones.

Now waiting for a video/sound the next time...

[MikeJackal]

Thanks Gerd, yeah it was definitely the right choice of song to start off with. I for sure will take the camera next week so I can get it on film to share with you all.
Funny thing I remembered, where all the gear is set up is right next to where the door that leads through to the toilets is, as I only had a short lead due to my expensive planet waves one decided to break I was limited with where I could stand, which was close to the front of one of the speakers, I started getting a bit of feedback and so moved away and was stood right in front of the door, which meant that no one could go to the toilet during our mini set, which meant the audience had no choice but to listen to all our songs.

The scariest part for me was halfway through a song when I had just started a solo, I suddenly realised that everyone had stopped talking and were all watching me, suffice to say I very nearly fluffed the next lick but put my head down and just concentrated on the song.

[VikingBlues]

Many congatulations Mike - very courageous step you've taken there.

That regular you mentioned is quite right about how good your playing is - but I'd go further and say it would be great playing if you'd been playing for 10 years or more. It's that emotion you can get across - some very technically skilled very experienced guitarists can't do that.

I'm glad you managed to keep your focus so well and that you managed to get it back when you noticed everyones attention on you - that sudden realisation can be a recipe for a wheel or two falling off the playing.

[2WheelsOfBlues]

WOUWW what a story

yeb, you needed that push forward and maybe its time for a band.....

Looking forward to see any vid of this.....

[DeaconBlues]

Would "I told you so" be too obvious?

Have we created a monster?

Bravo, Mike! That first step is always the hardest.

[Strummer07]

What an achievment Mike.
Well done !
That is some journey you are on !! .keep going !! Milk it for all its worth !

[Blindboy]

Congratulations!
Playing live is addictive isn't it? Well it gets better...
Just remember, when you start playing with live musicians, you will need to listen carefully and compensate for any mistakes (the good news is that they will do the same for you )
Looking forward to hearing more from your open mic saga...

[PopaGString]

Congrats!! We all remember our 'first time'. May the butterflies never stop.

[PopaGString]

Congrats!! We all remember our 'first time'. May the butterflies never stop.

[Blindboy]

PopaGString!!
back to the forum.
Fellers, this is the bass player and sound wizard for the TWBB.