Oh dear gawd...the humanity...
Well...
I \"played\" - and I use the term loosely - my first open mic in nearly two years, after not having even seen my guitars in over a year. I practiced a few tunes I'd (at one time) played pretty well, and had to brush up since I'd also be \"singing\" (I'm a terrible vocalist, and I've always played with singers).
Needless to say, between the rust, the nerves, and trying to both sing and play, I was so bad that it made the Clash sound like Mozart.
Really...if I'd wanted to completely humiliate myself, I coulda just asked a girl out, and got a couple hours extra sleep in the bargain. A \"performance\" like that should compel me to stop describing myself as a musician... :oops:
I \"played\" - and I use the term loosely - my first open mic in nearly two years, after not having even seen my guitars in over a year. I practiced a few tunes I'd (at one time) played pretty well, and had to brush up since I'd also be \"singing\" (I'm a terrible vocalist, and I've always played with singers).
Needless to say, between the rust, the nerves, and trying to both sing and play, I was so bad that it made the Clash sound like Mozart.
Really...if I'd wanted to completely humiliate myself, I coulda just asked a girl out, and got a couple hours extra sleep in the bargain. A \"performance\" like that should compel me to stop describing myself as a musician... :oops:
Comments
BTW..
Look at this.
http://gc.guitarcenter.com/kingoftheblues/
If you check out the News link on the lower right hand side of the page you'll see all the store winners. My name is under the Clear Lake Texas store.
I'll be playing at the districts on the 24th.
Now that's nerve wracking. I won store last year as well and had to beat out 30 guys to get to districts. At the district level I'll be going against 16 store winners.
Nerves, Smerves..
Shania is a free range split tail.... OoOo-RAH...
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_162-20007284-10391698.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hung
The important thing is that you actually went out and put yourself in that spot. I know too many guys that can impress themselves by playing and singing at home in their comfort zone. But try to do that in front of people and pull it off - well, that's just another level of respect in my book. So what if the first night out was with rusty fingers and the pipes needed tuning. Work on it at home and go out again better prepared. I'm still hoping you will hook up with some other musicians and get something fun going. Open mic nights are a great place to start and meet other people.
Hope to hear good things about your return performance. Best wishes.
I wonder if I'm too old to take up lawn bowling, or perhaps start a sewing circle?!? :oops:
Anyway. The gist is, I have this nice little 4-song set I do with me n my ac/el and my VL2, which is a nice touch, methinks. :roll:
Problem is, if you fudge a chord, it not only is a bad chord, it makes the VL2 mess up your vox as well. Not that I need any help in that direction!
Basically, it wasn't so bad...besides a few fudged chords, I did OK. Remembered all the lyrics - amazing, considering my dearth of functional brain cells - and besides the usual nerves that made me fumble a few (I just started doing this, after having my gear and git'rs in storage for nearly a year), I managed to play my songs without totally humiliating myself.
Sadly, there were no groupies present, and Geffen called in disinterested.
next time will better 8)
:shock: :shock:
But congrats on the improvement. It's good that you went back; before it sounded like you wouldn't. It's good that you did better; I'm hoping this boosts your confidence.
You obviously love music, and you obviously want to share it with others. Don't deny yourself that pleasure, regardless of what they might think.
Acoustic-electric, what kind do you have? I'm in the market.
Concerning your VL2, does it have an option where you can set the key of the song instead of just following your guitar chords? Maybe that way your voice will still have the correct key even if you play the wrong chord.
Obviously, iliace is right. Nothing beats knowing your chords and your lyrics before the open mic. But it all depends on the expected level of your local open mic. We have guys, and gals, showing up with sheet music and playing and singing off the page. That does not bother me. I grew up in band playing saxaphone in front of a music stand holding my sheet music.
I know one \"jam\" band where the lead singer has huge books of music full of cheat chords and lyrics. If someone requests a song he has not played in a long time, he just whips out one of his books, looks at the music, and sings the lyrics off the sheet. He keeps his music stand off to his side. Works for him and his band.
But truly, I'm starting to \"nail\" songs again. After a year layoff, I was having trouble with ordinary progressions and remembering songs I'd been playing for a long time. :oops:
I'm also disproportionately proud of myself for actually singing while I play...something I've never done before. It definitely affects my git'r playing at this point, but it's also something I was never able to do before. Yeah, it's like all youse guyz keep saying - just keep going, it gets better. Like Phoebe Cates sez in \"Fast Times At Ridgemont High\"...'just keep doing it'.
BTW - my ac/elec's are: 2002 Dean Exotica, back when they really built them nice. Fishman elex, tons of abalone inlay, Grover Imperial tuners, real spruce top, quilted maple sides/back. Nice git'r.
I also have a 2005 Taylor T5 Koa, which is an awfully tasty plank, though I'm having sort of a love/hate thing with it. The very dry climate played hell with it for a while, but I think it's settling in...it's been playing better lately... Tha's fo sho. That's what I do - show up early-ish, set up my VL2, and when it's my turn, plug in, play my little set, and I'm done.
But yeah, it is funny how playing in front of a bar full of people, no matter how disinterested, slays your abilities. I've learned to sort of \"ignore\" the fact that there's people watching and/or listening (I hope, anyway), and it helps me focus on what I'm playing. Um...no, the VL2 \"keys\" off of what you play on your git'r; you can't enter any key info. It's that MusicIQ thing, whatever it's called.
I really shouldn't feel too bad about not being to spot-on...for every killer player that performs and makes me look like BillyBob the porch plucker, there's a guy who doesn't even tune his git'r before going on. Sounds HORRible. By comparison, I'm Roy Orbison.
But I sort of forced myself to go, despite not being very well prepared at first...I just really wanted to \"get out there\" and push myself to get the rust off, instead of playing to my bedroom walls for a coupla months getting the feel back.
And don't kid yourself, you can practice at home all you want, but until you start playing in front of people and getting comfortable on stage, you will still have butterflies in the stomach, get nervous, and make mistakes that you would never make playing safely at home. I know some guys who can really rip it up at home, but to get them on stage is too much for them.
I like where my band is at right now. We practice a new song each on our own, come together as a band for a practice, or two, and we know if we can play the new song live or not. The trick is not being able to play it well in the music room at home, but seeing if we can pull it off live on stage. Lately, our new songs have been winners.
So I'm glad to hear that you are pushing yourself out there. Maybe someday you will meet up with some other guys, or hot chicks, and get yourself in a side band. That was never my goal, but that's where my open jam nights led to. If I can do it, I think just about anyone can. IMHO, playing with other musicians is a lot more fun than playing music by myself. You don't have as much control over a full band as you do when you play by yourself, but, in my case anyway, I get to play with some great guys and together we can make music that is better than any one of us can do by ourselves.
What songs are you playing in your mini set? Give us the scoop. Take care.
But there's some pretty fine-lookin' wimmins around here. Sadly, there's insanity in the water and I don't know one guy around here who hasn't dated one of \"them\". Sigh...
Anyway...I totally agree with you about the difference between playing to your bedroom walls and playing to life-forms. Songs I've aced for years suddenly sound heinous 'cuz I'm not playing smooth or I fumble over lyrics or whatever...I'm just not that experienced playing live. I'd rather hang out backstage and fondle hott groupies. :twisted:
But if I was in with a good group of folks and we had fun, I'd gladly be in a band. It'd be fun.
Oh. Tunes. Last night was \"Lonely Ol' Night\" by JC Mellencamp, \"Lyin' Eyes\" by Eagles, \"Independance Day\" by Martina McBride, and \"Leave The Peices\" by the Wreckers (the last two in homage to the time I spent playing with the Songbird when I lived in WY...).
I played solo, just me, my Dean, and the VL2.
Depending on the mood of the place, I'll slip in something slow n pretty like \"Wish You Were Here\" or \"Crazy\" by Seal...I'd like to learn more jammy, upbeat tunes, to get those hotties dancing and sweating and pulling at my clothes. :twisted: :twisted:
I heard someone post a track using one of those vocal effects like your VL2. They sound pretty good. Also, I know a guy who had a VL4 and he played a little bit of it when I was with him. He would kick in a 3 part harmony during the chorus and switch it off during the verse. Sounded good. That intellipitch, or whatever you call it, is a great invention.
Some of those vocal effects machines offer an option to set the key of the song, which makes sure your vocal stays in pitch. Must be an autotune type of thing. That way, if you hit a bad chord, I guess your voice would still be in key. Well, best just to play the song correctly and do the best you can with the vocals.
I need the comfort of a band to play in front of people. I'm not a good singer, so playing and singing solo in front of people would probably be too much for me. Having said that, I do sing lead on a couple ZZ Top songs for the band. They go over OK. It's the music, not the voice, in my case. But at least I'm trying. So I understand what you are going through. I am the weakest singer in my band, and when I take the lead, it's not much fun for me. Even though I've been playing, and singing backup, on stage for almost 3 years now, when I have to sing lead on my 2 songs, it's like total amateur hour for me. But, like anything, if you work at it you eventually get better.
The best thing, in your case, is if you really nail a song or two, you might just impress some young woman. Who knows, maybe the Shredd will start dating real women and forget the fantasy women????
And Lyin' Eyes is moderately upbeat...and it's a great story. Some killer harmonies, which I fake using my VL2. It does a pretty decent job, although not 100% accurate... I'm a heinous singer myself, with a voice in a register that realllly doesn't suit most popular music.
But this thing has some sort of auto-detect thing in it; you don't set a key. It creates harmonies based on the chord/s you're playing, and even changes the harmonies it makes if you change chords while holding a note you're singing. It's pretty kewl, and if it can make ME sound good, it's worth it's weight in gold. I've heard it said that chix aren't impressed by great playing, but they love singing, and anything they can dance to. (hence, drummers getting all the action... :? ). So when I use my VL2, it definitely attacts attention.
And yes, I'd be delighted if a real live woman would even pretend that she likes me...the phone bill from calling Shania three times a day really adds up and eats into my G/A/S budget.