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Joined:
October 2007
Posts: 2711
Location: Vernon CT | 3 weeks ago I went to see one of the "O" family,PEZ play at an Open Mike in Manchester, Ct. Things went well except for a defective instrument cable provided by the Venue. I decide that I could/wanted to try it so I talked to my friends Chris and Jill (vocals) and decided to play last night. Jill had NEVER preformed in public and was a little nervous. We got up on stage and I immediately knew I was in for it as We were having troubles with the sound on my 2077LX Legend. We got it fixed and started into our 4 song set with an easy one "Reason to Believe" so Jill would feel comfortable. 2 line into the song I couldn't hear myself or anything come out of the Monitor. I suddenly realized I forgot where I was and PANICKED big time. Luckly, Chris picked up on it stopped playing fill /lead and played the rythym part. I stood there in horror. The song ended, they fixed the problem and fortunately I was able to regroup, get my composure back and the last 3 songs went well. Jill was awsome for the first time!!!!
Any advise on how to handle something like that or any other Horror stories?? |
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Joined:
September 2004
Posts: 777
Location: East Wenatchee, WA | I am not sure if I am much help. I have been playing live for over 30 years beginning with sax, trombone, solo's in High School and now leading worship.
Interestingly, I still cannot get through a song without a lead sheet. Even well rehearsed, and not looking at the sheet, it still has to be there.
Mostly, I think the issue is we get so distracted by trying to do well, we forget about the performance part of doing well (sounds weird, I know).
It comes down to the old performance techinique of learning to play as though there is no audience, until you get to the place where the audience enhances your playing. The more you do it, the easier it becomes.
Additionally, when you mess up, just remember, that not very many in the crowd will even know it, so regroup and keep going. Losing monitors is potentially one of the worse things to happen. It doesn't bother me as I have trained myself to just play and sing consistently, but my wife on keyboards has a meltdown when she has bad or lost monitors. So now....we bought a Bose L1 that we will either use for our own sound, or as a monitor. |
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Joined:
May 2005
Posts: 486
Location: North Carolina | You describe two problems: Equipment failure and format error.
With equipment failure it depends upon what fails. We once had our mixer unplugged. Not much you can do, stop the song and move on when you're powered up. If your fx unit fails, maybe you can limp along without it. In any case, the world does not end.
When you forget where you are, that's a format error. Most songs are comprised of several elements, four is usually the max; eg, verse, chorus, bridge, etc. Go to the likely element you think will follow. If you're alone, it's easy. If you're in a group, try to communicate the change; there may be some overlap. If someone is reading the piece on stage and STILL makes a format error, beat them over the head with the damn music stand. |
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Joined:
May 2003
Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | Can't hear yourself ... run over to where the singer is.
If you forget where you are, just hum, make up something, keep in time, even if it means just scratching the guitar strings, and wait to see where you are, then come back in. |
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January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | punt |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | Bill! . . . don't call him a punt just because he . . .
. . . oh, . . never mind, . . . (sorry). |
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April 2004
Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | :D
We've all been there....... |
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Joined:
November 2005
Posts: 1126
Location: Omaha, NE | If you are running solo and you completely lose your place, just stop, pause for a moment. Let the tension build. Then smile and say "Fooled you, didn't I!" and jump into the chorus and get out of the song.
If you are in an ensemble, just stand there and fake it until you can jump back in.
No matter what happens with gear or sound or anything, just keep going. |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | Keep the poker face. I saw a video of me, where I obviously screwed something up and winced terribly. I must have been the only one that noticed and you couldn't hear anything on the audio, but my face looked like disaster had struck.
(I have no business giving advice on this topic, since I could count my performances on one hand, but this sounded more optimistic than just telling you to stop performing, which is what I've done.) |
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Joined:
March 2008
Posts: 2683
Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | I played my banjo last Friday at open mike, with a friend on mandolin. We're both still in the early learning stage, but we had worked up a few songs and decided to go for it. We both made a few mistakes, but not at the same time, so we kept going. Later someone came up to us and said, "Wow! For a couple of beginners, you guys were great! Never missed a note!" We had so much fun, we got up and joined another friend later on. He was playing guitar and singing, so we just jumped up there and picked along. The crowd loved it. My stage-fright didn't kick in at all, because I wasn't alone up there. (I may have to go join a banjo forum pretty soon.) |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Oh Please! Don't do that!!!! It can't be that bad!!!!!!! |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | I agree with the KEEP GOING attitude.
I usually forget words so I'll play a bit and say "This is where I rehearsed forgetting the words. I got it down pretty good, didn't I?" or some comment like that and pick it up again somewhere close to the screw up. |
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Joined:
October 2007
Posts: 2711
Location: Vernon CT | Originally posted by cliff:
Bill! . . . don't call him a punt just because he . . .
. . . oh, . . never mind, . . . (sorry). Thanks Cliff :p :D |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | I had a suspicion that he might do that. |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | So now it's off to the Frickin Mermaid do demonstrate my skills at selective line blanking. The topic tonight is Wound Up although it's the first week of a bunch of new subjects, Aug Sept and Oct, and as usual, I wrote a tune that has them all in it. I'll let ya'll know tomorrow how it goes.
Class Reunion by Bill Kaman July 08
I’m recycling memories, for the 100th time
Riding down A1A, as if the devil’s by my side
All wound up with anxiety,
I hit the road alone
A Gospel song plays on the radio
Singing “Roll Away The Stone”
Twenty-five years since I’ve been here
Seems like I’ve never gone
I can see up on the right, the entrance to the school
I recall the forbidden things, I always used to do
Getting a chain tattoo
That would show all the time
Sunday morning sneaking into church
When I drank up all the wine
Never thought that I’d get caught
Of course I never thought that much at all
Class reunions really are so strange
People looking to see how you’ve changed
You know I was voted, least likely to succeed
Now the stare at me, eyes full of envy and greed
It’s not how you start out, it’s where you are today
Funny how the ugly duck, often wins the race
So I’m recycling memories, for the 200th time
Driving home on A1A, Jimmy Buffet on my mind
Still wound up by this insanity
But it feels good to be alone
A Gospel song plays on the radio
“God Bless The Child That’s Got His Own”
Twenty-five years since I’ve been here
Feels like a life time ago
Twenty-five years since I’ve been here
It was a life time ago |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | the rules of open mic
never expect to hear yourself
never expect the monitors to work
never expect your guitar to sound the way it should.
over and over and over open mics are a crap shoot at best. It is an exercise in strength. trial by fire if you will, get up there belt it out do your best get the hell off stage go back the following week and do it again hopefully better. |
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Joined:
October 2007
Posts: 2711
Location: Vernon CT | I'm Learning!! Thanks all for the Advice. |
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Joined:
March 2008
Posts: 2683
Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | Nice, Bill. I love the line about the ugly duck. (We used to tease Mom about being an ugly duckling until she married my Dad and turned into a beautiful Swan.) I think being forced to write new songs all the time must really bring out one's creativity. I know that in the songwriting workshops I attended, they said to sit there through any writer's block that may arise, and don't get up until you FINISH that song. (Advice easily given, but not so easily followed.) But you've got me inspired now. Think I'll try to write a new one tonight. Thanks. |
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Joined:
November 2004
Posts: 4413
| The ONLY way to avoid that kind of stuff happening is to never get off your butt and just stay in the audience. There is NO other way to avoid it.
But experience and being a superstar helps. there's a great al di meola dvd of him in solo concert and when he sits down to start playing (sunburst custom legend adm) there's an electrical hum coming from somewhere backstage. It really annoys him, he sits talking to the audience and it gets to be pretty clear that without making a fuss what he's actually saying is fix the noise or I ain't gonna play. They fix it. The rest of us wouldn't have the nerve to just sit and wait, and if we did they probably wouldn't fix it anyway. |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Well I probably got nothing, except the fun of doing something, which is why we do it anyway. We left after all the players went, some were pretty good and I wasn't one of them. There's always next week...... |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | KeepAtIt.
Each subsequent one gets easier & easier . . . |
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Joined:
September 2003
Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | And sometimes it's one step back before it's two steps forward.
Al's list of absolute truths is right on.
Especially the one about never expect to hear yourself. |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15682
Location: SoCal | Originally posted by cliff:
KeepAtIt.
Each subsequent one gets easier & easier . . . The best advice. What happened is nothing that experience can't fix.
One thing that experience will teach you is that you will very very rarely play something perfectly. Mistakes are a part of live performance and are a part of what make it fun. Don't worry about them. Known the material well enough to not let the mistakes get in the way.
I've got a Steve Goodman live album and at times he's just riffing over a tune telling the audience that he's trying to remember the words. In one song with a big ending, at one point, he hollars out "where are the chords". That's confidence and it comes with experience.
KeepAtIt. The first performance can be the worst and scare you from doing it again. Or it can be the worst and you know that it can just get better from there.
KeepAtIt. |
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Joined:
April 2004
Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Nice words Bill. Wish I could hear the tune that goes with it.
Oh well like you said, you're covered for the upcoming weeks! |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | In drop D
D,A, G
D, A, G (5x0033)
Bm, A
G(5x0430), D
D, ?dim(XX2320)
Bm7, Bm7/A, G(5x0430)
D, A, G, D
br C, D
C, D
G, D
A, Bm
G, D,
A, Bm, |
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Joined:
July 2003
Posts: 3111
Location: Nashville TN. | Just keep doing it.
You will be fine.
It will get easier over time.
First times are always rough.
I brain farted on "Johnson county sharriff pained on the side in my first. |
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Open Mike woes!