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December 2006
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Location: Jet City | Well the OFC was represented. Woody's Custom 12 was featured, Mike's Thunderbolt Snake, and though Beal's "Book" Elite was there, it stayed in the case. I thought better to do that as the venue was a bit small. Most of all, the sound was thanks to Mr. Ovation himself. Thanks Miles.
I almost wish nobody did record stuff from the show. It's hard to watch yourself for sure. I've pasted some clips on the OFCning.
After watching myself over and over now, I've come to some conclusions. Some are good, some are bad, but all are a great lesson that will help on the next one....
1. Don't get caught up in people paying attention to you. I found my mind wandering when I noticed folks were socializing and not really paying attention. I need to stay focused and just "get into" what I'm doing and not what they're doing. Lack of focus was the major factor in most the errors.
2. Don't learn a song the day before and try it on your first gig... EVER! especially without cheat sheets. For this reason, I will not be posting the new song I was excited about playing. From not setting the looper, to forgetting lyrics, it wasn't as bad as it could have ended up, but still.
3. After finally hearing myself live, I've decided I can stop stressing on if I can sing or not. It's not a perfect vocal, but it's better than lots I hear up in local clubs
4. Not having a stage or any sort of buffer between yourself and the bar folks sucks. They just come right up and talk to you mid-song.
5. Even if you think something's gone horribly wrong with the sound, keep going. I swore that I lost signal on Dancing Nancies, and stopped for a split second to check for sound. Looking at the video after, it sounds like the sound was always there, it was just in my head
So, here's some of the video. There was zero stage or lighting, so I had to pull some CSI tricks to lighten it up some. The video quality lacks, but the sound came out fine. Miles' stuff sounded great.
Too bad I had the afore mentioned hesitation. This came out well with the Boss RC20XL looper: Dancing Nancies
I did Typical Situation , I Am A Child , and Grace Is Gone on the Custom Elite 12 string. The sound on that thing is AWESOME!
The "Snake was whipped out at the end of the night when things were really over. There were only a few folks left. I was actually just letting a friend come up and play one song before I broke it all down, but while I was waiting, I goofed off some with some short cuts including a Randy Rhoads piece Dee and then started noodlin' around some with some Rock/Blues licks
The 1537 was in a double dropped D tuning. A couple of the songs done were Ohion and one I don't think I've videoed before, my own version of Down By The River
The main guitar in standard tuning for the eve was the 1778LX Elite. A couple of favorites played with it were |
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Not having a stage or any sort of buffer between yourself and the bar folks sucks. They just come right up and talk to you mid-song.
Yup, they'll do that. I can give you lots of tips about how to handle this. The best one: Get used to it. |
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January 2007
Posts: 672
Location: New South Wales, Australia | Nice work Damon. I just watched I am a Child (one of my favourites) and the 12 string sounded so nice, even above the constant chatter.
I think your five points are spot on. The few gigs I've done I've found that once I start playing I almost forget that there's anybody watching. I'm just playing guitar and caught up in it. I dunno if that's a good thing or a bad thing but I've had positive feedback as to how much fun we're having so maybe that makes it fun for everybody else too.
Our band has played a couple of songs that we'd never even rehearsed before but that's usually near the end of the evening when nobody cares anyway but like you say in point no. 2 it's not a good thing to do, particularly as a solo artist...there's just nowhere to hide :D
Point number 5 is one of the most important, I think. I say to our band before we go on that, no matter what happens, we keep going, mistakes and all, and for the most part it's worked. Although at our last gig our bass player stopped midway through Rockin' Me (Steve Miller) and apologised to the audience by saying.."sorry, my bass has gone out of tune, we're gonna start that again.." He was just playing the wrong notes and I kept going hoping that he'd catch up with me. Later on I realised that nobody had really noticed until he brought it to their attention. So I totally agree.....keep going.
I'll catch up with the rest of your clips through the day..my computer is really slow even with a broadband connection...it must be just full of crap.
And Damon...don't worry about your voice mate....it sounded fine and I'd be happy to be there with a cool drink in my hand, sitting back and listening.
Congrats :cool: |
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September 2008
Posts: 757
Location: Melbourne Australia | G'day Damon, I have a preference for listing to live musicians and really enjoyed the songs.
A couple of my all time favourites in there and liked the way you owned them.
Good stuff and look forward to hearing more :) |
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October 2007
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Location: Vernon CT | Damon,
AWSOME JOB!!! Great renditions of some great songs. |
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December 2006
Posts: 6994
Location: Jet City | Thanks for the kind words guys.
It looks like I double posted this topic, and this one got cut off. The end should have went like:
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August 2005
Posts: 3736
Location: Sunshine State, Australia | Damon, I've just logged in. I haven't seen the clips yet, but wanted to comment on one of your points.
Your voice has improved a LOT since your first video post. You've got a good voice. It's easy to listen to and has character. The more you use it, the better it will get and the less little mistakes you'll make - then you'll be a GREAT singer.
This is from someone who's NOT a singer, but someone who knows what he likes.
I'll watch the clips after I've had breakfast. |
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September 2006
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Very Nice, Damon!
I was thinking about your first point while watching the clips. I guess the right thing to do is just play the song and enjoy yourself. If they are paying attention they will enjoy it too.
At the places that I've been to support my friends there have often been two groups...
The people by the stage listening to the band, and the people by the bar worshiping Spuds McKenzie.
(But you had no stage, and I have no idea how big/small the place is...)
But I am listening to you while typing this, and you sound Good to me. Keep at it. |
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Observations and Critiques: My first gig
