|
|
Joined:
March 2008
Posts: 355
Location: Wichita, KS | After a lifetime of playing for no one but myself, I went to my first open mic last night. It was just a small sandwich bar with about 35 people in the audience. I was SO nervous.
I opened with an up-tempo song that my brother wrote years ago. From the start I could see the audience getting into it and I started to relax. From there I moved on to "The Weight" and got some audience participation on the chorus. I finished up with an original and left the stage feeling great.
I made a few minor goofs walking down through the chorus on "The Weight" mostly because I was catching the crowd reaction. Then my right hand began to ache so badly during the last song I had to stop momentarily and readjust my grip on my pick.
In spite of those few things, I had a great time and am already considering what to play next month. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Way to go, Dale! Glad to see you stepped up to the mic. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
January 2009
Posts: 4535
Location: Flahdaw | Nice. Keep it up. I had a great time at my 1st open mic, and am looking forward to more. I'm just too damn lazy. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
December 2006
Posts: 6996
Location: Jet City | Congrats Dale. It was just about 3 years ago that I had a similar post, now you can't get me down off thew stage.
As a matter of fact it was right after our last NW gathering. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12759
Location: Boise, Idaho | We were the guinea pigs. As someone said about introducing her husband to golf, "I think we created a monster." I admire your courage. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Way Cool, Dale! :cool: |
|
| |
|
Joined:
January 2003
Posts: 92
Location: San Francisco, CA | FUN, ain't it!?
Well done.
6 |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2008
Posts: 355
Location: Wichita, KS | Thanks, all. It was a gas being in front of an audience. Now I'm on my way to watch some Real guitar players. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | yeah it's great.
As far as the things you're uncomfortable with, as Matt Smith says, "It ain't nothing 100 gigs won't cure" |
|
| |
|
Joined:
August 2002
Posts: 8307
Location: Tennessee | Keep at it for sure. The more you do it, the more fun you'll have. And along the way you'll get better and better. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
July 2003
Posts: 3111
Location: Nashville TN. | congrat more you the easier it gets...... once in great while I still get nervs... |
|
| |
|
Joined:
January 2009
Posts: 4535
Location: Flahdaw | Originally posted by PEZ:
congrat more you the easier it gets...... once in great while I still get nervs... You got THAT right! |
|
| |
|
Joined:
August 2005
Posts: 616
Location: cincinnati, ohio | "The longest journey begins with the first step."
Congrats and way to go, Dale! Don't ever stop! Oh, BTW - the aching right hand was probably caused by the death grip you had on your pick! :D
Yes - it is fun. I went to my first open mic 40 years ago with my first band (which, believe it or not, is STILL together with the same lineup). February of 1972. There were three of us - Laura, Jody, and me. We all played guitar and we all sang, and Laura played piano, too. We played a couple of originals, some America, some CSN&Y, and Buffalo Springfield. We played half an hour and got two encores. The crowd loved us; more importantly, the manager loved us and asked us to come down and play the feature set that Sunday night (I have pics of that! :D ). We brought down the house, and we never looked back. A monster was created! ;)
Forty years and thousands of gigs later, I still play about 8 to 10 times a month, some as a solo, and some with a band. I still have the Ovation I played that night, and still take it out to gigs on occasion. I can't imagine NOT playing music; I'll be out there with a walker or a wheelchair if I have to be. As long as I can still sing and play, why shouldn't I?
If something ever happened that I couldn't play or sing, I'd tell them to just throw dirt over me... |
|
| |
|
Joined:
September 2004
Posts: 1180
Location: Vermont USA | It is always a good time. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
April 2004
Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Rick,
You got any old recordings from back in the day........
I would love to hear some of it. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
April 2010
Posts: 1227
Location: Connersville, Indiana | What a rush it is, way to go Dale, I would almost bet after you went home you were still a little wired. I know I was, and just like everyone said, The more you do, even if it's just two songs, the more comfortable you become. :) :) :) :) |
|
| |
|
Joined:
August 2005
Posts: 616
Location: cincinnati, ohio | Originally posted by stephent28:
Rick,
You got any old recordings from back in the day........
I would love to hear some of it. Actually, I do, Stephen - but it's like a prehistoric fly trapped in amber. LOL! The problem is that they're all trapped on reel-to-reel tape. I have several live gigs (all circa 1972) which are a mixture of mostly covers and a few original tunes, and then a couple of studio sessions that are all original tunes, circa 1972 and 1973.
I have an old Akai reel-to-reel machine, but the speed is slightly off. The tapes sound a little "chipmunk-y;" they're just a hair fast, but it's very annoying. I thought there was a variable speed pot on there somewhere that you could fine-tune the speed with, but the only thing resembling a potentiometer on there turns it to high or low speed - nothing in between. I have to see if I can rent a good reel to reel machine and get these on my hard drive before those old tapes decay to lead! :D We'll have the band's 40th anniversary coming up next year, so that sounds like a good excuse to get that stuff onto disc.
I have some performances from 1983 that were transferred from cassette tape to disc, and everything from the '90's on is on disc of course. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
January 2009
Posts: 4535
Location: Flahdaw | Rick, you gotta do that or you'll always regret it if something happens to those tapes. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
August 2005
Posts: 616
Location: cincinnati, ohio | Originally posted by dark bar:
Rick, you gotta do that or you'll always regret it if something happens to those tapes. I know, Bob. I checked a couple of duplicating services this morning; they can do it, but the prices they were charging made me consider putting my thumb on a reel to slow it down a little! :D I may try to get hold of Akai and see if there's an old geezer hanging around who remembers those machines and knows where/if there's a variable speed pot on the machine. I may also check into renting a variable speed machine (assuming I can find one).
Worst case, I'll bite the bullet and get them duplicated... |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2008
Posts: 355
Location: Wichita, KS | Thanks again to everyone for all the encouragement.
rick endres wrote:
Oh, BTW - the aching right hand was probably caused by the death grip you had on your pick! Yeah, Rick. A combination of that "death grip" and arthritis that has been creeping up on me. I had meant to pop some ibuprofen before playing, but forgot. This getting old thing is hell. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
August 2005
Posts: 616
Location: cincinnati, ohio | Indeed; I can empathize. My left pinky finger takes a dog leg to the right thanks to arthritis - but, oddly enough, it helps with Fmaj7 and C-shaped chords! :D |
|
| |
|
Joined:
April 2004
Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Rick, also check locally and see if there is not a repair shop that can fix it.
I have an old Pioneer 4 track RT909 that I got "tuned up" a few years back. Best 80 bucks I have spent in a long time. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
August 2005
Posts: 616
Location: cincinnati, ohio | I've been checking into that as well, Stephen. One way or another, I intend to get these things transferred. I'll tell you what - those old reel to reels made some dandy sounding recordings. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
December 2008
Posts: 1454
Location: Texas | Rick, If your old reel-to-reel is playing at a constant (albeit fast) rate, you could just try digitizing the tapes as they are, and then adjust the speed of the digital versions. That might be simpler (and cheaper) than trying to fix/adjust/buy old reel-to-reel equipment? |
|
| |
|
Joined:
August 2005
Posts: 616
Location: cincinnati, ohio | Hmmm...never thought of that. Not as sharp as I used to be, I guess. Maybe run the digitized music through GoldWave or Audacity or some other program. I don't know if they have speed adjustments, though. I'll have to check. Good idea, standing. |
|
| |
My first open mic
