1. Your individual playing

The most important thing you can do (individually) to prepare for your gigs is to focus on playing your songs ‘consistently well’. To improve this, practice your songs in a wider variety of environments and situations. Play your songs standing, walking, in the dark, under a strobe light (if you have one), while talking, without looking at your guitar, while friends are listening, etc. The key point is to practice playing consistently well in all those different scenarios. This will help your individual performances on the stage.

2. Your band’s performance

When your band rehearses you should not be focused on playing the songs correctly. If your band mates cannot play the songs flawlessly before the band rehearses, send him/her home to learn the songs. Once he/she has truly done that, bring that person back to band rehearsals. Band practice is not about holding people’s hand through the process of learning the songs which should have been learned at home. If you have a band mate who needs your help learning the songs, you can do this by meeting alone with that person to help. However, if this is a consistent problem, then you may need to replace that band member for someone who is better (or less lazy if that is the case).

Band rehearsals should be about the band playing the songs tight rhythmically, matching dynamic levels in various parts of the songs and developing great stage presence (more on this later).

Because it can be very difficult to really know how good your band is in any of these areas as you are practicing, I strongly suggest you record your band rehearsals in two ways:

• Video record your rehearsals. When you watch the video, turn the volume off and simply pay attention to how the band looks visually. This will help you to really focus on the stage presence and visual impact your band may (or may not) have on your next audience.
• Audio record your rehearsals. Do this with computer based recording software and make sure each instrument is recorded onto its own track (multi track record). Do not listen to the audio from the video recording! The first thing to do is look at the recording on the computer screen. You want to notice patterns of rhythmic flaws. Is your bass player always playing slightly before the beat? Is your guitar player playing slightly behind (late) the beat? For many people it is much easier to ’see it on the screen’ than it is to hear it. Once you see it, then you will be able to hear it afterwards much more easily. Doing this exercise will really help your band to play much tighter rhythmically (which is absolutely critical for any band). Also listen to how the dynamic levels of the band are changing? Does everyone get louder and softer at the same time? Or is everyone doing their own thing randomly? It almost always sounds best when the band does this together.

3. Your stage presence

When you play live, your music is only 50% of what most people in your audience care about. The other 50% is what they see. Remember, they came to ’see and hear’ your gig. Great ’sounding’ bands often lack bigger success because their live shows suffer from lame stage presence. If you want more people to consistently come out to your gigs, you must develop great stage presence.

As mentioned above band rehearsals aren’t about ‘learning to play the songs’. Schedule at least 50% of your band’s rehearsal time to analyze your stage presence skills (watch the video as described above and take notes on what you notice), then begin to implement improvements to this part of your live playing. You can make a lot of improvement on your own simply by some self analysis. If you want more help, check out my free stage presence tips.

4. Eliminate (or at least reduce) stage fright

If you have cool music, a cool band and have prepared well to give your audience an awesome show, that can all be quickly destroyed if stage fright gets in your way. Many musicians simply don’t perform well on stage due to anxiety. Don’t let this happen to you and your band. You have worked too hard to let fear cripple you. Your audience deserves better, and more importantly, you deserve better! You are on stage to have fun, not to be nervous every moment of the gig. To eliminate (or at least to significantly reduce) performance anxiety, check out this stage fright article.

5. Performance logistics

In addition to stage fright, there are other things that may happen during your gig that can hurt it. The main two issues are not being able to hear and not being able to see. If you’ve already played gigs, then you know that every gig sounds different on the stage. One night you can’t hear the bass, the next night you can’t hear yourself, etc. When you are the opening band, you typically don’t get a sound check before you play, so you have no idea what you will be able to hear (or not hear) on stage until you start playing the first song. While there are many different ways to deal with this problem, I’m going to focus only on one of them here. One of the best ways to prepare for not being able to hear all the instruments is to practice your songs with you and only ONE other instrument. So for example, practice playing only with the bass player. Next, practice the song only with the drummer. This will prepare you for live situations when you can only hear the bass or only hear the drums etc.

The next common logistical problem is not being able to see. Often live stages are dark in some moments and then extremely bright in other moments, making it very hard to see your instrument. My eyes are very sensitive to light, so I always play with dark sunglasses on (since the bright lights often blind me on stage without them). For dark situations you can add white out (or even glow in the dark markers) on the side of your fingerboard, so even in very low light you can clearly see your fingerboard. Of course practice playing the entire song without ever looking at your guitar is also a great way to prepare for unexpected lighting problems on the stage.

To get more help developing your music career check out my fifteen free music career tips.

About the author: Tom Hess is a professional guitarist and mentors musicians to start a career in music.

©Tom Hess Music Corporation.
All Rights reserved.

Here are three ways that any musician can practice performing and thereby become masterful on stage. All of these concepts are expanded on in my new book, The Musician’s Way.

1. Assemble a performance-development group

The skills required to perform soulfully in public have to be practiced. All of us, therefore, need opportunities to try out our material, learn how to manage our nerves, and hone our stage presence. I’ve found that the ideal setting for doing so is in a performance-development group.

To form such a group, you need two or more soloists or bands of comparable ability and a defined space such as a living room, rec room, or church meeting hall. Next, each musician must embrace a mutually supportive attitude because your group should provide a nonjudgmental setting where you can experiment freely as a performer and grow from your experiences.

For instance, what if a rising guitarist wants to build his confidence on stage, test his memory, and explore ways to counter jitters? How does he do so without risking his reputation in a public setting? A performance-development group supplies him with what he needs: he can play fearlessly in front of his fellow musicians, and they’ll cheer him on in his quest for excellence.

To make your practice performances optimally concert-like, enlist concert protocol: enter to applause, perform complete compositions, and have listeners applaud afterward. In addition, use a recorder so that you can review your work later (information about personal recorders is posted on my blog).

I also recommend that participants comment on each other’s performances, but within strict boundaries:

• Keep your comments brief.
• Use courteous “I” statements.
• Offer at least three positive remarks for every criticism.

Here’s an example of how one guitarist might comment on another’s performance:
“I really liked your choice of material and your stage presence. I also thought that your timing and memory were right on. Toward the beginning, though, I wondered how it would have sounded if you had stayed with a quieter volume for a while longer.”

2. Schedule private run-throughs

In a private run-through, you perform without an audience, other than your recorder and maybe the cat.

Commit to doing run-throughs at set times, and implement your standard pre-concert routines – arrange your meals and other preparations exactly as you would for a public event because pre-concert routines need practice, too.

When you perform a run-through, visualize an audience, and play your heart out. At the same time, rehearse specific skills: if you tend to stiffen on stage, for instance, practice releasing tension and transmitting warmth; to polish your stage presence, employ a video recorder and try out various gestures.

The benefit you derive from any practice performance will hinge on how honestly you evaluate your playing and the ways in which you practice in response. During your self-assessments, be objective and detached: treat glitches as helpful information and never as personal shortcomings.

For example, after you run a solo piece, you might go over your recording, jot down notes, and rehearse improvements. A few days later, following additional targeted practice and another run-through, you might opt to perform the music for your performance-development group.

3. Line up low-stress public shows

The above sorts of practice performances are invaluable, but public shows are going to be more intense, and we want them to be, but in positive ways.

Low-stress public shows give us the chance to present our music in actual performance situations, but where the stakes are low. So, although we take such performances seriously, we give ourselves permission to have fun on stage and not worry. As a result, we increase our confidence and artistic prowess. We’re then primed to excel at high-stakes concerts.

Representative sites for such performances include coffee shops and house parties as well as church or synagogue meeting halls, where we might invite congregants to hear us and donate to a charity. Such performances enable us to build an audience, serve our communities, and lift our playing and self-assurance to new heights.

When we integrate these three types of practice performances into our creative process, we can erase any disconnection between the practice studio and the stage. Of course, it takes time and effort for us to refine our craft, but let’s remember that performance, at its heart, is an act of beauty and generosity. In the words of singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg, “I always try to give my songs as gifts.”

© 2009 Gerald Klickstein
All rights reserved

Gerald Klickstein is Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and an active guitarist, author, and arts advocate. His book, The Musician’s Way was published this fall by Oxford University Press and is available at booksellers and in libraries worldwide.

My stowage solution involved a small battered case, into which I tossed picks, straps, cords, stomp boxes, and maybe an extra pack of smokes. If I needed “extra space,” there was also the small compartment inside my guitar case into which I tossed picks, straps, cords, stomp boxes, and maybe an extra pack of smokes. Ditto the glove compartment in my rusty Olds. I had no organizational system and I spent more time looking for something I just knew that I had, but couldn’t find. If I did find it, it was usually battered or tangled, or both.

I took a ten or twelve year sabbatical from playing, during which I got rid of every instrument, every piece of equipment, every pick. I didn’t have much to start with, so unloading didn’t take very long.

Then one Christmas, my wife bought me a beautiful Yamaha twelve-string acoustic. That started the current trend and before long I had a cheap Strat knock-off and a very small amp. More time went by and I became more and more involved in my rediscovered passion. And as I acquired more and bigger gear, I found myself falling into some of my bad old habits again. Fortunately, the internet was a way of life by then and it was simple to find resources to help with all the many facets of being a musician.

One very helpful and informative article I found here: Tips to Live and Learn By: On and Off the Gig. It lists many of the “can’t-do-withouts” that today’s musician should tote around with them.

But I still needed my own system; a way to help with the guesswork that confuses me at almost every gig. It’s one thing to have the gear, but if you can’t find it or it’s broken from abusive traveling habits, it doesn’t help. I’ll start with everyday space for my instruments:

L-R: Yamaha 12-string, Fender A-style mandolin, Schecter Elite, Danelectro '59.

Obviously, this isn’t a gig. But the stand I use at gigs won’t work in the limited space I have in my man-cave. There are a lot of expensive solutions out there, but simply anchoring a 2×4 into the wall and then screwing rubber-coated U-hooks into the 2×4 works perfectly for my needs. This keeps the instruments off the basement floor and the 2×4 creates enough of an offset to keep the instruments from banging on the wall. And since my music room also doubles as a tool room, no one has to trip over my babies when getting a hammer!

The Danny I use for open tunings. I had the local guitar wizard set it up especially for that. Problem solved for the old second guitar issues!

Now, on to the traveling purposes! Below I have my current method:

At the top right, there is a tote box purchased from the local home improvement center. It has a bright yellow snap-lock lid which makes it easy to find in a dark nightclub. The yellow-black contrast works very well; so much so that transportation officials adopted that scheme for many road signs. I decided to adopt that as well, so I use yellow friction tape to ID my cords. It makes them easy to see, and no one can walk off with the wrong cord.

Into the tote goes a fishing tackle box for small parts (I’ll elaborate on that later), foot switches and stomp boxes, 8-ft plastic tube for the Talkbox, microphones, several 20-ft cords, a power strip, a 3-ring binder, a very thirsty towel, a small stand for the mandolin, and the small red lunchbox contains my wireless components. I tried to use mainly red velcro to bind up the wires (yellow was not available). Again, red is easy to see in the dark and Velcro can be used over and over. Zip ties needed replacing after every gig. Plus, the Velcro can be used to organize cabling before a gig.

Now this helps a lot for most of the stuff to carry around. But there are a lot of small parts as well. I wondered about this before stumbling on the solution while looking for scout supplies for my son. A fishing tackle box works great for the small stuff:

It’s amazing how much I have been able to put in here. Tuner, extra strings, picks, capos, slides, patch cords, a small flashlight, mike adapters, pre-amp, a small tool kit, wire cutters, Blitz Cloths, plus some off-the-wall stuff I learned from watching other musicians. I have a few wooden clothespins for securing lyrics to the stand on a windy day, a few Sharpies, business cards, a box cutter, an old toothbrush for cleaning, emery board, and even a Swiss Army Knife! Close it up and it fits snugly into my tote.

The 3-ring binder has become a nice little addition:

It’s a plain white affair with pockets inside the covers. I got several of those transparent inserts since they last longer than punching a hole in the paper. The first page is my main cheat sheet. The numbered list at the top documents the effects positions on my amp. The printing on the amp’s control panel is small and my middle-aged eyesight sucks! Right below that, I have my preferred dial position of all the controls. The knobs all get moved around during transit, and who can remember where they were when they left the house? The numbers are the “o’clock” position of the control knobs since there are no calibration numbers on my amp. Below that, I have the PA channels my mikes go into. And finally, the slider settings on my acoustic pre-amp.

The rest of the inserts are used for song cheat sheets. Darkness again can be your enemy at gigs. So I found a nice solution at the lighting department of the same home improvement store:

This one has a mounting base which screws right into my music stand. I use rechargeable AAA batteries for the six LEDs. The light cost around thirteen dollars. I use rechargeables for the light and for my wireless unit. I keep them in the charger between gigs.

Finally, having the stands that work for you is a biggie:

I spent the extra cash and got the orchestra music stand. It won’t tip over as easy as the collapsible ones and pivots to just about any angle you’d want. Same with the boom-style mike stand with the tripod base. The three-bay guitar stand is a little small for what I need, but it does the job. Plus it’s stable and has a small footprint. I saved my small gig stand for the mandolin. The amp stand is my latest acquisition. I never though about having one until someone let me use theirs recently. It’s great because it raises your small but powerful amp off the floor for better projection. It also tilts it back slightly which makes it a lot easier to hear what you are playing!

Watching over all this is Sydney, my road manager. For some reason, whenever I practice he comes in and gives me his opinion of my musicianship. Right after I took this picture, his brother (and my A&R man) Simon jumped over and bit him in the neck. Hilarity ensued.

Time to pack up and get going:

This will all fit snugly in the bed of my Ranger pickup. I have a retracting cover which locks shut in case the weather is bad. During the winter months, I keep my instruments in the passenger compartment with me. My thinking is if I keep them as warm as I am, then I won’t lose so much time warming them up before a gig.

In the end, I guess being a working musician is like working in a M.A.S.H. unit. You have to be mobile and still be functional. And since most of us have to move our own stuff around, we may as well keep things easy and organized so we can concentrate on playing

• What’s the best way to find other musicians?
• What are some good sound check songs?
• How do I make live vocals sound clear?
• How do I clear up sound troubles on stage?
• What are my sound needs for an outdoor gig?
• Should the sound guy get paid?
• Can I use a laptop for live recording?

What’s the best way to find other musicians?

Have you tried to post on college boards? There may be some amateur musicians in school that would be willing to jam. I know that’s how I played in college (some years ago!). The other good resource is a music school that teaches guitar lessons, drum lessons, etc. Students are usually encouraged to play in some kind of ensemble, so jams can be arranged with them through teachers. I’ve found that to be a great resource for me.

I understand about being wary of unsavory types; always a concern. I’ve usually found most musicians to be pretty mellow, but I agree, you should be careful. Staying with schools to post (as opposed to music or cd stores) is one filter for stalker types.

Have you tried posting on the Guitar Noise Gigs and Jams Forum? You may get some responses there.

This answer can be edited and improved by you on the Guitar Noise Wiki. Go to Finding other musicians and select edit to make improvements.

What are some good sound check songs?

The sound check should be done with a song that’s very flexible and easy to play. It should start off easy with just the rhythm guitar, bass, and simple drums. Then add in the second guitar, and then sing a simple verse and chorus, then let the lead guitar wail for a brief solo, followed by a power instrumental chorus (everyone plays their loudest, the drummer goes wild), then end with a strong vocal chorus with full harmonies. It’s good to use a cover song. I’ll often use Feelin’ Alright because it has all the parts, and it’s not too fast. Don’t use a song like “Sympathy for the Devil” because it’s too dependent on the lyrics, and there’s not a lot of dynamics.

You should pick a song that your band is willing to play early – almost a “throw away” song, but don’t blow it off. The audience is listening, and a bad sound check will haunt you for the rest of the night. And if you find a problem during the sound check, stop and fix it!

For more ideas check out Scott Hysell’s lesson Sound Check in the Sound Engineering section.

This answer can be edited and improved by you on the Guitar Noise Wiki. Go to sound check and select edit to make improvements.

How do I make live vocals sound clear?

I am having trouble getting vocals to come out clear to my audience. I believe I have them up loud enough they just sound muddy and are not easy to understand. My band consists of a drummer, a bass player, two guitar players, and four vocalists. I am not getting any distortion in the speakers. Is this an equalization problem?
EQ is the prime cause of Muddy Vocals. You should try setting up with just a rhythm guitar and the 4 singers and sing some Crosby Stills and Nash type harmonies. Play around with increasing the EQ between 800 and 6KHz. Do this with the tone controls on the mixer set flat, only adjust your equalizer. Try doing too much so it sounds harsh or tinny, then back it down until it sounds better. It’s OK to leave it a little bright, so long as it doesn’t distort. You can then adjust each individual voice on the mixer.

Be sure to check that your speakers are working correctly. There may be an attenuator on the horn/tweeter, or it may be blown out. You should be sure that you can hear some hiss from it.

Last, make sure you don’t have on too much reverb. A little is good, but a lot can mess it up. If you are using a digital reverb, try making the time and depth longer, more of an echo than a chorus.

For even more help on this topic check out The Soundman.

How do I clear up sound troubles on stage?

I think the biggest problem is that your stage volume is way too high. It’s not good if you can’t hear your own sax! But if you turn down the amps, then you’ll need to feed more of the amps through the mixer for the mains. The keyboards and the bass can go direct using 1/4″ cables, but the guitars will need to be miked. Once this is done, then you can face all of the amps in toward yourselves so you can hear each other even at lower levels.

With this setup, then you should be able to get by with a simple monitor mix for the vocals. I might suggest using side-fills instead of putting the monitors on the floor. You could put a third one behind the drummer so he can hear too. Remember that the sax and guitar leads should be treated as vocals and fed into the monitors when needed.

You’ll need a mixer with at least 12 channels, but your existing PA amps and speakers should be enough – you’re not getting louder! The only possible issue here is that you may be putting more of the bass guitar through the PA, so you may need an extra sub woofer and amp, but maybe not.

The last issue is to make sure you have an EQ for the monitor mix. This will help prevent feedback, and make the sound much clearer.

This answer can be edited and improved by you on the Guitar Noise Wiki. Go to sound difficulties and select edit to make improvements.

What are my sound needs for an outdoor gig?

Here are a couple of quick questions, and some ideas to start.

First, is the stage protected and secure? Are your going to have to tear it down every night? Either way, be sure that you get a rack with locks for your mixer and effects. Also get a DJ style CD player for the rack. I’d get a Mackie CFX (12 or 16) if I was spending other people’s money. The biggest problem with outdoors is that the bass disappears into the sky. You should consider sub-woofers and put them as low as you can. For the PA, I’d get 3 pairs of full-range speakers, one pair points in toward the dance area, the next pair points out further down the beach, and the last pair point back at the band, as their monitors. (As described in my sound engineering articles)

Fender and JBL make some nice all-weather cabinets. You’re going to need a good amount of power, figure 200W for every speaker, plus the sub-woofer. Plus, even though the bands are small, you’re going to need a lot of mics, because you’re going to have to mike the drums and guitars. But buy cheap ones ($50 max). You’ll need a snake and cables – can you put the mix board up on a lifeguard tower (too cool!)?

OK – reality check – do you really want to “light-up” the entire beach, or just the dance area in front of the band? It gets a lot simpler when you don’t have to cover the large area.

Do you have a local music store that you trust? You’re going to need one, and you’re talking about some serious bucks.

This answer can be edited and improved by you on the Guitar Noise Wiki. Go to Outdoor gigs and select edit to make improvements.

Should the sound guy get paid?

I am in high school and I am currently running sound for a local high school band. I love doing what I am doing because I am constantly around music. Along with running sound, I do the majority of setting up, tearing down, and I help bring equipment to the gig. However, I have been faced with a problem. The guys in the band have not paid me for quite a while. They say that all of the band’s money is going into the band’s account in order to buy other equipment. Though getting new equipment is nice, I need to get paid. I have confronted the band members about this and they tend to use my love for what I’m doing against me and tell me not to complain. I feel that I am getting ripped off and used. I am also going to be getting another job soon, and it makes no sense to take time off a job where I will be actually getting paid to work for these guys and not be guaranteed the money. Should I have them sign a contract even though they only pay me $25 dollars a gig??? I would GREATLY appreciate your opinion on this. Thank you!

Wow, you’ve got an interesting problem. If no one else in the band is getting paid, then that makes it even more difficult. Who keeps and manages the money?

On the plus side, you are an energetic sound engineer who loves the music and cares how it sounds. These characteristics will serve you well.

Since no one is getting paid, then you should all be “equals”, which means that everyone has to help load in, set up, and tear down. The PA and the drums get set up first, and no one plays their guitars until the initial sound check is finished. When possible, you should go to rehearsals, and provide some creative input about dynamics, tone, etc.

With regard to your options going forward, you’ve got a couple of choices. First, if you want to get paid even if the others don’t, then you need to act like a hired gun. This means that you are no longer equals: they are the talent, you are the sound guy. You are responsible for the equipment, and you have to treat it as if it was your own. You’ll have to get to the gigs early and set up alone. In fact, it would be best if you got your own PA . On the plus side, you could then work for other bands too, and you’d be surprised how many bands really need a sound guy out front. Either way, you get paid.

If you want to stay with the band, then you should at least have a say in how the money is managed, and what equipment is bought. The band shouldn’t buy anyone personal gear like guitars or strings, but any PA gear can be owned by the group. If there are 5 of you, and you make $300 for one night, then maybe $200 goes in the bank, and each of you gets to keep $20 cash.

Also, what happens when one of you leaves the band. Say you’ve earned $5000 over the years, and spent $4000 on PA upgrades. What happens after senior year? Who gets to keep the PA? How much does that person have to pay the others? This gets very tricky.

But you can look at it simply: if you are considered a member of the band, then you should have a say in how it’s run, and be treated as an equal. If not, then you’re on your own whether you realize it or not.

Feel free to share this with the band and your parents. These are the kinds of business issues that you can talk with them about (as opposed to your respective taste in music).

Can I use a laptop for live recording?

A laptop won’t be sufficient for good recordings, as you will need a first-class digital converter. I would recommend one of the new Korg or Fostex digital recording stations. They have excellent mic pre-amps and digital converters, as well as useful EQ and effects. Some models have CD-ROM burners installed, or you download the data over to your PC. There are small 4-6 channel units, as well as 12-24 channel workstations.

Don’t forget that you will need permission from the artists to record them.

When I was in high school and college, I thought that Chicago and The Guess Who and Blood Sweat & Tears were among the best rock bands around. I loved their horns (trumpets, saxes, trombones), and learned to listen carefully to figure out how many types of horns were being used. I learned how to play the brass parts on piano. Many Motown groups used brass to spice up a dance tune. Stevie Wonder’s “Superstitious” has that great horn riff, with the bass chasing it all the way. Even the Rolling Stones use horns on “Bitch” and the Who have used horns almost since their inception, mostly because John Entwhistle was a terrific French Horn player as well as an exceptionally talented bassist. Sax solos have long been a part of Rock’n'Roll, but I’m talking about the complete section.

So one of my dreams has always been to play with a full horn section. And I have done it twice, so far. Those of you that track our family adventures know that we organize and perform in our middle school talent show. Our kids have always played their saxes (or clarinet or flute) in these shows, but usually they were as solo instruments. Laura sings with one of the boys, I play bass and run the rehearsals.

For my son’s eighth grade year, I decided to see if I could pull together a horn section and produce a reasonable product. First, I recruited other eighth graders from the Jazz Band: my son on tenor sax, his friends on alto, trumpet and trombone. The important thing here is that they all can play pretty well, they can read music, and they get along with each other reasonably well.

The Jazz Band teacher told me where I could find the charts he uses, and I bought the charts for Get Ready and I Got You ($40 for each song, in case you’re interested). This is more expensive than standard sheet music, but it’s more complicated too. These charts have numbered measures and labeled sections, and they are arranged in horn-friendly keys.

Our third song was the blues ballad True Love by Pat Benatar (with the Room Full of Blues horn section), which I couldn’t find anywhere. I asked one of the guys at the local music school, and for $100, he wrote it for us. The song is pretty easy to transcribe, but he knew how to arrange the horns to build chords and harmonies correctly, so it was worth it.

I gave everyone a CD with the three songs, so they had an idea of what we were playing, but the keys were slightly different.

Now I have a couple of serious impediments to being a big-band leader; first I can’t play any horn, and second, I can’t sing (so I can’t fake the horn parts). However, I have lots of experience jamming, and I’ve learned how to teach band dynamics.

So at our first rehearsal I passed out copies of the charts (never give out the originals!), and we got started. Over the years, the way we play Get Ready has morphed from the original recording. So I tell the kids: “OK, we start at measure 33, play through 40, and then go to the verse starting in measure 9.” Needless to say, they looked at me strangely. But they played it, and it sounded fine.

As we got organized for True Love, I was explaining to our young drummer that I really needed her to keep the time true, as I would be focusing on my fretless bass line. We started playing, and I concentrated on my fingering and slides. Suddenly, this power chord grew behind me -- the horns were playing the opening crescendo perfectly. I literally stopped playing and turned around. They all looked at me bewildered. “Sorry, but I wasn’t expecting that, and it was wonderful.”

We rehearsed three times, organizing solos and making sure our outros were tight. The night of the show, the kids did a great job, and we received praise from everyone. For the kids, it may have been just another gig, but for me it was a magical performance.

Four years later, my daughter is in eighth grade, and I decide to do it again. I followed the same routine, buying the chart for Just You ‘n’ Me, and having a different person create a full section chart for Moondance. I recycled Get Ready and we were off. I won’t bore you with the details, as there were many similarities, and some individual differences. In the end, we pulled it off, and the horns sounded great!

Pause for a moment of parental bragging: Our daughter Jacqui mainly plays alto sax, but she also plays the flute and clarinet. She played clarinet for the soprano sax solo in Just You ‘n’ Me, and played the “lead flute” on Moondance, switching to sax for her solo. Some of her classmates knew she played the other instruments, but they’d never actually seen her switch off in the middle of a song.

So if you’ve ever thought about playing with horns, I’m here to tell you that it can be done, and done well.

Here is a small video snippet from Just You and Me. The first part shows the harmony with vocals, and the second part show a pretty good soli-riff.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQU1xWUg_h8

Places to buy horn charts:

• JW Pepper: Charts for Schools
• Bob Baader, horn chart arranger

For me, the goal of performing is to feel appreciated-to feel that other people are enjoying and benefiting from your music, and to build skills by getting time to perform (translation: play music, make mistakes, learn from your mistakes and see what makes people smile, clap and tap their feet) Performing in rest homes has met all of these goals and more.

First, anyone performing in this environment will, almost always, be highly appreciated. Not many people are lining up to headline the local convalescent home or senior center, so you can be a “star ” no matter what. The nursing and administrative staff in these homes tends to be appreciative as well.

Start by talking with the activities director of the facility. The activities director is a trained professional in charge of providing activities for the residents. In preparing this essay I surveyed almost twenty activities directors. In general, it is preferred to schedule about a month in advance. An optimal performance duration is from forty-five minutes to an hour. Single events can be scheduled or, if mutually agreeable, regular (i.e. monthly quarterly etc) events. I personally have found a monthly event to be a great success. Residents tend to look forward to you coming and you get to know people on a first name basis. It might be helpful to meet with the director before the first performance to scout out the room and communicate about details.

The equipment needed to perform can be as simple as an acoustic guitar, a capo, guitar picks and whatever printed material you need to perform. I usually arrange to have an armless chair to sit in and something to place the music on. Voice or instrument amps might enhance a performance but are not usually required.

What to expect? First, residents vary in their level of function. Many are very alert and like to sing and participate. Some have had strokes, Alzheimer’s disease or other debilitating conditions. This doesn’t mean that they cannot benefit from or enjoy music. There is actually a lot of research that has been done on the use of music in the rehabilitation of people with various emotional and neurological problems. Singing the Blues should prove that! Don’t forget that rest home residents are not all old people but also include some relatively younger people.

Playing in front of a mostly non-critical audience is a great way to become comfortable with performing. No waiting in line for an hour to play one or two songs at an “open mike night” This setting places less emphasis on feeling pressure to “perform perfectly” and more emphasis on giving a little bit of yourself to the audience. That, to me, touches on the true essence of doing music for others. Ruth, a lady at one rest home where I perform says, “You make us happy.” Cool!

Input from activities directors indicates that “residents like upbeat songs from the 30’s to the 60’s and that residents love to sing…” I have built up a repertoire of songs I like (Beatles, John Denver, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, etc.). I mix these with “sing along songs” that as many people as possible know by heart such as I’ve Been Working On The Railroad, Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore, Daisy (also known as Bicycle Built For Two) and Yankee Doodle. After doing this a while you realize the songs that 75 to 80 years old adults know may be different than the ones you have memorized. People always like Happy Birthday if someone is celebrating or close to celebrating a birthday. More than occasionally people in the audience will ask “Do you know this or that song” and if I don’t then I say that I will learn it and sing it for them next time. Several songs I have added in this way are: Are You Lonesome Tonight? Please Release Me and God Bless America. I have different “sets” of songs that I rotate so that I don’t sing the same songs each month. To play for an hour, I need to have twenty-five to twenty eight songs in a set. I don’t have most of the material memorized, but instead use song sheets with chords.

Michelle has come to a number of my little rest home “concerts”. When I play the Beatles song Michelle (“…ma belle…”) she jokingly says, “Don’t sing that” But she smiles as I play while she is eating popcorn and visiting with her friends. Playing in several rest homes over the past five years has been a journey for me. It has been a “space” where I could learn what works and what doesn’t, while at the same time providing entertainment and “music therapy.” I am having some fun “Rocking the Rest Home.”

Now, as a variation on David Hodge’s famous disclaimer; this is just my personal experience. I certainly do not recommend hooking up with total strangers on the Internet. And I really encourage children to practice “safe surfing” and not to talk to anyone online that they don’t already know.

Having said all that, that’s where the Magic of Music comes in. As some of you may know, some years ago, a college buddy of mine asked me to write some articles for this online guitar college that he had been writing for. The site owner was looking for a different perspective on music, a take from The Other Side. OK, no problem. Well, maybe a little writer’s block now and again, but mostly no problem. I started exploring the website, in order to figure out the audience I would be writing for. One of the articles I read was on playing music with others, the theme that David is currently exploring with our readers. Entitled Music At Mary’s, it espoused the wonders of jamming with friends; how much fun it can be and how much you can learn from each other. I enjoyed the article greatly and couldn’t have agreed more with the author, Lee Budar-Danoff. I’ve learned that playing with other musicians allows you to develop different skills than playing alone. The added benefit is that the more you play (by yourself or with others), the better you get.

Since I felt so simpatico with the author, I was encouraged to get in touch with her. One thing led to another, and we decided to meet up at the Riverside Jam 2001 in Chicago. I love playing these big jams. The musicians are easy going, partly because a jam is less pressure than a performance. The audience is low key, as it consists of other musicians that have decided not to play that song, as well as friends and family. You play when you want, usually what you want, and the rest of the time you get to be an audience member and dance, or make new friendships and renew old ones. In this very supportive atmosphere, you also feel free to try songs that you may not know (music cheat sheets abound with chords and lyrics) or to learn different arrangements of familiar songs.

Lee and I got along like houses on fire. We admired each other’s guitars, taste in music and found we were even more alike in that our husbands are both bass players! A strong friendship was sparked by meeting (gasp!) through the Internet! Since that time, Lee and her husband have had babies, and at our last Riverside Jam, she brought with her a young lady, Jess, as a mother’s helper. Jess also happened to play the guitar and, when she wasn’t responsible for the toddlers in her care, participated with all the rest of us in playing. She got along famously with the other younger musicians, including my daughter, Jacqui. Both girls joined the performance night of the jam, held at a local club. Jess played her guitar and Jacqui, her saxophone. They supported each other in their music playing, as they were both among the junior-most members at the jam.

As a consequence of this event, Jacqui flew off to spend part of her winter vacation with Jess. For someone who has spent most of her kids’ Internet careers warning about the dangers of meeting strangers online, this was a remarkable feat… I kidded with my daughter about not taking up with strangers met online, while we reveled in the friendships that music and GN have brought to us.

Similarly, through GN and the Riverside Jams, I have met other musicians that I have truly enjoyed getting to know. Playing with them has been an added bonus when we have been able to get together. The congenial atmosphere is summed up best by Wes Inman, a GN member and moderator who was a new participant to the Riverside Jam in ‘04: “My first impression was that everyone knew each other so well. It was more like a family reunion. That really impressed me. Also, everyone was so helpful. Everyone was offering to carry gear in.” Ironically, many of us were just meeting for the first time, or had just met the day before. The bond built by love of music and the enjoyment of playing with others created a family from these diverse folks.

Along a similar vein, I wrote a piece called Not Just Another Pretty Face a few years back. This article explored playing in a band. As I re-read my notes, I saw many similarities between the positive aspects of jamming and being in a band. The sense of community created, the creativity sparked and the joy in the creation of your “own” sound, even when playing covers, is sublime. I love reading all the stories of readers who have been inspired to get out and play, either with a small group from work, church or their neighborhood. After all, that’s what this site is all about; inspiring and encouraging people to get out and play their guitar. So, as Mom says, go on out and play nicely with others!

Guitar Noise has always been a website where anyone with access to the Internet can learn about playing the guitar, bass (or banjo!), about music theory and a host of other things. But while you’re learning and playing, we want to also encourage you to get out and play music with other people as well. If you get a thrill simply playing your guitar, then just imagine what you’ll feel when you’re making music with your friends and sharing that music with others.

We’ll be posting stories, thoughts and tips about “Playing Well With Others” throughout 2005 and we encourage you to share your experiences and ideas with all our readers. You can send them to me at dhodgeguitar@aol.com and I will get them up online.

Sharing music is what Guitar Noise is all about and what better way to do so than to help give a little encouragement to someone?

And, just as a side note, unless someone tells me otherwise, I’ll simply post up first names or initials of the contributors.

Peace

David

I was talking to David a couple of days ago when he asked if I would write something about playing guitar with others.

Well sure, why not?

It turns out that it’s easier said than done.

Why is that? What makes this a difficult topic to write about?

I pondered this question for a while. Blank paper stared at me. I couldn’t take the first step. I didn’t want to expose myself to ridicule. I didn’t want the rest of the Guitar Noise community to think I was a weirdo, or insecure, or too sensitive. I didn’t want to write something I really felt uncomfortable sharing. I’m sure that you already know all of the stuff I would write anyway. I just don’t know enough to make it worth reading. I’ve really just got nothing to offer to you.

Wait a minute! Those are the very same reasons I gave myself for not playing with others.

1. “Blank paper stared at me.” Lack of inertia is the hardest thing to overcome. Make a commitment to yourself to find a playing partner or a “porch players” group by a certain date. Mark it on your calendar or day timer. That’s how I started writing this.
2. “I couldn’t take the first step.” Closely related to Number 1 above. Start small if you feel uncomfortable in groups. Find one friend or neighbor and just jam. Find a group if you just want to lurk and feel uncomfortable one on one. Have an opening line prepared, like “I’ve been playing for six months, a year, whatever, and I was looking for someone to jam with.” That way you can let the other person know your relative skill level without degrading yourself.
3. “I didn’t want to expose myself to ridicule.” Everybody fears this. But keep in mind jamming isn’t a contest. You don’t need to bring something to dazzle, just be honest about your ability. You can play open chords all evening long and if someone asks you to solo, just say “I’ll pass for now.”
4. “I didn’t want the rest of the Guitar Noise community to think I was a weirdo, or insecure, or too sensitive.” Again, this is closely related to the previous reason for procrastination, but when you are in a room with a bunch of people who have come to jam, you are amongst like-minded individuals. These people know how you feel. Once you start, you’ll get a great sense of belonging to a very supportive group and your fears will melt away.
5. “I didn’t want to write something I really felt uncomfortable sharing.” I’m not an expert on the psyche of the budding guitarist. I’m not a professional writer. I’m not an expert on group dynamics. I’m not a professional guitar player. But I know how to jam. By the way, nobody at a jam wants a flashy know-it-all, show-off, egomaniacal guitarist anyway. The first time anyone plays with a group of strangers they feel uncomfortable. You are no exception.
6. “I’m sure that you already know all of the stuff I would write anyway.” Hey look, if the guitarists you jam with already know all the stuff you would play anyway, that is fantastic. Think of all the material you could play.
7. “I just don’t know enough to make it worth reading.” You may think you don’t know enough to play with others, but I guarantee you do. If you can play open chords and strum you’ve got enough. What you don’t know, someone will be happy to show you.
8. “I’ve really got nothing to offer to you.” You’d be surprised at how much you can teach. You’d be surprised at how much others can learn from you. I have a student who is an absolute beginner and I’ve gotten so much better at the basics of thumb position, palm muting, percussive strokes, chord changes, finger position by teaching her. Get it? By teaching her, she taught me. Everybody has something to offer. Besides, company and support are always welcome.

At the end of last summer, I traveled up to see David in the Berkshires. It was time for the annual Riverside Jam, which is usually always a blast and this past August was no exception. The “main event” on Saturday night was all twenty-five musicians playing at the Berkshire Blues Café. We started in the late afternoon and played sets for the guests and Café patrons until closing time. I played and sang until I was wiped out. We had guitarists and other musicians come in from across the country – Guitar Noise denizens, some students, college buddies, friends, spouses, just a wonderful mix of people.

But the main Riverside Jam event wasn’t the best part of the weekend for me. It was the next night when about ten of us (those who decided to leave on Monday instead of Sunday), players of all ages, sizes, styles and genders, sat around David’s fireplace and jammed. I didn’t know half of the songs, but someone would yell out the chords or hand me a sheet with the chords and lyrics and away we’d go. If I had a problem with some part of the song, someone would lean over and say, “Try it like this.”

If I wanted to sit one out and just sing, no problem. If I wanted to just shake a maraca for a while, while my fingers recovered, again no problem. No expectations, no minimum skill requirement, no egos, just an amazing time of sharing a common love, making music. Go ahead and think I’m a weirdo, but it was as close to an Across the Universe moment as I have ever been.

You owe it to yourself to get out and share with other guitarists, so that they can share with you. Go and play well with others.

Hi David!

I’m a big fan of your websites and also your newsletter. It’s awesome!

Ok, trying to go straight to the point my history is the following:

I always played in bands, most of them “cover bands,” which, here in Mexico, is the most affordable way to make mo-money! And the relationship with most of my music partners was a job-like relation. One day in a rehearsal of one of those bands, I knew a bass player who was very friendly. When the rehearsal finished we talked about the music that we enjoy and things like this. After that, we talked about do a jam or something just to have fun the next day.

The next day the musical chemistry was immediately revealed… We thought in a very similar way when we’re playing, it was awesome the things that both of us were delivering to our ears.

From that day we had a lot of these type of jams, and, after the first one, we always recorded every single note that we played. Right now my friend is playing in a professional rock group very famous here in Mexico. I couldn’t do it in the way he did, due to a lot of reasons (I got married and have children now and enjoy a lifestyle different than that of my friend who is still single), BUT I’m very proud that a LOT of the jams and riffs recorded in that days, are now important parts of songs that I hear on the radio. Our jam ideas turned into things like a chorus of one song, the bridge of another and things like that.

That day I made a very good friendship with my buddy, whom I knew because the fun of jamming. You might start out playing with somebody who you don’t know very well, but strong, life-long friendships can grow out of the music. This particular experience was, in my life, one of the greatest things that ever happened.

I really think that the most of your musical growing can be done if you play/practice with somebody else, rather than playing alone, or even just playing in a band without taking the time to interact with your band-mates.

I hope you enjoy my little history and I hope it can be useful to others to encourage themselves to find the way to play/practice with somebody else, just for the fun to do it.

Peace!

Hi David!

Thanks for all the work you do getting the newsletter out each week – it’s always the first thing I read right after the coffee and Sunday Paper is done!

Regarding getting musicians together: I work at a large company’s corporate headquarters with about twelve hundred people working locally. I posted a free little ad in our on-line “Marketplace,” a sort of classified ads for employees. The ad simply asked for replies from folks interested in getting together once a month for some “open-mike” style jamming.

I received fifteen replies! I arranged to use some meeting space at work for a couple of hours, once a month. I got a real kick out of the diversity of talents, influences, skills, etc. that everyone brought. Coolest of all was jammin’ with a mailroom guy, a couple of directors, a vice president, and a few of us “regular middle” guys!

The routine was basically to play a couple of regular songs we worked out, then we’d go around the circle taking turns either playing a song of choice or pointing to another musician to play a specific song of the choosers wish. And everyone would join in!

We had a great time for about six months, but we have been on hiatus since the Florida Hurricanes in August-September (the state of Florida, as well as other places, was hard hit by numerous hurricanes between August and October of 2004 – DH). We do think that it’s high time to get the Music Club cranked up again!

A special experience, but first a little background: Each Christmas I make a CD for a handful of friends with some of my favorite songs. One of the recipients is my neighbor who is the pastor of a small church. I’ve played a handful of times at his church when they’ve been short on musicians. That they ask me to play is evidence of how short they can get, since I’ve not been playing very long. Anyway, the experience is nice, though we’re not exactly playing my favorite songs. But two weeks ago on my birthday, my neighbor asked me to bring my guitar over to his house after the Sunday service because the church pianist wanted to look at it. I wasn’t sure why, but I took it over.

When I got there, the keyboardist, lead guitarist, vocalists and my neighbor (who plays bass as well as being a pastor!) were all there. He had worked out the chords and lyrics to a half dozen of the songs off my Christmas CD, including songs by Lucinda Williams, Gordon Lightfoot, the Jayhawks, Old 97s, etc. He had passed the CD around to everyone so they could get familiar with them. We then proceeded to have a couple of beers and play “my” songs.

It was so cool to play songs I like and have them come alive. Plus, we got instant feedback from the family and friends who were listening. When we play at church, you don’t get applause. This was a first for me. We had so much fun that we’re going to do it regularly and plan to have some small “concerts” in our cul-de-sac this summer. I can’t wait!

I can attest that playing with others really helps two ways – it improves your playing AND it lets you know that yes, you can make music. What more could you want?

When I actually picked up a bass I had some anxieties about being good and consistent enough to play in a band. All the bassists I had seen on stage appeared relaxed and were having a great time, but with a machine-like sense of rhythm, tempo and tone. I realized that only by repetition would I get proficient enough, so I practiced every day for an hour or more and listened over and over to the songs I had to play along to. When it came to playing the bass lines, luckily, I have a fairly good sense of rhythm, and I found the extra space on the fret board of a bass guitar totally liberating. While my fingers got a little sore, not being used to the thicker strings, I found this a satisfying sign that I was working hard!

Roughly a week after picking up the bass, I jammed at Neil’s house, where we played along with each other and I astounded him with my progress and determination. I had discovered that playing a bass guitar is so enjoyable because, because you can have fun with the rhythm in a similar way to drums, while at the same time harmonising and creating melodies with the other guitars. I have grown to the love the satisfying rumble and boom of the bass sound and the way it underpins and drives a song. Seeing my progress, Neil suggested we have a proper practice in a rehearsal studio complete with his newly recruited drummer and second guitarist. I have to admit that when I first arrived at the rehearsal studio I felt rather intimidated to be the beginner playing with three experienced musicians. However, the others were so friendly and overwhelmed by what I’d accomplished in such a short time it really put me at ease! I found it a little harder playing with real live musicians as opposed to playing along with my practice CD – but a much more rewarding experience altogether. When it went right, I realized that magical warmth of feeling when a team of people are playing together in perfect collaboration.

In addition to playing, it was decided that I would provide backing vocals. I’d been in choirs at school and really enjoyed the idea of singing. My only problem was assurance in my ability and an initial crippling embarrassment about singing in front of the other guys – to start with I had to make Neil leave the room when I sang! Despite this, I knew it was something I definitely wanted to do and after a while my inhibitions dropped a little as I realized that I wasn’t actually that bad! However, playing the guitar and singing at the same time was definitely another hurdle that I had to deal with. It’s quite an art to hit the right note at exactly the right distance from the microphone while also hitting the right note and rhythm on a guitar you only picked up a few weeks ago! So again I practiced over and over, with Neil and by myself, keeping my neighbors up ’til the early hours with my booming bass and determined crooning. Again I found that time and repetition pays dividends, as I got more and more confident with singing and playing in unison.

Then, about four weeks since the band had been formed came our first gig, which I hope will act as a useful story to help anyone else who’s just embarked on a band and are perhaps facing their first live performance. Neil has many music contacts, having been involved in bands for many years and he managed to get us a support slot at a small venue. When it was confirmed I do admit to feeling a slight sense of dread along the lines of “I’ve only been playing 2 months!! What if I hit the wrong notes? What if I drop my guitar?…” I decided that I’d have to nip these feelings in the bud if I was going to be anything other than a shuddering wreck on stage.

So I tried a nifty little trick, which came to me out of the blue the day before the actual gig. I decide to fool myself into thinking I wasn’t nervous and that I was actually a cool-as-a-cucumber-rock-star-in-waiting. The day before the gig, I decided that whenever anyone asked me if I was nervous I would simply say “No, I’m excited” or something similar. Not in a big-headed way, but just to deny nervousness and turn it into enthusiasm. I’d practiced all the songs many times, I was totally capable of playing them, so why should I be nervous? I found that, amazingly, by the evening of the gig I’d actually convinced my brain that I wasn’t nervous – instead I was cheerful, relaxed and keen to get up there! The sound check was potentially the most nerve wracking part, as you have to sing a little and play on your own, but I found that just getting up and doing it without a moments nod to self-consciousness is the best way. Plus, because of my special preparation, it didn’t even affect me that much.

When we came to play it was absolutely exhilarating! We had all our friends in the audience and it felt great to show them what I’d learned and what we’d accomplished as a band. Plus, with all tension out of my body I was able to play to the best of my ability and I even spoke into the mic a few times! I even fluffed up a bit on the first song due to the flashing lights going dark for juuuuust slightly too long (!) but managed easily to recover. I think if I’d been nervous that might have thrown me more than it did (any guitar teacher will tell you that its impossible to play well if you’re tense). After the show, everyone congratulated us all on a good performance and commented on how at home I looked on stage! The overall message I’d like to share with anyone else who are just embarking on performing live with and for other people is to act confident even if you feel a little nervous inside and sooner or later that confidence will overwhelm inner jitters and you’ll perform all the better for it.

We performed our second gig about a week after the first and plan to write, record and perform some more over the summer. I’ve decided to take a few singing lessons and I’m also learning about writing my own bass lines and rhythms. I’m so glad I suggested I join my friend in this band – it’s going to be lots of hard work but I’m loving every minute of it!

I was recently invited to jam with a bunch of folks that I have played with several times before. I was initially thrilled at the prospect of bringing my guitars to play. I have always enjoyed jamming and, as I’ve mentioned before, there is nothing like getting together with other musicians to improve your own guitar playing and enjoyment of the songs you’re playing. I also love to sing, and these friends are heavy on the guitarists and short on the singers. I checked the date set for the jam; perfect timing, as I didn’t have to work that day. Food is always involved with these occasions, and I happily planned my contribution to the potluck buffet for our starving artists.

I was really looking forward to a good time, but then, suddenly, anxiety set in. I realized that one of the other guitarists was someone who seemed to constantly scowl at me the last time we played together. He seemed annoyed at both my choice of songs as well as the arrangements of those songs. I knew that he was a much better guitar player than me. I was acutely aware of that every time I played. I’ve told myself many times that I can’t really compare myself to this guy. I haven’t played for as many years, I don’t have much time to practice, and I know I have my strengths as a singer/guitarist. Plus guitar playing shouldn’t be a competitive sport.

Despite my soothing mental monologue, I managed to work myself into a frenzy about having to play anywhere in the same room, building, city, state, heck, same country as this guy. I was worried about forgetting chord sequences, missing chord changes, or missing the chords altogether. I just knew I would forget all the lyrics to my favorite songs, even when they were in front of me on a piece of paper. And never mind trying to play anything but the most basic rhythm guitar! Not that I usually get fancy in the group setting, although it can be a good place to just try out something new or different. And by fancy, I mean basic riffs…

I had myself so upset that I was ready to bail out on the whole idea of jamming at all. Then I took a deep breath, and reminded myself that this was just for “fun”. Who would have thought I would need a sedative to perform for “fun”? I told myself that this was just one person, not all the rest of the jammers. I wondered if I was overreacting to our last jam together. As a (perpetually) beginning guitarist, I’m intermittently insecure about my playing ability. Aren’t we all? Most everyone I’ve ever played with has been very supportive and encouraging of my attempts to play, including the folks who invited me to the jam.

But I always feel like I don’t measure up. I know many of us feel that way; it seems natural to critique our own performances. In fact, one of the best parts about playing with others is when we all laugh and share with each other how we individually screwed up on any given song. It almost seems like a “I messed up more than you and this is how” contest sometimes. And yet, the overall song always manages to sound marvelous. Music is really wonderful that way.

I managed to talk myself out of giving up on my guitar playing, and when the day came, packed both the acoustic and the electric (and the yummy dessert I’d made) into the car and drove off to meet my friends and play. When I walked in, everyone had started already. I was late, in part due to my anxiety and procrastination at facing the music, if you’ll pardon the expression. I set my dessert down in the food area, and got out my instruments. Looking around the room, I saw the guitarist who I dreaded playing with hard at work, wailing on his axe. I repeated my mantra “you are good enough to play with them or they wouldn’t have invited you, you are good enough to play with them or they wouldn’t have invited you” again and again in my head. I took a deep breath and, at the next opportunity, joined in.

That day was one of the most delightful sessions I’ve been part of. The guy I was worried about was a blast to play with. He was fun, encouraging, very into the music and the synergy everyone in the room created. He even asked me to play a song that I knew he scowled at last time. What I had assumed to be his contempt for my playing and singing was probably nothing more than a bad day on his part. My anxiety was created by my feeling of insecurity about my playing, and my need to see playing as some kind of competitive sport. If I’m not good enough at that sport, if I don’t have enough skill or practice time (does this sound familiar?), I don’t get to be on the team. Even if I’m on the team, I don’t get to be a starter. When I let go of the “I need to prove myself” feeling, I had a marvelous time. I let go of my anxiety and had a lot of fun. We really grooved well together, and I was glad that I had talked myself into participating.

While the case of nerves that I had before this jam was relatively minor, performance anxiety can be quite real. There are many, many articles on it. Even seasoned performers can get “stage fright” before something they’ve played hundreds of times before. Recently I played with my husband and daughter at her middle school talent show. We were playing Gershwin’s Summertime and Van Morrison’s Moondance, both songs that I have played hundreds of times, with several of those times in public. Just before I got on stage, my heart was pounding and my fingers felt clammy. Getting on the stage, I had time to notice that the spot lights were blinding, and thank goodness, hid most of the crowd behind them. We started to play, and finger and vocal memory took over. It wasn’t a flawless performance (I managed to miss a chord change on one verse), but it was warmly received by the audience. The applause and the praise afterwards were genuine. As was the warm glow of accomplishment my family and I felt, and the pure joy in sharing our interpretation of music that we love with other people.

I’m sure many of us have suffered from anxiety over performing, whether with a few friends, or in front of an audience. However, when you can let go and just enjoy the beat and “Drift Away”, you will truly soothe your soul.

n.b. This column continues in a series dedicated to the female musician. Of course, male musicians are welcome to read and comment on the topics discussed as well, as many have (thank you!). We have our own forum in the forum section. As always, I would love suggestions on topics you would like to see covered. Please email me and tell me your story. I enjoy hearing each and every one.

Negative Competitiveness is the sort that drives people to strange lengths to be “better” than those around them or deride others because they are not “as good” as someone else (I have a T-Shirt that my wife gave – hopefully in jest – which reads “I like winning – but not half as much as seeing you lose”). It is a divisive and destructive energy that puts a wedge between artists, striving for, basically, the same thing – betterment

You only have to read the Guitar Noise forums to see what I perceive as a form of (third-party) negative competitiveness – “Clapton (to simply use a name as an example) is way better than Guitarist Y and if you don’t agree with me, then both you and Guitarist Y”. This is a discussion that no one is going to win, because music is, by it’s very nature, subjective – what A likes, B may not and C may not like what B does and appreciates some of what A likes to listen to. As soon as negative competitiveness creeps in, A suddenly thinks that what B and C like to listen to is rubbish, B thinks the same about A and C, whilst C looks down in disgust at what A and B think is the bee’s knees. Looking more closely, we see that the negativity is no longer about music, but, rather, the taste of the people involved. There’s no longer subjectivity or objectivity; there’s emotion and personality. Personality gives way and it becomes a clash of egos and the music becomes purely incidental, nothing more than a justification for the locking of horns.

Positive Competitiveness, on the other hand, is what causes people to strive to be better – “Clapton’s music is fantastic, one day I want to be making music as good as that”. It creates a positive feeling of not yet having reached one’s own limits – the feeling that there is still improvement to be made and the ability is there to achieve it. It, also, leaves plenty of room for one’s own individuality and creativity, as well as the inclusion of other musicians into the wish list – “I like the way Kirk Hammett does this” or “John Lennon made great use of that in his music”.

Without this sort of attitude, music would sink into a morass of conformity and blandness and creativity would wither and die because no one would have any incentive to do anything different. We would still be playing lutes, lyres and heaven knows what else. Positive competitiveness is what drives people like Chuck Berry to bring different styles of music together in a completely new form. There was never any desire to gloat on how much better he was than the musicians that he played with, just to learn everything he could from them and then add his own creativity to take music somewhere it had never been before. He was competing more with himself than with his contemporaries. I’m sure that many of the originators of new styles of music have done the same. In positive competition, music is never the loser. In fact, there is no loser. Everybody gains. It is the followers that cause the problem, claiming someone to be the “new Clapton” or “new whomever.” By doing so, they have set a target and there are bodies to be climbed over on the way to reaching that target.

Positive Competitiveness can also be used to channel a person’s energies to their own betterment, by showing them that they have the potential and can fulfill it by practice, going to a teacher, jamming, etc, etc. They are competing against themselves, striving for the goals they have set for themselves and gaining confidence along the way to tackle new challenges. The reverse is true of negative competitiveness – it destroys the will to learn and to improve (“why should I, I’m a crap player – I’ll never be as good as my teacher and he never misses an opportunity to tell me so.” or “He’s useless – he can’t sweep pick hemidemisemiquavers at 300bpm”)

Writing this short piece has drawn me to the conclusion that the negativity in competitiveness is always destructive and very ego-related – the subject matter is pretty much incidental against the size of the egos on parade (so size really does matter!). Positive competition is, in my opinion, primarily concerned with the subject matter at hand rather than the personalities (or should that be egos?) involved, in fact, there is often only one personality involved – you. It is you that is striving to improve your music and become your kind of musician. By “stealing” from other musicians, you are not putting yourself into competition with them, but rather paying them a great compliment, whilst taking one more step to achieving your goals.

A final thought: how often do you hear the best guitarists putting down other guitarists? On the contrary, they are more than happy to spread their wisdom to any guitarist – good, bad or indifferent. And the negativity? Could it be from the “Wannabe but can’t” brigade?

Here endeth the rant.

I have been out to many a bar or club that was not so busy only to find a very talented musician owning the stage. I would sit and watch and learn, trying to steal as many licks as I could remember without a guitar or pen and paper in front of me. The question I always asked myself was, “this girl is SO good, why isn’t the crowd here?” I then wondered how I would ever be able to get a gig for myself, when such a talented person is playing at a rather large club and there are only twelve of us here to enjoy it. If you can’t draw a crowd, then there will be no more gigs, right?

I live in a medium sized city where the entire suburban area has about one million people on a VERY busy day. While my town is nowhere near the “next” Seattle or Nashville or LA or New York, there is a good local music scene. Good enough to intimidate the beginning musician. In spite of this, I felt I was ready to play music for others. More importantly, as I am sure many of you can identify with, I felt I was ready to share my voice, my imagination with others. The next question I stumbled upon was, “well where do I sign up?”

I stumbled onto my first gig through a friend who owned a bar. She was willing to let me play a three-hour set at her bar on a Tuesday night. If the crowd got into it, we would work out some form of payment. So I went into my first live show scared and not knowing if I was going to make any money. I figured that I knew about fifty songs, mostly covers and a few of my own, but enough to fill a three-hour set. Boy, was I wrong! Not only did I rush through my ENTIRE song catalog (not really though, because I was so nervous I forgot half the songs I knew), but I also had no idea of how to play most of the songs people kept screaming at me to play. I felt it was a nightmare. However, my friend who owned the bar got some good feedback, and not only did she pay me a little, she asked me to come back. With pay! So I was excited about the possibility of a second gig.

For the next six days all I did was play sets. Ten to twelve songs at a time, I was always practicing. Not just the songs either. Somewhere along the way I had decided that the solo musician must be a stand up comedian between songs. I began to try and develop a stage show. All this after one gig!

Wow! The following Tuesday was a reality check. I thought I had planned out and practiced a great show. What I hadn’t counted on was the “human aspect” of the crowd. While enjoying the high of getting a second gig, I had forgotten about the twelve requests I had gotten for Free Bird the week prior. Not only did I still not know the song, but all the witty stage banter I had come up with was meaningless when some guy kept yelling “Skynyrd” from the back of the room. What a disaster! When I recovered from the mess, I decided that it could be a learning experience.

From there I went on to play many more gigs at many more bars, or clubs, or coffeehouses. Along the way I tried to develop a plan of how to succeed. The following list is what I consider the Ten Commandments of how to get and ensure future gigs.

Matt’s Ten Commandments for Future Gigs or “Rules for the Road”

1. DEFINE YOUR WINDOW. Figure out what you do best and do it. Just like you wouldn’t walk into a roadhouse bar and play anything by Air Supply, don’t try and get a gig at a club where the audience won’t appreciate your style, just because it’s a gig. All you can do is ruin your reputation by walking into a jazz club and playing Metallica covers.

2. ALWAYS BE OPEN AND AVAILABLE. I had a friend had the chance to play an open mic night at one of the busiest clubs in town. He declined because the gig didn’t pay. The guy who ran the open mic was trying to sell a CD to a label, and an A&R rep from a small label was coming out that night. My friend, who I always thought was very talented, missed his opportunity to audition for a record label by not going because the gig “didn’t pay.”

3. CATER TO YOUR AUDIENCE. The crowd is there because of you. No matter how big or small, if you ignore them, they won’t come back. No amount of technical guitar wizardry will make up for the fact that that one girl, who likes your music and brought eight friends, really wanted to hear Brown Eyed Girl. If you ignore her repeated request for a song, you are alienating your audience. If you can, then play her song. Which leads me to…

4. ALWAYS HAVE A TIP JAR. Whether you are getting paid a cut of the door or a flat rate, you can maximize you profits by adding a tip jar. Regardless of the $150 you are getting for playing on a weeknight, you might make and extra $20 by playing that girl’s request. Always take advantage of this. It could just help to double your income.

5. BE TIMELY. Always show up early. You are not the Rolling Stones or Guns and Roses and there is no excuse for being late. If the gig starts at 8:00 then you should be set up, in tune, and ready to play at 8. You cannot provide a valid excuse for breaking this commandment. Learn it, and live it.

6. BE PROFESSIONAL. As soon as your show is finished, even if you are the opening act, settle up with the production manager, club owner, or whoever is in charge as soon as possible. Have your calendar with you. There is no better time to get rescheduled than right after your gig. Even if you were the opening act, the success of your show is still fresh in the club owner’s mind. Book a return visit right then. If you wait three weeks to call him back, all he will remember is the headliner, whom he spent more money on. Be diligent in this area, and I promise you will play more shows.

7. VISIT. NOT CALL. There is nothing wrong with calling a club or bar in your area that you want to try and play at. There is everything wrong with not going and following up in person. I call a club only to find out who hires the bands, and when he/she will be there. Then I show up in person. Plan to sit for a while. Often times these people are very busy, and it can take some time to see them. However, if you call and ask for the club owner, and he is busy, someone will take a message. If you call and ask when he will be there, and then show up, he will most likely see you. The more often you sit in front of a club owner, the more likely you are to play at his club.

8. PRACTICE MORE THAN YOU PLAY. If you are fortunate enough to be gigging five nights a week, then practice even more. If you play a two-hour show, practice three hours before it. Don’t just play songs. Play sets. Practice what to say and do between your songs. While this seems like a waste of time, your overall live show is what people are going to remember, not how quickly you changed from an Am7 to a D7sus4.

9. VALUE YOUR EQUIPMENT. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard (and thought myself) that I need a better PA system, or another guitar pedal, or a new brand of strings, etc. Be content with what you have. It has performed at every gig you’ve had so far. Don’t be always looking for something to “improve your sound”. While some great equipment exists out there don’t spend your time finding the fourteenth pedal in your collection. Spend more time learning the songs you play. Good music that sounds poor will always get a return call before bad music that sounds better. Focus on the music. Ignore the part of you that says you will sound better if you buy _________ (fill in the blank). I can’t tell you the money I’ve wasted on crazy pedals. What acoustic guitarist needs an envelope filter anyway?

10. ALWAYS WRITE A SET LIST. I have seen this point proven. I know a great musician who can’t get gigs because, although he is talented, he sets up his PA and then waits on requests the whole night. This guy knows a million songs. On the rare occasion he gets requests from the get-go, his show is great. If the club is unresponsive to someone they don’t know who just sits and asks what they want to hear, he doesn’t come back to play at that club. Bad way to operate! Write a set list and stick to it. If you get requests, then honor them if you can. Otherwise stick to what you do best.

11. MARKET YOURSELF (I know, there were only supposed to be ten!). You are your biggest fan, right? If you’re not, re-evaluate your situation. I have had some great gigs playing to only fifteen people. My philosophy is that if fifteen people saw me on Thursday night, then I need to tell fifteen people about my next show on Monday. You are your best salesperson. Sell yourself to others. Post flyers. Go to the club on a night off, and talk to patrons. Sell yourself. No one else will.

The Decision

The first step is to decide that you really want to do this, and that you are going to be the host. It helps to have a really good reason, either as a charity event, or a chance to showcase your own band. This is not an easy decision, because even with the tricks I’m going to show you, it’s a lot of work. Although I have done this “for fun”, that’s not always a good enough reason. You also have to be willing to assume the up-front expenses and the possibility that you could lose money. You need to make this decision at least 3 months before the soonest show date. If this is going to be a charity event, then you must take it upon yourself to establish good communications with the charity organization as well.

The Place

Next, you need to find a time and place to play. Try to find a location that has a reasonably large stage. I’ve been lucky enough to do it in school auditoriums, which are perfect. Many schools are open and unused on Friday nights, so it’s not as crazy as you might think. Most schools will charge a nominal fee, plus the salary of one custodian. But don’t use the gym! There isn’t a worse place to play on the planet than the average school gymnasium. There are other places you might consider, including some bars on Sunday afternoons (if you’re old enough), halls where social groups like the Elks or VFW meet or even your church. Just remember that the bigger the stage the easier things tend to be.

The Bands

Once you have a time and place, then you will need to find some bands to come and play. Usually, you figure that each band takes about an hour, 45 minutes of playing and 15 minutes of set-up. So if you have 4 hours, then you can invite 4 bands. If you have more time, you can invite more bands. Alternately, if you know lots of bands, then you may have to cut down the playing time. Anything less than 20 minutes is a waste of effort, even for a charity gig.

Obviously, asking other bands that you already know is a good idea, but check around a little further too. How much variety do you want? Diversity usually means more people will come, but if it gets too eclectic, then some people will decide that there’s less to like. You want to do the recruiting in two steps: first get an acknowledgement that a band is interested, then later, you’ll need to explain the “rules” and get a firm commitment.

The Gear

As with any gig, you’re going to need sound equipment. If you’re lucky, the place you’ve selected will have a PA built in. Double check that they have enough channels in the mixer, and enough monitors. You may need to add some more to the house system just for flexibility. Be sure to discuss this with the house engineer. If there is no house PA, then you’ll have to get your own.

Make a list of all the stuff that is required. But you shouldn’t have to supply all of this yourself. You need to ask each band what they might be able to supply. Make a master list of equipment, and note which band is willing to supply which equipment. Usually, your own band will supply the core equipment, unless you know that some item is not “something to be proud of”, and then ask. Believe it or not, people who have higher quality gear tend to want to use it, and are often willing to share.

• PA: Since you are going to have to work with different bands you’re going to need to be flexible. So you’ll need a good mix board, effects and EQ, amplifiers, microphones, and main and monitor speakers. Plus, try to find a sound guy to work the board, or switch off with musicians who are not on stage.
• Drums: You’d like to use the best drums you can, but some drummers won’t want to share their kit. Each band must agree to replace any drumheads that should happen to be broken by their drummer (as rare as this is, you still have to plan for it!).
• Bass Amp: It is better to have an amp that is too big than too small.
• Guitar Amps: You should have at least 3 amps. Mainly for variety, as the guest musicians will want to get their best sound. So try to find different brands and styles.
• Keyboards: If one or more bands has keyboards, then try to settle on a common set. Usually one piano-type and/or one synth. You’ll need an amp for this too.

Getting Organized

So now you have a list of who is going to play, and what each band is willing to share. Now you write a letter (email is great for this!) to each band explaining what is what: No, you may not bring your own drums (you may bring your own snare and seat). No, you may not bring your own bass or guitar amp, you must use the ones provided and described here (but you can plug in all your EFX). Etc. Be as thorough as you can, as everyone will understand that “everyone else is sharing too”, which reduces the whining. Tell everyone to label everything!!! With several bands sharing their gear, anything that is unmarked becomes fair game for misappropriation. Cables and power cords are the most common items to be “misplaced”, but even the occasional EFX pedal, can fall victim to this, and petty theft (usually totally unintentional) can ruin this type of event.

Have an idea how long each band can play. Something like “Assuming everyone shows up, everyone will get 30 minutes of playing time”. If you have an obvious “headliner”, or you want to pull rank as the host, plan for extra time at the end. As mentioned earlier, plan on 15 minutes between each act for overruns and swapping bands. Write a chart with each band name, number/type of musicians.

Ask each band to agree to all of the above. Don’t tell them who’s going first or last yet, and don’t give them the impression that they can influence the line-up.

Logistics

Now that you’ve got most of the important musical aspects figured out, you need to do the logistics. How are you going to handle food and drink? If you’re at a bar, then that part’s easy. But if you’re in a school, then you’ve got to make arrangements, and remember no smoking or drinking on school property. If you’ve got a charity organization working with you, then let them do the food, etc. as they will be making the money and providing the volunteers.

Again, if you’re at a school, then you’ll need to handle security, parking, etc.

And get a couple of cases of bottled water. If you’re at a bar, explain that this is necessary because water is best for everyone, and plastic bottles don’t break. Seriously, don’t forget this.

And believe it or not, think about a logo and T-shirts. You can usually get a silk-screened T-shirt for less than $10 if you buy over 20. If you get a light-colored shirt, then people can sign them. This may seem hokey, but it’s actually pretty cool.

The Middle Period

There is a quiet time between the initial contacts and the week before the gig. Usually it’s a couple of weeks. Once you get experienced at doing this sort of thing, you can shorten up the time from start to finish by reducing this middle period. Don’t forget to rehearse your own stuff. During this time you should consider any advertising you may want, and follow up on some of your logistical issues. This is also a good time to review the sequencing for the bands. Usually, you want to save the best for last, or save it for yourself (even if you’re not the best!), but consider that the first band shouldn’t really be the worst either. Although you may not have a full crowd at the beginning, having a solid band go first is a good idea, as they give confidence to any of the weaker bands that follow.

The Week Before the Gig

Contact all the different people to confirm that they are still on target. Re-confirm with all the bands that they are ready to play, tell them what time they’ll go on, and how long they get to play. Tell all the people who are contributing equipment when and where you will want it delivered. Put up posters with the band names and approximate times. You will probably find out that someone has not done something they were supposed to do, and so you’ll have to scramble a bit to solve that problem, but because you found out before it’s too late, you can usually make it work. This is the time that you really need to delegate the specific tasks. Jimmy will get the PA. Jane will get the drums. Try and identify one person to be a “runner”, a trouble-shooter with no fixed tasks and a pick-up truck.

The Day Before

Decide what time you want to set up. Earlier is usually better, so that there is some relax time between setup and playing. But some bars won’t let you in early. Confirm (again!) that the various pieces of equipment will get dropped off on time. Draw a sketch of the stage and where you want the drums and amps and keyboards and PA all to go. Try to get some sleep! Turn off the phones after 10pm. If your gig is on a Friday, plan on taking the day off from work, or at least half the day.

The Big Day

The Setup

No matter who else is doing what, YOU need to be at the site on time, and stay there! Tape your sketch on the wall so everyone can see it. Meet and greet everyone as they come in – be the “host”. Tell them where to set up, and where to store the extra gear and cases. If you can, set up the drums first, the amps second, and the PA third. If there is a problem, decide how to fix it (including the option to ignore it and carry on!) and assign someone to get it done. Try to do as little as possible yourself. I know this seems odd, but the idea is to keep it organized. Alternately, plan to do most of it yourself. You fetch all the gear and set it up yourself. I find it very difficult to try and coordinate many people and do a lot of the work at the same time.

The Break

If you’re lucky, you’ve got everything set up at least an hour before the first band goes on. This is a good time to relax, have a seat, chat with people. Absolutely no playing of instruments! If you have time, grab a shower, or at least change your shirt – wear one of the event T-shirts! If there are any money issues, now is the time to resolve them.

Show Time

One of the biggest problems for the host of these events (or any elaborate party) is the host doesn’t get to enjoy it. You should try to stay relaxed and spend as much time meeting and greeting the various musicians and other guests. If you appear relaxed, others will derive confidence from you. Hopefully, the arrangements will be obvious enough that everyone will know where to set their guitars, and where to get a drink.

One way to get the show started promptly is to have your own band go first. (Note: if it’s a long show, you can go again last!). This way, you get to check out the PA and the rest of the set-up with a band that you know. The problem with this is that you are not around to greet people and trouble shoot any other start-up problems. A lot depends on how well you know the other bands, and how experienced they are.

In any case, try to get the first band started on time. And pay attention to the clock. If a band looks like they’re going to run over, walk to the edge of the stage and tell them that the next song is the last one, pointing at your watch. If a change-over takes too long, tell the next band that they’ll have to cut back a bit, but try to spread it out (if you’re 20 minutes behind, take 7 minutes from each band). It’s good if you can play CDs during the change-overs, but not too loud, as it makes it hard to think on stage.

Problems

We all know Mr Murphy, and he always gets invited to these parties. The best thing is to stay relaxed and just work to solve the problem as best as you can. Don’t panic or become frantic. Just solve the problem as professionally as you can and move on. If you have done a good job preparing for the gig and you’ve set up a good stage, then you are probably going to be fine, and the biggest problem likely will be related to the food or parking or other minor (!) issue.

Tear Down

For the most part, tear down should be easy to organize. If everyone takes away whatever they brought, then there will be nothing left. In reality, you will probably have to lug a lot more than you did during set up, but that’s OK. You don’t have to organize anything anymore. Just make sure that all the money issues are resolved.

If you are so inclined, it’s a great idea to collect some of your closest buddies and head out for food after it’s all done. Go to a local diner (or my favorite – Mexican!) where you can get food and relax. You may not realize it, but you’ll be exhausted. So sit, eat, and bask in the knowledge that you succeeded in running your own mini Lallapalooza.

See, it’s easy!

Get out there and Play!

I’ve followed her career since her first self titled album. I first saw her perform in 1989 @ Toad’s Place in New Haven, CT, a small club with SRO (standing room only). That concert was memorable as I got into trouble for standing on the wall of the sound engineers booth in order to see her perform (hey, I’m vertically challenged). While I enjoy her albums, I really love seeing her in concert. I have seen her perform each time she has toured to promote a new album. She’s been in large and small venues, and has performed solo sets interspersed with her band sets.

She inspired me to pick up a guitar and learn to play it (yup, she is in large part why I own the beloved red Guild). She has a marvelous voice, both singing and guitar. I could listen to her sing a phone book! She has wonderful dynamics in her speaking and singing voice, with gravelley, husky overtones that make it quite distinctive. There are some great speaking voices that are just as appealing, like Sean Connery, Patrick Stewart, and James Earl Jones. I’d cheerfully listen to any of them perform, even if they just stood and recited the aforementioned phone book.

Melissa’s music connects in a personal way. On her albums, she sings about love and life in a heartfelt manner. One of the phrases that she has coined and uses during most performances is “Speak True”. Indeed she does, through her songwriting. However, while great songwriting skills may translate into a great album, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the artist is a good performer. While I strongly believe that live music is one of the best ways to hear an artist, there are many artists that don’t capture the audience in a show. Melissa Etheridge defines a consummate performer.

When performing, she always maintains eye contact with her audience. Instead of looking at her guitar, or off in the distance, she looks at each section of the audience and draws everyone into her music. She is such a dynamic performer that she manages to fill the stage, even when playing solo. When she is playing with a band, she interacts with each musician with enthusiasm. By actively involving each person into her music, she keeps the energy level at her concerts high.

Melissa’s choice of music at her concerts is wonderful as well. Of course, as a lifelong fan, I enjoy almost everything she’s ever written. She manages to use a formula in concert that works very well for many performers. Taking time to play her beloved hits while still showcasing new material allows her audience to feel the same enthusiasm for the newer songs as they have for their favorite oldies.

As with most concerts, there are moments when Murphy’s law will strike. How you cover for those mistakes is something you learn along the way, usually the hard way. For those of you that saw the Concert for New York on TV, she managed to cover well when her vocal mike cut out. During the last live concert I saw in NYC at City Centre, Melissa broke a string on her Ovation. She just changed guitars without missing a beat in the song. When you have a band to cover the notes for you, that’s not such a difficult task. She managed to perform a seamless change while playing solo, a pretty amazing feat. Later that performance she forgot some of the words to a song. She was comfortable enough on stage to talk to the audience, laugh at her self, and pick the song back up. The crowd roared appreciation.

Using other artist’s music to create playful segues is another way that she engages her fans in concert. Melissa played a few measures of Crimson and Clover during her rendition of Your Little Secret, illustrating to her audience that the chords really do sound the same.

This is Melissa’s first solo tour since she stopped playing in bars as a relative unknown. Performing solo without a band seems exhilarating for her. One could look at solo performance as riding the high wire without the safety net of the rest of the band. Using just her guitar and her sense of rhythm, Melissa was able to create the feeling that she had an entire rhythm section backing her. She used her boots to stomp the stage as percussion for one song, and the back of her guitar as percussion on Occasionally. I’ve seen her turn her Ovation over to perform that song many times, but this was the first time I’d seen her play it without a band. With her voice and her hands, she conveyed all of the emotion and power needed.

Melissa remembers her fans when playing, which has always endeared her to her audience. She paid homage to the 15, 20 ,30 people who used to pay a dollar to see her in the bars in Long Beach. She even played a request for “Superfan”, a fan from Germany so named because he has been to over a hundred of her shows. He requested that she play a song she wrote at age 15.

How does Melissa’s performance affect my performance? She inspires. She is so comfortable on stage and she always looks like she’s having so much fun performing. She manages to be playful, impish, and suggestive while on stage. She has a wonderful patter between songs that is spontaneous and genuine. This makes the audience feel at home in her world. I’ve figured out that I, too, can be comfortable in front of a mike. Once you lose that “Oh my God, there are people out there!” feeling, you realize that you are in control of the performance and your audience will go where you lead them.

n.b. This column continues in a series dedicated to the female musician. As always, I would love suggestions on topics you would like to see covered. If you are interested in seeing Melissa Etheridge in concert check out her current tour schedule.

Disclaimer: While I believe that outdoor gigs are fun, remember to invite your neighbors so they don’t complain, and have someone there who is sober and in charge of party-crashers. It never hurts to let the local police station know that you are doing this either. Also, you should have a plan for if it rains, including postponement.

Setting the Stage

For this example, the band is a 3-piece “power trio”, consisting of guitar, bass, and drums, and they want the minimum PA possible, as this is a free gig.

As often happens on a small stage, the drummer will set the volume. You don’t want to mike the drum kit, and you need to balance out the instruments. In most cases, a 30-50W guitar amp will work well with a standard drum kit. For the bass, 200W is about what you’ll need, although you can get by with 100W if you aren’t playing hard rock. If either amp is noticeably smaller, then you may want to get some help from the PA. If your amp has a “line out” jack, connect that to the mixer, otherwise, you’ll have to put a mike in front of the amp.

Look at the diagram below. Set up the stage with the drums in the middle, and the amps each of the back corners (green = bass, orange = guitar), so the drummer can hear them. This way, each of you can hear the balance of the instruments at the front of the stage, which will be similar to what is heard by the audience.

Renting the PA

So now you just need a PA for your vocals. For this you can rent any 200W/ch amp and a mixer. The older Peavey’s or newer Mackies are good for this, as they are combined mixer and amplifier, and they have internal reverb as well. But just about any combination will work. Be sure to get a good 2 channel EQ as well (the new Mackies have this as well). Get 2 full range speakers with mounting poles. JBLs are probably the best, but just about anything will do. You’ll need one microphone (yellow) for each singer, plus a spare (read “Expect the Unexpected” below). Don’t forget to get all the cables, including a long power cord and a multi-outlet strip.

Warning: Do not use home stereos or guitar amps as a PA. Home stereos are not designed to handle the continuous overdrive of live music, and guitar amps can’t provide the range or clarity needed for vocals.

Set the mixer (purple) on a table on one side of the stage, closest to whomever feels most comfortable making the adjustments. Set the PA speakers (blue) on their poles just in front of the stage. The speaker closest to the mixboard should point diagonally out to the audience, the other speaker should point diagonally back on the stage to be your monitor. The monitor should be far enough away from the stage that the person closest to it doesn’t get blown away. If you have time, set up early and get a friend to help you set the levels. The trick is not to get louder than the drummer.

The last step is to clean up the stage and your cables. Bundle all of the cables together and use duct-tape (or gaffers tape – it’s better) to hold them in place. Put a carpet over the power cable so that no one can trip over it. Check that no one can get hung up on the speaker cables either. Make sure that everything is neat and stable on stage, be sure that you’ve left room for your guitar stands and effects pedals, and tape down those cables too.

Expect the Unexpected

Now all of this sounds real easy, and most of the time it is. But here are a couple of common problems you may run into. First, the kick drum almost never has the oomph to be heard. You should plan on miking it as well. Second, since you are outside, the EQ is going to be very different. You may need to boost both the mid-bass (200-300Hz) and the mid-high (4-8KHz). If you are miking either the bass or the kick drum, you may need to extend the low end down to around 100Hz. Remember that it’s not good to keep any low end range that you’re not going to use. Also, without any walls to reflect the sound back at you, you’ll need to add more reverb than usual. Last, if you have a stereo amp, use the pan pots on the mixer to keep the bass and kick drum out of the monitor speaker, and only put in the guitar if you’re having trouble hearing it on stage, otherwise, just put the vocals into the monitor.

Note: To save you some serious embarrassment, I will remind you that the jack labeled “Monitor Out” on the mixer is not intended to drive a speaker. This is a line-level signal that must go to another amplifier to drive a monitor. The set-up I have described above does not require a separate monitor channel, and you should only need a true monitor system when your stage gets bigger and louder.

All-in-One Mini-PAs

Recently, Fender and JBL (and others) have re-invented the all-in-one PA. These units have a 4 or 6 channel mixer, with extra inputs for CDs, and come with a pair of powered speakers. These systems are wonderful for low-volume rehearsals or acoustic gigs at the local coffee house. All of the components are is designed to work well together as a system, and the sound is pretty good. However they are essentially a “consumer” product, and I do not recommend them for any heavy duty tasks. If you are going to get loud, especially playing with a drummer, or in a large or outdoor space, I would suggest getting a more “professional” PA. The JBL system I heard sounded very bad when it was overdriven, and it just wasn’t as loud as was needed.

Other Places to Jam

While your backyard is a good choice, not all of us are blessed with the acreage (or climate!). I do not recommend playing in your garage or basement at any serious level (eg with a drummer) as it’s really hard to sound good in such a small space. Here are some other places you can check out that may be free or at least reasonably low cost:

• Local School auditoriums
• Church basements or meeting rooms
• VFW, Elks Lodge, or other community halls
• Teen centers or coffee houses

So if you and your band have been practicing for months on end, but you’re not sure how to get that first gig, throw it yourself! Get out there and play!

As I grew a bit older my tastes in music changed and I can remember watching Oasis play Live Forever on MTV. I had always wanted to play guitar and seeing this band looking totally cool from the way they dressed to the way they walked, I thought to myself this is what it’s all about. At the time I didn’t really think about singing or anything I just wanted to play guitar and perform in front of an audience. From that day on I hounded my parents until eventually they gave in, and bought me a cheap Hohner nylon stringed guitar, and a Noel Gallagher songbook. I learned all of the chords from the diagrams in the book but had a hard time at first as I was left handed and was learning to play right handed. As soon as I had mastered the likes of Wonderwall and Married With Children I started to write my own songs, using similar keys and chord structures.

During this time I was totally mesmerized with music and mystified by trying to figure out which instruments one needed to make what sounds. I taught some of my friends to play guitar and we would play together but it seemed to be only me who was ever taking things seriously. I didn’t really have any idea of different styles of music as everything was new to me I could only play songs by the likes of Oasis and The Beatles, to name a few. After meeting up with some college friends I starting listening to more and more diverse artists and I also started to trace music back from the modern day to the 60s and 70s, listening to rock and punk. Then going even further back to folk and blues. I also read books on the blues and on blues artists such as Robert Johnson. At this time I also discovered the internet, which to this day has been my most useful tool in finding out about music and the situations that created it.

There weren’t very many musicians in the area where I lived and my friends were all losing interest so I was stuck for the time being. I thought that I would need a band before I could perform and I couldn’t get a band together. I started to reply to the classified notices in the back pages of various guitar and music magazines but I didn’t really have any experience and I was too young so I didn’t get very far with them. My dreams of performing seemed to be very distant. I used to listen to songs on the radio, daydreaming that I was the one performing them.

But about two years ago everything changed. I was at a friend’s house (a friend with similar yet more varied musical tastes then myself) and he put on a CD with this guy singing who sounded really knowledgeable and experienced, like he’d lived everywhere and met everybody. He was singing on his own and playing an acoustic guitar. I immediately thought, “Wait a minute! This could be me!” I asked my friend who it was and he told me it was a guy called Bob Dylan. I had heard of him before from reading the sleeve of my Guns ‘n’ Roses CD “Use Your Illusion II” He was the same guy who wrote my favorite track on that album, Knocking on Heaven’s Door. So I bought almost every album I could get my hands on and spoke about him to everyone I thought might know a bit more about him.

Shortly after that, I learned of jamming sessions at various bars in my area, known locally as “Busker’s Nights.” In the U.K.a musician who plays for spare change in the streets or in the subway is known as a busker, and on these nights anyone can get up on stage, and sing a few songs. So eventually I could fulfill my dream of performing. I turned up with my guitar one night at the ‘Duke of Cumberland’ bar and sat near the back. Two guys had just finished doing their set and I went up to ask them who I should see to get my turn on stage. One of them happened to be the man I was looking for and he told me that he’d give me a shout when it was my turn to play.

So by this time I was a bundle of nerves and I felt like running out of the exit and never returning. Instead I drank a few bottles of beer (legally, of course, because by this time I was eighteen which is the legal age here in the UK) and I tried to think of which songs I should play. I looked around at the crowd and although there were quite a few young people about, the average age seemed to between 35 and 40. So I decided to play a Dylan song, a Beatles’ song and one by Oasis, just to show the younger people that I liked modern music too.

After what seemed like forever, I was called to the stage. I picked up my guitar and walked up to the front. My legs were shaking and I felt a bit dizzy. I sat on a stool on the stage and looked out into the audience, which now looked much busier than it had seemed a few moments ago. The stage lights were almost blinding me. The guy running the show gave me the thumbs up and I proceeded to play a rather speeded up version of Like A Rolling Stone. While in-song, I found that if I shut my eyes I could pretend to be in my bedroom. During the last chorus I could hear people in the crowd singing along with me, which gave a bit more confidence. And while I finished the song at totally the wrong place (on the Dm, I think), which the people weren’t really expecting, I still received a long applause which made me smile throughout the rest of my set.

For my second song I played You’ve Got To Hide You Love Away by The Beatles. This proved to be a little bit harder than my first song as it has a bass run before the chorus going from the D note to the A note and then starting the chorus on the G chord and I messed it up at least once (well maybe twice). But taking things into consideration my second song didn’t go too bad at all. My vocals seemed a lot clearer on this song as I moved my head back from the microphone.

During my last song, Oasis’ She’s Electric, I could see camera flashes from the audience. This also gave me a bit more confidence and when I finally finished my set I received a really long applause. The guy running the show commented on how I did really well for my first performance.

When the crowd was clapping and cheering at the music I had made, I felt like I had found my calling. I didn’t want to let anyone else up on the stage – I wanted to play more songs! And once I had returned to my seat, people were coming up to me and saying, “That was good” or “You should come again.” I wanted to get back up on the stage. In fact, I was hoping that the guy in charge would shout me up for another set.

He never did that night, but week after week I went back and played another three songs and got the buzz of performing again. In the weeks that followed I learnt to open up a bit more in front of an audience and let myself go fully. Now I’m a regular there and at other clubs and bars as well. I get nervous still, but not to the point where I felt like running out the door. Doing it when you’re young makes it a bit easier (at least for me) because you don’t care as much if you were to make a mistake, but that doesn’t mean that if you’re over thirty you can’t give it a try.

I’ve been asked to give tips to people who were in the same situation I was before I started performing, please note that these are only my suggestions and some may not suit you.

Keep you mouth away from the microphone when singing loudly, because not only will your voice probably deafen most of the audience it will also sound a little distorted.

Keep plenty of picks handy because there is a good chance that you will drop at least one while playing.

Introduce each song as you go because most people like to know what song you’re going to play. It also gets you talking to the audience which I think calms you a bit.

Take a drink (water or whatever) up on the stage with you (if permitted – check first) because you’ll need it after a song or two.

Know your song well before you attempt to play it in front of an audience.

Judge beforehand what songs you think the audience will want to hear. For example, a crowd of 50-year-olds may not appreciate a Limp Bizkit track as much as you and your friends.

Make sure you instrument and vocal microphones are at the correct volume before you start.

And finally enjoy yourself because that’s what it’s all about. . . .

If you are interested in performing at a “Busker’s Night” check out more open mike tips from Alan Horvath’s article “Talent Showcases and Open Mic Nites“

Coffee Houses and Churches make the best settings for creating an appropriate atmosphere. Clubs, or venues serving alcohol, are usually bad for “intellectual art,” which is what open mics are, in my opinion. Let’s face it, alcohol doesn’t exactly put people in a state of focused awareness, eh? So, if you have a choice, or if you are thinking of starting your own venue, avoid the places that are offering alcohol. Of course, this isn’t ALWAYS true, and often it isn’t avoidable. But it is worth noting.

Open mics are a lot of fun! Instrumentalists, poets, solos, duos, trios, bands … you name it … will usually perform 3 or 4 pieces at a time – which makes it palatable for any audience to enjoy. If you don’t like the act that’s presently up, well, in 20 minutes they’ll be gone and you can enjoy the next surprise. And, often, it is a surprise! You never know when some real talent might step up and do something uniquely from the heart. If you’re just observing, you’ll find yourself thinking how well you would do in comparison to all that you’ve witnessed … but be forewarned! This is not as simple as it looks!

You may have done all your homework … practiced to the max … compiled songs that are pure hits … vocals and parts worked out to dazzle any audience … until you’re sure you’re better than anything you’ve seen at the local open mics. But on your first try you will most likely drop a bomb as big as any you’ve seen – and in total disbelief! And, these will be the excuses you find dripping off your bottom lip: “The room was too noisy – I couldn’t focus!” … “I couldn’t hear myself! That sound guy is a real jerk!” … “The guitar wasn’t loud enough.” … “The vocal mic wasn’t even turned on!” … I could keep on going, but what’s the sense? Fact is, you didn’t know what you were doing, and did a poor job. You didn’t really think you’d pull it off perfectly your very first try … did you? Of course you did! You worked hard at this! You prepared thoroughly! So what went wrong? Distraction. Unfamiliar surroundings. Lack of experience. That’s what.

So. What to do? Go back next week, and do it all over again. Simple as that. This is what open mics are for! Let’s face it … until you pull THIS gig off, you aren’t gonna be touring or getting paid for what you do. But if you focus, keep at it, and figure out all the little things that go on in a club atmosphere, it won’t be long before you’re a popular and welcomed face at the local open mic scene.

Rule Number One:

Understand this: Absolutely every person in the audience … in ANY audience … wants to see you do well. Really well. They are rooting for you from the moment you get on stage. Think about this for a minute, okay? Slow down … give this some serious thought … in fact, stop and dwell on this whole idea for a while, and recognize just how true it really is: The audience is not sitting there judging your talent. And, the audience is not sitting there waiting for the next big thing to strike America like a bolt from heaven, either. They don’t care how “great” you are … or how wonderful you think you are. They are very simply out to have a fun evening … and when you get up on that stage, they are HOPING you will be wonderful! If they see you struggling at all … with anything … they are secretly praying for your success … sending you their energy and their precious love … why? Dig this: Because they are putting themselves in your shoes, man! They are being “you!” Isn’t that what you do when you are watching and listening to an act? Meditate on this concept. It’s a true concept … and it’s a healing one, too. When you get up in front of an audience, you start with them on your side.

If you get up there trying to prove how good you are, you’re likely to do just the opposite. Try to let go of your ego … this isn’t easy, ’cause it takes quite a bit of ego to get up there in the first place, eh? But get this straight – you are there for them … they are not there for you. The performers who have this one twisted around, are very obvious … and it’s offensive … not entertaining.

Now here comes Mr. Dichotomy: Forget about the audience and just do your thing … don’t think about them, or how they are going to react … just do what you usually do … you know, when no one’s around … and let them witness that. Go inside yourself … focus on what you love … and let it happen. If you are thinking about the audience, you are not going to be focused about what you are doing and you are going to make a mistake … and then you’ll be thinking about what the audience is thinking about you for making that mistake … and while you are concentrating on that dilemma, you’ll make yet another mistake and then … oh, man.

In short, it all becomes a matter of what you really care about. If you’re overly concerned about what an audience is thinking of you, you are bound to blow it. On the other hand, if you care about what you are doing, it’ll show as a sincere presentation of whatever talent you have … and that is all anyone can ask for – including you.

Just know that any audience, from the very start, is on your side … so, be there for them by focusing on your song and giving yourself over to that. It’s not easy to develop this kind of trust in yourself, let alone a room full of strangers … but you may as well, because in the end that’s the way it’s going to be – or you won’t be playing in front of people for very long.

Rule Number Two:

Now … the technical side of things. This is tough at first, but after a few times it gets real easy: The first thing you do when you get up in front of the mic, is plug your guitar in … test it in conjunction with your mic … and get a happy balance happening. Don’t get all flustered, and don’t expect anyone to know what you need! You are the only one who knows that. Simply say, “A little less guitar, please.” Or, “A little less vocal, please.” Notice I said “less.” Amateurs tend to ask for “more.” Wrong idea. Less is more … as I’ll be pointing out. The only time I ask for “more” is in reference to my monitors. Those are the speakers (usually on the floor, right at your feet, pointing up at you) that let you hear what you are doing. If they aren’t loud enough, you might wind up playing in one key and singing in another … without ever knowing it! The audience will though … be sure your monitors are comfortable for you.

Okay. You’ve got a nice balance happening. You can hear your guitar and you can hear your vocal. Now you are ready to play. If you ever start playing before applying this discipline (and you probably will), you will know – and you will never forget – why it is so very important. If you can’t hear yourself in those monitors, you are going to do a lot of very silly things … and, like I said, you probably won’t even know it … but the audience will.

Rule Number Three:

Relax. Pull back. I’m tellin’ you … this is a hot tip! Play your instrument … sing your songs … quietly! Don’t be fooled! This applies to rock and roll bands too! I repeat – pull back and play softer than you think you should … especially in a noisey room! There is something that happens when you do this … it can not be explained … but you’ll see what I mean when you successfully apply this technique. It seems to create a “controlled tension” in your performance that adds magic and professionalism to any performance.

There was an open mic I use to hate playing. It was a long narrow room with the stage all the way back at one end … the acoustics in this room sucked so bad it was unbelievable! And to add to it, the place was usually packed with loud, drinking, partying college students. I honestly dreaded the thought of playing there, but went faithfully every week. I knew it was one of the most important gigs I could play … because it was the toughest. I use to say, “Man, if you can play this room and pull it off, you can play anywhere.” And that’s why I did it. And, the first time I conquered that room was the first time I played that room. I followed a popular rock band who had the place filled with their fans … no one knew, or cared who I was … and with just me and my guitar, I got on stage and set up … by the time I was ready to play my first song, the room was so packed and so loud I couldn’t hear anything that mattered! I focused … started playing WAY softer than usual … and with a quiet ballad, to boot! By the time I reached the end of the first verse, I had the attention of the entire room. And, man … I can’t tell you how good a feeling THAT is! The next song was upbeat, and from then on, they were all “mine.” And, afterwards, everytime I played that room I had their attention … because “first impressions are lasting ones.” If I would’ve tried to beat the noise of the room, instead of creating “my own quiet, private party,” I would never have done it.

Learn how to apply “controlled tension” by pulling back and focusing on having your own private party on stage … and everyone will want to join you!

Some Other Stuff:

If you are using a mic on your guitar, don’t place it directly in front of the soundhole … just slightly below the centerpoint of the soundhole, pointing up at a 45 degree angle is better … I prefer using a pickup, for the same reason I prefer using a headset mic … I like the freedom to move around, and I don’t like seeing a “silver stick” in front of my face and body.

Try and get there early, and place your guitar/equipment near the stage … there’s usually a designated area – find out where it is, and when you are called to play, be organized and quick about your setup without sacrificing your satisfaction with the monitors and sound.

When you feel your performances are up to snuff, ask the club owner to listen to your sets and let him/her know you’re interested in a paying gig – be ready, also, with a promo package for her/him to look at and listen to, and be sure your name and phone number are on every thing.

Be supportive of every act that performs … no matter what your opinion may be. Everyone needs encouragement – especially those who may *seem* to be wasting your time. If they have the guts to get up there, they deserve your attention and applause.

While you are on stage, keep an eye on the head-honcho-in-charge for any signals … he/she may want you to do another song, or they may want you to wrap it up. Act like a pro.

Don’t make excuses about or for anything. No one wants to know whether or not you have a cold, etc., etc. – there’s nothing so unprofessional as making excuses about your voice, or rambling on about some other unrelated issue. If you have a cool story to relate about a song, tell it like a friend, and it can truly add to the show … but keep it to the point and, for the most part, let your music speak for itself.

Last, but certainly not least, don’t play any song you haven’t practiced to the hilt. As my other tutorials point out, you should know your stuff backwards, forwards and upside down if you ever expect to let the muse have it’s way.

If you are interested in performing at an “Open Mic Nite ” check out more open mike tips from John Carrahars’s article Getting Up On The Stage

For those of you who didn’t have an opportunity to view it, the Concert was a collection of amazing rock performers: David Bowie, Sheryl Crow, Macy Gray, Goo Goo Dolls, Five for Fighting, Elton John, Billy Joel, Backstreet Boys, Destiny’s Child, James Taylor, Eric Clapton, The Who, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, Melissa Etheridge, Bon Jovi, The Edge and Bono and Paul McCartney, among others. They were introduced by various celebrities, including former President Bill Clinton, his wife Senator Hilary Clinton, Harrison Ford, Susan Sarandon, Billy Crystal, John Cusak, Natalie Portman, Richard Gere, Gwyneth Paltrow and many others in order to raise money to help those affected by the World Trade Center attacks. There were also short films by Woody Allen, Spike Lee, Martin Scorcese, Jerry Seinfeld, Edward Burns, Kevin Smith and others that were broadcast on large video screens. At one point, New York sports celebrities were introduced in support of the event, with their jerseys to be autographed and auctioned.

The biggest celebrities were the rescue workers: firefighters, police officers and emergency personnel. They were introduced on stage and many of them spoke of colleagues and loved ones lost on Sept 11. The rescue workers, in turn, got to introduce many of the acts on stage. For people used to quietly doing their often-difficult job, these heroes stepped up on stage and delivered their words in a genuine heartfelt manner. There were moments reminiscent of the turbulent rebellious 60’s as one firefighter spoke his mind to the audience.

What was so impressive about this show, besides the all star line up, was the joyous, sometimes defiant, sometimes reverent attitude of all the performers. This was classic rock, with all the great moments and snafu’s that live performance brings. To get that many acts on and off the stage, complete with film clips, was impressive.

David Bowie started the night of with his version of Paul Simon’s America. He then launched into a rocking version of Heroes, dedicated to the brave men and women who rose to the occasion on September 11th. Music is a time-honored way of expressing great feeling, and the feeling was quite evident in his rendition.

There was an awful moment when Melissa Etheridge’s mike cut out during the middle of Come To My Window. That is, it would have been an awful moment, but the stage crew managed to stretch it to an awful 5 minutes (an eternity in live performance). Melissa proved to be the trouper we know she is (she’s the subject of another Other Side article – Alive And Alone) and played aggressively on her Ovation while signaling to the sound engineer at the same time. The crowd was marvelous and sang along to her guitar, and when she was finally handed a working mike, she was able to pick right back up and finish her song. For her next song, she realized that her guitar was out of tune, and in a very calm and confident manner, requested a new one from the stage crew. When she had the appropriate instrument, to quote my favorite NY DJ, she “rocked the roof off of MSG” with her acoustic version of Springsteen’s Born to Run. The audience went wild, singing along with each word.

For me, one of the songs that evokes the feelings of the events during and after Sept 11 is James Taylor’s Fire and Rain. It’s always been a favorite of mine to play. To hear James Taylor sing it so beautifully and clearly was marvelous. His voice hasn’t changed at all over the years. You could close your eyes and imagine being in the 70’s, listening to him in concert then. To be able to give such feeling and beautiful acoustic guitar playing after so many years of playing the same music is inspiring. The evocative poignancy of music was truly evident in that moment.

Possibly the most heartfelt moment was when The Who took the stage. They were looking like, as my 9 y/o put it, “old guys” but they sure rocked. They were a bit shaky at first when playing Who Are You. They gained momentum with Baba O’Riley and Behind Blue Eyes, then became sublime with Won’t Get Fooled Again. Daltry and Townshend were singing in perfect harmony, and Townshend’s windmilling and blisteringly hot guitar solo were fantastic. “Pick up your guitar and play” indeed! The joy of their music was evident in the honest gritty performance.

Paul McCartney was wonderful as well. He was one of the driving forces behind the concert. With The Who performing, and Mick and Keith together as well, I half expected Ringo and George to show up, with Lennon forever in the spirit of New York City. McCartney played some wonderful tunes of his own and then gathered all of the performers, including some rescue workers, to come on stage to sing Let It Be and Freedom, a new song he wrote on Sept 12. He asked Eric Clapton to solo twice in each song. During the first of each pair of solos, Clapton played a nice riff, polished but not special. Then with the second solo of the song, the inimitable Clapton pulled the most amazing improvisations out of his guitar. It’s a comfort to know that even the most accomplished guitarist out there needs a measure or two to figure out how best to phrase his or her music.

The wonder of performance, whether Rock or Folk or Hip Hop music, is that music celebrates our feelings, whether rebellious or sad or exultant. It then unites and heals us in a heady way. Anger was an oft-repeated sentiment, as it has been many times in rock’s history. But equally expressed was the belief in a free society and the freedom to live and enjoy music and life. The music, in concert with comedy, film and genuine spoken expression of emotion, became a vibrant celebration of life.

For all those touched personally by the tragedy of 9/11, I extend my heartfelt sympathy. For those grieving and yet determined to live life to the fullest, as urged by many leaders, this was a glorious moment of rock. Now that’s a freedom worth fighting for.

n.b. This column continues in a series dedicated to the female musician. As always, I would love suggestions on topics you would like to see covered. Please email me and tell me your story. I enjoy hearing each and every one.

Well, if Stage Fright is something we DO, I think we can all agree we would rather NOT do it. But how do we not do it? The answer may surprise you.

There is no way to not do it. Or more correctly, there is no way for “you” to not do it. There is no way for the “you” who does it to not do it.

There is, however, a way to go THROUGH it. There is a way to give birth to a new “you” who does something else instead.

The answer to our problem is to discover what it is we SHOULD be doing when we play music for other people, and then do THAT. And what we will find when we DO that, is that the Stage Fright thing STOPS.

In order to find out what it is we should be doing when we play music for other people, instead of doing Stage Fright, we need to look at a couple of things first. We need to consider a couple of questions.

One, what is music? Two, why does anyone want music in their life? Three, what are we really doing (or trying to do) when we listen to music, or play music for ourselves or for other people?

What is Music?

There are 3 kinds of people. First, the people that have no feeling for music at all, and whose lives would not be affected if there were no such thing as music in the world. I believe these kinds of people are very rare, and that they are similar to the kind of people who don’t like dogs or little children, and the ones I have met always gave me the shivers. Personally, I don’t think I have met many at all, in fact, only one or two, so I have to account for them here. I’m sure there must be more, I have just been lucky so far. Second, there are the people to whom music makes a pleasant background to their daily activities. It’s nice to have around, like a basket of plastic fruit on the kitchen table. I do know a number of people like this, but I try not to spend much time with them.

Thirdly, there are the people who recognize what music REALLY is. They recognize that music is the most potent form of MAGIC a human being is capable of making. They recognize that music not only expresses emotion, music is a tangible form OF emotion. Music IS emotion, it IS energy in motion, human energy, human FEELING emotional energy. That is why this third type of person not only likes music, not only loves music, they NEED music. Thankfully, I know lots of these people. You will find this type of person as what we call a professional musician, or as an amateur, it makes no difference.

There are many among this third group of people who recognize that music is DIVINE. If you are one of the people who like to use the word GOD to express your feelings about the ULTIMATE REALITY (as I do), then you may think of it, like me, as the voice of God. When I was a teenager, listening one time to Beethoven’s 9th symphony, I was at once converted and baptized. I didn’t need any scriptures to tell me what God was like, whether there was a God, or any of that nonsense. The “Meaningfulness of Existence” had been revealed to me through a higher Revelation, one that doesn’t need human words. It was revealed in a different language, the one we call music, the one that never needs a translator or interpreter, because it speaks “in tongues”, directly to every human heart. And it had been spoken by one of Music’s greatest Prophets, Ludwig van Beethoven.

There are many musicians throughout history who have recognized the divine nature of music, and because they recognize it, they have the proper reverence for it. Beethoven, of course, felt this way. Antonio Vivaldi, the great Baroque composer of the seventeenth century, was, in addition to being a great musician, also a priest. One time he ran off the altar in the middle of saying Mass, because he had just at that moment received an inspiration for a new piece of music which he had to immediately write down, lest he forget. “I was called by a higher authority”, he later explained.

In our own time, musicians like Carlos Santana exemplify this highest type of artist. Santana’s relationship to his music has always been intensely spiritual, and you can certainly hear it in the notes! There is an intense quality of ennobled human emotion in his playing, as there is in the music of all such artists. “When I play, it’s no good unless I cry” he has said.

I have always noticed that the greatest musicians came to see that what they had dedicated their lives to was of a Divine, or Ultimate origin. In addition to being irresistibly compelled to be music makers and creators, they knew they were answering a supremely high calling. It is not without meaning that Franz Liszt’s students were not called students, but disciples. The same with Francisco Tarraga, (who Segovia called “the patron saint of the classical guitar”)

Why Do People Want Music?

Now, human beings have argued endlessly over their confused ideas of “God”, and made hundreds of versions of “God” each in their own image, and each with a different name which they know is the “true” one. But the beautiful thing about the language of music is that there is no confusion. There is no doubt. It is a direct communication of the Divine to the human heart, and it speaks to each heart that recognizes it. And it speaks in the native language of every heart it touches. When we are moved by the music we love, transported and taken to that place which is above this world, we don’t need someone to explain it to us, or tell us whether it’s “true” or not. We know.

And if you are a music lover, it doesn’t matter whether you have ever thought about it in this way or not, whether you have ever used the words I am using. The Reality we are talking about is beyond words, by definition! That’s the whole point! That’s why we need music to touch it! Music puts us in touch with our INTUITION, our “inward knowing” of the Spiritual Reality that stands behind this physical one we normally touch.

A thirteen year old listening to their favorite rock band or rap artist, the 30 year old listening to their favorite pop artist or folkie type singer/songwriter, the person sitting down to meditate upon the mysteries of a Bach fugue or late Beethoven string quartet, all are feeding upon this most necessary food of the human spirit, and are drawn to it as naturally as a baby to it’s mothers milk.

Now, here is the whole point.

What I am essentially saying is that music is a basic human need, it is not a luxury. If we do not feed upon this spiritual food, we will pay a price, we will suffer. If you have put yourself in the position of being one who MAKES this magic called music, if you have decided to become one who speaks this potent, universal, wordless language, than you have just joined a special community.

What Should We Be Doing When We Play Music?

If you have decided to be the provider of this spiritual food for others, then you have taken on a very special job, a very special function. And you must have the proper relationship to it, as those you are providing it for must also.

A priest, minister, or rabbi, is also one who serves the function of providing, or leading people to, spiritual food. He or she leads the congregation to commune with a higher, spiritual reality. I assume that such a spiritual figure, when they are conducting services, are wholly focused on what they are doing. I assume they are not up there thinking “gee, how am I doing? Hope the congregation is liking this! Likewise, I assume the congregation is focused on the reason they are there, to participate in a mutual “spiritual” experience, which the leader is providing. I assume they are not sitting there waiting for the guy to trip up a couple of words! I assume that if the leader misses or mumbles a few words here and there it is not going to make the participants lose their entire focus, and miss the spirit of the experience.

Many performers create terrible strictures for themselves by being so afraid of missing a few notes here and there. They play as if their primary focus was to not miss a note, instead of playing with feeling and expression. That would be like giving a speech, and focusing more on your articulation than on the meaning of what you had to say. Of course, it is not like the technical aspects are not important, but they are of SECONDARY importance. Music began because something needed to be expressed that couldn’t be expressed in words. Technique is the servant of expression, and should never be the master. Anyway, technical matters will take care of themselves when we know how to practice correctly.

Being “In Concert”: Your Responsibility

The dictionary defines “concert” as “agreement in action, feeling, or purpose”. It is a union, a meeting of mind, emotion and spirit. And the meeting takes place in a world of higher vibrations. If I am giving a concert, I am supposed to have MADE that agreement, to meet YOU there, the audience member, in the sound. That is my commitment, and I am supposed to be living up to it, not be thinking about myself, and whether I am looking good or not, and whether you like me or not! It’s a concert, not a contest!

And you are supposed to be living up to the agreement also, you are supposed to be “in concert” with me, meeting me in the sound, and not thinking about something else,

As I said in the beginning of this three-part essay, when a guitar player plays for another person, they are not only sharing the music, they are sharing their relationship to the guitar as well. If your relationship to the guitar, your relationship to your role as a guitarist and musician, is a mediocre one, a lukewarm one, you will not have much to share. First of all, it is your responsibility to make your relationship to music and the guitar (as your chosen instrument) a passionate one, an emotional one, because that is what we are dealing with here, that is why we bother to be musicians, because it is an inherently EMOTIONAL affair.

Don’t Fight Fear, Ignore Fear

Many people make a big mistake by trying to “fight” their stage fright, or to trick by performing little mental maneuvers, like imagining the audience naked or in their underwear. Well, I do believe in doing whatever gets you through the night, but don’t confuse it with getting to the heart of the matter. When Fear, when Stage Fright arises, it is because deep inside yourself, you are devoting a large part of your attention on YOURSELF, and not the music. In fact, here is something very interesting to ponder. It can be just as detrimental to your performance to be sitting there performing and be feeling really good about yourself as it is to be feeling bad about yourself. Most of us performers have experienced playing really well, and then sitting there patting ourselves on the back (in our heads), when we should be busy playing. Guess what happens? Bam, there goes that passage! Either it gets messed up, or just suffers from a lack of feeling or involvement, because we were to busy thinking about ourselves, this time in a “positive” sense.

There must be no “self” when you play. There must be only the music.

When we do make that inner error of putting self before music, whether “positive” or “negative”, the thing to do is to become aware of what you are doing. Take hold of your attention, and place it on the music, and feel your passion for it (which is what you are supposed to be doing, it’s what the people came for).

Fear (which is the result of your inner error) is like an unwelcome visitor who just popped in to see how miserable they can make your life. He stands there and starts saying nasty things to you to see if he can get your goat. Like any bully, if he sees he starts to get a reaction from you, he gets more power, he gets bolder. Pretty soon, he’ll have you on your knees. However, if he sees you are ignoring him and playing your guitar instead, he gets all deflated. It’s no fun, he hangs around a little bit, gets bored, and leaves.

The way THROUGH stage fright is to stay centered in that passion, to be with it, to lose the sense of DOING the music, and stay with the sense of BEING the music. This is the responsibility of the performer, just as it is the responsibility of the audience member. When this is done, there is no stage fright, because there is no one there to be afraid. When Attention is where it should be, on the music, instead of on the self, you cannot be “self-conscious”, you can only be “music conscious”. Then, the magic can really take place.

To Be With, or Not to Be With

As in all relationships in life, it comes down to this: to be with, or not to be with. Love, is to be with. Fear, the opposite of Love, is to refuse to be with. When it comes to this matter of playing our instrument for others, Stage Fright is what happens when we refuse to be with. Stage Fright is what happens when we refuse to be with the music, the audience, and ourselves.

Also check out… Stage Fright Part 1: What It Is And What It Isn’t and Stage Fright Part 2: How It Works, And Why It Works

Copyright Jamie Andreas, Guitar Principles.

Andres Segovia, for instance, who is the most famous classical guitarist of the 20th century, and undeniably one of it’s greatest musical performers, was, throughout his very long performing career of some 70 years, plagued with incredible stage fright, often shaking visibly before going on stage, and having the beginnings of concerts seriously impaired because of it. He is one example of many world famous performers who NEVER got to the root of it, and never overcame it.

Segovia did do something however, which to me is ridiculous and deluding. He did what I call “making a virtue out of a vice”, something people commonly do when they don’t want to or can’t change a weakness. They start to “re-shape” their thinking about it and turn it into something that makes them look good! Segovia told himself (and others) that suffering from stage fright was a sign of talent, and not feeling stage fright was a sign of not having talent! While it may be true that artists tend to be highly sensitive individuals who are more prone to certain “imbalances” in their make-up, it certainly doesn’t mean that that same sensitivity/talent MUST lead to the undeniably unpleasant (to say the least) effects of stage fright.

Interestingly enough, Segovia would, during the course of the concert, overcome the feelings and start to enjoy playing for the audience, as many players do. He would say, “before a concert, I want to cancel it. After I am done playing, I want to start again”. This was certainly a good thing, but why have to repeat the endless cycle of agony each time a concert comes up?

I have told you this story about Segovia, because I want you to realize the enormity of this problem of stage fright. I consider coming to understand ourselves in the context of how we feel about walking out on stage, or any kind of playing for other people, to be an ongoing, life long process, that is in many ways as rewarding and interesting as being a musician itself. And also understand that I am not talking about a certain kind of “excitement” we may naturally feel at the prospect and the experience of performing on our instrument for other people. Even by it’s very rarity, it carries a certain kind of excitement to it. I am talking about the absolutely debilitating effects, you know, like hearing about how John Lennon would throw up before a concert! I am talking about the “scared to death” kind of feelings. I am talking about things that makes us play worse, not better.

Before we talk about “why” we are so afraid of sharing our artistic selves with other people, and why we are so afraid of other people in so many areas of life, let’s talk about “how” we are afraid of other people. Let’s start real simple, with common experiences everyone has, but I don’t think everyone notices, or appreciates what is really going on when they are happening.

How Stage Fright

Think of it this way. When you are sitting on a public seat somewhere in a public place, maybe a bus, or a park bench, and someone sits next to you, why do you tense different parts of your body as they get closer to you? Why do you make an (ineffective) attempt to “withdraw” from that other person? Everyone does, you know.

Imagine you are walking down the street, all by yourself, and you are lost in thought, or the scenery perhaps. Why is it, if someone begins to approach you, walking in the opposite direction, you not only tense different parts of your body as they approach, but you will notice, if you pay attention, that even your awareness of your own self, your own body, changes. You will, for instance, become very aware of your face, as the person approaches. You will also notice it is not a pleasant feeling. Observe yourself in this situation. You will notice yourself doing these things.

If you were walking down the street by yourself, and then saw up ahead that you had to walk past a group of strangers, you would really start to react, or rather “contract”. You would tense your body, and “harden” your “body armor” for the experience of walking past them. I caught myself doing something very interesting a while ago. I noticed that whenever I walked into a public place, a store for instance, I would (unconsciously) anticipate and prepare for encountering the people there by tensing and or biting on my lower lip, very slightly, but still tensing. I had probably been doing this my whole life and never noticed. I experimented with not doing it (you have the power to experiment once you observe it, not before). I found a very interesting thing. I found that I felt somehow “unprotected” to walk into a group of people without tensing and biting my lower lip!

I could only conclude that the reason I was doing this WAS to protect myself. In my case, knowing my own neurosis so well, I believe it comes from a childhood of being told to shut up, and being punished for speaking my mind. So I would do what is meant by the common phrase people use when they want to say something but are afraid to for some reason, I would “bite my lip”. Most of us have some similar hidden obstacles. This is an example of what I mean when I say you must go deep to make real headway with this situation. It is through a long process of such experimentation and observation that I began to notice changes in ALL my dealings with people, including the experience of walking out on stage in front of hundreds of them.

We have all learned to do these things so completely and automatically that we don’t even notice them. In fact, it’s like when you are in a room, and there is a background noise going on for a long time, but you didn’t notice it until it stopped! Then you are struck by the “quiet:” that replaces it, but before that, you just included the sound in your awareness as a natural part of the “background”.

That is how these inner reactions we perform in our contact with other people are. They are so natural we don’t notice them. But you must realize that becoming aware of yourself in this way IS the beginning of actually being able to change this “stage fright” thing we are talking about, that so many people are never able to change.

When you do begin to notice these things, notice how fear of other people operates in your daily life in the simplest affairs (being in the supermarket, waiting on line, etc.) it will be a new sensitivity. It will grow over time. You will realize that the reason you experience fear of people on the stage, is because you have fear of people ALL the time.

But exposing such a vulnerable part of yourself as the part that strives for artistic expression, and requires special abilities, special TALENTS (my god, what if I don’t have any!), now that is pushing it. Our fear of other people comes bursting out of our seams by then!

In all the above mentioned situations, you will also notice, as your sensitivity increases, that the feelings occurring are not pleasant, not in the body, or the mind, just like stage fright. It is not a pleasant feeling because what you are really doing in all these situations is, in fact, trying to avoid the other person. You are trying to avoid the fact that the other person is there, that they exist. You are doing this by “hardening” yourself, and shutting down your awareness by withdrawing your attention from what is around you, focusing it into your own body, thoughts and feelings. This is what the word “self-conscious” means. You are being conscious only of yourself, not others and your relationship to them.

You see, when you step out onto a stage, or even just go to play for some friends, you are simply demonstrating the same fear, except that it is now too big too hide! Normally, we do hide it. It’s easy, since everyone else is hiding their fear in the same ways, and hardening themselves against us. They are just as afraid of us as we are of them, as we go about our day to day routines meeting people in the usual situations, as in the examples above.

Why Stage Fright

Knowing HOW we do the People Fright thing is actually more important then knowing WHY we do it. You can endlessly contemplate the WHY and still never change it. But by working with the how, you will discover the WHY anyway, and notice it changes by itself, over time. But as far as the reason for all the protecting, all the fear of other people, the root of it is simply the inability, the refusal, to love and accept ourselves as we are, with all our “faults” and imperfections. We do it to ourselves, and then we go around being afraid everyone else is going to do it too. We condemn ourselves for the mistakes we make as players, we compare ourselves to those “great and perfect players who everyone loves and accepts”, the ones we want to be like. Then we reject ourselves for NOT being so great and perfect.

Also, it can be a vicious cycle, because often guitarists DO have many imperfections in their playing ability, and the guitar is an incredibly difficult instrument by it’s nature, anyway. So being a guitarist, especially a soloist, can be risky business. On top of that, the teaching systems that have been developed over the years are always incomplete, and largely ineffective for many students. Don’t forget that compared to piano and violin, the guitar is a newcomer. Add to all that the guitar being a solo instrument, and guitarists being a bit “quirky” by nature (my opinion), and you have all the ingredients for a lifetime of mal-adjustment!

But it is our duty to always be trying to find the paths of growth, and work to improve ourselves, no matter what stage of development we are at. Without being engaged in that process, and yet still displaying ourselves before other people while being conscious of our stagnant faults, is to invite the paralyzing effects of performance anxiety as a permanent companion on stage.

The greatest players are always working on improving themselves. They are always aware of the things that can be improved, new territory that can be explored. But we all must understand that performing is a matter of offering what you have at the moment, to other people.

So, on a practical level, one of the most potent ways to begin to loosen the grip of stage fright is to couple an acceptance of ourselves at the moment, with the process of on-going development. These conditions themselves provide a sturdy foundation for the wobbly knees of the anxiety stricken performer.

Also check out… Stage Fright Part 1: What It Is And What It Isn’t and Stage Fright Part 3: It’s a Concert, not a Contest

Copyright Jamie Andreas, Guitar Principles.

Jamie

If I may call you that..how does one overcome StageFright?..I can play very well(I don’t mean to brag) and I’m sorry if it sounds like I’m doing it and alone I can come up with some real good licks but in public I freeze..please help me if you can

Larry

Now that is certainly the million-dollar question! If I could give you the prescription for that one in a few sentences, I think I could sell it for a million dollars! You see Larry, your question is very deep, very fundamental. It strikes at the very core of not only what being a performing musician is about, it also has everything to do with what being a PERSON is all about.

Fortunately for you and for anyone else who reads this, and is also suffering from the same thing (which I think includes everybody) I have vast experience with this one. In my many years of performing, I have suffered every degree of what is called “stage fright”. I have gone from someone who used to look out on the stage before a concert, and feel like there was a rope hanging out there, waiting for my neck, to someone who could play before an audience feeling as comfortable as if I were in my own living room all by myself. I have also dealt with, experimented with, and thought about this subject from many different angles, and believe I have come to certain truths concerning it.

What Stage Fright Isn’t

First, let me tell you some thoughts concerning a lot of the ideas that are commonly tossed around when one hears advice on this phenomenon from the many people who comment on it (and I have read many). One of the most prevalent bits of wisdom concerning stage fright is to regard it as some kind of potentially helpful thing. I have heard people say things like “oh, it’s really a good thing. You should connect with that energy and use it in your performance.”

Well, I always think whoever says that is definitely not feeling the same thing I’m feeling when I feel that FEAR, that “stage fright”. Because for me, there is nothing useful, pleasant or fun about it. The first thing I ever noticed about it was that it did nothing but prevent me from playing well, or even having any fun and enjoying myself. The second thing I noticed, was that it robbed these same things from the audience as well, most of whom are there (I assume) to hear what I sound like when I AM having a good time, doing this thing called “playing” music.

I once heard a concert performer giving advice to a young player on this subject, and his answer to the students professed problem with stage fright was “that’s because you care”, I guess he was implying “don’t worry about it, it is a sign you care about what you are doing.” I doubt it helped this guy very much. Probably left him feeling rather perplexed. Now he not only had to feel his stage fright, he had to conclude that it was the inevitable result of caring about what he was doing. I guess the message is “to care hurts”. Does that mean if you don’t feel stage fright you don’t care about your performance? To me, that explanation is absurd. True, I agree the “fright” has it’s origin in a certain kind of caring, but what I hope to make clear, is that it is caring about all the WRONG THINGS!. In a nutshell, it is the result of caring about how you, the player are appearing in other’s eyes, (or your own eyes, as we shall see) than you do about the music you are making, or sharing it with anyone else.

No, stage fright is not your friend, at least it has never been my friend. We all get to choose our friends, and for me, a friend is someone I can have fun with. This guy’s no fun.

What It Does

Before delving into the reasons for stage fright, and what to do about it, let’s bring into focus a few of the undeniable effects of it. For the audience, it is nothing but robbing them of their reason for being there. If I go out on stage to share my music with an audience (and I am really sharing not only the music, I am also sharing with them my whole relationship to music and the guitar), the audience is not there to watch me display my fear of them! They did not take a slice of their precious time to come and watch me get caught in the grip of my psychological problem about being up there in front of them, they came to hear music! They came to hear someone play, not freak out! So if nothing else, it is an extreme discourtesy to the audience members, and I believe it is the responsibility of every performer to get his or her head straight on this subject, (or at least try) and make sure they can deliver the product they are supposed to be delivering.

For me, the performer, the effects of stage fright are equally devastating. How ridiculous, how cruel, that I have spent perhaps hundreds of hours practicing, studying, working and sweating to learn these pieces and prepare this concert, and I go out on stage and have a severe traumatic experience! If I want to torture myself that badly, there are lots of easier ways to do it that don’t entail wasted practice time. I could race down the highway in the wrong lane at 100 miles an hour if I want to scare the be-jesus out of myself the way I have at times in my life by doing the “stage fright” thing.

How disheartening to have worked for hours to discover and shape the nuances of a particular passage, and not even be able to get the notes out when it comes time to share with another human being the fruits of my labor. It is truly nothing but it’s own special form of “musical impotence”. And it is all a completely self-created and self-imposed experience. It is one of the many ways human beings turn what could be beautiful into something ugly in their lives.

It’s not happening to you, you are doing it!

Having brought these points into focus, the next thing to realize is this. Stage fright is not something that happens to us, it is something we do. It is not something “coming over us”, it is something we are deliberately doing, from the inside, deep within ourselves. We are just not aware that we are doing it, because we never look that deep. So it appears to be out of our control, it appears to be something that is “happening” to us, not something we are doing.

I had a dramatic illustration of this truth one time when I was a young player, just beginning to face some of my fears about my own playing. I was just beginning to experiment with recording myself. I was shocked as I turned on the tape recorder and began to feel terribly afraid, and in fact experienced all the same symptoms of stage fright I had before that time had the displeasure of experiencing on an actual stage. There I was, sitting alone in my bedroom, with my heart pounding as I began to play for A TAPE RECORDER! What should we call that “Recorder Fright”?

People Fright!

This brings us to the crux of the matter. There is no such thing as Stage Fright. People are not afraid of stages.

There is only People Fright. People are afraid of people.

When I was sitting there, unable to play for my tape recorder, I was experiencing People Fright. The person I was afraid of was me! Or more properly speaking, I was afraid of all the voices in my head that I knew would start yelling at me when I listened back and heard that my playing wasn’t quite what all those voices demanded it be.

The reason you, me, and everybody else does this thing called stage fright, is because there is one thing that all people fear the most, more even, then they fear death itself. And that thing is OTHER PEOPLE!

I have read of studies where people are asked “what is your greatest fear”. Well, the winner is not fear of death, or auto accident. It is fear of public speaking. That says a lot. That is another way of saying “the thing I fear most is other people, especially if they are looking at me, paying attention just to me and what I am doing.”

Now isn’t that an interesting paradox. Psychiatrist’s offices the world over are full of people talking about how they didn’t get enough love or attention growing up. Nobody was interested in them or what they said, did, or thought. They are full of people willing to pay a high hourly rate just so SOMEONE will listen to them for an hour (make that fifty minutes).

And yet, put somebody up on stage, where they can get every iota of everybody’s attention, (no competition like having that pesky brother or sister around) and they fall apart! Isn’t that strange? Life is full of little practical jokes like that. I guess it what they always say about too much of a good thing…

Also check out… Stage Fright Part 2: How It Works, and Why It Works and Stage Fright Part 3: It’s a Concert, not a Contest

Copyright Jamie Andreas, Guitar Principles.

I have a good friend Mary – we both grew up in Hawaii. Mary loves singing, but does not play any instruments strongly. She has made several friends who do play instruments (in the Baltimore area), through contra dancing and folk music. She called me up with this idea -to e-mail everyone she knows who is the least bit musically inclined, and have a “pot luck jam session”. Everyone will bring food to her house, and their instruments and music, and we’d see what we could do! Mary provides name tags and beverages.

(I think this all started out with her yearly Christmas caroling in the neighborhood)

Most of the first session revolved around a book called Rise Up Singing – with chords and lyrics, but no melody lines. We have been working on setting up binders of music with chords, lyrics, and melody lines. The idea is that the food is in one room of her house, and the instruments are in another. People come, set up, and talk and eat. Then we get down to music – a LOT! We have a variety of instruments -3 hammered dulcimers, a fiddle, a cello, a clarinet, 3-5 guitars, 2 recorders, an alto recorder, something that sounds like a kazoo/recorder, a bodhran, bells, large African drums of some sort, a piano (not played much), a penny whistle, but some of these are played by the same person, and some people just bring their voice! Of course, not everyone comes all the time, so there is a variety of instruments each time, and people come and go from early to late evening. Also, sometimes people play for a while, drop out for a snack, then drop back in (after washing their hands!).

This is an amazing experience that everyone should at least try. We learn so much from each other. People take turns finding songs to do, and it is up to you if you join in or not. Sometimes we find a song in more than one source, and we need to change the key, based on our melody instruments or singing abilities. We have people of all abilities, from barely able to play to professionals. I play guitar, recorder, penny whistle, and bodhran, but none extremely well – however, I have definitely expanded my abilities – speed, reading and learning chord-only music, and techniques, as well as new chords. My husband went from struggling to join in on his hammered dulcimer to picking up the melodies quickly, playing around the melodies, and learning and playing chords much better than before. It is never perfect (the time I left my newly-purchased music stands at home, the time I arrived late because I had just spent three hours choosing a new guitar – my first electric-acoustic – a Yamaha CPX series – drool!) but it is always FUN!!! Now we need a bigger place… and we don’t get to meet as often as we’d like, as the local area dance schedule conflicts – but we are trying the 3rd Saturday of the month…

About the author:

Lee Budar-Danoff has also written: Another Approach and Looking And Listening.

I got an email a bit back with a question concerning one of my last articles. It was a good question and I sent off what I hoped was a good response (and I do intend to use both the question and reply in an upcoming column). I got a nice thank you for the explanation which included this statement: “I don’t know why you spend your time working on this site but I appreciate it and look forward to your next column.”

Now as much I like to think I know “why” I do the things I do, it’s always great to find that there are more reasons than I could ever hope to enumerate. It’s strange, but ever since I’ve started writing for Guitar Noise, I am being constantly showered with friendly reminders. Each day shows me not only just how important music is to my life and but also how important it is to be able to share this aspect of my life with friends and strangers alike.

Bass

I’ve been playing since 1974, but it wasn’t until my college years, 1975 through 1982 (I was one of many on the then popular “Bluto Blutarski” plan), that I made the acquaintances and subsequent “friendships for life” that music often fosters. Dan Lasley and I met in college waaayyyy back when. He and I’d played together, along with Laura and Anne (both of whom you’ll meet later) in White Ash and Dan also did sound for Fat Lewy. Then life, as it will, swept us along its way. He married Laura, moved to Los Angeles and eventually ended up (with family) in Connecticut.

Almost exactly a year ago, another good friend (and ex-Fat Lewy bandmate) Kyle got married. The reception was pretty much an all-afternoon jam with all the different people he’d played with throughout his life and it was a wonderful time. It was pretty much all I could talk about for months after the fact.

And one of the persons I wound up talking about this to was Dan. A mutual friend had emailed us both (and many others) some joke or other sometime in February or so and, as I was in one of my strong “why haven’t I kept in touch?” moods, I decided that I’d send him an email of my own. That led to his responding and my responding and on and on. I made mention of my newfound writing gig here at Guitar Noise and suggested that he might want to try his hand at sharing his knowledge. It proved to be a great idea as he is now the resident Bass for Beginners and Sound/Engineering columnist. And if you haven’t taken the time to read any of his articles, please let me recommend them. Even I can now understand some of this previously mystical engineering stuff.

And, of course, I told him about Kyle’s wedding and the reception jam.

And he, of course, said, “You, know, we could do that!”

And before either of us knew it, we were both swept up in life again, only this time it was carrying each of us towards each other. I have, literally, piles of emails. “What about this song?” “Do these dates work for you?” “Do you think we could talk so-and-so into coming?” Inquiries were sent out. Hopes were raised, hopes were dashed, other hopes rose to fill in the spaces.

It’s perhaps fitting to mention here that I’ve found that I have become addicted to jams. Yeah, I know that between teaching and practice I play virtually every day. But there is something very special about playing with other people. For me it is more important than playing for an audience (don’t get me wrong, that’s a real rush, too – just a different sort). And when the people in the jam are good friends, then it can really cook. I’ve taken to hosting some at my home and I get invited to some local ones and a grand time is had (hopefully) by all. It’s frightening, but sometimes my life can be divided into three phases: either I am playing in a jam, remembering and (over) analyzing the last jam or fully anticipating and/or planning the next one.

And lots of planning had to go into this one. Fortunately, Dan was handling the nuts-and-bolts aspects – finding a hall, checking into equipment, even going so far as to draw up a list of nearby motels! He even gave it an “all-purpose” name: Riverside Jam. He reasoned that if it became an ongoing affair, it could easily change locals and, well, there’s always a river somewhere close by…For close to four months, rarely would a day pass without some communication between us about the upcoming event. We’d make a big deal about something, realize that we were making too big a deal about something else, laugh about how serious/silly we were being, get serious about not taking something seriously enough.

And one morning I woke up and it was time to get my gear together and trundle out east to have a great time with my friends.

Drums

Dan introduced me to Anne. Exactly when this was, I cannot say. I want to say 1981 or 1982. Let’s just call it quite a while ago. Anne was one of many drummers I’d play with in over the course of a few short years (if nothing else, the movie “This Is Spinal Tap” is truthful in its portrayal of the life span of any groups’ percussionist), and she certainly was the most memorable.

About two years ago, she too was someone that I took a deep breath and called out of the blue. I’d gotten her number from a university directory and called her up one Sunday afternoon. My timing was great; she’d been spending the day tearing up carpeting in her home so any call was a welcome break! Yes, she was still in the area and before I knew it I got invited to visit and play with her friends and I in turn invited them around to jam with my friends and students. Again I had to wonder how we let people fall out of our lives. For if there had to be a single word to describe Anne, it would be infectious. Her enjoyment of life knows no bounds and spills over everything. When she is in a good mood it is close to impossible for anyone in her company not be in caught up into the same mood as well.

Anne turned out to be excited about going to the Riverside Jam (now officially “Riverside Jam 2000,” which did indeed hint at the possibility of more to come…) because she has relatives in Connecticut. So she planned to fly out while I planed to hitch a ride to Connecticut, first with a student of mine (and his wife) and then with a friend who was interested in coming along and finally with Amtrak (plans do change frequently, you know; always have contingencies). But, with a little less than a week to go, she decided to drive out and asked if I’d come along.

I was originally going to leave on Tuesday by train and meet up Wednesday with friends in Philadelphia who would in turn take me to Princeton. But Anne wanted to spend more time with her relations so we left on Monday night after she picked me up and we had a pleasant meal at a nearby Greek restaurant.

We made terrific time driving out (and back) with not a single traffic snarl worth speaking of. And I must tell you how positively divine it is to listen to an Edith Piaf tape while riding the Ohio Turnpike close to midnight. And then the tape automatically flips to Fats Waller on side B…

A Lead Guitar

Of this particular set of people, Greg and I go back the farthest. I met him in 1976 and we’d played in Balance of Power and other little groups we’d throw together for whatever occasion might arise. Even though there are some people I’ve known longer, he and I have been pretty good at keeping in touch. Like many of my friends and ex-bandmates, he doesn’t play much anymore and is genuinely happy to get the chance to do so.

Anne and I arrived at his home Tuesday night. After a quick bite for supper, she left to drive up to visit her relatives and I stayed to make the rest of the journey on Thursday with Greg. It was wonderful being with him and his family again. I am lucky in that I know so many people who genuinely make me feel at home. The time always flies by when I’m with him, whether I’m running ideas for arrangements by him or he’s showing me the latest equipment and/or toys that he’s picked up. We got in some playing time and also stopped in at a few music stores for supplies. I did manage to meet up with my Philadelphia friends in Princeton for dinner on Wednesday and then Greg and I headed off to Dan’s Thursday.

After unpacking a few things and having supper, Dan, Greg and I played for a brief while. Then Greg went off to check in at his hotel (his wife and daughter were to join him Friday) and I stayed up and caught up with my host. Even though we’d been emailing each other now for a half a year, there is still no substitute for being able to see into the eyes of your friends.

The next day, Dan and Greg went over all the sound gear and recording equipment while I wrote out and arranged charts for our “horn section.” It’d been longer than I care to talk about since I’d done this sort of thing and must say that it was a blast. Having two saxophones to deal with (either two tenors or an alto and a tenor) brought a new dimension to a jam that I’d long since forgotten. And, in addition to playing the tenor saxophone, Dan’s son Ben also had recently picked up the flute, so I tried to work that in for a song or two. Virtually everyone I know these days plays guitars or the (occasional) keyboard; it’s hard enough to get a bass player sometimes! Now when I said I “wrote and arranged” charts for the horns, you must undestand something. All I did was write out the parts that were deemed “essential” to a song and make sure that they were transposed correctly according to the instrument. Sometimes these were existing horn parts, like say in “Get Ready” or “Only The Good Die Young.” Sometimes I might double a guitar riff (“My City Was Gone”) or even the bass line (“Somebody To Love”). The purpose was to provide a framework, as opposed to step by step instructions. After all, I wanted everyone to have the liberty to improvise.

Doing the charts also provided me with a reason to not be giving my friends (both electrical engineers, by the way) the incessant questioning that I am wont to do when I assist them in such matters. I can lay out cable and set up stuff with the best of them but if you needed me to explain exactly what I was doing, forget it. And I was having a much more interesting time talking with Dan’s kids, Ben and Jacqui anyway. Not to mention serving as a perch for Pern, the Lasley pet cockatiel.

Laura, Dan’s wife, got home from her hospital shift about noon Friday. She was supposed to get off around midnight Thursday but a baby had developed some serious complications and needed ’round the clock care and observation. Laura told me the child’s name was David and I told her that he then had two things going for him, his name and the fact that she was his doctor.

She crashed for the afternoon while I kept at the charts and much too soon it was time to pack the gear again and to move it all to Toquet Hall, our venue for the next thirty hours.

A Horn Section And Another Guitar

Toquet Hall, which Dan had managed to procure for the weekend, normally serves as a student center for the local high school population. It has the usual amenities – chess sets, foosball table, pool table, etc. And it has a huge stage. I hate to say it, but it was easily two to three times larger than many of the Chicago bars I played at in the early part of the 1980’s.

We unloaded and set up the equipment. Along with the PA gear, Dan also had managed to finagle a drum set so that Anne didn’t have to drag all her stuff across country. After performing my assigned tasks (mainly lugging things around and laying out cables and stands), I met and chatted with Chris. He was another “infectious” personality, having recently graduated from high school and having his first semester at Berklee School of Music a matter of days away. And he certainly could play the saxophone! Not only that, he had a fairly good grasp of theory to fall back on.

In contrast, Ben hadn’t been playing anywhere near as long but more than made up for the difference in experience by playing his heart out. And a fairly good balance was achieved by having Ben solo on pieces he knew fairly well while Chris took on more of the ad-lib chores.

Anne made her entrance just in time to help setting up the drum kit. And about this time, Bart showed up with his guitar rig. NOTE: I fully intend to full this space with a detailed, yet understandable, description of Bart, guitar/synth/MIDI rig. Bart has promised to help me with this and I am willing to wait in order to do it justice. I appreciate your patience in this matter. Onward

So, with all the principals (for this evening) in place and the tweaking of the PA pretty much finished, we ran out around the corner for some Chinese food (fabulous Schezwuan style scallops, by the way) and then settled in for some fun.

Vocals (And Another Guitar!)

The guitars turned out to have personality quirks all their own. While the horns (and the keyboards too, as it would turn out) had no qualms about playing any and everywhere, and while the drums and bass solidly held the foundation, the four guitarists were much more tentative about staking any claim to a space. And this was certainly to be expected. Laura, wielding her new burgundy Strat, laid down the primary rhythm pattern. For my part, I switched from my Strat to the twelve-string more often than I thought that I would. Sometimes I would echo Laura’s part and sometimes I’d come up with a second rhythm pattern, provided I found it sparse enough to not clog up the song. Bart, with the huge array of effects to choose from, added a lot of color to the proceedings. On one song he’d be the steel drums, on the next he might be a Hammond B3 with a Leslie cabinet. He also was a virtual catalogue of songs. I had a great time bouncing songs off him. Greg was typically Greg, choosing his spaces well and splashing them with an appropriately intense spray of notes.

It had been some time since I last heard Laura sing and I must say that I was impressed. I didn’t remember her having such a strong voice. And it was eerie how well Laura’s and Anne’s voices blended together. Bart, like myself, was much happier working the harmonies and although I’m sure we’ll never be mistaken for any famous (backing) vocalists (when anyone ever asks me “And what do you want to be one day?” I like to say “A Pip.”)(what easier job could there be?), we did manage to make a good show of things.

We played on, our time divided between seriously arranging a song or two and seriously goofing around. It is frightening how quickly time can pass when you’re truly enjoying yourself.

We packed up for the evening and went our separate ways. One important thing that we’d discovered was that the volume level had definitely been too much for Jacqui, which meant that, in all likelihood, it would prove to be too harsh for Greg’s daughter Sydney as well. Thoughts would have to go into making alternate arrangements for them for the next night.

When we arrived back at the Lasley residence, Laura declared she wasn’t ready to stop the music, so she, Dan and I grabbed our instruments and played for another hour-and-a-half. Fortunately, I had also brought my classical guitar with me (it makes a lot less noise when I’m up in the morning before anyone else and I figure that I might as well get in a little practice), which provided still another new arrangement to some of our favorite songs. And as much as I’d been impressed with Laura’s singing before, I was very much blown away now. Sometimes it does take a little time to shake out the cobwebs and set your passion free.

Then both Laura and Dan surprised me by starting in on some songs I had written a loooooong time ago. I know that I’m going to sound overly sentimental, but I don’t know any other way to describe what I felt. I mean, any songwriter will tell you how cool it is to write a song or how cooler still it is to play in front of a rapt audience. I can tell you that. I can also tell you what it’s like for someone to know your songs well enough to request that you perform them and then join in singing along. But those feelings totally pale when compared to the high you get when people like your music so much that they include in their repertoires. And when you find out they’ve been teaching your songs to their friends and families…

As I said, just when you think that you know all the reasons why you do things, better ones pop up. May it ever be so…

Keyboards

I woke up at seven (I can be annoying that way) with some lyric ideas running through my head. I have a number of songs that are kind of “in progress” (and yes, I do have to get them on disc somehow in order to get some of them off to A-J’s songwriting club) (yet another thing on the “to do” list…) and I managed to nail down a chorus that I’d been toying with for months. Not only that, I came up with a first verse that had some promise. I also charted out the chords (after figuring them out) of the song, “Just The Two Of Us,” which Anne had been keen on doing. To top it off, I got in a good hour’s practice, so my day was off to a great start. As Groucho Marx once said, “You’ve got to get up early if you want to get out of bed…”

Saturday morning was spent making final tweaks and tracking down a babysitter for the girls. Dan and Greg headed in ahead of the rest of us in order to do a bit more work on the PA and the recording set up.

After picking up some lunch for everyone, Laura, Ben and I made it back to Toquet Hall and about getting prepared for the afternoon “practice session.” Anne shortly arrived with Peter, the keyboard player. Like Bart, Peter has quite a catalog of songs wired into his brain. We toyed with some numbers that we all knew and then Peter taught us one of his original songs, “Plug and Play Girl” which proved to be a lot of fun to play, despite being written in Ab! We also worked on one of mine, “Waiting For Nancy.” Dan had thought that it might be a good number for Ben to take a turn at a flute solo and he proved to be right. The flute was an inspired touch.

Bart and I goofed around with some songs – he had a synth setting that nailed the horn sound used in Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love” down cold, so we set about figuring the song out. Anne had it on tape, so she wrote out the lyrics. We never got around to doing it as a whole band, but I learned another song to add to my list!

Pizzas were ordered and picked up late in the afternoon and we took a dinner break to write up a set list for the evening. Now while Dan and Laura and I had been tossing songs back and forth across the internet, everyone else had been content to sit back in ignorance and let things happen. But when you’ve got a lot of personalities in the mix, perhaps the best (and fairest) thing to do is what we attempted to do – namely, go around to each person and have him (or her) pick whatever song she (or he) wanted until we had a certain number of songs. And, frankly, by this point it was becoming obvious that we had the personnel to pull off a lot of different kinds of stuff. It was more a matter of what songs were (relatively well-) known by a majority of us.

Three times around the horn netted twenty-seven songs ranging from the obvious jammers (Jumping Jack Flash, Somebody To Love, etc.,) to some inspired weirdness (Get Ready, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, and Pat Benatar’s True Love). Add a couple of (easily played) numbers to highlight the singing (Save The Last Dance For Me) and a couple of arrangements with just a touch of madness (ZZ Top’s Tush done a la Ike and Tina (“we never do anything nice and…easy…”)Turner) and you should have enough to keep everyone entertained for the evening!

Ouevos Rancheros

If you should ever find yourself conducting a jam of musicians who’ve not really played together before, let me offer you this word of advice: always start with a song that has only two or three chords. Obviously if it’s something everyone knows, that’s great – but then again, with only two or three chords, it really won’t matter if everyone knows it or not. Some four-chord songs like Sympathy For The Devil or Knocking On Heaven’s Door will work as well. The point is not to start out too complex. And if the song has a lot of room built-in for extended jamming, then all the better. We began with Dave Mason’s Feelin’ Alright, which provided ample opportunities to toss leads around between Chris and Peter and Bart and Greg while still giving the rest of us a lot of interesting rhythms to work.

The second thing I’ll advise you is to don’t feel like you have to sit in on every song. Pick at least one, and preferably a couple, where you just get up and go and have a listen. I put down my guitar when we came to Moondance and went and grabbed a chair in front of the stage area and took things in. Aside from immediate family (Greg’s wife) and friends (a couple of guys Chris knew) and the Toquet Hall staff, there was no audience. This didn’t really surprise or sadden anyone; we were having too much fun. I had to laugh when three teenage girls walked up to the door and then, almost exactly in step like a marching band, pirouetted and marched off in the other direction. Their “my God, it’s old people!” radar must have been on.

We played fourteen (fifteen if you include a really jazzy version of My Favorite Things from The Sound of Music) songs for the first set (as Dan would write, “we tanked a couple and really nailed some others.”) and took a brief break Time was marching on, though. We were only three songs into the second set when Laura noted that it was just about 10:30. As we had to wrap up by eleven, we played an extended version of Waiting For Nancy featuring solos from everybody. Ben’s flute was sublime, particularly as it was coupled with a capella vocals on the final round of choruses. And Bart surprised the hell out of me by coming up with a marimba effect that also worked wonderfully. I mean, I’ve been playing the song for close to twenty years now and I’d never have thought of that! We wrapped up with a rousing rendition of Secret Agent Man (again, solos dished out all around) (I even took one!) and called it a night. Almost…

A bit of history: As noted earlier, I’d played with Dan, Laura, Greg and Anne in various bands and whatnot. And one thing about playing in bar bands in Chicago, it can be a grueling schedule. Fridays and Saturdays you start your first set between ten and ten-thirty and you plan to finish when the bar closes which could be any where from two ’til four the following morning. Then you pack up, transport all the gear back to your rehearsal space and then go and get some breakfast. And then you go home and crash unless, like me at the time, you had a weekend job. Then you hurried home, changed and went off to work. Necessity dictated that we become experts on where to eat in the wee hours of the day and that we did. One of our favorite places was “Lindo Mexico” in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood.

Now while Westport, Connecticut boasts no all-night Mexican restaurants, Laura and Dan had a suitable substitute that proved to meet our needs. And, it being only midnight as opposed to five in the morning, the place was pretty lively. Just like when you exercise you have to remember to both warm up and cool down, so should you follow the same thinking in regards to jams. Put your guitar (or whatever) away for a while and sit around somewhere and have a good laugh and enjoy each other’s company as much as you enjoy each other’s music.

And to make matters absolutely precious, when we arrived back at the Lasley home shortly before one in the morning, we found that Jacqui and Sydney had spent their evening constructing an eight-foot long “Good Job!” banner which hung in the doorway to welcome us back.

Load Out

It’s funny, and I certainly didn’t plan it this way, but I ended up sharing rides one on one with each of my old friends. Dan and I drove home together Friday night and Laura and I ended up in her car Saturday. And as we hadn’t had all that much time together it was good to be able to share things again. Likewise the next morning, she, Dan and I took a good walk around their “neighborhood,” talking about nothing and everything.

Laura loaned me a book she’d read titled Zen Guitar. Let me say this: if you’re looking to become an overnight guitar whiz, this book isn’t for you. And if you’re seriously trying to delve into the ancient mysteries of zen, you might find this merely whets your appetite. But if you want a spot-on way as to how to approach playing the guitar or a philosophy that will get you through all the initial frustrations, then you might want to check it out.

Our original plan was to have an acoustic beach party to wrap up the event, but like all plans some flexibility ended up being required. Peter had volunteered his place for the occasion and so in the early afternoon we all made it down to his place. It was a drizzly day (well, it had been raining all weekend!), so we kept the instruments inside. But between too late of a start, the weather and Anne wanting to get an early start on the trip back (the idea was to be in Chicago before Monday’s afternoon rush), the session itself was very short. But we did get to play another of Peter’s tunes and one of mine and, more importantly, we got to spend some more time just relaxing and enjoying ourselves. Next time we’ll have a better handle on how to arrange some of the events.

And there will be a next time.

Back at work, about a week or so later, someone asked me if I’d had a good time on my vacation and I actually had to ask myself “I went on vacation? When did this happen?” I was already once again out of my “remembering the last jam” phase and well into the thinking ’bout the next one, whenever it may be.

It is truly frightening how fickle one’s mind can be. I can remember the chords of a song that I haven’t played for over fifteen years but I have to really think in order to recall the name of an author whose book I’ve been enjoying the past week. Memory (mine, anyway) is highly selective at best, and should always be considered highly suspect as well.

Yet in spite of all that, our memories are what provide much of our lives’ strength and hope during the times we’d rather forget fairly quickly. When we are sad or tired or bored or frustrated or simply wishing to be somewhere (someone, some time) else, a memory can be counted on to provide relief, to smooth out the troubles for a moment or two. How we choose to remember things, and how we use those memories in our lives, is often an indication of what is truly important to us as individual human beings.

Now, writing about all of this, it doesn’t surprise me that what I remember most vividly has little or nothing to do with the actual “performance.” I remember:

There are no billboards on the Ohio Turnpike
Thinking that following up Fats Waller and Edith Piaf with old Robert Palmer and new Paul Simon was an inspired choice
That it takes forever to cross Pennsylvania west to east but can be done east to west without you even noticing
Wondering why there is so much farmland in Pennsylvania but only three cows
Coming up with a hysterically amusing version of ZZ Top’s song La Grange done as a Gregorian chant
Learning the history of Lego’s from a huge poster Ben had drawn up for a school project
Being asked riddles by Jacqui and Sydney – I thought I knew the answers but, like just about everything, they too had been updated for the young. What has four eyes but cannot see, anyway?
Watching Dan’s eyes light up with delight when a song was taking an unexpected yet totally cool change of direction
Listening to Laura’s laughter while Greg told stories of his pet budgie
Getting a brief tour of where Anne grew up
Greg and I belting out Put A Little Birdhouse In Your Soul at the top of our lungs while driving back to his house from Princeton (“…and countless screaming Argonauts…”)

As much as we’d like to think otherwise, it’s the little things that will either delight or haunt us forever. A moment will always be more powerful than an event.

And jams are meant to be things of the moment. For all their planning and preparation (or lack of planning and preparation), the actual music is like a firework display. Some songs will take our breath away, some will simply occur without much notice at all. And when the grand finale is over and all that is left is the smoke and sparkling dust hanging in the air, everyone has their own memory of what happened. Oh yes, we can record the event (or not record it) and watch and listen to it over and over and over again, but we all know that this is not really as it happened. Because what really happened we heard and saw with our hearts, not with our ears and eyes.

Wherever you’ve traveled this past summer, wherever your life may take you in the future, I hope that you enjoy each moment in and of itself, if for no other reason than that it will ensure you lots of wonderful memories.

NOTES:

If you’d like to see photos of Kyle’s Wedding Jam click here. If you’d like to visit Dan’s page on the Riverside Jam 2000 use this link.

… is more like making a stew or gumbo. You get a big pot and add in a variety of intriguing ingredients, add a little heat, and enjoy!

So here is a recipe for setting up a jam session. As with any recipe, you need to adjust to suit your own tastes, but this should be a useful guideline. Also, your first attempt may not be the best. I have been in several jams, and some are wonderful, and some are not. But if you don’t try…

The Chef

If you’ve ever been around the kitchen with your spouse or your mother, you know that it is hard to have more than one chef in the kitchen. If you want to have a jam, you must accept the responsibility of being the head Chef. That doesn’t mean that you have to do everything, but you make most of the decisions. Remember that the reason that you are doing this is that no one else has invited you to play – if you don’t do it, it won’t happen!

The Menu

The Chef gets to decide what goes on the menu. How many musicians do you want? What kind of music do you want to play? Are you going to keep it completely free-form or are you going to structure it carefully, or somewhere in between? You are free to adapt the menu depending on several factors, but try not to lose track of what you want to accomplish.

The Kitchen

If you have a basic idea for how many musicians and what kind of music you want to play, the next decision is where to hold the jam. If you want to get 4 acoustic guitars together to work on intricate harmonies for 60’s folk songs, you can do it in your living room. If you want to play with 6 hard-rockers, then you can use a garage or back yard. If you’re crazy like me and try to mix 9 musicians, including 4 guitars and 2 saxes, then a decent size hall may be required. (See www.cyberlaz.com/RK2K/RJ2KPost.html). Again, the Chef gets to decide. It may cost some money, but it is more than fair to charge the participants enough to cover your costs.

The Staff

It is very hard to find people who just want to get together and play. Most people who call themselves musicians are only interested in playing seriously. Just goofing around for an evening is not their idea of fun, mainly because they rarely do it and it doesn’t advance their “career”. So where do you find the musicians? Let’s assume that you and a friend play guitar, and you want to add a bass, drums, and a sax. One good place is at work. Bring in your guitar (acoustic!) and start practicing during lunch. You will quickly discover that there are several other musicians around you, from a wide variety of departments. You may even find that you can get a mini-jam going in the cafeteria or conference room.

If that doesn’t net you enough of the right players, try the local music school. Go in and talk to the owner and explain your situation. My kids have been going to the Westport Music Center for several years, and I have gotten to know Steve pretty well. He has hooked me up with other parents, and he even rented me his large ensemble room (with drum kit and PA) for a Sunday afternoon jam. Don’t be afraid to use students either. Assuming they have the basic skills, younger musicians can bring a wonderful simplicity to your jam. I shouldn’t have to say this, but don’t forget the female musicians!

Alternately, you can post a note at your local guitar store, but most of the people who post or respond to posts there are serious.

Wherever you post your flyer, be sure to be vague about time and place until you’ve weeded out the undesirables (using your own criteria). Make sure you use the correct words to describe the type of music and the atmosphere that you are looking for. Be sure to note if you have smoking or drinking restrictions. When they call you, find out how often they are playing with others. You may find that some haven’t played in a group since they left their college band – this is good. You should be looking for people who are eager to get together with like-minded folks.

Pots and Pans

Once you have the place and a rough head count, you’ll need a PA system. Ask your participants what equipment they can bring to the gig, and figure out what you’ll need to rent. Again, share the costs among everyone. If you have the time, try to get the PA set up in advance. If you decide to record it, you’ll need that gear, plus some extra mics and maybe even an extra mixer. This could get complicated, and don’t be shy about delegating this chore if you can. Also, consider having someone be the sound engineer.

The Ingredients

I know I’m stretching the analogy here, but the flavor comes from the music. Once you have set out a theme for your jam, you should ask each of the musicians to suggest a few songs that they would like to play. Encourage them to write out the words and chords for their own selections, and make enough copies for everyone. If this is the first time that most of these musicians have gotten together, you should anticipate that you’ll have to go over each song 2 or 3 times just to get the structure. If you are really trying to develop the harmonies, you should pick out a small handful of songs and tell everyone in advance that you’ll all be concentrating on these. The results of a little bit of careful work can be quite startling. Be sure to include a few songs that don’t require much work, so you can just have fun and really “jam”.

Setting the Table

OK, now you’ve done most of the preliminary work – it’s a lot! You’ve found the musicians, picked a time and place. Now you need to deal with the non-musical stuff. You and the other musicians have families or significant others that might like to drop by. Are they welcome or is this a “closed session”? What about kids? (hint, hire a babysitter) Sometimes it’s fun to have a box of percussion toys, or a kids keyboard laying around. Or not – if you’re going to play loud, it’s not a good place for kids. But it’s still a good idea to offer babysitting so your musicians aren’t distracted. What about food?

Ambiance (say it with a French accent!)

This may be the hardest part (at least it is for me). You’ve done all the work, everything is set up, you’ve got a week to go before the gig, and you’re nervous as hell. The trick is to realize that it’s out of your hands – what happens at the jam will be determined by karmic and cosmic influences that you have no control over. You could be in for a magical night of wondrous music, or a nightmare of cacophony and ego-clashing. If you’re not relaxed, the others won’t be either. You’ve done your best, and it’s better than anyone else’s because no one else has set it up. So doesn’t matter, because as I said at the top, if you don’t try, you’ll never get to play.

Let’s Eat!

OK, you’ve planned the menu, gathered the ingredients, mixed them together, stirred gently, and you’re ready to serve! But why is your stomach in your throat? Everyone is set up and you’ve just made it though a simple I-IV-V rocker, and it wasn’t too bad. Everyone traded solos, and the vocals were close to on-key. So all you need to do is let it flow. You have your song list. Casually suggest the next song and point out the person who is supposed to lead it. Ask the question “Who goes first?”. Make sure everyone has the music, etc. Relax and have fun, let the other musicians take over some of the “leadership”. Take a big risk and put down your guitar and walk around. Make believe that this is someone else’s jam, and you are the guest. Don’t try to micro-manage everything. You really only need to provide some gentle guidance when all the musicians are all going in different directions.

Dessert

After you’re all done, and all of the equipment is packed up, make sure everyone knows that there will be some “cool down” time. Our tradition is to go out for a midnight meal at a local diner, but you can veg out on the couch too. This is a good time to recount the stories and to get to know each other better. Take some casual notes on things you might do better, but remember that some of the events of the evening are spurious and spontaneous – they can’t be planned for or prevented.

I hope you get a chance to make your own Jam. It really is worth the effort, and maybe one of the gang will host the next one.

I’d enjoy hearing from any of you who have hosted or participated in a jam. I’ll take your suggestions and augment what I’ve written above.

Remember to get out there and play with someone!