Honestly Joe, I'm in admiration, and a little jealous I have to say....
Get through that night and you will feel fantastic I'm sure...
There is a very useful article about handling this sort of things somewhere here on Guitar Noise - I tell you, you can get just about any information you need here. :D
If you need help finding it, give us a shout.
I really wish you all the best...and....
Rock on!
D 8)
I'm nowhere near Chicago. I've got six string, 8 fingers, two thumbs, it's dark 'cos I'm wearing sunglasses - Hit it!
Dylan,
I bet if you put yourself out there on an internet musicians ad site or craigslist (do that have that over there?) then you will get a bunch of people contacting you.
That's all I did was put my self out there, was honest about what I knew and didn't know, and got several responses within 2 weeks.
I don't know how often you are able to play with other people, but for me it was the driving factor in putting the ad up, I didn't know anyone who played. I had come to the conclusion that if I wanted to get better I really needed to play with someone and learn some things that way, and it's helping alot.
In Space, no one can hear me sing!
Hi,
Definitely the more you try the worse it gets.
I had to stop playing for months to clear my head again.
Ed
Every time I pick up my guitar, 4 hours of my life just disappears.
It's like being abducted by aliens, but in a good way... :o)
Joe,
As everyone has said, sometimes we just have poor playing days. Sometimes your coordination is off, sometimes your ear is not good. It is normal and happens to everyone. The longer you play, the more good days you have and the less bad days you have, but you will always have a bad day once in awhile.
You do need to learn to relax. Playing well, especially in front of a crowd you need to relax as much as possible. Tension will make you stiffen up, your fingers will miss the strings, your pick will miss the strings. It will make you sloppy. RELAX.
What I have always done is psyche myself up a few days before a show. I remind myself that I am out there to have fun. Yes, I want to play perfectly, but I also want to have fun. If you are having fun on stage, the crowd will too. If you are tense and nervous, the crowd will feel it. So tell yourself you are just going to go out there and go for broke. If you make mistakes, so what? Just keep playing and smile like nothing happened. Most of the time the crowd doesn't even notice.
Don't eat a big meal before you play, this will make you sluggish. Eat a light meal, drink water and get a good night's rest before the show.
Try breathing exercises as well. Take a long slow inhale through your nose. Then exhale as slowly as possible though your mouth. Do this ten times. This was taught to me many years ago by a doctor and it really works. I rarely do it ten times in a row, but even three or four times and you can really feel the tension going out of your body.
Again, make up your mind right now that you are going to go out there and have fun and not worry about mistakes. You will do just fine.
Good luck at your show, knock 'em dead. 8)
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
Thanks Wes,
One of the things that's bothering me is the fact that he keeps changing the songs that we are doing. We got together for the 2nd time on Sunday and now wants to play a different song, I kind of know the chord progression but not really, it shouldn't take me that long though. We are getting together one more time before Saturday.
The other thing that's really got my nerves going is this whole playing solo thing. He wants me to play my "wonderful tonight" fingerstyle rendition. since I can't bend the strings a full step I've been practicing with sliding a full step instead, and that kind of threw off the way I've played it.
Either way, video will be coming after the performance. There are other musicians that are going to be playing as well, so I'm not too sure when I'll be playing.
In Space, no one can hear me sing!
Fortunately I wasn't gigging today, but I picked up my guitar and everything just sounded pants. I wasn't too sloppy, just slow and unable to groove whatsoever. Guitar in my hands and completely nothing to do with it. Rarely happens these days, think it might have been in part the hot and heavy weather, but I just wasn't feeling it. Fooled around for a bit with no improvement, then put it down and watched Wimbledon instead. Roll on tomorrow.
If you haven't gigged before, I would offer the suggestion of not drinking alcohol before you play. For me, the only thing alcohol ever affects is my ability to play guitar, so I never touch the stuff til after a gig is over, otherwise its an instant ticket to sloppyness. But if you're nervous you could end up drinking too much, so either knock it on the head until you've done a few tunes, or drink light beforehand.
