Hi just wanted to share with people and hear your remarks and thoughts
so I had to do a little performance in a small party at work.
A week before the schedule i though - I need half an hour. I'll explain them on the
guitar building, history etc.. i'll take the stand for notes, multi-effect.
two days before the show - Oh I need 15 minutes - I'll do 4-5 songs and prepared some
text to connect between the pieces.
A day before the show - mmm 5 minutes will suffice - I'll do 3 pieces and If they'll
want more, I'll play another piece.
On D day - I'll do a blues piece and a song. if they'll want more I'll do some popular
song. No need for the multi-effect, only notes stand.
5 hours before D time - I'll do a blues piece and that's it.
30 minutes before D time - I'm getting nervous - No need to play, I suck at the guitar.
Wish I had brought the multi-effect.
15 minutes before D time - ok ok, I'm reharsing the pieces now. no need for the notes
stand.
5 minutes - I plug my guitar to the amp - I do some chord, just striking the guitar -
It sound good. Hey piece of cake, Let's do it.
D time - in comes the speaker and changes the amp settings to suit his voice.. OMG
D time + 2 minutes - I begin to play, sound is horrible, I stop and try to adjust the
amp settings. I start again focusing on the notes.
Show time -
I'm nervous. no one is here I say to myself only you and the notes. relax. the classical piece went by.
Cool, now do the turn-around and begin the blues piece. My leg and left hand start to shake... I see I'm
raising my leg in the air. I lay it on the floor. shaking stops. I'm playing on auto
pilot, Not thinking at all, just playing guided by the feel. I'm not looking at the
notes... I'm hovering. Suddenly my left hand finger is stuck - I played the same three
notes twice instead of once. Smile, keep on playing. Ok end of piece. Hand clapping.
Suckers - they didn't notice my fault. I smiled, nodded with the head. went off-stage.
looked at the clock - 3 minutes that's all it took.
Conclusions:
1. focus on 2-3 pieces and learn them by heart. playing them while you're sleeping.
2. just keep playing - people won't notice if you missed a note or added three.
3. keep a little sheet of note as backup.
4. bring in your pre-amp and multieffect and if possible - bring your own amp.
5. relax, keep smiling - the show must go on.
As a show producer once said to me, "You know the material better than the audience". You can get away with some mistakes, but not all of them.
I'd have cornered the guy who changed the amp settings for his voice and made him put them back to what they were. Once you've soundchecked, your settings should be noted and sacrosanct; and you don't change settings on shared kit without knowing where to put them back.
I'm pleased you went down well. Addicted to applause yet?
Best,
A :-)
"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk
Put a sticker on your amp
"If you value your fingers, you WON'T touch these knobs" :lol: :lol:
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
Greybeard's Pages
My Articles & Reviews on GN
next time i will note the settings... another conclusion missed.
thanks alan
LOL greybeard !!! I'll just pull the knobs out...
Do you get addicted to applause ? It was the first "appearance" in public.
until now it was my dog and/or familly
Great story. Glad you made it through. Sounds like you learned alot too.
Geoo
“The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn” - David Russell (Scottish classical Guitarist. b.1942)
Do you get addicted to applause ? It was the first "appearance" in public.
until now it was my dog and/or familly
Oh, yes - applause is more instantly addictive than Crack, Speed, Ecstasy, Heroin, cigarettes and booze all put together.
A :-)
Just had to edit this - originally typed "fags and booze", and fags means something else across the pond doesn't it LOL.
"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk
Just had to edit this - originally typed "fags and booze", and fags means something else across the pond doesn't it LOL.
Just a bit. :lol:
Geoo
“The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn” - David Russell (Scottish classical Guitarist. b.1942)
next time i will note the settings.
One thing that is common for use with mixing boards is a printed sheet showing all the knobs, and the markings surrounding them, but not the pointer on the knob.
It only takes a couple of minutes to make marks showing the position of all the controls on a 36 channel mixing console, so marking up a similar chart for your amp/effects should be about 30 sec.
With that, it's a quick check to make sure no one has fu... err.. monkeyed with your settings. And dead simple to get back to what you had it set to.
Of course making the blank chart in the first place is a bit time consuming, but once you have that (and a few dozen photocopies of it) it's a snap.
I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep
This made me smile. My hands started sweating reading it.... :shock:
"Nothing...can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts."
That was a great story. I felt like I was there.
Good one!
Bish
"I play live as playing dead is harder than it sounds!"
Hey thanx everyone for your comments and supportive replies.
yes I wanted to describe what I was going through inside me - from thinking of appearing for half an hour to the show and beyond.
I think I will put on my list that the next gear piece will be a decent Amp.
something 50-100 W acoustic.
any suggestions ?
Ashdown - pricey, but really good for accoustics
Best,
A :-)
"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk
