i just find that when i'm playing, my mind seems to lose it's gravity, able to be blown around like a balloon in the wind, like my thoughts weigh only a few grams.
^That was very poetic. Well said.
It's sad, but I'm being serious.
I have a very odd suggestion, but honestly it's worth a try.
Go find a local jazz club that plays old swing and has a large group of Lindy dancers.
Good Lindy dancers and jazz players actually play off of each other. The dancers will do some move that the musicians dig, so they'll come back round to the same point to encourage the dancers to do more of that move. The musicians will add tempo changes to get the dancers to speed up and slow down. It's an increadible energy that builds as the improvisational dancers and the improvisational musicians build off of each other.
Spend a few nights eating good food, listening to good music, and seeing this stuff up close and personal. You'll never look at a dancer the same way again. They aren't a distraction, they're part of the performance. Approach them the same way you would a band member who suddenly gets inspiried to go off someplace within a song.
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST
jesus. I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH DANCING! i dance all the flipping time. i can't play the bass without dancing.
the problem is when i'm sitting down and kind of zoning out on the guitar, lost in my own thoughts, and suddenly some stranger in front of me is bopping around. it's like having someone jump out at you and say "boo" you don't think, you're just surprised. it's only a momentary reaction, but it makes me totally lose track of what i'm doing, and my playing suffers for it, so the person stops dancing.
this is not what i want!!!!!!!! i want the initial reaction to go away, so everyone can have fun.
I dont know why youre getting mad when everyone is trying to solve your problem.
I agree with tracker, if people are dancing to your music, i think it means that people are enjoying what youre doing on guitar, and are showing it by dancing. Its jsut somehting you have to get over because its not really that strange
You get used to it after a while, and stops being so distracting. When the girls start throwing their shirts at you is a bit disconcerting though....
Had one guy drop trou on the dance floor too!
Playing guitar and never playing for others is like studying medicine and never working in a clinic.
