Upcoming gig and nervous

West R Lee

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Hey guys. Now that I got my guild setup and playing nicely, I decided to schedule a gig over Thanksgiving weekend. It's my first in like 20 years. I quit back then because of performance anxiety. But, I want to give this another shot because I love playing music.

Do you have any advice?

I can play pretty well at home, but even going to guitar shops to test instruments I freeze up and suddenly my left hand becomes a death grip claw and might right hand has no idea how to play rhythms (at home this never happens). So if it's that bad in a guitar shop I guess I'm not over this and fear I'll bomb. I'm going to start with some relatively simple songs because of this, but any other tips? I want to get into some kind of zen state where I just don't care and have fun. That's what I keep telling myself. That nobody cares if I flub a chord, etc.

Do what I do......remember it's coming out, so it might as well come out your best (if they don't like it, give them the guitar)......AND drink two glasses of wine and call me in the morning.

West
 

GAD

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Best advice I ever received about playing live was this:

Remember that if you make a mistake:
95% of the people won't even notice.
4% will notice but won't care.
1% will notice and mentally mark you down for it, but you probably wouldn't want to be friends with them, anyway.

That simple bit of advice was given me by a guitar teacher and it made all the difference in the world to me. I've proven it to myself on many occasions playing for small groups of people and after mistakes, asked if they noticed any. It's very rare for a non-musicial to notice mistake.

Also, never play the toughest song first. That one I learned the hard way. :unsure:
 

dreadnut

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Saw a kid in a bar one time, he had a slick Tele and a big amp, and he absolutely nailed the blues song "Red House." I was impressed.

Next he murdered a Jim Croce song, I mean it was absolutely dreadful.

Know your strengths...
 

davismanLV

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Do what I do......remember it's coming out, so it might as well come out your best (if they don't like it, give them the guitar)......AND drink two glasses of wine and call me in the morning.

West
Jim, this is the BEST advice. Some of my best support will be my most hateful critics but if they ain't singing??? Here's the MIKE BITCH!! Just keep a good thought and do your best..... it's taken me 64 years to learn that one, you know?? Everyone has lots of opinions and judgement. But they ain't singing!! Or playing!! :encouragement::encouragement:
 

West R Lee

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Jim, this is the BEST advice. Some of my best support will be my most hateful critics but if they ain't singing??? Here's the MIKE BITCH!! Just keep a good thought and do your best..... it's taken me 64 years to learn that one, you know?? Everyone has lots of opinions and judgement. But they ain't singing!! Or playing!! :encouragement::encouragement:

Years ago I shut a couple of guys up who were making fun. I stood up and handed the guitar to them. They politely declined and shut up. What I always used to love about Arlington was that one's skill level never mattered.........everybody there was so nurturing of everyone else. I personally saw player after player come out of their shell in that environment. Graham......Scratch.......neither had ever played in front of people before. Over the years, Graham has picked up on guitar faster than maybe anyone I've ever seen, And Scratch? Well he writes all his own music now and straps a harmonica around his head while he plays and sings. Both were true beginners in '07 or '08, and I think the folks in Arlington gave them the confidence.

West
 

fronobulax

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Is Arlington a guitar show where they sound demo in front of a few folks, or do they also have an open mic there, or something?

Many years ago at the Arlington Guitar show, some LTG folks rented a meeting area and met there. About ten folks, plus or minus, sat around and played their Guilds for and with each other. It happened two or three times that I can recall, although I was not there. If you recall when the Guilds took over the lobby at a hotel at the LMG you attended, that is probably a close comparison. But it was not an offical activity of the show, nor was it an open mic in the usual sense. just friends playing together.
 

West R Lee

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Is Arlington a guitar show where they sound demo in front of a few folks, or do they also have an open mic there, or something?

For 4 or 5 years, each year beginning in '07, LTG held a get together centered around the largest vintage guitar show held at the Arlington Convention center in Arlington, Texas each October. Another reason we held the get together there was because it was the only American guitar show Hans Moust did each year. On Saturday nights we'd lease a cabin behind the hotel and had an LTG get together and an "open mike" where LTG members would play solo, accompany each other, or simply take it all in. It was truly a blast and many of us miss it enormously. It seems we've all just gotten too busy.

West
 

crank

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LMG was pretty great too. I was glad I made the first and last and sorry I missed the ones in between.

So tonight I am playing at an interesting event/format. It is a local musicians meetup group and this will be my first time meeting and playing with them. The format is is a small performance space at a local piano showroom and restoration place. There are 17 people registered and 14 of us will perform 2 songs each then there will be some sort of a jam afterwards.

I have been playing out in bands off and on for 30 years, but can count the times I have played and sang solo in public on one hand. I have done some regular open mics a bars, but this is different for sure. I am a bit nervous but it should be fun. Planning to play/sing "I'm Your Man" by Leonard Cohen and then if I am feeling adventurous and comfortable, "Lovesick Blues" Hank Williams style... If not I will punt and play "some Dark Hollow". As a friend told me - it's right in my wheelhouse both vocally and guitar-wise.
 

West R Lee

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Wow, that's the way to do it.....sounds like a dream get together. What a beautiful thing. Just appreciation in the most honest and open sense.

"Too busy" then too dead" (or physically unable anymore) and then too "late." Too common.

Yes, it is sad. The "core" people in that group have all gone their separate ways it seems. I may be the only one of that bunch (other than Don and Hans) that gets on here anymore. but they've all gotten busy with the things of life and have other interests. A couple of them I can't keep in touch with as they've dropped FB accounts, etc., only the occasional email.

West
 
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Velvet Phelts

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1. What matters more than mistakes you might make. Is how slick you can get out of the mess you made. Improvisation is key. If you freeze, you're had.
2. Play to the last person in the room. Don't pay any attention to the ones in the front. They will distract you. Glance at them now and then. But keep you're focus to the back.
3. If you make a mistake so bad you can't get out of it. Stop, make a light joke about it. Start a different song. Maybe you can come back to it, maybe not.
4. Have fun. The more fun you have. The more relaxed you are. The better it will go. Regardless of mistakes. Everybody makes em. Why should you be ridiculed for it.
5. Don't be afraid to fire back at a heckler. If someone gives you a bad time about a mistake. You might mention the mistake that person made choosing their outfit.
6. If you play your opening tune, and get no response. And it happens to us all. Play a tune and knock it out of the park. Only to be greeted with dead silence. " Thank You ""For you're overwhelming round of indifference". Some will get it, and laugh. Those people are you're focus. Others won't. Don't worry about them. Play to the ones that are listening.
7. Be loud enough to be heard. You don't want the audience to overpower you. If you are the entertainment. Make them listen to you. Not the other way around. Are you singing? If so, Start with something everybody knows. Sing with the authority of a father instructing his kids to,
"GET OUT OF THE POOL NOW"! Timid won't work
8. Have I given you enough to think about? Good. That'll take you're mind off of weather or not you hit a bad note.
 

GAD

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Good advice, but this thread is three years old and the OP hasn't been back in over a year. Nothing wrong with posting - just wanted to warn you that you might not get a response. Well... aside from this one... :)
 
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Velvet Phelts

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Often I read a post Especially if it's listed under What's New. Read and reply and never even look at the dates. Oh well. Someone else might read , and benefit from what I wrote. Or, maybe think I'm full of it. No mater. I take this whole thing as entertainment anyway. So, as long as I had fun. I'm good.
 

Stuball48

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Often I read a post Especially if it's listed under What's New. Read and reply and never even look at the dates. Oh well. Someone else might read , and benefit from what I wrote. Or, maybe think I'm full of it. No mater. I take this whole thing as entertainment anyway. So, as long as I had fun. I'm good.
[/QUOTE

I did
 

Balderdash

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Hey guys. Now that I got my guild setup and playing nicely, I decided to schedule a gig over Thanksgiving weekend. It's my first in like 20 years. I quit back then because of performance anxiety. But, I want to give this another shot because I love playing music.

Do you have any advice?

I can play pretty well at home, but even going to guitar shops to test instruments I freeze up and suddenly my left hand becomes a death grip claw and might right hand has no idea how to play rhythms (at home this never happens). So if it's that bad in a guitar shop I guess I'm not over this and fear I'll bomb. I'm going to start with some relatively simple songs because of this, but any other tips? I want to get into some kind of zen state where I just don't care and have fun. That's what I keep telling myself. That nobody cares if I flub a chord, etc.
Perhaps there is software that needs to be taught a definition of "new"?
I joined LTG yesterday (8/12/20).
Clicked on this and read it top to bottom and glad I did.
Would like to have heard back from the OP how it went, but don’t really need to. Very familiar with the range of how it could have gone. Been there.
 

dreadnut

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Some lyrics to a song I'm writing:

It’s Saturday evening at the Dirty Shame Inn, the regular crowd are all there

I set up my guitar, my stool, and my mic, I’ll sing all night long and no one will care
 

Balderdash

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Reminds me of other places I’ve been, good venues are so rare,
I practiced all week - I was psyched, but all I could muster was a blank stare.
 
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