[CaliaMoko]

Never performed in front of more than 1 person at a time, and even then I feel crap afterwards because I know the nerves make it sound awful in comparison to when I play for myself. How did you guys muster up the courage and composure?

Speaking only for myself, of course...I worked into it gradually, starting when I was 16. Got a guitar and started teaching myself to play chords. Got with a small group of people who liked to sing and we would just jam together. And then take turns doing stuff. Before long I was relaxed when it was informal like that.

More formal...it's hard to remember, but first I probably was song leader at church in college. On campus they had guitar Mass at the Catholic church and guitar-accompanied music also for the campus Lutheran services. Anyway, when everyone is singing along with you, it's less nerve-wracking.

Then I forced myself to perform at events, still at college. That was nerve-wracking, but also exhilarating. And while in college, I also went to clubs that had live music, whenever I got a chance, and I often asked if I could sing something with them (pretty much always "House of the Rising Sun"). I don't know why, but that was usually easy on the nerves. I felt kind of "lost in the crowd" on stage.

Interestingly, although my major was vocal music, I could never get comfortable with performing in classes or for recitals in the music department. I did that only when absolutely essential, and I swear I nearly died from nerves each time.

These days, what works best for me is singing in public regularly and often. When I'm not in the habit, it's more scary on the rare occasions I do perform.

If I'm going to be singing a song or two at some event, it helps to imagine singing well and feeling relaxed. And saying to myself, "I can do this! It's going to go well!"

I hope something here might be helpful for you.

Vicki

[jacksimmons]

Never performed in front of more than 1 person at a time, and even then I feel crap afterwards because I know the nerves make it sound awful in comparison to when I play for myself. How did you guys muster up the courage and composure?

Generally I find that the bigger the audience is, the less scary it is, so don't let performing for a single dude and feeling like you want the world to swallow you up deter you from pursuing performance. The most nervous I can remember being are 1) showing new songs to my old writing partner from an old band, when it was just me and him, and 2) performing in a bookshop to some other local songwriters at a fucking awkward acoustic gig. Both times the crowds were tiny, and it was scary because I could see everyone's reactions perfectly.

I'm in a Bee Gees Tribute show and we play theatres around England, and in those dark rooms in front of hundreds of people I am much more composed than when I play open mic nights.

[CaliaMoko]

I'm in a Bee Gees Tribute show and we play theatres around England, and in those dark rooms in front of hundreds of people I am much more composed than when I play open mic nights.

Any videos?

[jacksimmons]

I'm in a Bee Gees Tribute show and we play theatres around England, and in those dark rooms in front of hundreds of people I am much more composed than when I play open mic nights.

Any videos?

Yeah, sure. I'm Robin, so here's me doing I Started a Joke  at the Alhambra in Dunfermline

[delb0y]

Damn, just posted a really long response and lost it when the page timed out. That'll learn me for not being concise.

I said: Guy, I loved that quartet stuff. My secret desire would be to sing in a street corner doo-wop style. But t'aint going to happen in this world.

Jack that BG's band looks really impressive - sounds great, too, but I can't tell how accurate a representation it is as I'm unfamiliar with the Brothers.

Scott - you should do more videos / songs. Definitely have the talent. But lose all that messing about before the song starts. In this day and age of short attention spans a lot of people - including myself under normal circumstances - would have quit long before the song itself started.

Here's my latest thing. I'm not one for technology or software - hence my lack of progress with the DAW. But last week I invested in some cheap video editing software with the intention of making some better videos of the band. it's a steep learning curve, so this evening I recorded some acoustic guitar with a view to trying out multiple camera work. Alas, I think my methodology was wholly incorrect (should've read the manual...except there wasn't one).

It's less than a minute long:

https://youtu.be/i1Q7VbnEvWo

Cheers
Derek

[ScottLevi]

Hey Derek,

Cheers, I think I will do more! Messing around is distance myself a little from the song, but no-one shot me for that video so next time a bit more professional

I like the video, I think the payoff to production on these things is quite high, and even a few well-timed changes can make for a much more engaging video.

[GuyBarry]

I said: Guy, I loved that quartet stuff. My secret desire would be to sing in a street corner doo-wop style. But t'aint going to happen in this world.

Thanks!  We did think about going out busking at one stage, but unfortunately we had to disband the quartet a couple of months ago because one of our members moved away.  I'm currently trying to recruit a replacement but it's hard to find people who are that confident with unaccompanied close-harmony singing.

Really liked the "Careless Love" video, by the way - both musically and visually.

I'm now in a much more professional-looking video, which was filmed during the recording of our annual Christmas CD.  Unfortunately I'm by far the worst thing in it because it came at the end of a long day during which I'd consumed far too much red wine!  Enjoy the video and try to ignore that idiot trying to improvise a harmony line and getting it slightly wrong.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg6Rer2Qcv3w3CdvfBTma2Q

[delb0y]

Well, it's been a very quiet autumn and it's shaping up to be a quiet winter. Talking to a few other artists, it seems to be quiet all round. Plenty of open-mics and plenty of discos but not a lot of paid-for band activity. That said, starting to get a few gigs for January - go figure! It's not actually a bad thing. I've made a bit of pact with myself to head off to the woodshed for an extended time. I need to up my country finger-picking skills and each step takes quite some time, so a quiet period isn't bad. Also pondering on getting a nylon stringed acoustic like some of my heroes. But we shall see. Meanwhile, I have a week off soon for Christmas. Yee-ha!!

[ScottLevi]

I need to up my country finger-picking skills and each step takes quite some time, so a quiet period isn't bad. Also pondering on getting a nylon stringed acoustic like some of my heroes.

Go for the nylon my friend, they're wonderful!

And you'll have to share if you're doing some cool finger-picking, I can only do 2 patterns and they're pretty basic.

[delb0y]

Cheers Scott. I'll have to sell a guitar in order to buy one, but we'll see. I think you're probably one finger-picking pattern ahead of me, if you know two patterns!

Here's a bit of electric guitar work that I did with the band yesterday. The T-Bone Shuffle :-)

https://youtu.be/mHSDZbEk0cw

[TimCurtis]

Hadn't done any open mics until earlier this year when another singer friend of mine got me out and I was hooked.

Myself and Gaby had been writing and recording on a PC for a while but we both got fed up with being slave to the machine, so switched it off and reworked some of the songs with just vocals and guitar.  We had been planning a full band but so far haven't found any additional band members.  So, I convinced G to get onto the open mic circuit with just the 2 of us.

It's been quite enjoyable so far.  It highlights just how much I rely on Cubase edits to sound good and I've had to up my game on the guitar.  Still nowhere near the level of many of the others that we've seen at the OM nights, but practice, practice, practice.  And it all feeds back into the songwriting to make the next song better/different. 

Bit nerve wracking as there's no band to hide behind and all my mistakes are laid bare for everyone to hear.  Though, as it's our own stuff that's less obvious.

[delb0y]

Hi Tim, good to have you here. I hope you're enjoying the show so far!

I have a love-hate relationship with OMs. In my geographical area they are very abundant and appear to have taken over as the live-music entertainment in many places - possibly an easy way to fill a pub on a quiet night without needing to pay anyone. That said, many of the pubs in question do also put on bands at the weekend so it's possible I do them a disservice with the comment above.

Also, there's quite an incestuous relationship with a lot of the muso's - the same ones appearing night after night, week after week, playing the same songs. Some are very good, some aren't, and every now and then a new comer arrives which is nice. I guess one way to look at it is it's a night out with your mates with a short interlude to play some songs.

I tend to do OM's rarely and usually only to practice / work-up new songs. All my songs are written with the intent of me playing them live. I see no point in writing a song that I'm not going to gig, and OMs are a great way to try out keys / tempos / lyrics etc and get some good feedback. But actually, because I go rarely I usually enjoy it because I catch up with a lot of friends. So there's the love bit.

Also, they're a good way to get out and practice stage-craft. A friend of mine did over 100 performances last year at OMs and you can't help but get better at being on-stage in front of people if you do that many. So more love :-)

Anyway, stay cool, keep warm, and enjoy the festive period!

[delb0y]

The latest update in a very infrequent series.

I might have mentioned my new amp before, but I don't recall. Anyway, sometime at the tail end of last year I sold my cheap Cort acoustic amp and treated myself to an AER Compact 60. It was an eBay deal that was just too good to turn down. An AER c60 was on my list of things to buy one day when and if my boat ever came in. Well, to hell with it. I bought one now :-)

And wow! I knew what they sounded like because a buddy in our trio has one, and when I went to see Wizz Jones he used one, and one of my all time fav's - Pete Huttlinger - used one, and I'm not sure if Tommy Emmanuel doesn't, too.

Anyway it's just so cool on a number of fronts.

First off it sounds gorgeous. I've been sat here this evening with the guitar plugged in one channel and a mic in the other just running quietly through a few songs and it's addictive :-)

Secondly it's so small and light. I've done two gigs with it so far and literally was able to park the car a fair distance from the venue and walk with a bag over one shoulder, this amp in its little padded bag over the other, and my guitar in one hand. And a pair of white shoes in my other hand...

We were fortunate to have a professional sound engineer on hand at last Saturday's gig - and he couldn't speak highly enough of the amp either. Must confess, last Saturday was all about banging chords out (the I Like A Drink duo) so I didn't do the little AER that much justice. But I think it's going to be a keeper. It makes the Tanglewood sound luvverly!

That's all. Off to walk the dog now.

D

[delb0y]

So, still here, albeit not writing many songs at the mo' (although I do have the first verse of a new one...). Like I said a while back, I need to get in the acoustic woodshed this year. I'm trying to get my fingerpicking up to speed ready for when I retire (it's a ten year plan!!).

Meanwhile, did a couple of gigs this week. The first one was the party duo ("I Like A Drink" and all that) at a small hotel.  It was a riot! The evening that new year's eve should have been. Really really good and loads of very nice comments - including some about my vocals which shows how drunk some people were. Then Saturday was an acoustic (albeit amplified) trio gig at a local bowls club. Another riot! For an evening of 90% original material it was a crazy success. We were mostly doing my buddy Sid's wonderful songs. I did get to play a few of mine with interesting reactions; "You Ain't Sticking That Thing In Me" went down a storm. "Drag You Back", too - in fact one woman came up to me and told me how much she loved it, and how much the lyrics hit home. Then my own personal favourite "I Like To Walk"... someone came up and told me they hate that song (they'd heard it before and didn't lie it then either). Can't win 'em all.

Anyway, next gig is a theatre gig with my rock'n'roll band - all covers. And we've sold out the place! :-)

So it's all going well. Meanwhile this is the tune I've been working on so far this year - Cannonball Rag. Excuse the soft focus video. (A) I can't work the Nikon and (B) I look far better out of focus!

https://youtu.be/J_6M0vcBWt4

Keep on keeping on!
Derek

[Boydie]

So it's all going well. Meanwhile this is the tune I've been working on so far this year - Cannonball Rag. Excuse the soft focus video. (A) I can't work the Nikon and (B) I look far better out of focus!

Gorgeous - I really enjoyed that