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first public performance tmrw (saturday)


Geek99
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An open mic night at the Church Social. Yeah I know, next stop is the O2....

First time I went was mainly to observe and I got chatting to a local guy who gigs regularly and plays various sessions as well as doing his day job. I was, needless to say, "the only bass player in the village". He suggested next time (ie tmrw) doing "thats alright mama" whcih I didnt know and a random blues jam, the general flavour of which he left up to me saying he'd fit in with whatever I was comfortable with. I came up with an eight note pattern of G, Goctave, E, D with pattern variations for the longer chord sections like G | G | G | G | C | C etc such as walking up and down to following chord and a fairly respectable turnaround.

I found a fairly respectable bass tab for the elvis song and it doesnt seem that hard, Ive listened to it and I'm confident I can make a reasonable show of it and rescue if I lose my way.

We tried to run something up in the corridor on that first night, but I could barely hear my P unamplfified over his acoustic. It was a relief in some ways when I ran out of time and had to go home before a slot came up. Taking an acoustic bass as well this time to have a run through with him that I can actually hear. He sent me a text saying he is still up for it.

any advice y'all ?

Edited by Geek99
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Sounds like you are well prepared already. We've all been there, even the most experienced session players had to start somewhere. I remember my first public appearence in a jazz club, jamming with some friends to "Sophisticated Lady", about 25 years ago. It turned out to be a much more "sophisticated" rendition of the song than both the composer and we had intended, at some point I think we were all at different spots in the chart. But a friendly audience and good laughs about it afterwards saved the day.
The best advice I can give is to keep your ears open, make sure you can both see and hear the drummer and guitarist (or keyboard player), and you will be good to go.
Good luck to you, and welcome to the world of live playing!

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Thanks - I've listened to the track a few times, and I will try and find time to play along with it on my phone using Jamup. I am kind of winging it though.
The crowd wildly applauded a plucked rendition of twinkle twinkle on a violin last time so hopefully they will be either drunk or have low standards

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My bandmates (who've been in umpteen bands over the years) persuaded me (never played in public before) we were ready to have a crack at a local open mic a couple of weeks ago. Let's just say the first time turned into a bit of a train-wreck - all I could hear was myself, while the guitarist and the drummer (playing guitar on this occasion) were struggling to hear themselves never mind each other and we got lost several times over the course of two songs! :blush:

Fast-forward a week, and we went back for another go. This time, we followed the 6P's rule (Proper Preparation Prevents P*ss-Poor Performance), and actually got together a couple of days beforehand to run through three songs until we had them down. We then rolled up to the open mic nice and early so the guitarist could set up his amp where he wanted it, rather than wherever was left once the house-band had set up, and also had a quick run-through before anybody else turned up. When we actually did our spot a couple of hours later, it went far better than the first time. For one thing, we could actually hear each other, also the drummer played drums on this occasion, which held everything together nicely and gave me summat to lock into.

Just for the record, we did The Standells / The Inmates "Dirty Water" (re-written with local references of course... :) ), John Hammond / The Pirates "I Can Tell", and The Kinks "Muswell Hillbilly". Plan for next week is to do these again, plus The Byrds "So You Want To Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star" - can't wait!

Best of luck, try to relax, and enjoy yourself - if you're like me, you'll be buzzing for hours afterwards!!!

Edited by tony_m
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As has been said, keep it simple, listen to the others, watch the rhythm guitarist if you can (follow his chords if you get lost!) and enjoy it. You'll be back for the next one with more songs! We started off doing the odd one and are now the house band at a local OM. 14 songs at the next one in a couple of weeks!

Cheers,
Rich

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They did notice as guitard suggested we stop sooner than we needed to, although I was in a sense glad that he did.

Looking back at video footage, I don't think it helped that the guitard suddenly starting scat singing and joking with the crowd. I (unforgivably) got a bit lost in the twelve bar at that moment. I'd forgotten that he even did that. The crowd were nice but I felt terrible, not least for letting guitard down as he gave me a shot despite being a new face.

First few turns of the twelve bar were actually ok - I am even pleased with the sound out of my fake stingray and the house ampeg combo.

Might try an acoustic twelve string number solo next time but I'm not sure if I can sing. I shall have to ty it.

In the runthru I showed him my chord transition runs and variations and turnaround and he seemed to quite like them, so quite pleased about that.

Edited by Geek99
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