I have to share a story with you. I went on a float trip this past weekend. I decided to bring my Bass with me and on Friday night was playing along to some of the songs doing some ear training. Hypnotize comes on and I had been working on that recently and I nailed it, in front of the 7 other people who were there, best part is the people camping next to us came over to give me a complement on my playing it was a great feeling and sense of accomplishment and I guess this is now the story of my first live performance. Thanks for all the encouragement.
Been there done that.
Feels great doesn’t it
How long have you been playing?
A little over 6 months now so not long.
Yeh playing with, and for, others is great for building confidence.
Yeah still working on the playing with part. Someday lol
Well done for not only nailing it but also having the nerve to play live in front of others
BOY was I nervous, I halfway wanted to just keep the Bass in the RV lol
Effing rad! Well done!
Well done, dude! In honor of your first live performance, I will tell you the drool story…
When I was a bit of a hardcore bluegrass guitar player, I’d go to a regular Tuesday night jam. Bluegrass, like jazz, has a lot of standards. Everybody knew the tunes, and the guy who led the jams would give you the nod when it was your turn to take a solo, usually 16 bars or so. I was content to keep rhythm for most of it, but I could handle some of the songs when my turn came up.
There was one song that always gave me trouble, Blackberry Blossom. No matter how often I practiced it at home, I could never get it right in front of people, so I would always shake it off when I got the nod, and the leader would pass it along to the dobro player, mandolin player, whatever.
One night I looked up at exactly the wrong time and got the nod on Blackberry Blossom with NO time to pass it along to someone else. I had to play it.
I nailed it! I played it perfectly, including some tricky bits I’d worked out at home. I was flying high until I noticed everyone staring at me and realized that my chin was wet.
Apparently, I was so focused on getting the tune right that my mouth was hanging open the whole time and I had drooled down the front of my guitar and into my lap.
So if you got through your first performance without drooling in front of the crowd, you get extra cool points for nailing it!
Awesome story, I did not drool but I feel like I zoned out when I was playing. Surreal feeling
Nothing like a live performance that brings out the best in most of us. You get so tune in. Of course I’ve had the deer in the headlights a few times too. Now I can laugh about it. I just miss the energy that practice sessions could never bring out. It’s like racing, it gets you into red zone in no time, you just hang on. What a rush.