It's tough playing live on a foreign axe

PeteM

So, last night I went to Zaks at Windermere to sus the place out since our band has been asked to consider playing there at their 'invited open mic' scene.

Minding my own business and enjoying the various performers, John of Village Music, who organises the event, casually strolls over to our table and says, "You'll play a couple of numbers tonight won't you Pete?"

Heart jumps to about 180 bpm - very dangerous for a 64 year old who smokes far too much.
Thinks, "But I haven't brought my guitar, I never remember the words without my prompt sheet, Steve Fataar is sitting at the front table."

Me in pinched falsetto, "Okay."

Thinking I'll have time to compose myself whilst the next artiste plays a set, a rude shock comes when John goes straight to the mic and introduces me to the audience. I come on stage, a guitar is thrust into my hands, a quick balance test and I'm left to my own devices.

Now, I play an acoustic nylon guitar and this thing in my hands is a steel string acoustic with an uber low action and is strung with the lightest gauge strings on the planet. Play an A major chord in the 5th position and the 3rd string is as sharp as hell, play Em in the first position and it's in tune. Thinks, "Relax, don't push so bloody hard," But to no avail, still as sharp as hell. Oh well, tell the audience that I'm going to sing and play two blues numbers. Thinks, "I'll just bend the hell out of that third string and hope no-one will notice, and if I forget the words, I'll just make up some as I go along (accepted license when you sing the blues)."

Play the first number - get lekker applause. "Phew, got through that one". Play the second, get more applause. Heart rate starts reducing - no sign of a heart attack - I survived.

Must have been okay - John comes over to our table to thank me and to invite us to do a half hour set in three week's time.

inflames

That is well played Pete!

They say you produce the best results under pressure!

[deleted]

Hahaha, shame, Pete - it is a stern test trying to use someone else's guitar. Sounds like you pulled it off in style, though. Kudos for soldiering on.

I think Don also seems to have some pulse rate issues playing in front of the Fataars. They certainly seem to keep the Durban GFSA folks on their toes...

DonovanB

ah sorry I didn't make it last night.

I also hate using other peoples gear. You learn the subtle nuances of your own stuff and somehow manage it's flaws. It becomes part of the way you play guitar.

As for giving you notice, that seems to be how that crowd work. Last week I walked in, got a beer and as I sat down Steve said, "Donovan come play a song with me." There's no saying no or warming up you just gotta get up.

Don't you think it's a nice little setup though? could do with monitors but it's cosy.

Stratisfear wrote: I think Don also seems to have some pulse rate issues playing in front of the Fataars. They certainly seem to keep the Durban GFSA folks on their toes...

No comment. :-[

PeteM

Donovan Banks wrote: Don't you think it's a nice little setup though? could do with monitors but it's cosy.

Yeah, great venue - not so small though - seats about 150.

Bob-Dubery

I sometimes wonder how many perfect gigs get played. Gigs where every note is perfectly pitched, perfectly in time. Gigs where every lyric is delivered accurately. I suspect the count is very low. Not that we shouldn't try....

A couple of times lately I've had to play in front of professional players, much better players than I am with actual reputations. Steve Newman for example. Without fail I have found these players to be gracious and supportive. Again this is not a license to play badly, but I am trying to get myself into a space where if somebody more notable is in the audience I try not to panic about that (I have enough things to panic about).

It's also important to not telegraph your mistakes. I recall a gig I went to about a year ago where everything sounded fine to my ears but there was lots of face pulling going on, clearly sending a signal of "we screwed that one up". I started thinking how sloppy they were, if they hadn't been grimacing at the mistakes I wouldn't have noticed them and would have had a different opinion in my mind. Well done, Pete, for not giving the game away. It's hard to not pull a face or let out a little groan, but a lot of times nobody but you would have noticed anyway. We should be as kind to ourselves as the audience are.

I have seen Richard Thompson live 3 times now. On two of those occasions (one solo, one with his band) he fouled up the transition into the chorus on the first verse. Both times he just played an extra bar and nailed it the second time. It may be that only RT nerds like me who have every album and have played them all to death may have noticed, but this gave me a kind of hope: "wow! If he makes mistakes maybe it's not the end of the world when I make a mistake."

I think though it's important to maintain some kind of standard, to be satisfied that you really gave it your best shot. Otherwise at best you're not improving and at worst you're backsliding.

All that said, I'd feel nervous playing a gig on a borrowed guitar. To me live performance is in part about controlling things, the things that you can control and can reasonably expect yourself to control. You use a borrowed guitar then you give up some control.

chris77

? Handled like a true pro.

BMU

Great read, well done. Whenever I pick up a guitar other than my own it's like I never learnt to play, at least for the first few minutes. I shudder to think about that in an impromptu live pressure situtation.

Bob-Dubery

chris77 wrote: ? Handled like a true pro.

There's two ways to be "professional". One is to get paid for playing. The other is to take pride in what you do and in your preparation.

Even amateurs can be professional.

aubs1

Sounds like you pulled it off ok, Pete, well done..........and congrats........

Fingerpicker

Nice one, Pete.

Big transition from nylon to steel as well.
Which is worse, changing to steel for a nylon string player? or changing to nylon for a steel string player?

I play steel, and to change to nylon the action is high, the neck wide, the unwound strings slippery, the sound muddy so I generally feel uncomfortable with nylon. Personal preference. Nylon stringers probably prefer nylon for those exact same reasons, but would refer to the sound as warm, and not muddy.

I reckon the the nylon players could have a field day with this one!