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Looper's Delight
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Travis, Great post, LOL! Mayhap the loop of my response might bring this slightly back into topic. Have to agree using various instruments for a live gig, especially when a friend makes a request for you to use something that you've never used in a live experience (in this case it was a Tom Yocky http://www.tomyocky.com 6-string lap dulcimer, "With Wings") being run through with an A-B box also connected to a then stock MusicYo! Steinberger Spirit GT-Pro guitar and then going into a few effects and a Fender Princeton combo amp (this wasn't mine as well). After having quite a few technical difficulties (all dealing with patch cables) and finally having one of them take out my guitar, I ended up playing the majourity of the gig with the lap dulcimer (Boss UV-50, Yamaha UD-Stomp and 2-4 minute Boomerang) and then was asked to jam with the next guy who was on in the open-mic night. To say that I was mortified and would've given up the whole thing had it not been for several people (not to mention a few of the other acts/bands that were there that night) coming up and saying that they really dug what I was doing. Won't rant about the quality of Guitar Center patch cables, really, I won't. ;) Majour Tangent: The other bit of fun was getting to go to Chuck's (http://www.wmcworld.com) the week after in order to have the pickups/electronics yanked out and to have a set of Seymour Duncan (SH-2 in the neck, SCR-1 middle, and a SH-14 normal spacing in the bridge) pickups, a push-pull pot (turn on neck pickup for the three other settings from the 5-way switch), a dual concentric pot (neck and bridge tone), a new 1/4" jack put into the guitar. Been fiddling about with the improved Spirit GT-Pro and man, what a difference! I've got harmonics, I've got sustain and I've got a worlds better sound out of this instrument in my view. Wonder what a GL would sound like with similiar electronics to it. Lee On Nov 20, 2004, at 1:02 PM, Travis Hartnett wrote: > I also used to suffer from the beat-myself-up-after-every-bad-gig > syndrome. For the first five or six years I played in public, I had > probably two or three enjoyable shows, and the rest left me despondent > and suicidal. Two things that really helped were 1) playing out a lot > more (several times a week) and 2) playing a instrument other than my > primary one. > > A lot of musicans get wrapped up in identifying their musical ability > as their self. "I am the Mighty Guitarist! Playing guitar is my > Reason To Be!! As my playing go, thus goes my LIFE!!!" And so on. > This is frequently a recipe for disaster. And if you're only playing > one 45 minutes gig a month, that's a lot of time to build it up in > your mind before hand as THE MOST IMPORTANT 45 MINUTES OF THE MONTH. > And, if it fails to meet expectations (and what could meet those > expectations?) a lot of time to kick yourself in the ass afterwards. > Some people can maintain a healthy perspective while listening to a > board tape of a show for three days after a bad show, but most can't. > If you're playing more frequently, and more than one set, a bad gig > becomes just one data point in many. Also, once I started playing in > situations where we played more than one set, I was surprised to find > that the second set was almost inevitably better than the first. > > The second thing was when I started playing just keyboards in a band > (I'm primarily a guitarist). Right before the first all-keyboard gig > I remember thinking "Oh hey--I'm about to play in front of a lot of > people on something that I haven't spent years practicing on, maybe I > should be getting nervous?" And then the gig started and it occurred > to me that my job that night was to operate the musical tool in front > of me to the best of my ability. Not to be THE MIGHTY KEYBOARD > PLAYER, MASTER OF ALL HE SURVEYS. Which, is the perspective you > should always have, but being away from my surrogate Object of Power > and Self-Esteem (the guitar) really highlighted it for me. > > Oh, and the correct answer to any post gig "Hey man, that was great!" > type statement is always "Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!" End of > discussion. > > TravisH > > On Nov 20, 2004, at 8:57 AM, > Loopers-Delight-d-request@loopers-delight.com wrote: >> >> . . . I made a conscious effort to be a bit >> more gracious in accepting the kudos, while still >> being self-aware of the areas in which I needed >> improvement. This made a world of difference. >> A simple 'thank you' worked much better than a >> discourse on the importance of reliable patch cords >> >> >> This is a problem I still struggle with a bit. To audience >> members who are strangers it's easier to just smile and >> nod and say thanks and let the subject drop. But with >> friends and colleagues (particularly other musicians) >> it's hard not to admit seeing all of the problems/flaws >> that you assume were just as clearly evident to them. >> >> It's even worse if they're close friends . . . 'cuz then >> one's mind invariably plays the trick of coming up with >> the notion that these friends' compliments and praise >> are meant to be "encouragement" after a particularly >> BAD performance. My mind always says: "OH NO! IT >> MUST'VE BEEN EVEN WORSE THAN I THOUGHT IF >> SO-AND-SO IS TRYING SO HARD TO BE ENCOURAGING. >> GOSH! NOW I REALLY FEEL LIKE SHITE!" Heheh. >> >> > > "Vi Viri Venivirsium Vivius Vicci." - Faustus