http://www.jsguitarforum.com/forum Anything related to playing in a band, doing the solo gig or just getting out of your bedroom and making some music goes here. en Wed, 08 Sep 2010 20:32:12 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.jsguitarforum.com/forum/images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.jsguitarforum.com/forum http://www.jsguitarforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=104235&goto=newpost Sun, 05 Sep 2010 03:58:45 GMT First of all, I quit my band after over 3 years together (classic rock cover band that played out 1-2 times a month). I quit for many reasons that I... First of all, I quit my band after over 3 years together (classic rock cover band that played out 1-2 times a month). I quit for many reasons that I could talk about in another thread. We have agreed to play 2 private partys that we had scheduled, we cancelled all bar gigs that we had booked til the end of the year. One of our gigs is in about 18 hours from now.

The bass player booked this gig a few months ago, a private party for a friend of his. The guys in the band have all done a free gig for a friend or relative from time to time. Example: I would do it for free for my sister's party, but the guys would get paid, pretty fair. So, he sets up this gig, I tell him its gotta be extra pay for me because of the holiday weekend and all, so me and the drummer are getting a decent pay, and he's doing it for nothing because its his friends party. He calls me today and says he wants to put out a tip jar because he isn't going to make any money on the gig, and wants to at least cover the gas costs. The party host is feeding us and giving us free drinks, pretty cool. I let my bass player have it, he is the one that agreed to do it for free, and now he wants to put out a tip jar.

I just want to know what your opinion on this is. Thanks. ]]> Performance Anxiety Hambone http://www.jsguitarforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=104235 http://www.jsguitarforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=104176&goto=newpost Wed, 01 Sep 2010 21:09:50 GMT Today was my first day of school and I'm in Chorus this year. This is my last year of high school and I dropped French so I had room in my schedule to take Chorus. Anyway, the teacher handed out sort of a schedule for us and we have to do a lot of performances outside of school. I'm very nervous because for a long time I thought I was a terrible singer. I started taking private lessons almost a year ago and I can't really gauge how much progress I've made. I know I'm a lot better than I was, but I don't really know how good I am. That sort of thing. I've never done chorus in middle school or high school and I'm not really comfortable singing in front of people yet. I mean I sang and played a song at a Jam night but that was my song, I was comfortable with that. This is pretty much just a rant. I know there isn't much I can do for nerves, but thanks for reading. :D ]]> Performance Anxiety katie http://www.jsguitarforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=104176 http://www.jsguitarforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=104077&goto=newpost Thu, 26 Aug 2010 08:53:21 GMT So I've been working and working to come out with some sort of sense of creativity, yet the proverbial mental block is there.

Since I've started playing, I have never been able to "solo." Recently, I've been doing nothing but exploring the neck from all avenues, and yet I still come up empty. The best ways to explain it are that I can pronounce words, but I can't make sentences. In other words, "where do I go from here?"

While I feel like I've taken a few baby steps, I just can't figure out the fretboard for the life of me; which note will sound after which note...

Any advice? ]]> Performance Anxiety Galactic God http://www.jsguitarforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=104077 http://www.jsguitarforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=104006&goto=newpost Sat, 21 Aug 2010 14:15:35 GMT Okay. So. The last open mic was the most successful yet.

'Been knocking my brains out, playing to thin groups atn tbhis place for the last couple of months.

So, last week, JS member Hobosox came down and bought three people (including another JS member!). Two friends of mine came. A young couple came and brought twelve people with them. A guitarist saw my poster and came down with his wife and kid.

This is a small place. 23 people inside make it look like an SRO crowd!

I played four songs at the opening, and I was done! All I had to do the rest of the evening was announce the acts. I got seven performers on and off in less than two house. Everybody seemed happy. The cash register was ringing.

I called the venue owner afterward. She was very pleased. She said her husband came down "to pick up something I forgot" (i.e., he was "checking up" on us), and he "couldn't get a seat in the place!"

Pix to follow... ]]> Performance Anxiety Tingly http://www.jsguitarforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=104006 http://www.jsguitarforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=103969&goto=newpost Thu, 19 Aug 2010 06:22:52 GMT For the past year I've been writing songs... I've got about 7 good songs full of whoop-*** riffs, melodies and harmonies. I don't write in the normal structure, intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo etc. My songs usually go part A-B-C-D-E-F-G etc etc. Progressive like. I put a lot of time and into each part, note by note, so the songs themselves take forever to finally come together. Not repeating a riff makes a full song more challenging to write in my opinion. I don't do it on purpose.. I just come up with riffs that flow into eachother and have no business repeating at any point. And it doesn't seem right without it that way. It flows.

Anyway, all the riffs I put in the songs are like, full-on ***-kick riffs and tax my brain and fingers to their its fullest. (I usually don't write a song that's not challenging to play, even after a hundred times) Even in my bedroom it's hard and almost impossible to play my songs without a mistake.

What the heck am I going to do when I find a drummer and start playing this stuff in front of people? does anybody have songs they just can't seem to nail one hundred percent more than once?

(Just to clarify, I don't write things that are hard to play on purpose, I'm not one of those guys. The best riffs I write just happen to be fast, awesome and hard as hell to play. (even for the guy who wrote it... lol)) ]]> Performance Anxiety Ranger http://www.jsguitarforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=103969 http://www.jsguitarforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=103953&goto=newpost Wed, 18 Aug 2010 03:12:31 GMT I took the drummer to a couple of clubs tonite and was able to score a gig for labor day Weekend ,Saturday Sept 4. The young lady that books the... I took the drummer to a couple of clubs tonite and was able to score a gig for labor day Weekend ,Saturday Sept 4.
The young lady that books the bands at one club knew me from two clubs i had played before ( she waitressed at these clubs,and kim said tonite 'i remember you always called us by name from the stage,telling the customers to tip us)
of course this as after i had told the drummer that we'd probably not get a booking for awhile,clubs stay booked for 3 months ahead, yada yada...........
so the rest of the band is now scared ******** :p but we'll do fine. i told them to have faith in me and i'll get us thru the gig just fine. we may wind up repeating a few tunes,but hey it'll be FINE. just announce that you ahve a request for the tune,and while we have already played it we'll be MORE than happy to do it again! ]]> Performance Anxiety scott powell http://www.jsguitarforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=103953 http://www.jsguitarforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=103946&goto=newpost Tue, 17 Aug 2010 19:24:35 GMT So, as many of you know, I'm back in the states in 2 weeks. I'm moving into a house with another guitar player, and he wants me to come play some gigs with his band. I haven't played reguarly for quite some time.

Does anyone have experience with regenerating muscle memory and skill quickly? I can't wait to gt my hands on my Goldtop! I just don't want to shame the axe, haha. ]]> Performance Anxiety Grooviness http://www.jsguitarforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=103946 http://www.jsguitarforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=103890&goto=newpost Fri, 13 Aug 2010 21:31:16 GMT My classic rock cover band recently broke up after over 3 years together. I want to get into or start another band, but want to take my time and try... My classic rock cover band recently broke up after over 3 years together. I want to get into or start another band, but want to take my time and try to find the best situation for myself. In the meantime I was thinking about trying my hand at a solo acoustic gig and see how it pans out. I'm kind of starting with some of the stuff we played in the band that I can sing, here's some examples:

Down on the corner
Margaritaville
Sweet Home Alabama
Stuck in the middle
Brown eyed girl
Gloria
Runaround Sue
Keep your hands to yourself
Brown Sugar
Ob-la-di
Sloopy

I'm looking into picking up some John Cougar also.

Anyone have any suggestions on some acoustic songs I could throw into the mix, especially something from the last 15 years, I'm not very up to date on modern music but I know there is alot of good acoustic stuff out there. I want to do songs people will know, one of our best compliments in our band were the good set lists, I wouldn't mind following that trend.

Any help would be appreciated. ]]> Performance Anxiety Hambone http://www.jsguitarforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=103890 http://www.jsguitarforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=103842&goto=newpost Tue, 10 Aug 2010 23:52:52 GMT As much as i said i would never do this again, it's looking as if i'm going to be running another band. my country band fizzled out, so i am devoting my energies to a rock band i joined about 3 months ago. It's a good bunch of people, no drinkers, and no druggies. I have used it as an outlet to play about once a week,and in all honesty havent cared if we played out or not because i was so burned out from my last band.
The drummer has expressed a desire to play out,and i realized i wouldnt mind if we did. i had a real Come -to-Jesus talk with him over the setlist and how it's one thing to get a gig and quite another to get asked back. If people arent dancing and being entertained we wont get asked back, period. this week we added 5 tunes that are more 'danceable 'and i gave everyone in the band 5 more songs to learn next week,as well as who i thought would do the best job singing these tunes. i was concerned that i would meet some resistance with the new guy coming in and taking over but the feeling i got was they were glad someone was doing the job and they didnt have to. one big gripe i have had with this band is that its VERY disorganized. i dont work well in that setting,and it dawned on me this evening that they are disorganized because noone has come in and said DO THIS!!! do it NOW, then do THIS tune!

i am drawing up a promo and have one more tune to mix for the demo. The drummer and I are going gig hunting the next couple of weekends. I told him not to be discouraged if we didnt get something right away,as many clubs book 3 months ahead. i also told him to follow my lead if i said some things that arent exactly true to the club owners :) Half of getting booked is BS'ng your way in lol.


So you guys keep me in your thoughts, i may be pulling my hair out shortly :R ]]> Performance Anxiety scott powell http://www.jsguitarforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=103842