First time playing out with a band!

[sunvalleylaw]

My guitar instructor had asked if I would play with some of his other students at a local outdoor "Springfest" in a park. I was not sure about it but said yeah, what the heck. He played a base rhythm on his Martin HD-35 (helped hide student mistakes) and handled vocals. I and one other 15 year old (Shecter LP type guitar, I forget the model) played combo rhythm/lead, taking turns playing solos in each song. Two other young guys played a MIM Fender P-Bass and keyboard. My instructor hired a local drummer who plays with several local bands. He practiced with us once a few days prior and was absolutely rock solid.

We prepared a 4 song set including "Peaceful Easy Feeling", "Found Out about You" by Gin Blossoms, "Sultans of Swing" and "Secret Agent Man". That intro line is just fun to play. The three of us were right on on the timing, I think because the two students were following Herr Instrucktor. I was really nervous about my solos except "Secret". Secret and Peaceful I had practiced melody line oriented solos and had practiced a little something sort of tracking the Gin Blossom's solo. Sultans was just a bluesy type noodle. No Knoppfler chickin pick'n for me yet.

It came off pretty well, and my solos were fine. I could have played the Secret solo better (I rushed it for getting best tone out of my bends on G string), and blew the dismount on an encore of "Peaceful" by playing the final chorus chords in the wrong order. LOL! Overall though, we sounded pretty good for student types. If one was struggling the others filled in.

I had an absolute blast and was smiling up there big time. Now I need to just get used to adding vocals to the mix. We hope to do it one or two more times over the summer. Anyway, just a beginnerish effort and certainly not perfect, but it sure was fun!! :) :D :DR

Sorry, no vid or recording. I was too nervous to have to think about getting that arranged and no one else did either.

[WackyT]

Congrats Steve!

[warren0728]

very cool steve...sounds like a blast! :DR

ww

[Robert]

Congrats Steve! Welcome to the club of public performers! It's a blast, isn't it?

Good to hear you didn't chicken out. I try to get some of my guitar students to local jams, but some of them are just too scared, unfortunately.

[Spudman]

Awesome dude. No longer the little newb you are. Next step...a band! Oh, wait...if your marriage is still good then make that "open mics."

Seriously though, I'm glad you took that plunge. It moves everything to a whole other level.

(handshake clasp) I'm so proud of you.:R

[sunvalleylaw]

Thanks Guys! Spud, Mrs. Sun was very supportive. Taking your cue, I think open mics and guest appearances/jams are going to be the thing for now if they are available. Just Playin', just for fun!

[t_ross33]

A big "attaboy" from up North! :DR

Trev :)

[tot_Ou_tard]

Way cool, Sun!! All ten thumbs up!

[SuperSwede]

Yeah, thumbs up! Congrats Sunvalley! :)

[sunvalleylaw]

Congrats Steve! Welcome to the club of public performers! It's a blast, isn't it?

Good to hear you didn't chicken out. I try to get some of my guitar students to local jams, but some of them are just too scared, unfortunately.

Thanks all! I have received a lot of help and support here and that really has helped. Robert, the key to not chickening out was to approach it as just having fun with it and not getting into my eldest child "Must be perfect" recital mode. Trev, just thinking of you in your KISS makeup helped with the right frame of mind! :p :DR

Then, to keep it all in perspective, we had folks over for a barbecue. My guitar stuff was out, and one of the Dads who is relatively new to the area and his 15 year old son wanted to check it out. They plugged in, Dad did some nice bluesy stuff, and then son absolutely Ripped out some voodoo chili and a bunch of Dogtown soundtrack (70s) hard rock licks and blew me away. Nice reality check, that. :p

[tot_Ou_tard]

Then, to keep it all in perspective, we had folks over for a barbecue. My guitar stuff was out, and one of the Dads who is relatively new to the area and his 15 year old son wanted to check it out. They plugged in, Dad did some nice bluesy stuff, and then son absolutely Ripped out some voodoo chili and a bunch of Dogtown soundtrack (70s) hard rock licks and blew me away. Nice reality check, that. :p
Sounds like a nice guy to get to know.

[sunvalleylaw]

Yeah, I am hoping they stick around. We have been talking about playing some. Dad plays mostly bluegrass type stuff and some blues. Son is classic rock and some metal player, and also plays a lot of blues. They may move again at the end of the summer already but I hope not.

[Plank_Spanker]

Welcome to the Dark Side, Sunvalley!

Ain't it great! :D

[Brian Krashpad]

Way to go, welcome to the club! Fun fun fun.

[duhvoodooman]

{Sound of loud clapping} :DR

[ted s]

Hey Steve, I just clued into your post, right on ! congrats and good on'ya !

[aeolian]

That's great! By all means get a jam group together. It is great fun and it really helps your guitar playing.

[Tone2TheBone]

Way ta go Steve!

[Tim]

Congrats Steve. There is no stopping you now. Keep on pickin".

[jpfeifer]

Great job Steve. That's what it's all about. Just get out there and play. That's one of the best teachers in the world. I learn a little something every time I play out. When you play out it really helps you focus since there's no do-overs. You just put it out there and try to do it the best you can. There's always an element of fun to doing that unless you get bored with the songs or something. But then you just add more songs to keep if fun.

-- Jim

[sunvalleylaw]

Got to play out again tonight. This time with a different keyboard player. It was fun to see how he affected the mix as he plays with more flourishes and can be heard more in the mix. Also, we did not have the assistance of a sound guy and a PA covering the hole band allowing a balancing of the mix. I, and the other student guitarist and the drummer were not mic'd. Next time, if I am not in the PA and others are, I will turn up the amp just a bit more to give me a little more range with my guitar volume knob when I am not adding overdrive/distortion via pedal. I was set only at 3. The audience said they could hear us and that we came through, but we could have been brought up a bit. Hard to tell when you are playing. I could hear myself fine , right next to the drummer. It was very fun and well received, and I was very happy with my rhythm playing and pretty happy with my solos. A bit strange playing with the canopy of smoke turning the sunset a burnt red. At least the smoke was up wind a mile or so.

Oh, I also didn't wear the crocs this time. Black shirt, black jeans and vans this time. Though I did play for a while in bare feet on the grass!