Did two gigs this weekend (my first with my new Band - 'The Lemons'), Huge contrast between the two, the first on Saturday was a paid gig in a local pub, I wasn't happy with either my playing or my sound. The pub was maybe half full and there was only a few people really listening to us. Those that listened said it was great and we got some good feedback at the end. But it is tough playing to a crowd where you know a lot of them couldn't care less. The gig last night was a whole different ball game, it was a tribute night for the bands former guitarist who passed away a couple of years ago. There were 5 bands playing and we went on last. By the time we went on there was a great crowd and they were really appreciative and supportive. We did about 40 mins and had to go back on for an encore, it was a real buzz to play in that atmosphere.

I've learned lots more about playing live, it really is a different ball game and requires quite a different approach. When I sit down at home to play I always focus on the subtleties and nuances of both my playing and my tone but when playing to a crowd that kinda goes out the window to some extent. Every venue is different and my amp sounds different depending on the floors/walls in the venue, the size of the room etc. You get maybe 20mins to make the best of what you got and get a usable tone balanced with the drums and vocals. It's then all about getting the songs across to the audience as best you can, I think Joe Bonamassa said once that one of his strengths as a guitarist is covering up his weaknesses and this is kinda how I've been approaching playing out.

A couple of key things that I learned about my equipment
- leave some air around the back of your amp, for the first gig I had my amp sitting on a seat which had a foam bottom and back. I think it absorbed some of the bass frequencies coz my tone was really treble heavy. I rectified this last night and sounded much better.
- Abalone fret markers on rosewood finger boards disappear in low light - not sure how I can get around this as I love my strat to death but I was having real problems see where I was on the neck.

Anyway it's both hard work and a lot of fun, here's a couple of pics from last nights gig (....oh and I need to learn to look up some more).