I use open mics to directly confront my own imposter feelings. I have to focus on songs I can deliver. And then deliver them. It’s hard and honest.
But, past guitar, last night was...validating? There was a piano-and-singer couple playing 80’s songs nicely. And a three-chord folk strummer who had a young woman friend who wanted to accompany him on bass but didn’t quite follow his chording.
I called out the chords to The Verve’s Bittersweet Symphony - E, Bm7, D, A, cycle endlessly
- and got everyone locked in. The bass player could feel what it was like to hold the groove in a group, and the piano player got to occupy a lot of space.
At the end, they all kinda looked at me - “hey, that was cool.” I love doing stuff like that - getting folks to groove together. Whether I can play fancy fast feels so irrelevant to what I want out of music.