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  #61  
Old 06-14-2013, 12:24 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Picking Moose View Post
I did not write anything because I felt it would be kind of boring.. "today I practiced. So I did yesterday"... it's not that interesting to read.

I was waiting for something useful to say and my grandad is somehow responsible for this. He often told me "if you have nothing to say just say nothing".
Obviously your granddad never spent time on any web forums! Just because you have nothing doesn't mean you shouldn't say it!

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Originally Posted by Picking Moose View Post
About YOUR practice...

If I was you I would definitely use all my guitar-playing time to practice for tomorrow open mic night.
You only have 1 chance to do it right and the better prepared you are technically, the more relaxed you'll be.
You will play better music and have much more fun too.
I think you're right. The more prepared I am the better it will go. I have a lot of time on my hands tonight. I think I'll play my three open mike songs through five times (I've read that this is a good ratio) in order. And I'll make sure they are songs I know in my sleep, nothing new. Thank you for the encouragement and advice.
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  #62  
Old 06-14-2013, 02:30 PM
Picking Moose Picking Moose is offline
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I have a gig coming up the first week of July and I will start practice solely for it 1 week in advance.

Good luck for tomorrow or, as a UK friend of mine would say.. "break a leg"
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  #63  
Old 06-15-2013, 03:14 PM
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Day 13: open mike. What a complete disaster. Wasn't able to make it through my first two songs. I was totally lost and couldn't remember what to do next. I've been playing these songs regularly for YEARS but just couldn't do it. I rehearsed my sets ~15 times, all last night and this morning and still was a complete failure. Honestly I don't know what to do next. Makes me wonder if I'm ever going to pick up a guitar again. What an embarrassment. Obviously I just don't have what it takes.
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  #64  
Old 06-15-2013, 03:57 PM
Ryler Ryler is offline
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Well, as someone who would never, ever attempt an open mic out of pure fear, I am proud of your courage. Truly, that was a bold move. I hope you learn some different lessons from the experience from the ones you stated; Like, that you are a person who will take risks, that you are committed to self-development; that you are resilient. I just admire the heck out of the fact that you tried.
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  #65  
Old 06-15-2013, 04:54 PM
Picking Moose Picking Moose is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by J-Doug View Post
Day 13: open mike. What a complete disaster. Wasn't able to make it through my first two songs. I was totally lost and couldn't remember what to do next. I've been playing these songs regularly for YEARS but just couldn't do it. I rehearsed my sets ~15 times, all last night and this morning and still was a complete failure. Honestly I don't know what to do next. Makes me wonder if I'm ever going to pick up a guitar again. What an embarrassment. Obviously I just don't have what it takes.
I am very very sorry for that
We all have bad nights and you should not rush into conclusions based on 1 open-mic experience, good or bad as it might be.

Once the crying is over try, if you can, to make the most of it instead of crucify yourself.
Analise your emotions, how and why you were feeling like you were.. what made you loose control... what you think might have triggered it and what, instead, would have helped you to do well.

I have been performing live since 1978, when I had my first gig and, to this day, I still suffer PRS (Performance Related Stress), So much that the first half of my set is organised in a way that there are no difficult pieces to play.
Well I should say "used to", really.

A few years ago I was having dinner with a famous english doctor.. a heart surgeon. When I mentioned the PRS problem he suggested me to try betablocks.

He told me all about them and I also did some research myself and even asked opinion of one of my brothers who is a doctor in a Hospital.
Everyone and everything gave the green light to it.

It is not a drug. Basically it slows down the heart rate.
Betablocks are usually prescribed to people who find it hard to sleep at night but golf, chess and snoker players are known for useing betablocks.

Do your own research (if you don't already know about it) and draw your own conclusions.

For me it changed (for the better) the way I go through the first half of my set. I can do without, of course, and at times I did, but I much prefer when, prior to get on stage, I feel totally relaxed and focussed to the music I am about to play.
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  #66  
Old 06-17-2013, 09:04 AM
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Well after a good cry a strong beer and a long bike ride with my son Saturday I've come back to reality and become rather philosophical about the whole thing. Obviously I'm not walking away from the guitar over this little blip. I've overcome much worse things than this in my life. And in some ways it went better than the student performance that I did at FPR. This time I was able to make it through Let Us Get Together so that's an improvement! I'm definitely going back and trying again in two weeks. I've got to beat this thing. I believe live performance is the one missing piece for me in my guitar playing experience. And the audience was kind and supportive, if a little embarrassed for me. A few people dropped by my table afterwards to speak to me. So if you're ever in Ottawa check out Irene's Pub. It's nice place.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryler View Post
Well, as someone who would never, ever attempt an open mic out of pure fear, I am proud of your courage. Truly, that was a bold move. I hope you learn some different lessons from the experience from the ones you stated; Like, that you are a person who will take risks, that you are committed to self-development; that you are resilient. I just admire the heck out of the fact that you tried.
Thank you for the kind words of encouragement Ryler. I really appreciate it. I've never thought of myself as courageous (okay, I still don't!).

Quote:
Originally Posted by Picking Moose View Post
I am very very sorry for that
We all have bad nights and you should not rush into conclusions based on 1 open-mic experience, good or bad as it might be.

Once the crying is over try, if you can, to make the most of it instead of crucify yourself.
Analise your emotions, how and why you were feeling like you were.. what made you loose control... what you think might have triggered it and what, instead, would have helped you to do well.

I have been performing live since 1978, when I had my first gig and, to this day, I still suffer PRS (Performance Related Stress), So much that the first half of my set is organised in a way that there are no difficult pieces to play.
Well I should say "used to", really.

A few years ago I was having dinner with a famous english doctor.. a heart surgeon. When I mentioned the PRS problem he suggested me to try betablocks.

He told me all about them and I also did some research myself and even asked opinion of one of my brothers who is a doctor in a Hospital.
Everyone and everything gave the green light to it.

It is not a drug. Basically it slows down the heart rate.
Betablocks are usually prescribed to people who find it hard to sleep at night but golf, chess and snoker players are known for useing betablocks.

Do your own research (if you don't already know about it) and draw your own conclusions.

For me it changed (for the better) the way I go through the first half of my set. I can do without, of course, and at times I did, but I much prefer when, prior to get on stage, I feel totally relaxed and focussed to the music I am about to play.
Thanks Picking Moose. I appreciate you kindness. One thing I've learned that you pointed out (besides going easier on myself when things don't work out) is that my first open mike piece was just to difficult and didn't allow me a chance to settle in so to speak. BTW have you ever heard anything about eating bananas to help performance anxiety? I'm not kidding around, supposedly they help some people with this. And if gaining more experience playing live doesn't help me overcome this nervousness and blanking out I'll consider some additional help from beta blockers. I'm just worried about sleepiness.

Upwards and onwards.

Day 13: weekly night off.

Day 14: an early practice. Some pinky difficulties on Hesitation Blues (a common problem for me with that piece) but nothing I couldn't overcome. Since I was done early I spent some time on the next verse of my new song. Very similar to the first (thank goodness). Going to need to review it tonight again though. The timing of the transition between verses is difficult. I'm falling behind on my recording commitments but I don't really find myself caring about it too much. I probably won't make my goal of 5 songs but oh well. I will try to record this week, just not sure when. Probably only once I have the second verse of my new song down.

How's it going for you guys out there?
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  #67  
Old 06-17-2013, 10:47 AM
Picking Moose Picking Moose is offline
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The recently acquired Alaskapics are still having a positive effect on my drive to play...
Picking picking and more picking!!!
I've also managed to keep up with practice on electric although, instead of the "usual" scales and runs, I've had much fun improvising over backing jazz/blues tracks.

About beta-blocks... they are not sleeping pills.. won't make you sleepy or drowsy.
In the past I once had a headache as side effect (but later, not while I was playing) and once I had cold hands sensation, but not so much as to be a problem while playing.
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  #68  
Old 06-17-2013, 03:30 PM
VintageV400 VintageV400 is offline
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here's the quiet song I have been working on recently

I'm not used to strumming without a pick

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhNjruURGQ8
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  #69  
Old 06-18-2013, 09:07 AM
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Correction: Somehow I got mixed up and thought last night was day 15, should be 16... I seem to have not posted one day. Bizarre.

Day 16: nice but split up practice. I had to put my son to bed in the middle so I had a 1.5 hour break. That said it went well. Firmed up the new verse of my new song too. I get to move onto the "bridge" next. The way this is going I should be done the new song by the end of the practice challenge. That would make 1.5 songs learned during this challenge! I think I'll do a recording tonight and leave the new song for a night though.

Last edited by Guest 33123; 06-18-2013 at 11:01 AM.
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  #70  
Old 06-18-2013, 07:33 PM
Gary14 Gary14 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by J-Doug View Post
Day 13: open mike. What a complete disaster. Wasn't able to make it through my first two songs. I was totally lost and couldn't remember what to do next. I've been playing these songs regularly for YEARS but just couldn't do it. I rehearsed my sets ~15 times, all last night and this morning and still was a complete failure. Honestly I don't know what to do next. Makes me wonder if I'm ever going to pick up a guitar again. What an embarrassment. Obviously I just don't have what it takes.
Ok Doug, you've got that out of your system. It's all up hill from here. I ve found folks at open mics to be very supportive and understanding. Somehow,
I think you are being to hard on yourself. Good luck on your next effort...
Try not to stress. Relax and let the music flow!!
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  #71  
Old 06-19-2013, 09:09 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gary14 View Post
Ok Doug, you've got that out of your system. It's all up hill from here. I ve found folks at open mics to be very supportive and understanding. Somehow,
I think you are being to hard on yourself. Good luck on your next effort...
Try not to stress. Relax and let the music flow!!
Thank you for your support Gary. I think I just need to gain more experience with performing live. Unfortunately I think it's going to be a painful process.

Now for the update:

Day 17: same old, same old early practice. Not much to report other than I practiced the new song a bunch until I got it right with no errors and repertoire went off without a hitch. Then I went to record last night. Got out the recorder, etc. but I couldn't find headphones! So no new recording to share.
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  #72  
Old 06-19-2013, 04:26 PM
Picking Moose Picking Moose is offline
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Darn!!!
Just when I thought I was on top of it all...I think I've practiced very little yesterday and today...
I said "I think" because of the very casual approach I have to playing guitar.

Sometimes I might play allot but feel like I've practiced very little.

It happens because (quite often) I just grab a guitar, play a bit, then do something else... then grab another one... play something different... and I might do that many times during the same day so in the end, even if all summed up I might have played for hours, it feels I did not.
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  #73  
Old 06-20-2013, 10:04 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Picking Moose View Post
Darn!!!
Just when I thought I was on top of it all...I think I've practiced very little yesterday and today...
I said "I think" because of the very casual approach I have to playing guitar.

Sometimes I might play allot but feel like I've practiced very little.

It happens because (quite often) I just grab a guitar, play a bit, then do something else... then grab another one... play something different... and I might do that many times during the same day so in the end, even if all summed up I might have played for hours, it feels I did not.
I know what you're saying but at least you did spend some time practicing throughout the day. That's better than nothing! I have to sit down though and commit a chunk of time to just playing. Otherwise I feel the same, like I haven't accomplished anything.

Day 18: nothing new to report, just did my practice and went to bed. Didn't record or learn anything new on the new song. Just kind of a maintenance day. I will record (my wife says she know where the headphones are) or work on new material tonight though, just not sure which one, can't do both usually. Just can't stay up too late on a weeknight anymore. Friday will be my weekly night off which I find is working out well for me. I find I need the break.
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  #74  
Old 06-20-2013, 12:12 PM
Picking Moose Picking Moose is offline
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If you're recording solo guitar, what's the headphones for?
Click-track?
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Last edited by Picking Moose; 06-20-2013 at 01:06 PM.
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  #75  
Old 06-20-2013, 01:43 PM
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Originally Posted by Picking Moose View Post
If you're recording solo guitar, what's the headphones for?
Click-track?
Two things:
1. For monitoring: to be sure I'm not blowing past the levels into distortion. I run the mic gain on the Zoom as high as I can before distortion. I find I get the best sound that way.
2. For mic positioning: I use the headphones to find the sweet spot without booming bass. I don't have the liberty of a permanent recording setup so I need to position the Zoom every time.

Last edited by Guest 33123; 06-20-2013 at 02:51 PM.
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