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Finally feel like a "real" musician

Discussion in 'Band Wagon' started by christhee68, Nov 17, 2014.

  1. Nov 17, 2014 #1
    christhee68

    christhee68 Friend of Leo's

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    For the first time I felt like a real musician today. I’ve played guitar on my couch for a long time and even play in the church band and play solo acoustic at weddings and receptions, but today I finally felt like a “real” musician.

    My office (for-profit educational institution) had an open house and some of my co-workers recommended to the bosses that we have live entertainment. They suggested that I and another of my co-workers set up in the cafeteria and play some tunes on our acoustics.

    Ordinarily if I was going to be playing in public, it would involve a song list, lyrics, chord charts, and possibly several rehearsals if I was playing with someone else. This was different because the two of us (who have never played together before) just got our acoustics and went out there and played. No song list, no rehearsals, no lyrics, no nothing. We took turns calling songs singing and just following each other. I harmonized with him on his songs, he added some ripping solos to mine; it was awesome.

    Then, after that, I got a call from a local bar and grill asking if my band could play the next two Saturday nights. We had rehearsal right after that, and things went great. We played great and our harmonies were good and we all left stoked about our upcoming gigs.

    I finally felt like a “real” musician.
     
  2. Nov 17, 2014 #2
    vuduchild

    vuduchild TDPRI Member

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    Congrats man, I'm sure that is a great feeling.
     
  3. Nov 20, 2014 #3
    Buzzin_Cousin

    Buzzin_Cousin Tele-Holic

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    Great story man. Keep it going don't stop there.
     
  4. Nov 20, 2014 #4
    soulman969

    soulman969 Telefied Ad Free Member

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    A fellow member and I get together and do just that acoustically. I'm primarily a rhythm and riff player so I end up outlining the chord structure and he adds some very tasteful fills and solos on guitar or mandolin. He's also an excellent blues harp player.

    Some of it is cover material but a lot of what we do is just me making up chord progressions as I go and him embellishing that. We're both very experienced players and I'm convinced we could easily handle a two or three hour casual gig in a restaurant or a wine bar or bar and grill with little or no rehearsal.

    I'm glad you posted this story. It gives me some faith that I'm on the right track with this idea. Glad it's worked out well for you.
     
  5. Nov 21, 2014 #5
    poiureza

    poiureza Tele-Holic

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    Funny you mention this as I had a very similar experience at our last gig.
    It was a small bar gig so we had our "core" line up : no BGV, no brass, no extra guitar, no second keys.
    The bar owner told us to keep playing after the end of our show. After much hesitation we started playing the unrehearsed and then the half forgotten stuff, without the proper sound settings, wrong guitar (electric instead of acoustic) and without the needed other half of the band. I emboldened to sing some harmonies that I've never done before, did keyboard solos to replace the missing sax player, etc ... something I would never have accepted a few months ago. We all had our "extended job" moments to fill missing parts in the arrangements.

    Lots of minor mistakes from everyone but no trainwrecks, lots of fun, responsive (and forgiving) crowd. At one point I thought "OMG we can do this"

    I guess sometimes all it needs to up one level is a good kick in the a*** :D

    Edit : come to think you also need a good audience for daring
     
  6. Nov 21, 2014 #6
    johnny k

    johnny k Poster Extraordinaire

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    to quote the big lebowsky, sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eats you. Luckily, sometimes everything go smooth, and sometimes everything go crap. Let s try to eat the bear as often as possible.
     
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