Background and History to The Justin Guitar Community Online Open Mics
The Justin Guitar Community Open Mics (OMs) are voluntarily run and organised by and for the Justin Guitar Community. They bring together JustinGuitar students from across the globe in a live event of music performance and online chat.
They are seen by many as a next step from sharing recordings in the Community Recordings section. They are intended to give a virtual taste of playing live to a real audience. The fact that they are open to community members only means performers are in a safe environment, playing in front of virtual friends and people they will likely have met in Community chat. The audiences are supportive and friendly and there is no judgement. So, it’s fun. In fact its great fun. It’s a real buzz!
This may sound a little daunting but the Open Mics are open to all students, regardless of level and ability. There is absolutely no requirement to sing. Performers can simply strum a song or play along to a backing track or the JustinGuitar App. If all you can play is Three Little Birds, bring it on! Everyone is welcome.
The Open Mics are online, so it all happens in virtual space, yet they are organised and structured to emulate, as closely as possible, an Open Mic in the ‘real world’. An MC hosts each event, ensuring smooth running of the show and introducing the performers. We are grateful to have a healthy roster of Community members who voluntarily take on the role of MC for OMs. If you fancy your hand at being MC, let is know.
The OMs are held every six to eight weeks, providing up to eight events per year. They last for 90-120 minutes. Once the main event is done, many of the performers and audience stay online for a social chat.
The inaugural Open Mic took place in March 2021. There is a full archive of all Open Mic recordings here.
The Community holds a Zoom licence specifically to host the OMs. This was initially purchased through a Community crowd-funder and will sales of Open Mic Merchandise - T-shirts, hoodies etc. continue to support this.
Each Open Mic is announced in a Call For Interest (CFI) post here. These invite people to sign up for an upcoming event as performer or audience member. We ask performers to state their time zone in UTC format as this can assist in ordering the performer slots.
We are fortunate to have many Community members filling the performer slots and grateful to enjoy a sizable and supportive Zoom audience too. There is a good mix of some regular performers and some new performers at each event.
Participating in the OMs is a great experience to enhance your playing skills and to gain in confidence and self-belief - in the long run helping you become a better player. You only need to look at the comments from first time performers in the Open Mic chat topics to understand the benefits and the positive effects of being involved. So come and join us and have some fun at the next Open Mic
Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm. The Open Mic Steering Group:
@adi_mrok - Adrian
@DavidP - David
@jkahn - JK
@LievenDV - Lieven
@Richard_close2u - Richard
@Rossco01 - Jason
@TheMadman_tobyjenner - Toby