Attending Open mic 2nd. Attempt

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OPEN MIC ATTEMPT #2

Did my 2nd open mic in three weeks last night. Still no video :see_no_evil:
Last night the place were pretty crowded with a lots of young people. Was around 50-60 in the local

Wednesday is also called «little saturday» in Norway
 thats when a lot of students go out for drinks.

Anyway. Did i learn something worth sharing from run number 2 that is worth sharing for others?
Yes. Learned a couple of things :grin:

This time i was very focused to not stress myself at all, by that i mean i took my time getting ready on stage, the people there was occupied chatting and drinking drinks anyway. Did not do any soundcheck before it all started this time. I just told the sound guy that i needed a really dirty/gritty 90s grunge sound. So when he had dialed it in i took a quick check there and then. Fine tuned the sound two more times before i was happy with tone.
What happened when i did that was that i got almost everyones attention. I guess electric guitar with a dirty distorted sound drawes a lot more attention than a mellow acoustic sound
 so there and then i could feel that i got everyones attention
 so i just cranked on


And what happens?? Forgot to put on the scrolling function on my Ipad, thought for a split second about go through the song without it
 the second that crossed my mind i went completly blank :see_no_evil:
So i had to stop in the middle of first verse :see_no_evil::see_no_evil::see_no_evil:
I just tried to laugh it away and told a joke about that i have started to get grey hair and dont remember anything anymore

i had at that point not introduced the song. The plan was to just go with any explanation. And that was a good thing. Because i used this situation to introduce the song and talk a little bit about that it was an old Dylan song from the 60s and that i wanted to do it the pearl jam way. And i made a joke to all the students that they probably did not have a clue about who Dylan or pearl jam were. Did this while i slowly started to play the guitar with just muted strings to get the rythm down

this situation worked out just fine, and i managed to turn it around to something that actually camed out positive.

Song went fine, i observed a few that actually engaged to the music and moved head with the rythm and enjoyed themself.

After my performance there was two students that said they loved it and they thought it was a very cool performance
 that was really really cool to hear, almost wanted to cry :grin:

Was it perfect? Nope, far from it. Messed up rythm a few times among other things.

but i think i have learned one very important thing now
 there is not end of the world in messing up, not at all
 You can always start over and pick things up again, or just crack on
 so just take that fright of youre shoulder. There is no shame in failing.
Another guy there said that what i felt like messing up did not really sound that bad in reality, that is another thing to keep in mind


I also learned that i am not skilled enough to be able to perform without lyrics, im just not there yet. I really gave it a shot last night, did not work out. So i just have to realize that i need lyrics there as back up/ safety.

The weird feeling with singing into a mic was gone this time, did not think about it at all, so that is something that just needs to be tried out before you do it for the first time.
Actually, it felt good with mic, i got this feeling that my voice did not have to fight against the guitar and it felt like i had something
«left in the bank» voicewise
 witch was a pretty cool feeling actually.

But man it was fun, a lot more fun this time around


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Edited!

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Great story tRONd, I can see that you are getting the bug for performing. Like everyone who has done it, you learn things, but nobody ever has regrets. I think a lot of us are on the sideline nervously watching, and secretly (or not so secretly) wishing it was us. It is on my list to do this year, need to go document in my learning log.

As you said, nobody else noticed your “failures”, it was just your performance. Having the courage to restart and get your lyrics going, probably helped to give you a feeling of more control.

Were you the only one performing on electric? Probably woke everyone up.

Really happy for you that you are enjoying getting out there.

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Sounds amazing. Very enjoyable and inspiring reading about your experience. :clap::clap::clap:

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Hi Phil

No, there was a good mix with both, but it was mainly CCR style of music played that evening. So what i came with was something completly different. I guess thats was reason i got a bit attention when checking my sound just before my performance


this whole playing for others or an audience is a «skill» that you just build from scratch. Dont think it can be many who can just comfortably perform something without a lot of nerves and fear

I rather play for a crowd than play a song to my wife, i find it nerve wrecking and somewhat embarrasing
 strange isnt it?

The OMs we got going here is a perfect place to start Phil
 it really is. Would reccomend to everyone that wants to do a real life OM to do one here


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The other thought I have is that people that perform all the time just have the confidence and skill, to deal with problems and steer the performance somewhere else, if things don’t go right.

I have heard Justin and others say just try things and if they don’t sound right just don’t do it again. Apart from having the skill and experience to know how to do that, they also must have a way to quiet the voice in their head going well that was @#$%^&*(. Also stopping their face from signaling displeasure.

Knowing how many things go not as planned with a guitar and voice and 1 song, I can only imagine how many things go wrong if you did a critical review of a full band gig.

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Yep
 i think you hit the nail with that Phil. They have build them self up up to a point were you can be cool with the errors you do and most people will not even notice it


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I agree. Great story @tRONd :smile: If we wouldn’t anyhow be planning to visit Norway at some point in the next x years for vacation - oh why, oh why does Norway have to be that expensive? - I would start planning a trip to Norway now. Would be nice to see you perform live at an Open Mic :slightly_smiling_face:

Same here, same here :beers:

@WonderMonkey While the typo made me smile as well, Michael, I’m not sure how funny I find your comment
 :roll_eyes: :roll_eyes: :roll_eyes:

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Edit: Chatting :rofl::rofl::rofl:

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Trond, you did it again. I think this is huge. Much respect!!

:grin: :grin: Loved this. Thanks for sharing your second experience and your personal take-aways.

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The least i can do for all the great people here in the forum Franz.
Would not in a million years have done this or something remotly close to it if it wasnt for all the encouragments and nice words from all the good people :grin:

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Isnt all the other 6 days in the week called «little Saturday» in the land of 1000 lakes??? :rofl::rofl::rofl:

You are very much welcome to visit Nicole!! Both of you! :grin:

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If tRONd didn’t mind, that’s all that matters. I edited my comment.

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Nah
 all good my friend :grin:

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Thanks :slightly_smiling_face: Living in a country for more than 14 years, where my mother tongue is something else than the two official languages of the country, I am highly sensitive to native speakers making fun of non-native speakers. Too sensitive maybe, having enoncountered comparable issues myself.

If it’s all good for Trond -and I saw that it is - then everything is perfectly fine :slightly_smiling_face:

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:joy: Most Finns only know “on” or “off”-modes, when it comes to drinking. Yes that’s correct :beers:

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All good here. My comment was made with humor and good intent, and it was taken that way so all is well. All are friendly here I think.

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Hahahahaha!!! At least what rest of Scandinavia thinks :rofl::rofl::rofl:

Edit: there is also a common opinion that you guys have great hockey players and F1 drivers :rofl:

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Hey, and we have great football at the moment, don’t forget that :soccer::soccer: :soccer:

When it comes clichĂ©es about other Nordic countries though, aren’t Norwegians those guys who win every biathlon competition and lip balsam doesn’t have anything to do with it? Hmm
 And Norway is the promised land for elctric cars, and it’s always raining there :sun_behind_rain_cloud:

I have a Norwegian colleague, who insists that Norwegians are flexible. That can’t be true though? :slightly_smiling_face:

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You are spot on with all youre points there Nicole!

The best one is the lip balm thing
 we are furious about other nations cheating in our national sport and throws accusations in every directions
 and when our superstar gets caught
. Well
 it was a lip balm issue!!! Hahahaha
 and we really mean it to, to this day
 it was the lip balm :rofl::see_no_evil:

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