I’d like to share some universal lessons I learned when I played guitar at the airport, an earlier post on here. It builds on so many of Justin’s lessons, and what I’ve taken from community members who have replied to all my questions – many absurd – on here.
- The bar is low when you play in front of non-musicians.
What I mean is this: The 30 people in the waiting area at the airport were not fellow guitar players. Think about that for a moment. If I had to play in front of Justin or Richard, or so many of you talented players, I would freeze up. They would, naturally, be judging me from the perspective of their musical world, their level of experience, and I would be so aware of that, all adding to my pressure.
But at the airport it was a mix of “regular” people. Me – by the very fact of picking up the guitar, playing and singing, made me stand out. How many of us have heard friends say “I wish I could play guitar.” In that moment Sunday, I was doing just that, which gave me a level of confidence.
My lesson learned is this: Know your audience.
I’m certain not one person in that waiting area knew a damn thing about scales, major or minor chords. They just saw a guy picking up a guitar. They wanted to hear me.
Now when I decide to do an open mic with other guitarists I will certainly be nervous.
- Playing in time matters.
I have taken Justin’s strumming course - in addition to many other courses, as well as his books and DVDs, which dates me. I paid for a lesson with Richard and I practice with my metronome.
When I began playing in the airport, I tapped my foot and played in time, giving those listening a sense of where the song was going. Nothing fancy, but nothing boring. I mixed up patterns, not thinking of patterns, but how it felt to me. In a sense, very basic, but not strumming by rote.
My lesson here is this – if you can keep time, even “close” to perfect time and kept the hand moving – Justin’s law – you will sound just fine.
The non-musician audience won’t notice if you are slightly off beat, or ahead of the beat. But they will be lost if there is no sense of time, or you just play the same basic strum over and over. And if you lose your sense of time you will panic.
- Have songs memorized.
And I don’t mean you simply know the chord progression and lyrics.
I mean songs that resonate from your soul. You love these songs. You understand what the lyrics mean – to you – and that makes you play with a sense of emotion, that connects with the audience.
Again, these were basic songs – All open chords.
But by feeling the emotion I applied Justin’s lessons on dynamics when strumming, what strings to accent, what strings to not accent. All for the purpose of conveying a feeling. I lifted a finger off a string here and there, focused maybe on a little run. Again – this is me, not Steve Vai – but I used the guitar and how I played it as a tool to send a message.
I have played these three songs in my bedroom I bet 1,000 times over the past year or so. I know them. That allowed me to relax in front of those people, and by appearing relaxed and confident it made them relaxed.
This lesson gets back to something Justin has preached – focus on what you want to learn. Not jumping from song to another, then maybe trying to learn a scale pattern you will likely never use, then just “fiddling” with your instrument.
- Your voice is better than you think.
When I say that I sing my songs I want to make it clear that until about 6 months ago I never even tried singing. I started in my bedroom and worked on what Justin and Richard have taught me about keys and octaves, finding the melody for the song, picking it out on a string and trying to sing it.
What “works” best for my voice, why Justin said in one of his videos. I didn’t belt out a song, didn’t try to mimic David Lee Roth, for example. I did what Justin has taught us – how to sing in a way that works for my voice.
Knowing my voice wasn’t “terrible” allowed me to sing in the airport with a level of confidence. Would I have done that if the waiting area was filled with true singers? Never. Gets back to knowing your audience. The bar was low.
- Relax.
Because I knew my songs, knew the chords, knew the lyrics and what they meant to me, and felt OK singing I was able to convey a level of confidence to the people watching.
If they were paying $25 a ticket to hear a singer songwriter, they may have thrown their luggage at me. But they were just average people, non musicians.
So I could look at them, maybe even smile because I was not looking at the neck, wondering what chord came next and wonder about the words in the next verse.
That made me real.
- Your instrument does not matter.
At home I have a very nice acoustic guitar, and I’m always reading about certain tone woods, and if this guitar is better than that guitar, all of use seeking the holy grail, which does not exist.
The guitar at the airport was a cheap guitar, with nylon strings. I have never played nylon strings. I tried my best to get it in tune – my ear is not great – but I did the best I could.
And then I just played.
And that it is my final lesson.
Just play.
Tom
I still have not run across one. Haha, I must not be in the right airports.
(Mad World, Father & Son, and When The Stars Go Blue)