I couldn’t make yesterday, but I’ve just caught up. Awesome job everybody - you all did the community proud! 3 great debuts means 3 more great regulars.
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Thanks to @TheMadman_tobyjenner, @nzmetal , and @Jenndye429 for your work making this happen. It was an absolute blast as always! Congratulations to the debutants Paul @mathsjunky , Ian @theoldman66 , and Jeremy @jgottwals. You were all amazing.
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In a nutshell, this is it.
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Thanks to all the audience, organizers and performers. Just re-watched the show and it was excellent. I think they are a really special part of this community and like others have said, if you wonder what it would be like to perform, then I encourage you to step up. I am still buzzing from this, and even felt the butterflies building up as it came to my spot in the replay.
One note for the admins, the YouTube Replay says Open Mic 00 as the title on the JustinGuitar Community channel…
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Good spot Phil.
@adi_mrok Can you amend the video title and reload when you have a moment?.
’
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Well, @DavidP wasn’t exaggerating when he said this was probably one of the best OM’s ever. I’ve heard most performers before so I know how good you are - but it’s still a pleasure to hear you play. Well done everyone.
I’d like to congratulate our debutants in particular.
@jgottwals - I love me some Jack Johnson, but I honestly think you were equally as good. You have a very nice vocal tone that suits the genre.
@mathsjunky - I didn’t know the song, but I love it now. Great debut mate, I hope to see more of you one of the next OM’s.
@theoldman66 - You make it look easy, but those are pretty tricky songs to play and sing. Both were highly enjoyable. Don’t worry about the sudden brain freeze, it happens.
Thanks to @Jenndye429 and @nzmetal for hosting the show!
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Yep, big thanks to Jeff, Toby & Jenn too, for ensuring a “smooth canoe”.
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Oh boy oh boy, can’t wait to see this!
I hope I can attend next time because there has always been something coming up that keep me from joining in!
Thank you Jeff. I think that’s going a little far. . .but I really appreciate the positive comment on the vocal. I certainly have listened to those two songs enough to say that I may have adopted some of his vocal style in singing them . . .
Having watched the recording and, of course, trying to be a bit of my own objective observer (i.e. neither overly harsh nor overly positive with myself), I am beginning to process some lessons from the preparation of the OM and it’s performance. . .so here are three things that I think are fair game for working to improve for the next OM performance:
- Looking at the fretboard pulls your head (specifically, the mouth) away from the mic so you either need to have the song so under your fingers that looking is no longer required OR you need to adjust the mic position to the fact that you need to look at the fret board and put it in the right place. Playing standing up might alleviate this issue altogether as looking at the fretboard whilst standing is virtually impossible.
Lesson: either practice the song without looking so you can feel your way to the finger position or practise standing up so it’s impossible to look OR find a mic position that allows you to look and sing directly into the mic. . .
- Any of you who know the songs well, know that I butchered the verse order in the first one and got lost a little on the last chorus of the second one. It’s safe to say that I have played and sung those songs in preparation / practise at least 100 times each (easily). Yet, in crunch time, the lyrics became muddled in my mind. Ok. Normal. I was nervous.
The interesting part is that the lyrics got jumbled up in my mind precisely in places where I had had trouble with them in practise. . . .
Lesson: if you have trouble with something in practise the issue has to be “practised out” until it becomes second nature. . .on Saturday I almost immediately forgave myself for messing up the lyrics because the vibe of the OM is so positive and the audience so supportive that I had to be gentler with myself than I might have if it were a direct in person performance. . . anway . .
I am a firm believer that when you get up to sing and play a song it should be done “without a net” (i.e. without the aid of a tablet or song sheet to help you with the lyrics. . .yeah?) Even for a virtual open mic where it’s feasible and relatively easy to do, I would prefer not to use them. (Just so we’re clear, I have no problem with, nor think any less of anyone who uses a tablet or song sheet to help them with lyrics and or chords in performance) I guess I just got used to it being that way around a campfire and so I don’t want to rely on them now.
- The video quality of my laptop is not sufficient for a streaming event. . .I have already looked into options for improving it. I have an excellent quality DSLR camera that could be used as a streaming cam but I don’t have the CAM LINK necessary to feed it into the HDMI port on my laptop. . think I will start a topic on this in the appropriate thread to ask for advice. . . .
Anyway, thanks again, Jeff, for the comment. I consider it a pretty high compliment to be compared favourably to Jack Johnson and I had a great time. . .gonna take what I learned on Saturday and try to integrate it into the next performance. . . and any further AVOYPs or Challenges I do here in the community. . .
Hope everyone is having a great Monday!!
J
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Also!! I just want to say how important I think this comment of David’s is. I truly think that it’s almost the duty of guitar players who have a little more experience with the instrument to contribute to the community in ways that help people who are just starting.
I will be starting a learning log here pretty soon with this kind of thing in mind. . .something for others to use as a resource when it’s time for them to get to grips with the things I am working on at the moment. . I haven’t figured out just what would be most appropriate yet but I will soon and get it up and going. . .
Thanks David for the call to attention / action on this point. It’s super important in my opinion.
Cheers!
J
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And the most important OM lesson for many, especially anyone thinking of signing up.
Practice practice practice. Become fully confident in the songs you want to play live. Either here or in a real life Open Mic.
Use AVOYP as your test bed for playing songs fluidly from end to end. Practice, record, practice record. OMs are the next level up and require preparation. Simples and just MHO.
@jgottwals you could have sung the verses backwards and I would not have known, it all sounded pretty good to me 
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Definitely true. . .glad you said this. . .I sometimes forget the (not so) obvious things. . .I have been working on those two songs for MONTHS. . .not days, not weeks . . months of practise. . .I think that I definitely had a poor idea of just how much practice it takes to get songs to “automatic” level. I am beginning to catch on. . .the good bit is that I am reasonably confident that the more time you put into practising songs the easier it becomes to learn the next one. . .hmmmmm. maybe there’s a learning log in there somewhere. . . . 
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This is true for sure. Guess that is why @Richard_close2u mantra is never allowed to rest.
Leard songs learn songs learn songs 
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There most definitely is. Automatizing and remembering songs is a big theme for me as well - on a very different level - but like you I also would like to be able to play songs (and increasingly more difficult ones at some point) without computer, tablet or song sheet clues.
Toby is correct btw. Not knowing your songs well, it was next to impossible to notice that you made one or a few small mistakes 
The only real question that remains is: Was that African village a drinking village with a fishing problem or the other way around? 
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Ahhh. . .it was definitely a fishing village first. . .and then it developed a drinking problem and by the time I was playing music on the beach it WAS a drinking village with a fishing problem. . .the inhabitants spent far more time drinking than fishing. . . 
It was/is a little slice of paradise where I spent 10 years of my life and have memories of amazing people and experiences there that still very much shape who I am today. . .so I remember it quite fondly. . . 
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I’ve watched around half the show now in a few instalments and really enjoyed it. Of the debutants I’ve watched so far, loved the acoustic song @mathsjunky did - for some reason I thought you’d play electric! And @theoldman66 - sound of silence was awesome, amazing singing, bummer you forgot the lyrics. That’s live performance though…
Oh also have to call out dumb ways to die by @adi_mrok, we were singing that at home on the weekend, then you go and play it! The world’s most viral train safety campaign 
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Next time! The set up for acoustic is simpler, needed to keep the number of moving parts to a minimum for the first one 
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This was a super fun show to experience live. Everything from MD-ing and live debuts to tech support. Zoom chat also had some great banter. Thank you everyone for making it a fun evening!
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Hi Toby,
I wanted to apologize for missing the show. I know the audience cheering people on makes a big difference with confidence building. We had some bad weather and flooding out here and my mind just spaced the time until it was too late. That’s not like me to miss appointments. Very sorry to have missed what was a great show.
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I knew we were missing some Aussies during the show! 
Definitely a true national treasure this song is! thanks for kind words JK, appreciate it and what a funny coincidence you guys were singing it over the weekend, made my day
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