Thank you everyone who attended our 2nd First Timers Only JGC Open Mic. The last time we host a First Timers Only event was back at our inaugural Open Mic #1 !
Given this was unknown territory for all our players, this was truly super show. There was a wide variety of talent and genre of music that made a memorable event.
The Open Mic recording and Zoom Chat will be available, once @jkahn has done the editing, so if you weren’t there, be sure to watch the show, here.
Big thanks to @jkahn for pulling this one together and taking over Zoom tech duties, when my end went a bit sketchy and to @DavidP who hosted the show like a pro.
Huge thanks to both Performers but especially our audience, without whom there be no buzz and excitement !
Here’s a little anecdote from the show: when it was my turn, I had a brain freeze for a second. I couldn’t remember if the D chord was on the 2nd or 3rd fret. As you can probably guess, it’s definitely a chord I know by heart.
Thankfully, my stress quickly faded and I regained control of my brain. And everything went fine for the 2 songs.
Finally, going back to my Goal and Destination from Grade 3 in July 2023, I finally accomplished my goal of performing in a community open-mic. I’m really proud of myself, especially since I thought it would be a longer-term goal like around 2030. Ah ah ah !
Great to see so many first timers last night (now all seasoned vets!). Fabulous performance by all! I hope everyone got ‘the bug’ and will be jumping onto more OMs in the future
The OM last night was a really good show. Some excellent guitarists who will hopefully perform again. Thanks to all concerned you were all worth watching.
Just watched last night’s performances - congratulations to everyone, all the performances were rock solid. Great stuff - hopefully you all will do many more!
@jkahn Thanks for taking care of the afters and befores. @TheMadman_tobyjenner Thanks for taking care of the After-show Topic
Tip my hat to all who stepped up, overcame all the inner resistances, and performed. Regardless of how the performances went, I’d celebrate this. As for the performances, if nobody said anything you’d not have known every single person was making a debut.
So bravo and more more more
The show was wonderful, such a variety of musical styles, tones, songs.
Thoroughly enjoyed it and am honoured to have had the privilege to be the MC on such an auspicious occasion.
Congratulations and well done to all the performers, it is huge step along your journey.
Thanks to all those in front and behind the scenes that make it happen.
Michael
That was a super open mic all around and the level was incredibly high for a first timer’s open mic! I’m in awe! And I hope to see you all again soon!
Thanks to all the organizers - you were great as always!
Haha, I remember I had the same doubt more than once. And also during the open mic, my brain was “away” and it was hard to keep focus. You’ll be more relaxed next time! I wonder how you managed to be “on time” on the start of “Should I stay or should I go” without having a click or anything to listen to? Something optical? Very well done all around, Mathieu!
One could see you had been nervous - but only after your playing, when you were sooo relieved! During your performance you were so concentrated and did great!
First of all, thank to all the performers as well as David P., Toby , JK and everyone else for their duties behind the scenes that make these events possible. David, you have been a fab host, too, making all our first timers feel comfortable - at least that’s the vibe I got.
It’s stunning this was first timers only - without knowing I couldn’t have guessed it due to the overall great renditions. The variety of music, genres and differences in playing level was most enjoyable and everybody did so well!
The first time is always the hardest so hopefully, we get to hear all of you again in upcoming events!
Thanks, it’s reassuring to know we all go through it sometimes.
I completely agree with you, it’s difficult to be “on time” with the backing track when the guitar starts the song before the drummer and the singer like in this song or Highway to Hell. The best trick I found is to use the built-in metronome in Reaper which starts when you hit “Play”. I attempted to synchronize the metronome and the track together so I could count in my head for the beginning (1234 1&).
Good thing the drum kick in early in the song, because it’s easy to get out of sync. 2 minutes like that would be hard haha !
Once the drums kick in on the backing track, it’s much louder than the metronome so I can focus on the drum. Reaper is even smart enough not to include the metronome in the recording.
It has been great to watch the event again without nervousness and rising panic clouding my enjoyment of the performances that came before mine!
Excellent performances by all and it was really interesting to see such a wide range of different songs and styles (and guitars!) being represented.
Thank you to all who posted comments in the chat during the show. The positive feedback is great motivation and now that I have a first OM performance behind me, I hope to play again at a future event with a reduced level of nervousness and panic, at least to the point where the fingers in my righthand are relaxed enough to be able to move independently and not fuse together
Thank you to everyone involved in the organisation of the event and to all those who posted encouraging comments on the community forum in the build up to the event to get us first timers to come out and play
great performances and an amazing show 
