Open Mic at the Garten bar

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1

Hi everyone,

I played my first open mic last night at a bar called the Garten here in San Diego. Everyone was well polished and I was the only newcomer. For the Blink182 song I forgot to play the second verse but otherwise didn’t screw up much. The audience was singing along and it felt great to be up there. At this level there is no song book, no second chances, so I really tried to focus my mind on success. Here’s a sample:

IMG_3255
IMG_32554032×3024 3.45 MB

https://youtube.com/shorts/d4HPyRy3bQ8?si=7MVKgBg5d7-n5jUD

https://youtube.com/shorts/-W0g-MYr6O8?si=dIfAAN0EX504SLzk

Jeff

9 Likes
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Congrats! You sounded good. I need to find an open mic near me and get up there.

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Hey nice. Thats a cool step up. I would like to do something like that. I need more time still. Haha great job.

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Well done Jeff, kudos to you for getting up on what looked like a big stage and performing, You sounded great guitar and singing. :guitar: :sign_of_the_horns:

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Thanks very much. You kind of have to just do it like being in the edge of a pool with cold water. I first checked into this open mic 2 years ago, procrastination got me nowhere.

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Hi Jason,

You are capable of more than you think. It’s just 2 or 3 songs and 10 minutes or so of your day. Everyone was singing along and I had friends supporting so it’s all good.

1 Like
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Thank you Adrian. It was a pretty big venue and I’m glad I took the plunge to try it anyways. My pushy Irish friend Ciaran has been telling me to play one for a year now. He has my best interest at heart. He said do 50 shows this year. One down 49 to go.

Jeff

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Jeff

Well done! The Green Day cover was perhaps slightly better: both songs had really consistent strumming. Encore!

Brian

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Thanks Brian. The Blink 182 song was the first time I played it publicly so skipped the second verse on accident. My friend said it’s all about the groove and that I had it going. It felt good to get up there, especially with the group playing who were all well seasoned veterans who could easily open for a professional band. It motivated me to step it up to fit in and I got a great reaction from the audience. Imperfect but still very decent performance.

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Nice job!

I admire your courage, I don’t have it. Maybe someday.
I hope you plan to go again.

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Thanks very much Mike. Glad you stopped to listen to the music. Honestly that night I was more nervous about the amp and sound effects than the playing or singing. I was glad someone with professional skills set it up for me. I’m terrible at technology aspects. Poor sound can derail a good performance. It took me two years to step up and do it after first asking that place about their open mic shows.

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Nice one! Well done for getting up there and doing it, consistent strumming and a great sound!

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Thanks for listening and the kind words.

Jeff

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14

Good job!!! You did so well. Are you gonna do it again some time soon?:smiling_face:

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Really enjoyed your performance Jeff. Much respect and admiration for getting up on a live stage. Best wishes Alan

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Thanks for listening. Yes I plan to go back within a couple weeks.

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Hi Alan,

Thanks very much. I really love being on stage and taking the chance at performing, hoping the crowd responds to my music choices. Need to memorize some more songs, almost there😎

1 Like
18

Oh!!! That sounds so fun. What song are you gonna sing ?

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I’m going to do my Oasis song for sure, still debating the others. This was my recent version of it.

I have to work on memorizing without the song book. This one is 90% ready to play from memory. I also just got word that I’m
Back to playing on stage at old town San Diego as of April 2nd. I did that last year for a while and it was a learning experience for sure.

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Awsome!