These videos are from the last JG Open Mic (April 2026).
I experimented with a few different things.
In “People get ready” I used a looper in a live performance for the first time. I got my first looper pedal a couple of months ago.
I particularly like the voicings of the chord progression in the loop. I learnt them from an online lesson.
I used a call and response approach to the singing and the guitar solos, which I think works well in this song.
I improvised all the solos. They’re not perfect and I was very nervous, but they fit the melody I think. I relied mainly on vocabulary I learnt from BLIM (see if you can spot any known licks 
).
In the live performance I forgot the lyrics at one point 
, and just let the loop go on for another 4 bars while I got them up on my laptop screen. I’ve cut that bit out. I also used a few more seconds at the start to build the rhythm loop, which I also cut out.
People get ready is one of my favourite songs. It was written by Curtis Mayfield and released with The Impressions in 1964. It’s been covered by many (many) famous artists. My favourite version is the one by Eva Cassidy. Some of my solos have elements of her vocals in them.
“Cochise” is a very different song 
. I love Audioslave. Tom Morello likes to experiment with different sounds, and I was glad to find an old video of him describing how he does the helicopter effect (it’s just based on a short delay pedal). The tone relies heavily on a pitch shift pedal that lowers the pitch an octave down and makes the tone thicker. That’s one of my favourite Strat sounds. I’m using the guitar I assembled myself last year. Those Texas special pickups are indeed special.
Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
