| Rate your performance |
| The best I’ve ever played |
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6% |
[ 6 ] |
| Played some good stuff, making progress |
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45% |
[ 40 ] |
| Just another gig |
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27% |
[ 24 ] |
| Amp didn’t sound right, tuning problems |
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3% |
[ 3 ] |
| The band sucked and I couldn’t play my best |
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12% |
[ 11 ] |
| I think I’ll just sell this damn thing |
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4% |
[ 4 ] |
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| Total Votes : 88 |
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| Author |
Topic: How did you sound at your last gig? |
Cal Sharp
From:
the farm in Kornfield Kounty, TN
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chas smith R.I.P.
From:
Encino, CA, USA
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Posted 19 Jun 2010 10:45 am |
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Well, it was with the Feedback Waveriders, a 6-piece, 3 reeds and 3 guitars improv noise ensemble and it went really well. One of the other guitar players weaves things into his strings and sometimes plays with a metal scrub pad, so in comparison, when I bow my strings with glass, I'm pretty "musical".
When we were setting up, I started tuning the guitar and the other guitar player turned to me and said, only wimps tune up. It got a good laugh. |
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Johnny Thomasson
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 19 Jun 2010 12:20 pm
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I voted band sucked, but it was really just the bass player. I listen to everyone, but the lead vocal and bass are what I mainly zero in on when I play (vocals: phrasing, dynamic level; bass: changes, intonation). The one person on stage who can consistently make me have either a great night or a lousy night is the bass player. A bad drummer can drive me nuts too, but unless he's grossly incompetent I can usually keep it together provided everyone else plays well. A good bass player can usually keep an average drummer in line, relatively speaking.
I played with one band for many years where the lead guitar player and I switched off on bass, because we could never find a bass player worth a damn. We found a few along the way that could play well enough, but they had, ahem, "other" problems. For a short time, we had a drummer that dragged just about every song. Gary Carpenter subbed on a few jobs for us at that time, and he wouldn't let this drummer drag. It was the damndest thing I ever saw. I really admire guys who can play like that. Hell, I'd get to listening to Gary and forget when it was time for me to play. 
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Johnny Thomasson |
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Roger Rettig
From:
Naples, FL
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Posted 19 Jun 2010 12:28 pm
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I'm doing an outdoor gig (the Medora Musical in a 2,800-seat amphitheatre) and this year we've gone to in-ear monitors. That's enough of a challenge (my amp's downstairs and out of earshot) but it's also been freezing cold all this month!!!! The cold will adversely affect sound quality and, so far, this hasn't been as much fun as usual.
I even had a steel player from Texas drop by and say hello - it was a bad night and, despite the fact that I hate making excuses after I've played, I found myself doing just that.
So: no appropriate category above - on the night in question I could barely hear myself so I bet there was at least a trace of pitchiness. We had a relatively warm night earlier this week (short-lived, mind!) and me and the fiddler exchanged satisfied glances. It was back to normal soon enough, though, and last night I believe we were actually playing in the middle of a rain-cloud that had settled over the area... ghastly!
It'll be better when/if it ever warms up in ND!
_________________
Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles and Martins - and, at last, a Gibson Super 400!
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Tracy Sheehan
From:
Fort Worth, Texas, USA
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Posted 19 Jun 2010 1:09 pm Last night i played.
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All i could think of was, will this night ever end?  |
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Wayne Franco
From:
silverdale, WA. USA
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Posted 19 Jun 2010 2:28 pm Wow, I thought it was just me
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| Last night was ok. I don't get any chance to play what I like to practice which is jazz, big band,stuff like that. Pure traditional country last night with very average players. Its ok but I feel the same way about the bass player and the lead vocals choppy guitar playing. This is an offshoot of a jam band I play in on Thur. so there were some other people that showed up to sit in for a few songs. The difference in how I play is so dramatic between the players it amazes me. With one group of people I played with lots of feeling the other it was hard to play anything that felt good. |
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Harry Teachman
From:
South Dartmouth,Massachusetts, USA
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Posted 19 Jun 2010 6:05 pm
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| Can't remember that far back.......... |
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Bent Romnes
From:
London,Ontario, Canada
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Posted 19 Jun 2010 8:15 pm Re: How did you sound at your last gig?
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| Cal Sharp wrote: |
| Whether it was last night, last year or the last century, how did it go? |
Cal, Id be interested in how your last gig went.
Be detailed as possible. You've been around the track a couple of times. We can all benefit from your experience
_________________
BenRom Pedal Steel Guitars
https://www.facebook.com/groups/212050572323614/ |
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Leslie Ehrlich
From:
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
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Posted 19 Jun 2010 8:52 pm
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I muffed a couple of guitar solos, but my lead vocals were okay.
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Sho-Bud Pro III + Marshall JMP 2204 half stack = good grind! |
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Stu Schulman
From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 19 Jun 2010 9:23 pm
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Cal,My last steel gig was about two weeks ago.Everytime I play with this band They ask me to move over a little more ,so this time I moved all the way over to the end of the stage,and they said Is that as far as you can go to which I replied I can go home...They also brought their own monitors some kind of portable Fender little plastic boxes that sounded like the P.A. at Burger King,I played the songs I thought pretty well and went home ,No Big Whoop! 
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Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952. |
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Stu Schulman
From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 19 Jun 2010 9:26 pm
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I forgot the girl singer said I don't like the tempo that you start my song at to which I said count it where you want it,she said I don't know how to count songs off and I said we need a physic.
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Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952. |
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Lowell Whitney
From:
Waynoka, Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 20 Jun 2010 4:14 am
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Outdoors on the ground at a cowboy church trail ride picnic. Finally gave up on steel after about 30 minutes and played my tele.
Enjoyed the BBQ meal until some kid threw up right beside the table where I was eating. Other than that, just another gig. 
Lowell
_________________
Carter SD10
70's Telecaster
Nashville 400/Express 112/Artist VT Bandit |
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Danny Bates
From:
Fresno, CA. USA
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Posted 20 Jun 2010 4:44 am
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Just another gig.
Other than that, I think the general public is partying way too much.
I've seen terrible accidents and law enforcement does all they can, but I still have to watch out for crazy drunk drivers almost every night  |
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Les Green
From:
Jefferson City, MO, R.I.P.
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Posted 20 Jun 2010 4:56 am
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I don't even want to talk about it.
_________________
Les Green
73 MSA D10 8&4, 74 MSA S10 3&5, Legrande II 8&9, Fender Squier 6 string, Genesis III, Peavey 1000 |
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 20 Jun 2010 5:02 am
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I voted for "just another gig". I didn't do any worse or any better than I usually do. There weren't any screwups that I couldn't coverup.
Depending on how you look at it, it was better or worse as we had a Bluegrass band that went on after us and they asked me to sit in and play "dobro" with my MatchBro. |
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Barry Blackwood
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Posted 20 Jun 2010 5:48 am
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| Quote: |
| I forgot the girl singer said I don't like the tempo that you start my song at to which I said count it where you want it,she said I don't know how to count songs off and I said we need a psychic. |
Just ask her if she wants it a little too fast, or a little too slow...  |
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Cal Sharp
From:
the farm in Kornfield Kounty, TN
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Posted 20 Jun 2010 6:03 am
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| Quote: |
| Cal, Id be interested in how your last gig went. |
I go into a gig trying to be creative, and to play something I've never played before. If I can do that I figure I'm making progress, and I did manage to come up with a couple things last night. This leads to some phrases and chord progressions that don't work sometimes, but on most of the the gigs I play these days this isn't a big deal, although last night we were recording, and I tried to keep the explorations into uncharted territories to a minimum.
Another consideration is fingerpicks. Last night they were just barely tolerable, but other nights I feel like Edward Scissorhand, and I take 'em off and play with bare fingers. It's an ongoing problem, and after 38 years I don't think it'll ever be resolved. Playing guitar with a flat pick or bass with fingers feels much more comfortable and natural.
_________________
C#
Me: Steel Guitar Madness
Latest ebook: Steel Guitar Insanity
Custom Made Covers for Steel Guitars & Amps at Sharp Covers Nashville |
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Barry Hyman
From:
upstate New York, USA
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Posted 20 Jun 2010 6:44 pm
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Funny you should say that, Cal. I have often compared playing with fingerpicks to walking on stilts or dancing in high heels, not that I've ever tried either.
And I also really like what you said about being creative. I like to feel at the end of the night that I've learned something as well as entertained people.
I played a gig tonight inside a huge barn with lots of people. It was good and the band was playing fine but then they turned on these huge fans which started roaring under that metal roof like a helicopter parked on the dance floor. We played good, and I was happy enough with what I did (not always the case!) but the party was not such a great party. I would have preferred to play another three sets...
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I give music lessons on several different instruments in Cambridge, NY (between Bennington, VT and Albany, NY). But my true love is pedal steel. I've been obsessed with steel since 1972; don't know anything I'd rather talk about... www.barryhyman.com |
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Mike Neer
From:
NJ
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Posted 20 Jun 2010 7:05 pm
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I have the luxury of really never having to play parts, so I improvise everything I play, for the most part. The range of styles I'll play in an evening is very wide, from wild, screaming rock to imitation honky tonk to western swing to lounge to spaghetti western to latin. It is a total gas and I wouldn't have it any other way.
I also used my new amp rig (modular rack stuff with an Altec 418-8H) for the first time and that worked out well. Did 3 gigs this weekend with it.
_________________
Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
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Eric West
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA, R.I.P.
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Posted 20 Jun 2010 7:49 pm
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I played a little bit better than the rest of the band, but it seems to be a moving target.. and not in the right direction.
EJL |
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Tony Glassman
From:
The Great Northwest
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Posted 20 Jun 2010 8:01 pm
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| I played about four notches below Eric West for 15 minutes and then quickly spiraled down to my usual level of repetitive motion. |
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Andrew Waegel
From:
Berkeley CA USA
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Posted 20 Jun 2010 8:07 pm
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| Made it through OK but need to figure out how to relax more. Recently ditched my Nash 112 for the Evans FET 500 I had in the basement (it was too loud for my last band) and the tone is 100% improved. The Mighty Evans rocks, I just need to get my playing under control. |
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Cal Sharp
From:
the farm in Kornfield Kounty, TN
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Posted 20 Jun 2010 8:15 pm
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| Quote: |
| Made it through OK but need to figure out how to relax more. |
An experienced steel player once told me to play like you don't give a "fuck". Kind of a Zen thing, maybe.
_________________
C#
Me: Steel Guitar Madness
Latest ebook: Steel Guitar Insanity
Custom Made Covers for Steel Guitars & Amps at Sharp Covers Nashville |
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Mike Neer
From:
NJ
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Posted 20 Jun 2010 8:46 pm
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| Cal Sharp wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Made it through OK but need to figure out how to relax more. |
An experienced steel player once told me to play like you don't give a "bleep". Kind of a Zen thing, maybe. |
Words to live by.
_________________
Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 21 Jun 2010 2:07 am
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| Quote: |
| play like you don't give a "bleep |
That fits Jimmy Peppers and his drumming exactly. It was funny on the Tommy Cash tour we did with Peppers on drums. Tommy is always uptight before a show and we were always "too fast" or "too slow" on songs even though Tommy would set the speed. Peppers would say "he doesn't know" and would set whatever speed he wanted. |
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