First Open Mike Night - advice?

D5T

D5T

D5T

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13 Feb 2009
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363
Location
Surrey
There's a lot of guitarists on this forum so thought I'd ask for advice.

I'm planning on doing my first open mike night in 3 weeks. Play an acoustic guitar & sing. The song I'm covering/murdering is Pearl Jam's "I Am Mine". I've never played live & am pretty shy but this is a barrier I want to break.

Any tips, suggestions, advice would be greatly appreciated! Also love to hear your experiences of your first live performance? Standard GD comedy responses more than welcome also.
 
Just practice untill its pretty much second nature, at least then, when it comes to the performance you won't worry as much about messing up, since thats what the common concern is.
 
I remember my first open mic. It was in Cheltenham, been playing the guitar for about a year at the time, thought it was about time to jump on and sing. It was Iris by the goo goo dolls, talk about murdering a song..... looking back now I realize it was horrible, but at the time I was young first time on stage etc etc, it went pretty well considering, more importantly the guy running the open mic was really supportive and had some great things to say/ improve on.. So I kept playing, doing more, getting better....

Must have rubbed off as I now run open mic nights my self and I am a full time musician playing gigs up and down the country. Often supporting some big names

Dont eat a heavy meal just before hand, It will come up on you, It did for me (think 8 mile).
Dont drink beer, not only will alcohol impair you judgement and playing/singing ability it will also make you burp like mad, stick to juice or water.
Of course after you have finished down about 8 shots of tequlia.
Oh and dont leave till its over, regardless of how rubbish the other acts are, its respectful.

Best of luck mate, let me know how it goes. Photos would be good, with a hovis in front of the guitar. It should spin the audience out nicely!
 
Remember that no matter how you sound, it is still better than the people in the audience who are stood watching. (unless you are really that bad :p)
 
ripoffthemonkey said:
It was Iris by the goo goo dolls
Dont eat a heavy meal just before hand
Oh and dont leave till its over, regardless of how rubbish the other acts are, its respectful.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the great response.
Great song - tough as hell to sing tho.
Didn't even consider the meal point but extremely valid. I don't drink so that's not an issue.
Your last point in my quote - I'm so glad you pointed that out, a cut & run is disrespectful & now you've said it I'll remember that.
Cheers
Pics & vid will follow - its less than 3 weeks away now.
 
7am, waking up in the morning
Gotta be fresh, gotta go downstairs
Gotta have my bowl, gotta have cereal
Seein’ everything, the time is goin’
Tickin’ on and on, everybody’s rushin’
Gotta get down to the bus stop
Gotta catch my bus, I see my friends (My friends)



Can only be better good luck :p
 
Beatbox for the first 2 mins to warm them up then do as many racist jokes as you can, try and find someone in the audience to pick on for inspiration.
 
as second post stated, there is nothing better than to be completely practiced with your piece. I aim to have a piece perfect at least a month before playing it in a concert. a good test of this is... get up in the morning, and first thing you do is play your piece, no warmup, no practice, and no repeats. if you can nail it the first time, then you're there.

I wouldnt advise drinking beforehand either. Warm-up in the back room, play a scale super super super slow, helps get rid of the jitters. also make sure your leads/strings/mic is all working. i absolutely ******* hate when im about to start up and suddenly find my lead's bust, or my plectrum's chewed and sounds cack. technical ****ups you can rarely fully recover from hehe
 
Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?

Then proceed to vomit in the bathroom before-hand and go silent on stage. Works every time, Eminem got a major motion picture out of it!
 
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