Gettin' giggy with it

Well, in my year and a half as a guitarist, I have never played a gig - but that is finally about to change! My teacher and I are going to play a little nylon-stringed set at a nearby conservatorium of the arts of some repute (well... the local pub :D). We'll be doing European minor-key folk sort of stuff, a folky instrumental cover of Metallica's "The Unforgiven", perhaps Ali Farka Toure's "Diaraby", maybe a Tull number... ought to be a great palate cleanser after working on metal for so long. And I'm also joining a guitar ensemble at uni, which ought to be cool.

So I'm rather excited - any first-gig tips, or pub-gig tips?

And also, a question - anyone heard of a song/piece called "Conquest of the Realm"? It's one of the songs my teacher showed me that we're to play at the gig, but I didn't ask whether it was an original or a cover...

Good luck man. Congrats. In my 2 years of playing, I've yet to land a gig, but haven't pushed for one either. I figure thats something I'd let fall into my lap rather than push.

Finger pickin eh? Out of my league. Wish you the best and may there be many more.

Congrats and good luck. Best tip I can give. If the beers are free, don't start pounding them till your done playing... :D

Originally Posted by: Bar Chord NickCongrats and good luck. Best tip I can give. If the beers are free, don't start pounding them till your done playing... :D

I second that. My buddy and I performed a 3 minute version of Stairway last week for some girl that I've never met. Needless to say, it wasn't pretty.

Cheers, gents! And yeah, I'll stay away from the free beer until I've finished the set - but if there's free scotch, that's another story! :p

My 2 cents.

Once you begin a song, don't stop no matter what. Just push through any and all mistakes. Stopping looks 10 times worse than a few mistakes IMO.

Good luck.

Let me make a metaphore bout my advice...

When all countries go to the world cup (soccer yall know) i get the impression that teams go very stressed, and a lot of them ask "how brazilians play so good, how they make it look so easy...and so and so".

My point is... they play (is a game so the play... they have FUN with it).

Same thing here, we are guitar players... so go and play, play like a kid, play for the fun of it, don't focus on kicking Al Di Meola's tush... play like jiujitsu_jesus... and HAVE FUN.

That's about all the advice I can give.

Rock on bro.

Originally Posted by: grizzlymintI second that. My buddy and I performed a 3 minute version of Stairway last week for some girl that I've never met. Needless to say, it wasn't pretty.

Was she, though?

Originally Posted by: earthman buckWas she, though?

At the time.... :rolleyes:

Cheers for the advice, guys! :)

The university guitar ensemble had its first practice today. Great fun, great people and excellent players - and we're already booked to do a gig! :eek: A year and a half of no gigs whatsoever, and now they're all coming at once!

Originally Posted by: Bar Chord NickCongrats and good luck. Best tip I can give. If the beers are free, don't start pounding them till your done playing... :D

That's no fun at all...

I guess the first step should be... figure out how much you can drink and still be able to play... Then you can drink up to that point. I can play just as good drunk as I do sober... sometimes better... But there have been a few times where I've been so drunk that I couldn't play a lick...

The biggest thing about going from playing in your bedroom to playing in front of people is the fact that you're no longer just playing for you. Now you're entertaining people... so you can't just play whatever you want to play when you want to... Try to entertain. I always try to get the crowd involved with some singalongs... unless they're a hostile crowd... Then I just do socials (where everyone in the bar does a toast and yells "SOCIAL") with them and play...

Good luck man... Like Polansky said... just play.