Last night was my first gig with the new band and my 1st gig as the lead guitarist. While I cannot say it was great, I cannot say it was bad either. We ended up playing 14 songs as the other bands were taking way too long (and too loud!)
So, the first song started, Blues Is My Business. Sounded really good. I thought I'd be nervous, but I had no problem with the song. Went through from start to finish and it sounded great. The second song was Pack Fair and Square. There was an opening C power chord I completely missed. I played an open D chord instead. Earlier that week, I decided to tune down my Strat 1/2 step. So I forgot what the C position was on the fretboard. Shouldn't of been hard, but nerves got to me just then... Took me about four or five bars to realize what I did. Kept going, kept playing and moved on in the song. Thankfully, its all a I, IV, V shuffle with one stop. No solo's. That song ended up just fine. Next song on the list was a cool song which I got to rock the wah pedal and do a little noodling around during a band introduction banter. Next couple songs were ok. Stormy Monday was my easy song, feature a little more clean playing, but it also meant my notes would be standing out if I didn't play them right. Which for the most part I did. Next up was Gary Moore's, Walking By Myself. The opening lick was a little off. I realized that I should of been leading the song, not the drummer. The solo was ok, not my best work, but it fit. After that was my epic bomb.... The song was supposed to be Little by Little in the key of A. I played the opening to Tore Down in the Key of D. Ooops! Took me into the 2nd 12 bars to realize I was playing the wrong song. I knew it didn't sound right, but thought it was them, not me. My solo was pretty good after I figured it all out. My last song was Roadhouse Blues which was good until that solo. Something odd happened with the timing and it was rushed and out of place. Not sured what happened with it, but it wasn't great and the band didn't give me a chance to finish the song with the ending lick. Oh well. The rest of the songs went well after that with just a couple mistakes with when to play my solos on a few songs. I had a song book with my parts listed but I had to give my music stand to the singer because she didn't bring one. That threw me off a little, but no excuses.
So that was the bad part of the night.
However, I must of done a few things right. After the show a few people came up to me and complimented me on my playing as well as the various members of the band. Our bassist was approached by a woman who wants to promote our band and get us out playing as many times as possible. She really liked us. So we must of done something right.
What I got out of my whole experience is just because I made a mistake, doesn't mean I stopped playing or started over. I didn't freeze up and I did not give up. My confidence was shaken, but not broken. I think the band and I have a few things to work on. We have our first publicized gig in two weeks. We have two practices before then and I'm hoping this time around, we will sound great. Same two sets of songs and instead of four bands playing that night, just two. We should get our two sets in. We'll do great. Thanks for reading my banter. Try to enjoy the music..
http://www.box.com/files/0/f/270916711The order isn't right, should be in this order....
1. BLUES IS MY BUSINESS - C
2. PACK FAIR AND SQUARE - C
3. SOMEBODY CHANGED THE LOCK - D
4. STORMY MONDAY - G
5. WALKIN BY MYSELF - E
6. ROCK ME BABY - B
7. KILLING FLOOR - A
8. LITTLE BY LITTLE - A
9. THRILL IS GONE - B
10. TORE DOWN - C
11. MESSING W/KID - C
12. BLACK MAGIC WOMAN -D
13. ROADHOUSE BLUES - A
