Roll With It

I love playing music with my friends. I have been playing music with the same drummer for over 35 years. We no longer play many shows, but I always look forward to the next one.

This weekend, we had the opportunity to perform two songs with a friend who has sung with us for the last two years. Our friend hosted an open mic at an outdoor fair and wanted us to perform two songs to encourage others to get up and sing. I was happy to do this little gig, but as always, there were challenges.

• I found out about the show the night before. Roll With It! I always like to prepare and practice, so the songs are second nature before we play them live. I needed extra practice time since we had not played a live show in about ten months, and I have been focusing on other musical goals. We could not work out a practice session on short notice. We all suggested songs. None of my suggestions were picked (not an issue). I practiced the two chosen songs. Instead of complaining about the short time to practice, I focused on the task. In the end, I was pleased with my preparation of the songs, but I had many questions about the technical setup for the show.
• The drummer and the singer planned to sing while I accompanied them on the guitar. This lineup is not a problem, as it is a more straightforward setup. However, it relies on using other people’s equipment. In this case, we would use someone else’s PA system. With very little information, I had to figure out the PA system and decide which gear to bring (Read the previous blog “Balance” about only bringing what I needed). Roll With It! Since we had to “hike” in our gear, I took a guitar, two cables, a DI box to hook my guitar to the PA, and two cables.
• When I got to the gig, I discovered the PA system was not good. Roll With It! There were no monitors to hear me or the singers.  Five minutes before we were supposed to go on, the singer asked if I would accompany a young singer on a song I knew and had performed in the past. No practice time. Roll With It! Halfway through the song, the cable PA conks out. Roll With It! It was a bad cable that I replaced with one of mine. The young singer was good but needed to know when to enter each verse of the song. I altered the song’s structure to help and support her. Roll with It!  She was so pleased that she sang a second song later in the day.
• My bandmates are awesome people, but they are constantly changing their minds. We were first supposed to open the show to encourage others to come up and sing. Since more people than expected signed up for slots, we played towards the end. Roll With It! Giving those two time to “think” about our songs is always a bad idea. Remember, they picked the songs we would perform, and we chose their picks. As we were getting ready to go on stage, the two of them changed the first song we would play. Roll with it. I had no time to practice or get our stage confidence by starting with a well-practiced song. The only thing to rely on was hoping  I have a good memory and can remember the song structure, chords, and changes. Roll with It!

Despite all of this, it was a good show. We played well. We will continue to do a few of these as I write the next album. 

What did I learn? Roll With It! The only way to do this is to keep a good attitude so that others remember the joy we feel playing music as a group (and hopefully, someone in the audience plays bass and wants to join the band).

#Just Be Better

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