onewilyfool Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 Playing the cafe gig at our local cafe, has been a great experience. I encourage all to play out in public, your playing and singing will improve greatly as you hone your skills, and experiment with volcals, and get over that performing "hump" which cripples so many players. It has been a great learning experience and a great way to share the music, BUT, has gotten a little repetitive. I've tried to add a complete song every month, and now can play 1 1/2 hours without repeating a song. It's been a great trip, but has it run it's course??? Any of you guys run up against this feeling??? Input gladly accepted!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 Congratulations, OWF! Take a few weeks off and you'll probably be back all sparkly later. Can we have a brand new video made of your playing please, to highlight this new found confidence? Do it before your fingers go on holidays. BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted August 27, 2013 Author Share Posted August 27, 2013 Congratulations, OWF! Take a few weeks off and you'll probably be back all sparkly later. Can we have a brand new video made of your playing please, to highlight this new found confidence? Do it before your fingers go on holidays. BluesKing777. BK, I'm more worried about my MIND going on holidays!!! I don't know if my playing has got better, but I am playing with a lot more confidence, vocals have really improved in MHO, I'm trying a lot more things...iy really has been a good trip! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 There is no force on the face of this earth that could improve my singing. Me and a lady who was a great singer and tolerably good player though once took the job as the "house band" for a coffee house in the mid-1970s. We played every Friday night and Saturdays if my rock band was off and if nobody else was booked. If I was not around my partner did a solo gig. I loved it at first. The place was in a 100 year old general store/hotel that sat just at the foot of the small mountain I was living on top of. The coffee and baked goods were great and free. The crowds seem to be made of folk music and blues freaks, artists, and earth mothers. Quite a change from the crowds I was used to playing in front of with the rock band in some bar across the street from the building with the Jesus Saves light which seemed to stay lit 24 hours a day. But after a year I started to find it a bit boring. I started bringing in folks to sit in with us just to try and breathe some new life into the gigs. But I could not shake the feeling the gig had run its course. I had nothing left to give and it was time to move on. I did return some two years later but it was to play a benefit to try and raise money so the owner of the coffee house could buy a piece of land across the street to use as a parking lot. I think it is natural that steady gigs do run their course. They become almost too predictable and you start yearning to try something new maybe with some other folks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 There is no force on the face of this earth that could improve my singing. Hehe, , , Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissouriPicker Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 I understand what you're saying, Wiley. At times a gig can get boring. The songs, no matter how fond we are of them, can become mundane and boring to us. I try to mix-up my songs, rarely doing them in the same order. Also, I talk with customers a lot. Tell jokes between songs. Still, after a while the fun can begin to leave..........Things I've done------One of my monthly gigs is at a coffeehouse I've been playing monthly for almost three years now. What I do is let friends who show-up play a few songs. If they bring a guitar, fine. If not, they use mine. Gives me and the listeners a break. I get to sit and chat with others for a while, or just relax and listen. Also, don't be afraid to take a 10 minute break or so halfway through your gig. My newest coffeehouse gig is about 7 months-old now and it's going pretty well. It's located about 2 blocks from a local community college and by Noon (when I start each Wednesday) the place is getting a lot of students in it. Quite a few are interested in music and it makes the gig real interesting. Likewise, if someone wants to play a song or two, they are welcome to do so. I have a fiddle player and banjo picker from the college who have been joining me for 5-6 songs every couple of weeks. They show-up most every week, but many times just sit and listen/talk. When I started this gig I played it for tips and a meal, but word has spread around the college and the coffeehouse owner began paying me $35 because of all the students coming in. It's not that I'm that damn good. It's because of "live music," the atmosphere, the location, and all the social stuff that goes with a good coffeehouse.. Also, I run a 3rd Sunday afternoon Open Mic each month at another coffeehouse. Open Mics are different than other gigs, but being it's on Sunday afternoon (and especially during football season) the number of pickers can range from 3-4 to 12 or more. I suspect this year because of all the renewed interest local fans have in The Chiefs that I'll have a few Sundays where 1-2-or-fewer show-up. When that happens, I just play slower, talk and tell more jokes, and when someone shows-up I give them a full 30 minutes to play. I learned to use those quiet Sundays to sharpen my limited skills/abilities and tell jokes and talk with the coffeehouse customers...............I don't know what your exact situation is, but inviting a friend or two to drop-in and play 3-4 songs is a good way to mix things up a bit.............Beyond all this, I completely understand what you are talking about. Just keep in mind that there are ways around it. Good luck, my friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 Have anybody ever been in a "Revue" Band - ya know you end up backing a whole bunch of different singers each night playing tunes on lists they submit. I tried it once - only because a bunch of guys I knew were in the band. Practices were insane - basically you had to learn a bunch of new songs every week or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted August 27, 2013 Author Share Posted August 27, 2013 Guys, thanks for the advice and encouragements! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOESTONE Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 I played the same place every Fri night for 2 years. Sometimes it's hard to keep being excited about playing there. I go through a mental process to prepare. I first and foremost play for myself because I love to play. That enjoyment, I found is contagious. Little things help: I'd get to try out a new strap or stand or wear a new crazy shirt. Sometimes I'll play the song in a different key with a capo to challenge myself. I remember what a great old time baseball player in his waning days still playing said when he hit a grounder and was easily thrown out at first. When asked why he ran so fast to first, he said "because there might be some people here who have never seen me play". I'd arrive and set up anxious to be playing for someone who may have never heard me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 Key is to keep on learning new material and styles, push yourself, dont let it get stale. For example myself it was learning fingerpicking and incorporating picking songs which opened a new world. My singer starting playing a cajon to keep things interesting. I started using a looper, different effects. Just try new thing Wiley, keep it fresh though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 haven't had that problem yet,, but one thing you nailed is the voice gets better the more you do it. I can go for about 2 hours now, with out a break, and not have my vocal chords begging for mercy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted August 30, 2013 Author Share Posted August 30, 2013 I went in today, and the owners have moved things around so my sofa is in the corner, no chance for folks to pass by the tip jar...lol. Also, they took all the pictures and art work off the wall and the result is that the acoustics are so bad now, that I can't even hear myself think, not to mention PLAY!!!....lol.....I guess things have just run it's course for me at this venue. Great time, great lessons, but time to move on I guess.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParlourMan Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 Key is to keep on learning new material and styles, push yourself, dont let it get stale. For example myself it was learning fingerpicking and incorporating picking songs which opened a new world. My singer starting playing a cajon to keep things interesting. I started using a looper, different effects. Just try new thing Wiley, keep it fresh though. Yep, what EA is saying.... My wee combo has two guitars and a cajon. To keep it ticking we tackle everything from techno to daft punk, dubstep to Marvin Gaye, Donna Summer to Kasabian. The freakier the choices the more amusing it tends to be, all I can suggest is to get a whole batch of new songs prepped, risky choices included and get back on the horse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Del Nilppeznaf Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 Yeah..i second all the good advice. its natural to get bored of the same old routine..in anything i guess. i have played the same venue sumtimes for upto 6 months..and by then Im sick to death of the same old faces.. experiences ect'. although once you stop playing there after a few weeks you can start to miss it... so i wouldn't burn any bridges Wily' ( Coyote ) Maybe if you could get another regualr gig at different venue and do one week one place and one week the other ? I think would really benefit your itchy feet ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissouriPicker Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 I wouldn't interpret the owner moving furniture around as anything negative. They do that to keep the coffeehouse looking different. Same with the art on the wall. One of my two regular coffeehouses removed all the sofas. I wished they hadn't, but it seems to keep more different people sitting near me instead of the same ones all the time. ....Do you have to sit on or near the sofas? Maybe you can just sit somewhere near the door. I may be totally wrong, but I think you're taking this as directed at you to a degree and I seriously doubt that it is. If you truly are tired of this venue, perhaps it is time to move to another one. Still, I think you just have to change some things around for yourself and "go with the flow" in regards to what the coffeehouse is doing. A gig may be our "our's," but the coffeehouse belongs to someone else. I do understand what you are feeling, but don't act too quickly, or at least not until you're sure........Whatever you do, I hope it works best for you. There's always another place to play. [thumbup] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phelonious Ponk Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 New material, different material, more material. If you can only to 1.5 hrs without repeating, you're just getting started. P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fullmental Alpinist Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 There is no force on the face of this earth that could improve my singing. Have you tried the new ToneRite 5G? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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