Topic: Shamelessly showing off my new guitar...

[Laura]

It arrived this morning, I am totally in love! (It's a Michael Messer Blues resonator)

Very rough version - I hope I can improve a lot on this song...Warning - neglected screaming child in background 

Oh and I should say thanks to Ian at Diamond bottlenecks - on WC members recommendation he's fixed me up with something that fits perfectly!

[Adam Franklin]

That's great Laura, Superb thumb!

(Never worry about neglecting a screaming child. It's character building for them.)

Adam.

[Parlor Picker]

Great work, Laura.  I agree with Adam's comments - and at least the child sounds in tune. 

[Pan]

Congratulations! On the guitar, playing, and musical offspring! 

Cheers

Pan

[blueshome]

Nice!
So now you've got another guitar to lug to Euroweenie.

[Johnm]

That sounds good, Laura, and your singing, which I always like, really matches up well with the melody as you're playing it.  You may want to tinker around with microphone placement when you record this new guitar--for some reason, the fourth string came through very well, but the sixth string did not in the recorded sound.  It will be fun figuring out the best way to mic the instrument so that it's best qualities come out.
All best,
Johnm

[Laura]

Thanks for listening.
John, I think it may well be a case of bad technique rather than the mic - perhaps to much dampening on the 6th string, I also had literally 30 mins playing on the guitar before recording this so not at all used to the wider fretboard - I was completely missing the 6th string several times with the slide on the pull-offs (well they are supposed to be pull-offs but came out as slide..)

Nice!
So now you've got another guitar to lug to Euroweenie.

Am I allowed?!  Didn't realise quite how heavy these things are 

[Mr.OMuck]

I think that was splendid! And what field recording is complete without a crying child somewhere in the background? Great looking and sounding guitar! A lot of people playing for a lot longer don't have your feel for playing slide. Keep up the good work.

[Stuart]

It sounded great, Laura! The mic and balance problems will work themselves out as things move along. Now all you need is a dog barking and a rooster crowing to balance the ambiance!

[Rivers]

You have a great talent Laura, you should accept that you were born to do this and take it from there.

Are you playing out at all? Get up on a friendly acoustic stage, ignore any inner doubts you might have (everybody does) and just do what you do in your vids.

[Stuart]

I agree with Rivers, Laura. We don't doubt your talent and ability and neither should you. I think that if you work up a short set to perform live for a receptive audience, you will find that they will be in agreement as well.

[Laura]

I really appreciate the encouraging words, thanks!  I've only performed once in front of an audience.  I was 15, school rock band, Oasis "Roll with it" ...Gah.

I know we've been through the whole "imagine the audience is naked" etc. but still I get ridiculously nervous playing in front of other people.  I miss notes, forget entire songs and can't sing in tune at all.  I suppose in a band, or playing with someone else you can sort of hide and cover up mistakes..

Someone still needs to volunteer to do this duet with me at Euroweenie else I'm probably not going to be playing anything!

[uncle bud]

Go with your instincts, Laura. I will be a contrarian again and say that based on what you are saying, you are not ready to play out. No shame in that though, you are sounding very good and need to work on your comfort level. (So do I.) Euroweenie might be a nice halfway point. A sure to be appreciative and supportive audience who like listening to people play this old weird stuff. You will also have the opportunity to play there more casually in front of one or two people, and with others, before any official Euroweenie performance that you decide you might want to attempt. Whatever you end up doing, enjoy, and remember Lead Belly's advice to weenies: relax your mind.

Also, there are no audiences for this music that I would want to imagine naked.

[Gumbo]

Sounds great - I wish my thumb worked like that. On the subject of performing I have 2? ...

I'm not a big fan of imagining the audience naked either (albeit with occaisional exceptions) and this technique really only works where a performer/presenter finds an audience intimidating. It creates more mental work, not less, and it doesn't really get us to the goal of enjoying playing and playing well.

Open mic type things can be pretty intense, especially if they are formal affairs, and don't give you time to loosen up, so ...

+1 to the euroweenie or joining/forming a group of (probably other players) who can appreciate what you've achieved

The best thing I have found is to go busking. Pick a town where you're not known so well, wear a hat (maybe sunglasses), get at least three songs to a point where you can wing 'em and go practice. You can play each song through twice and no-one will mind, and you will get an occaisional coin in your guitar case. After a while you will stop worrying and relax, you'll start to notice people walking in time with your thumb. Kids looking out of buggies, and sometimes someone will stop to listen. Smile at folks just to see if anyone smiles back. And if you fuck up then laugh and keep going - people love that and will even clap when you get the groove back. Paid practice time - beat that!

[Stuart]

The reason that things tend to fall apart when you're in front of others is that your attention and focus has shifted to the people that you are in front of--or more specifically, the fact that you are in front of others. It's just something that you are going to have to make a conscious effort to overcome. To paraphrase that old sage, 90% is mental and the other half is in your head.

Unlike the person who spends 40 years getting paper and pencil "just right" in preparation to write the "Great American Novel"--only to realize that he has nothing to say, you do have something to sing and play, as well as the talent to do it at a relatively high level. Obviously, you have to feel prepared and ready, but IMHO, you are close, if not there already.

[blueshome]

Euroweenie will be perfect for you.

You will get to play in a group via the Lucky Dip where we select trios by drawing names out of the hat. On top of this, on the evidence we have seen on the Back Porch, you play and sing better than most of us so it's we who stand to be intimidated.

You will need to work up a song to play in the style of another artist if you like.

 If you want to try any other songs out and would like a 2nd guitar, a few of us could offer help just let us know what you are thinking of.

[Richard]

You will need to work up a song to play in the style of another artist if you like.

Don't take it that to too literally there is no "need" just do as you want!

[ArthurBlake]

Very nice guitar Laura, I just love resonators, had three to date and still have two of them, I just wish my tri-cone was a National and not a Chinese Recording King as the metal body and cones sound awesome but the clunky neck leaves a lot to be desired so it is in Open D and stays there. My other resonator is a wood bodied Gretsch with a single cone of the Dobro variety, I got that cheap at just $800 (Australian dollars) and all I can say is, it's a dream guitar, just perfect, the neck is sublime and the tone is pure magic, one of the best guitars I ever heard and amazingly it is also Chinese made, I guess i won first prize in the lottery.
                                                         You have had some great advice from the guys in this thread and I hope you took it all on board, to put it simply, you will find that you are much better than the average player out there so you have little to worry about in that regard. Just get out there and do it and as often as you can, there will be many awkward moments, most people running open mics around my part of the world have no idea about country blues fingerpicking and no idea how to get the best sound for you (I have had some real shockers, to date I have never found any soundman who knows how to set up mics for acoustic guitar, they all insist I have to plug in using pickups (there goes the sound completely). I have learned to put up with it but its personally very disappointing, tonight I played, "Cocaine Blues by Luke Jordan having just learned it today and I couldn't hear the note very well so my singing suffered but as usual, the only person not completely happy was myself, everyone at the pub loved it.
                                    I suppose the point I am making is that most punters just wouldn't know if I was playing it right or singing it right, what matters is whether you put real feeling into the performance. It has bee a few years now since I had a single complaint. Another important point is, they will set the sound up so it sounds good out front and they usually forget that the player needs to hear a good sound. I used to hide out the back a lot and be nervous and hope they would forget I was there if I was there with just an acoustic, if it's electric it's much different, much easier as its not solo and with amps I can make sure I hear myself the way I want. I now play at least twice a week publicly and get hired to fingerpick sometimes because I play so often in public now.
                                          You sound great, you play great and play and sing with plenty of feeling and if people like John Miller can admire your ability then you really are very good. I also trust that this thread being over a year ago that you have most it sorted out by now. The world needs more lady country blues pickers. Good luck Laura I am sure you are killing it by now.