Some things in the universe are a mystery.
Last night's Open Mic at Caffe Lena with the Saratoga Acoustic Blues Society came up on the calendar a week quicker than usual. Normally, I have had a good idea of what three songs I will play by the time I get home from the previous month's performance. For this month I had no idea what I was going to do. I try to bring something new every month. I want to really push outside my comfort zone every time I sit on that stage. It is the biggest reason I show up.
I've left the corporate world after 20+ years of successful experiences and I am on a year of sabbatical to get my Masters so I can teach secondary science, primarily chemistry. That year of hard work is nearly complete and in the last two weeks I have had a bunch of great interviews in schools where I really want to teach. I'm on my way out for another this morning.
Anyway, a powerful tool for improving your teaching is introspection and reflection. You didn't think I was writing this for you, right? Do something and then sit down and really think about what went right and what can be improved. Painful honesty.
I had decided to play my songs using slides for this month's performance. I have found it difficult to play and sing well when playing slide. Having a finger half a fret out of position is no big deal. Having the slide 2mm out of position makes singing even more difficult for me.
My first song was "Going Down Slow" by Tom Waits. It was the last song I picked and I played it the first time the day before the performance. It did challenge me a little and I have a hard time starting off the way I want, but I sort of get it figured out by the end. I think I did an OK job considering my lack of experience with the song. Could have been a lot better. I used a brass tip Straight Relic slide that I made.
My second song was where the suffering ensued. I finally decided to play "16 Tons" using a Mojobone Works ring slide. I have played this song for well over a year and it is one of my go-tos. I don't know what happened, but it defeated me. I kept looking down and feeling like my hands were out of place, but they were not. I swear I counted frets to be sure. Nothing sounded or felt right. Nothing. I stopped and apologized. "This feels awful", I said. I got some help from a couple friends in the audience who encouraged me to continue. I restarted felling a tiny bit better, but it still sucked the life out of the room. Ending the song, I apologized again.
Time for song three.
A couple weeks ago, I hear a Cephas and Wiggins song, "No Ice In My Bourbon" and I liked it a lot. I could hear how to incorporate the harmonica part with a slide riff and while I didn't have the guitar licks down, I knew I could substitute something reasonably close in my version. Somehow, I recovered from the disaster of the second song. I felt like this song went really, really well. The Straight Relic Slide was where I wanted it to be all the time and it sang its song. The host, Sonny Speed, said to me as I left the stage, "You really had a good groove going in that last song." Thanks Sonny.
So some things are a mystery. I can't put my finger on exactly why "16 Tons" was so terrible. I think part of it was the universe saying to me, "You're trying to play it safe with this song." I have done that song and played it well so many times and it was really disappointing to hear the disaster last night. I'll be thinking about this one for a long time.
Comments
The jam last Friday evening was the best and most fun of any I've gone to. There is only one a year at my music friend's retail greenhouse and it is a fund raiser for some local folks mission to Nicaragua.
We sat outside in a shaded area among pretty plants, garden sculpture, pretty lights and the food and people right close- many of them singing along and really getting into it.
I knew two of the mission folks and got to meet another - Sister Joyce. The two I knew wrote a book about Sister Joyce and her missions. She is quite a character, and not at all the stereotype old nun. She was wearing a sombrero and having a fun time.
Jam, event, crowd, setting, people, FOOD, drink, - pretty close to a ten. Played, ate and visited from 5-9:30. People came and went for the jam, but usually 6 or less players at once. Just right. I got to do a lot of singing.
Lots of Mexican type and Nicaraguan foods. A few with suspect ingredients. I tried some tripe stuff that was chewy and kind of good. Wonderful foods, overall and I saw 4 kinds of Mex beer, (I had a Negro Modello), lots of wine- which I left alone, and the host gave me a cup of a good tequila.
Truly good people, and some excellent performers.
It seems they all hit that format and it does make it easier for everyone to play along. We only do about 3-4 songs depending on how late it is so it doesn't get tired out. Or us. :)
I have to keep in mind, that overall, my experience at these open mics is very, very positive and I have a lot of fun. It sounds like I'm being overly critical of myself, or that I really, really stink up the joint every week if things get out of context.
As a future teacher, I've learned there is always room for improvement. Every lesson has something that could have been better or a moment that could have been captured. Go through this process, and those needed improvements get smaller and smaller every time. It's only my 5th time out and I haven't performed live more than 10 times total. I have a lot to work out and still find what is successful for me. Believe it or not, I think the slide is going to get a lot more use in the future. Despite the technical difficulty, I think that is one thing that did work pretty much as I wanted it to this week.
Your jam is pretty much all 12 bar?!?!? I will be on the next bus.
Actually, that might get a little tiresome without some breaks, but sure sounds like fun. I would take two gits to something like that to make it easier to play in all keys.
Thanks Glenn and Uncle John.
Glenn, there is some merit to your question about my strategy. I spend a couple hours every day practicing something. Focused practice, not just foolin' around. Usually I run through my 3 songs in the intended order 3-4 times without break, then I do something else for 10 minutes and repeat. I can play what I want to an acceptable to good level before I show up at Caffe Lena. When I'm home in my office and I can hear what I'm playing.
On Wednesday, I had a couple problems. I should have asked for more monitor. I couldn't hear my vocals as well on the first song and went mostly by feel. I was leaned over my guitar to hear it as well. Lesson learned. Ask for the monitor.
Second, my voice was mysteriously skipping a gear. A friend said, "It sounded like you were singing in a different key than you were playing." I guess that's a nice way to say I was out. I have used Tim Covey's arrangement for 16 Tons successfully using a D# to D transition. For some reason, I could not hit the D# note and my voice was going D to C. I could not get out of that and I could feel it in my voice box. It was like skipping a gear. Even when I got home I couldn't do it right. Next day, I'm fine again.
The Tom Waits song needed more practice, no doubt. It will get there and I'll probably bring it out again soon.
Uncle John, "No Ice In My Bourbon" is a great one. I have only listened to it a couple times. I knew how I wanted to arrange it immediately and this is a skill I'm putting a lot of effort into. The Open Mic has a jam to finish the night and I don't know many/any of the songs, but they are all in 12 bar format so if I can play in the right key (E is hard on a guitar tuned open G, but I can do A and D fairly easily), then I can play along. Still, I'd like to offer something more than rhythm eventually.
So I stick by trying to do 3 new songs every month. I want to build my library and not get into a groove of playing the same thing every month.
This is a good read and a lot is familiar to my own experiences. You and I could have a good long talk on this.
I need to check out that Cephas and Wiggins, song. I like them and can not recall that song.
My playing out of late is not open mics, which are kind of best for me. It's circle jams with some excellent player/singers. I am getting so deaf, that sometimes I can't hear myself play in a circle jam.
Hey, a semi-related thing, Willie Nelson has a new book out, "It's A Long Story." I am not a huge Willie fan, but I am really liking the book and some CBN folks might like it too.
Eric, I used to try and change up my songs more frequently. But it seems to me now that not only do I play my 'standards' the best, but as people hear them a time or more, they get to knowing and liking them more. Keeping is simple is key for me.
Thanks Ron. Five shows across five months. Fifteen songs. Every time I get better. I may not play better, but I get better. :)
Might just be an odd number thing. 1, 3, 5 were all rough while 2 and 4 were comparably better. Can't wait for #6.
When a song doesn't want to be played, sometimes it's best to just do something else. Sometimes, getting an instrumental groove going can work the willies out. You want fear and exhilaration? Take a series of stock blues phrases, ask the audience to contribute a couple lines, then improv a song on the spot. There lies failure, 9 times out of 10. You're shooting for that 10th time. After 100 of these, you'll be doing better than 10%, trust me.
You keep right on doing what you're doing. 10,000 hours, my friend...
Agreed, Matthew. Think but don't dwell. My voice would not make a half step transition from D# to D no matter how much I tried last night, even after I got home. It wanted to come down to C instead. No amount of anything would make it work. Like missing a gear. Today it is fine.
I do video my practice quite a bit and it does help. The camera doesn't lie to you.
I'm glad you like the posts Matt. I use them mostly to refine my personal ability to recognize and define what needs to improve. If I can write about it, then I can at least start to act on it. These open mics are a great place to work all that out and the performers and audience are very kind. It is a quiet room with very little distraction from the performance.
Think but don't dwell, playing shows is all about experience. Keep pushing your comfort zone and it will all get easier. I know a band that videos their practices and they swear it helps them a lot. I really enjoy your narrative on this it is helpful to anyone who hopes to play live and I bet I am not the only one who looks forward to these....matt