Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

Every 1st Friday of the month, the City of Greensboro throws a big "First Friday" function in Center City Park downtown. There's an open mic session with live music, so I'm taking my bass tonight hoping to get a chance to play.

Any of you guys ever do open mic stuff?

I've prolly played as many of them as anyone here, having help to run one weekly for about 17 years as well as going to other ppl's. I find them very educational & way fun. I've helped start up 4 or 5 bands from ppl I met at them, too. As the house bass player, I've played everything from blues to jam stuff to jazz to emo to rock & country & bluegrass, & I loved nearly every second of it!

Yep, I highly recommend the open mic scene.

Good stuff Phil -- thanks! I've been emailing the guy who coordinates the open mic, and he runs a lot of these. The only problem is that my FT job work schedule doesn't allow me to go to many of them. I work 12:30-9, and a lot of these open mics that he runs are held around 6 like this one. I actually made special arrangements to go to this open mic because my wife wanted to come for her B-Day celebration (which was on 08/05).

Anyway, thanks again for the response. Very encouraging. =D

Happy Belated Birthday to your wife from the boys of Noisy Kung Fu !

sanshouheil wrote:Happy Belated Birthday to your wife from the boys of Noisy Kung Fu !

Thanks Sans! I'll be sure to tell her.

I hosted an open mic every Thursday night from 1995 to 2002. Very good way to strengthen your improv skills and meet potential bandmates; I put together two bands doing it, including one of my current bands which has lasted for over ten years. I still attend them from time to time, I use them to try out new material. You should be able to find some in your area that start after 9pm. Try www.openmic.org

Thanks Jimmy. I checked out the website www.openmic.org, and it seemed more political in nature than entertaining. I did find an open mic blues jam at a local dive that I'll probably check out.

Any other open mic experiences that anyone wants to share with the rest of the class?

PocketGroovesGSO wrote:Every 1st Friday of the month, the City of Greensboro throws a big "First Friday" function in Center City Park downtown. There's an open mic session with live music, so I'm taking my bass tonight hoping to get a chance to play.

Any of you guys ever do open mic stuff?

Im going to start, thats really awesome to do that man!
Im trying to venture more into folk (not country) and I got plenty of songs so maybe Ill give it a shot when I get back on base.
Make sure you record it bro so I can see what you can DO!

LOL, sorry about that, the link is actually www.openmikes.org

It looks like there's one in Greensboro at The Flat Iron on Thursday evenings.

Most of the open mikes here in CT seem to be on Thursdays, at 9pm, although there's a few on other days . . .
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Anytime I see someone complaining that he can't find anyone to play with him, invariably he's not going to any open mikes.
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. . . seems everyone thinks you can start a band without going out and meeting people.
But - hey - if you want to start up a band - you should be able to at least play solo at an open mike.
I mean - really - what's easier than an open mike?

RhythmMan wrote:Most of the open mikes here in CT seem to be on Thursdays, at 9pm, although there's a few on other days . . .
.
Anytime I see someone complaining that he can't find anyone to play with him, invariably he's not going to any open mikes.
.
. . . seems everyone thinks you can start a band without going out and meeting people.
But - hey - if you want to start up a band - you should be able to at least play solo at an open mike.
I mean - really - what's easier than an open mike?

The audience would have to strain to hear my playing over my knocking knees - I've never done an open mic before. I suppose I should get out of my comfort zone.

jimmydanger wrote:LOL, sorry about that, the link is actually www.openmikes.org

It looks like there's one in Greensboro at The Flat Iron on Thursday evenings.

Thanks Jimmy. Yeah, the blues jam I wrote about earlier is the one I found at The Flatiron. Good looking out bro!

Chris4Blues wrote:The audience would have to strain to hear my playing over my knocking knees - I've never done an open mic before. I suppose I should get out of my comfort zone.

When I started playing bass, a guitarist friend of mine took me to an open mic jam because I had never played on a stage before. This was probably the single best thing that I ever did for stagefright. After all, if I was comfortable getting on stage in front of people NOT knowing exactly what I would be playing, playing music that I knew would be a snap.

I'm glad that I found the jam at The Flatiron. I haven't played good blues in a while. :D:D:D

I alread have a band, and I still play, solo, at open mikes.
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If you have stage fright, then do this; it'll help; - and I'll tell you why, in a minute . . . .
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Change the way you practice.
First: practice against a tempo - a drum box, a metronome, or even a kiddie-keyboard with on-board drums . . .
Make sure every song has an intro - and a definite way of ending it.
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Open mikes are distracting - your guitar sounds different, people are talking, . . . the clatter of mugs or coffee cups, whatever.
You need to be able to play a song with out being distracted.
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Try this, in your living room.
Turn on your TV - turn it to an annoying startion.
Turn on a radio - find another annoying station.
Leave these 2 things playing - and pull out your guitar - and practice.
Once you can finish several sings without screwing up - you're ready.
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Because, by that stage - you know that you 'know your stuff,' and so - you've earned the right to play in public.
Just concentrate fully on the song, and it's upcoming chords.
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See - if you know you'll be playing good - stage fright quickly disappears . . .
Also - when you hear an audience clapping - the next song is a lot easier.

Good stuff, RM.

Biggest part of the stage fright, for me, was seeing that I was playing almost exclusively for other musicians! First few open mics I went to had far too many musos & far too few regular ppl, so it was get up, play 2-3 songs & get the hell down. Yeah, you can feel a bit of pressure in that situation, at least until you hear everyone & see that there's nobody really that much better than you are as an entertainer or singer or instrumentalist.

DO try to keep it entertaining. That way, even if you flook up, ppl will enjoy it & be less likely to judge.