Dos and Don'ts: or how to avoid feeling like a 'bloody idiot'

thereshopeyet
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Sun May 29, 2011 9:53 am

Thanks


michelew
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Sun May 29, 2011 4:31 pm

neverfoundthetime wrote:
Well, imagine a moose coughing into an empty oil drum. Got it? That's the involuntary sound which reverberated around the silent dinner table with expectant audience waiting for the song to begin. Yes, I was sitting on an empty metal oil drum (for some unknown reason, it must of been part of the deco!) with guitar in hand and the beans spoke! How embarrassing! Got the biggest laugh I have ever caused. :blush:
Classic! Well I guess you got their attention. :P I hope you were still able to sing, in the more conventional way.

M


michelew
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Sun May 29, 2011 4:34 pm

thereshopeyet wrote:
My biggest erred thought was..................

1. To think I could find a shortcut to learning guitar! :blush:

2. Picking the callouses off the tip of my fingers and then trying to practice guitar with the revealed tender skin! :blush:

3. Not being able to play anything confidently on the guitar to check it after a repair! .... "I'll check it at home"! :blush:

4. Regretting everything I've done before today!
And knowing I'll do the same all over again tomorrow!
:laugh: :laugh:
Ahhh Dermot, picking off your callouses. You ARE a sucker for punishment. And I have SO been there with the checking the guitar in front of the guitar surgeon.

M.


cosmicmechanic
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Sun May 29, 2011 8:37 pm

This is ancient history, but this story still amuses me:

Late on a warm summer night, my group of friends joined a good-sized crowd that was being wowed by a lone electric bass player busking in an outdoor public space. I don't really know how he powered his amp, but he was quite impressive.

We wiggled our way up to the front of the circle and at one point, his gaze locked onto me, and he asked me to come over to him. I did, and he told me "Could you hold on to this for a few minutes? I'm gonna get me a beer !" And with that, he handed me his guitar and headed off to a bar across the street.

I'd never played bass before, wasn't that good at any guitar actually, but since I'd had a few myself, I concluded that "the show must go on!".

I still get a kick remembering the puzzled faces of newcomers to the audience wondering what this crowd found so interesting, and seeing a bloody idiot trying to play an instrument he'd never even touched before. Of course this made the crowd dissolve in fairly short order, but sometimes a minute can seem like an hour.

Actually, I'd say this is a "Do" rather than a "Don't" ... nobody got hurt, not even my pride ... cracked up my friends pretty well !

Pierre


thereshopeyet
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Mon May 30, 2011 4:26 am

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tovo
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Mon May 30, 2011 5:00 am

Classic story Pierre! Loved it.

I had had a touch too much merriment on a fine summer's evening and picked up the guitar to have a play. "Hmm" I thought, "my A string sounds a bit out of tune". I tuned up, and up, and up but it didn't seem to make one damn bit of difference. Suddenly with a God awful TWAAAAAAAANG my low E snapped and hit me in the face. Not easy to bust a low E string I reckon but I managed it. I still get a bit nervous when tuning!


Max
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Mon May 30, 2011 5:40 am

A bloody idiot.....hmmmm....

This story is also ancient history, I was 14/15 I think and having this performance at school. Those were the days that I absolutely loved to play and sing Elvis-tunes and a lot of Elvis' songs start out with the singing and then the music comes in (like Blues Suede Shoes, One night and so on), I had already played a number of songs and getting more relaxed I guess.

Anyway I went on with Tutti Frutti, you know the '"A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-lop-bam-boom!" (yeah yeah, I know it's originally a Little Richard-song) and after the first line I started to play of course ............HUH???? :ohmy: WHAT happened??? :huh: Sómething was completely off, well I had totally forgotten about hitting the I-chord first, so that I would have known in what key to sing.....well as you can imagine, the guitar and the singing were nót in the same pitch, it was hilarious of course, the audience laughed, I laughed, and I quickly started over, but I indeed felt like a 'bloody idiot', haha! :blush: :laugh:

Lesson: Néver ever forget to check the key you're about to sing in! ;)

Nessa


michelew
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Mon May 30, 2011 5:42 am

cosmicmechanic wrote:
This is ancient history, but this story still amuses me:

Late on a warm summer night, my group of friends joined a good-sized crowd that was being wowed by a lone electric bass player busking in an outdoor public space. I don't really know how he powered his amp, but he was quite impressive.

We wiggled our way up to the front of the circle and at one point, his gaze locked onto me, and he asked me to come over to him. I did, and he told me "Could you hold on to this for a few minutes? I'm gonna get me a beer !" And with that, he handed me his guitar and headed off to a bar across the street.

I'd never played bass before, wasn't that good at any guitar actually, but since I'd had a few myself, I concluded that "the show must go on!".

I still get a kick remembering the puzzled faces of newcomers to the audience wondering what this crowd found so interesting, and seeing a bloody idiot trying to play an instrument he'd never even touched before. Of course this made the crowd dissolve in fairly short order, but sometimes a minute can seem like an hour.

Actually, I'd say this is a "Do" rather than a "Don't" ... nobody got hurt, not even my pride ... cracked up my friends pretty well !

Pierre

Great story Pierre! I hope someone got a picture of you surrounded by the crowd before they went 'poof'. B)

M.


michelew
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Mon May 30, 2011 5:47 am

Dermot,

All I can say is 'holy-multi-function pick Batman'! Cool.


michelew
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Mon May 30, 2011 5:53 am

tovo wrote:
Classic story Pierre! Loved it.

I had had a touch too much merriment on a fine summer's evening and picked up the guitar to have a play. "Hmm" I thought, "my A string sounds a bit out of tune". I tuned up, and up, and up but it didn't seem to make one damn bit of difference. Suddenly with a God awful TWAAAAAAAANG my low E snapped and hit me in the face. Not easy to bust a low E string I reckon but I managed it. I still get a bit nervous when tuning!
Tony mate! Ouch!! That's a hell of a way to attempt a cool scar for 'the ladies'. I suggest you stick to the sexy bald head and silky baritone. :P B)


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