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Location: Marlton, NJ | My 9 year old son wants to learn how to play the guitar and he keeps asking me to show him Day Tripper... amazingly he learned the first few bars. It brought back memories of the first song I ever played in front of an audience... it was Dueling Banjos at a talent show in high school. Of course we rocked it up and added a harmonica, so it was pretty cool. I had an Ovation Matrix back then (1982?) which lost its life on a church altar when the strap fell off (lots of marble and granite on the altar!).
It would be interesting to hear of everyone elses first experiences. |
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Location: Chicago | I think my first song was "God Be Merciful to Me" to help lead worship for a small campus fellowship meeting. |
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Location: GA USA | May have been Pooh Corner. I was big into L&M. |
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Location: south east Michigan | "We Are Three Little Elves"
In a stage presentation of the timeless classic "The Shoemaker And the Elves", by the 3rd Grade class of Jefferson School Elementary.
Aren't ya glad you asked??? :D
Later in the Capain YoYo and the Seadogs phase it had to be "Summertime Blues".
Fast forward to my current acoustic duo gig..."The Kids Are Alright". |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Mine may explain my performance anxiety. I was in a beer bar shortly after I started playing guitar and came out of the john to a round of applause. Found out while I was peeing that my friend, whose dad owned the bar, had announced that I had agreed to play and sing for the group as soon as I got out of the john.
There had been a gal singing and playing a guitar with a small amp and she made the announcement and handed me her guitar.
I played and sang Bread's, "Make It With You" because its the easiest 3 chord song out there and was popular at that time. I was so drunk and nervous, I couldn't remember the last verse and started repeating one of the first two. I don't know if any of the other drunks in the bar noticed the mistakes, but it took me years to play in public again. I think the next time was at our wedding. |
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Location: Budd Lake, NJ | In 5th grade--clarinet solo--with a 4th grader to provide piano accompaniment--who lost her place halfway through. Since the eggs and tomatoes had been confiscated at the door, I didn't fare too badly; and my folks told me they were proud of me. That was really all that mattered, anyway.:-)
Karen and the crew:
1111-4, CE868LX-4, Viper 1271 Natural, maple Tornado, American Strat, Steinberger Spirit 5-string bass, Galiano mandolin, Vega 5-string banjo, fiddle of uncertain antecedents |
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Location: NJ | ". . a stage presentation of the timeless classic "The Shoemaker And the Elves" . ."
. . to RAVE reviews.
"Three Coconuts" by the Detroit Times!
". . Brad Durasa IS the elf! . ."
I think mine was probably some Christmas tune when I was in the Choir in HS . . . |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I forgot about band in grade school. I didn't sing in a choir until college, about the same time as the drunken bar incident described above. Memory is fuzzy. |
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Location: SoCal | "This Land Is Your Land" -- 5th grade |
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Location: Bluffton, SC | The Wedding Song at a good friend's nuptuals. The bride's sister sang and I played. Halfway through the song I dropped the pic into the guitar because I was sweating (it) so much. I found out in that split millisecond what "and time stood still" really meant. Then I started finger picking, the sister started singing again and all went well (until afterwards at the reception when I said I thought it was pretty funny and the sister almost jumped over a table trying to kill me).
Ah, good times... |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I know this is supposed to be about the first, but Weaser just reminded me of what was probably the third. I played and sang "Wedding Song" for my wife's sister's wedding. I was still learning it on the Matrix as my wife drove the Ford Fiesta from Idaho to Kansas. Pretty cramped.
They had a nice stool for me to sit on at the wedding. Ever had your leg start shaking when you put the middle of your foot on a bar for too long? Yup, that happened in the middle of the song and it was all I could do to hold onto the guitar. Also got the verses screwed up. Only good thing was that I was supposed to turn on my father in law's tape recorder as I went up there and I forgot.
By the way, Weaser, the wedding song is made for finger picking. |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Late 1969 or maybe 1970 some town talent show. A rocked up version (solo electric) of This Land Is Your Land with a Hank Williams style break in it. I was 11 or 12, took 2nd place. |
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Location: Bluffton, SC | Originally posted by Mark in Boise:
By the way, Weaser, the wedding song is made for finger picking. Now you tell me. You're only about 28 years late, Mark. :rolleyes: |
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Location: Upper Left USA | Put me down for Wedding Song.
At a Wedding, no less! |
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Location: Omaha, NE | I don't remember my first guitar performance...must have been some time in high school, probably playing at one of the all school masses they had.
First time performing an instrument in public would have been in band in fifth grade. I played sax. By seventh grade, I was in the jazz band, playing improvised solos. |
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | 1955, a waltz clog tap dance. I was 4 years old. |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | Isn't That So, by Jesse Winchester |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Weaser, it was almost exactly 28 years ago that I learned it. |
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Location: Copenhagen Denmark | My best buddy at the time ( 1978 )was busking on the pedestrian street in Copenhagen,money was low, so I decided to help him out,by playing the plastic bag ,ya know them thin crispy sounding things,holdin`it with one hand and scratchin`/tapping it from behind it with the other,people stopped up,wondering what instrument I was playing,I was n`t nervous at all,but bein`the hippie I was back then,it might `ve bin due to the funny stuff I had been smokin`,He ( R I P ) made a handsome profit,and bought me a cup a tea and a cake :cool:
I miss You Mickey ! |
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Location: Pennsylvania | I'm still a vergin. Never sang or played in front of people before.
I have been observing an open mic night in my area for some time now, and would like to give it a try one day, but i'm chicken... :) |
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Location: Maryland, USA | The National Anthem at my elementary school fifth grade graduation, I actually used my good ol' Ovation Viper.
Got it less than 3 months before that day. |
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Location: Copenhagen Denmark | Just cackle away Bob..You `ll be fine,and after that,you could allways open up a 2hand shoestore ;) :D |
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Location: Bluffton, SC | Originally posted by Mark in Boise:
Weaser, it was almost exactly 28 years ago that I learned it. And you never called???
I heard it for the first time about three weeks before I had to play it and I'm sure I did a very sub-par version but it all worked out in the end. My buddy is still married to that girl and, while I never see her sister, the three of us laugh about it today. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I found the album in a clearance pile at some store just a few months before we got married. My brother, who played it at our wedding, found the sheet music, but it is wrong. I still have his copy. I resurrected it for my folks' 50th Anniversary. I had to ask my brother's family not to play along, because I could only do it solo. They all ad lib everything very well, but I'm a stickler for authenticity and we just didn't mix. That was probably my 4th public appearance, with about a 20 year gap between 3 and 4. |
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Location: Oregon | Hmm back when I was five or seven or something like that. Played some old guitar tune at a recital. Buffalo Galls or something.... |
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Location: NJ | ". . . and dance by the light of the moon . . ." |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Tennessee Flat Top Box by Johnny Cash followed closely by House of The Rising Sun by The Animals. |
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Location: Hicksville, NY | CSNY's "Teach Your Children." I sang it along with my classmates at a school-wide competition. I was a high school freshman at that time. We didn't win, of course, but placing fifth overall was quite an achievement.
One year later, I learned how to play guitar myself. With the assistant principal calling names at random, I was forced (or peer-pressured) to play Jim Croce's "Photographs and Memories" at a school talent show... |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I'm still trying to learn that one, Gil. |
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Location: Omaha, NE | Originally posted by bobc:
i'm chicken. Here's an analogy for you: Some women tend to be really hung up on body image stuff, but do we men really care? I mean seriously, when things get going are you sitting there trying to find things to criticize about her, or are you going to just get busy? So what if she isn't the Playmate of the Month. She is THERE and the PMOTM isn't!
Same thing here. People don't listen to music to hear flaws. They go to have fun. The only thing they ask of you is to have fun with them. It really makes no difference how accurately you play, or how well you sing, as long as you are having an good time and the crowd can feel it. |
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Location: Hicksville, NY | Originally posted by Mark in Boise:
I'm still trying to learn that one, Gil. Someday, perhaps in one of the future gatherings, we could meet and I can show it to you. It was the very first Croce song I learned, while learning how to fingerpick. :) |
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Location: Snellville, GA | "Feel Like Making Love" at a high school talent contest. |
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Location: Marlton, NJ | Sad to say though that the last time I did it (that I can remember) was probably in college... so if I were ever to do it again, it would probably be like the first time... in which case I would want to do some kind of a blues number... not sure which one. |
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| Wow Pooh Corner forgot about that one! Great song there. I have to learn it, perhaps it's something we can use. My first song was something I never plan to play again. It was "The Cars" Your Just What I needed. We played the middle school dance. would-a been 77 or so??? I suppose it could have been worse.
Went on to a different band not long after this crap band thing. Next one actually did some Floyd and Genesis back when it was still kinda new and hot on the charts! Firth of Fifth...Afterglow...you name it and we had a cool Beatles medely that started out with..... "she came in through the bathroom window""" and ended with a long sustained chord that faded out so I could put on the acoustic and do a nice little Blackbird rendition." Fun Fun stuff always got a nice applause for the whole medely. No matter how much I like playing this stuff now, when I get the chance, it just ain't like doing it back when it was current.
The audiences are so, so, very different from what I remember. I play more for me now.
I am sure a lot of you guy's must have the same feeling if you've been at this for a while. And I know some of you have been doing this for longer than I
Randy |
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Location: Central Florida | "Proud Mary," followed by "Gentle on my Mind" at a school PTA meeting when I was in 5th grade (1970). |
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Location: ranson,wva | high school musical...annie..99'-01'...kinda cloudy on the year but i rember it was a damn nightmare..jason |
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Location: the BIG Metropolis of TR | In church I did "Try A Little Kindness"....just me and my trusty Custom Balladeer!(the only one I had back then!) |
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Location: ranson,wva | the last number i did in frot of a ''sober'' crowd was 'three wooden crosses' at church..jason |
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Location: Rauenberg, Germany | Great reading all the posts here. My singular successful vocal performance was a duet, "Sue Me". It was my Junior year in HS (72-73) and the musical was Guys and Dolls.
So far as playing guitar and singing in front of a larger-than-my-living-room audience, I've had only a couple of times. The most memorable was with a garage band that we formed hastily in 1970 and broke up just as quickly. I think it was because one of the members brought his japanese girlfriend to all of our sessions . Our first and only gig was at a roller-skating rink. I had a solo, playing and singing Norweigian Wood. It went okay. I could tell because as the skaters rolled by me, they'd say "gooOOODD JJJjooob" and "ssoOUNDS GOoood". A very strange way to perform with your audience circling the floor in front of you. I guess we should have done "I'm So Dizzy".
The biggest failure in my performance history was my Senior year, 73-74. I was the "vocalist", along with a guitarist and drummer auditioning for our HS Talent Show. We took on "Hocus Pocus". I thought I was Ziggy Stardust and dressed up like some wacked-out vampire. My yodelling talents are very dim and the tryout was a true disaster. If we had practiced more than two times, the audition may have qualified as near-entertainment.
The band that really took the show that year did a great version of Traffic's "Light Up or Leave Me Alone." I recommend that to any of you playing in a tight rock and roll band. |
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Location: Rauenberg, Germany | Originally posted by Omaha:
...people don't listen to music to hear flaws...as long as you are having an good time and the crowd can feel it. Excellent comment and very true. If you are into what you are performing, even mistakes can come off as "style". And the old addage, "you've got to start somewhere" really applies. |
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Location: Isle of Man, UK | Now you've got me thinking back...
I guess that it was in 2005 when I was 18 - had an audition to join the local Amateur Dramatic Society. I think I sang Deadwood Stage from Calamity Jane, which was the show I joined for - it played in March 1996 to over 5,000 over the week's run, including two sell-outs of over 750.
Since then, I've had my own starring role, and I'm now Treasurer. Last night, we auditioned the new members, same as I did. Boy did the nerves come flooding back for me!
The first time I guitared and sang would have been October 18th 1996. Roy Orbison's Pretty Woman with drums and a bass behind me (both of whom weren't technically old enough to be in the bar!). We played for 4 hours that night. Had to do everything three times, as we were only expecting and expected to play for about an hour.
You're right - as long as you're having a good time I'm no better than I was then, but having just as much fun, and people really go for it.
Good days!
JB |
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Location: Sunshine State, Australia | Originally posted by RokitRik:
Originally posted by Omaha:
...people don't listen to music to hear flaws...as long as you are having an good time and the crowd can feel it. Excellent comment and very true. If you are into what you are performing, even mistakes can come off as "style". And the old addage, "you've got to start somewhere" really applies.
I've played on stage quite a lot, usually as bass player or harmonica - never singing. My first 'solo' was a few months ago and it was real lead balloon stuff. I played some Neil Young tunes (with harp holder )- Out on the Weekend, My My Hey Hey and Needle and the Damage Done.
I must have been pretty bad - they didn't even realize I'd finished. (See BobC's thread for details) I was so intent on doing it right that I didn't enjoy the experience, and I think it showed.
My Ovation 1768 got a lot of attention, though.
"That guitar sounds great!" (until you PLAYED it)
BobC, just do it. If it goes as well as those that have heard you play think it will, you'll be on a natural high for weeks. |
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | First guitar solo in front of an audience: 1964, junior high talent show for the entire student body, "Wipe Out" by the Surfaris.
First time to actually sing on stage: "Dance Anyone" likely around 1960 or 1961. |
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Location: Omaha, NE | Here's another example.
Angie and I went to see Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers last year. Our seats were up in the stands, to the left of the stage, so the performance was pretty much in front of us, but facing to our left.
Anyway, once in a while Petty would turn and play in our direction. He would always have this huge grin on his face. The crowd just went nuts. You could just feel how he was grooving off the crowd, and the crowd was grooving off of him. It was a great time.
Guys like us probably spend too much time practicing at home, alone, thinking that someday I'll get good enough to be worth listening to. Truth is, being worth listening to has very little to do with how good you are, and everything to do with how much mojo you bring to the stage.
Not that there's anything wrong with being good, of course. Just that when you are playing popular music, its not the only thing. |
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Location: cincinnati, ohio | Third grade, 8 years old, church choir solo on "Ave Maria." I was angelic then. Learned to sing harmony there over the next 10 years.
First "pro" performance in 1969 on stage at the Sand Bar in the Clifton entertainment district near the University of Cincinnati. CSN's "Helplessly Hoping" with my band. Killer harmonies.
Is there anybody of a certain age who HASN'T done the "Wedding Song?" We got drunk practicing it and came up with a set of obscene lyrics for it. When it came time to actually sing it at the wedding, it was hard to do with a straight face. We managed. |
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Location: Marlton, NJ | I guess I wasn't thinking about my time in the folk group at St. Mel's, which would have predated Dueling Banjos by about a year. We also did the Wedding Song. My girlfriend at the time had a phenomenal voice... I still get goosebumps. That was a fun time to play at church - no one cared about which songs we played. We weren't limited by licensing or anything else... and then Sister Mary Patrick or Patrick Mary (can't exactly remember) came along.
Oh well! |
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Location: Utah | My first real performance was 6th grade in 1972. We did "Good Morning, Starshine" in front of the school. |
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Location: Avondale, AZ | Mark in Boise tells us about his first time. the drunken bar incident described above. Memory is fuzzy.
Nearly the same thing happened to me.The difference was I wanted to play with the band at the beginning of the night. after I got too buzzed I said 'forget it I am too buzzed'. When I came out of the bathroom and the band was about to start the last set, my friend, who knew the band, was at the mic. He said 'get your hands out of your pockets and lets hear it for Dave'. There were no towels in the bathroom so my hands were wet. I was buzzed so my pants were unzipped.
The lead guitarist handed me his guitar and said into the mic 'what are you going to sing?' I was just going to play rythem and not sing The Eagles' "Tequila Sunrise" amd "Take it Easy". They said play the rythem and they would do the fill. But I still had to sing. Thank god I was buzzed.
When I got off stage, a beautiful women asked me if I knew my pants were unzipped and my dick was hanging out. I said 'Know it, I wrote it. You should have asked me that ealier. I would have played it for you.' |
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| My first time singing in public?...a duet with my sister standing in front of this big puplit at the Victory Baptist Tabernacle in Hapeville, Georgia...I think the song was "At Calvary"...had to be back in the 60's, and we were in 3rd grade maybe?...(and we also sang together a year ago at my grandmothers funeral...we're both in our 50's now..) |
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Location: Spokane, WA | I was in a band in high school (mid-80's), and our first time out was at a High School talent show. We decided to play "Am I Evil" by Metallica. Of course, that wasn't what we played during the audition to get a slot in the show. I don't think the people running the event were too amused, and, oddly enough, we didn't win. :confused: |
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Location: closely held secret | Circa 1972, at a friends birthday party. We did "San Tropez" and "Livin' In The USA". |
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Location: Utah | Originally posted by Davek1076:
Of course, that wasn't what we played during the audition to get a slot in the show. I don't think the people running the event were too amused, and, oddly enough, we didn't win. :confused: When I was in 9th grade we had a jazz band that was asked to play the National Anthem at the beginning of an all-school assembly. At the end, instead of playing the jazz tune we were supposed to play, we played "The Stripper", complete with slide trombones.
We weren't asked back, either. |
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Location: South of most, North of few | I was slated to play with two other guitarists at church, strictly accoustic, outside, for a tent meeting style service. One of the other guys didn't show, and the other was on call for work, and guess what...he got called in. So I was alone, with no music, and very little rehersal time. I'd have to say the spirit filled me, and it went off without a hitch. I will never forget that one! |
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First song onstage or in front of an audience...