Back to the Basics

There is something to be said for playing for a crowd without ANY amplification....
Last night a thunderstorm rolled through the area and took out the power at the restaurant were I was playing. In many cases one might find that to be a problem when trying to perform. After all with out power, you cant use your PA system, and no amplification for your instrument and vocals. Its funny how we become dependent on these little things. No effects for the guitar, no reverb for the vocals and you cant crank up the volume to get the sound to the folks in the back of the room. Right???

Wrong!

So I grabbed my guitar and started to play the first set. Since its just me and the acoustic this felt a little strange. Im so used to hearing my vocals amplified and smothed out with a little reverb. I quickly found that I was adopting to my new environment. After the first couple songs I thought to my self, you are gonna need to project your voice more and put a little more ooomph into your strumming. Be your Own Amplifier!

So I did! I pulled from way down inside. Tightened up the abs and put more power in the vocals. At first I thought to myself that I was going to blow out my vocal chords before the set was out. I felt that I may have been singing with my throat and not breathing properly. Sure enough after the first couple songs my throat was feeling a little scratchy. I remembered all of the vocal tips that I had read about proper breathing and what muscles to use when projecting my voice and gave it another shot.

WOW What a difference. As I moved into the second set it was interesting because I could actually hear my voice reflecting back from the back wall... Like a natural reverb.

Without the amplification of the guitar I was having to strum a little bit harder. The combination of all this self amplification resulted in me really really getting into the songs. Interestingly enough I could also feel the crowd getting into the music. Looking around there were toes tapping, hands tapping on the bar, and people singing along to the music. And the applause was nice as well!!!!

So the moral of the story....

Practice without the amp once in a while. You should feel as comfortable playing with it as you do with out. If you are ever without power, it doesnt have to be a bad thing.

So here is my first BLOG for the new site. To be honest I never Blogged before. I wonder if its possible to mess up a Blog?

Well the first thing I would like to talk about is what this site is all about. First it is a place to promote any shows that I am currently performing and to post samples of my music and videos. Secondly I am working on a few different musical projects and plan on using this site talk about them and share ideas with other musician friends.

More about these projects in the next Blog entry. Stay tuned...

    

Welcome to my blog. Please check back soon for new entries.