OMG! All that practice and now I have to play an audience? Part 1

This weekend in the UK we celebrated the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and I was lucky enough to play at one of the local village parties.  The weather was pretty dire but fortunately that didn't dampen the organiser's enthusiasm or people's mood - hey, we got an extra days holiday on the government what's not to like?  Stuart and I were in the mood to party, and we had a setlist of our easiest tried and tested crowd-pleasers - what could possibly go wrong?

In fact nothing did.  It was a great night.  But it wasn't always like that, and sometimes it still isn't.

When you learn to play an instrument, you put in the practice based on a bunch of rules and ideas you pick up from teachers, books, recordings, a higher power, your ears etc.  After a while you get to the point when you feel you are ready to 'take it to the people', and that is when you encounter the most complicated instrument in existence. An audience.  Yes, it is the audience you are really playing.  And it is never the same twice and there is NO practice. You are straight in at the deep end, every time, and it is always the first time. 

Some people walk on a stage and seem to have an audience eating out of their hand with an endless supply of witty one-liners, banter and stories. Either these people are rare 'born' performers or they've applied some craft.

So, are there any rules you can follow? Hmm. An interesting thought.....

Well the quick answer is 'No.' Of course . But here are some things to think about. Let's explore this.  The examples may look lame on the page, but think about the good performers you have seen - what did they do?

STEP ONE - Engage early, start simple and make it obvious (for you and them).

Ever been in a situation when you've met someone new and been stuck for words? An awkward silence develops and in a matter of minutes it becomes really difficult to start the conversation. And when it does start, it falters and both you and them struggle to relax.  That's why Brits talk about either a) the weather b) football [if you're a bloke] or c) the journey.  Because it's EASY and EXPECTED. I say something, you know how to respond without thinking and off we go.  It's also why all Best Man speeches are essentially the same. (It doesn't stop them being entertaining).

So what's the lesson for playing an audience? 

1.  Speak early, say obvious things that they can easily respond to, that will relax you and them.  Don't make it up on the spot.
2.  The longer you leave it the more uncomfortable everyone gets and the more energy it takes to break the ice.

The structure is simple: YOU SAY SOMETHING, THEY RESPOND, EVERYONE RELAXES.

Examples:

"Hello everyone. It's great to be at {name of event/venue}.  We played here last year and had a great time.  Free music and cheap beer - what more could you ask for?    Maybe free beer and cheap music.....let's get going."

"Hello everyone. It's great to be here.  Let's have a round of applause for {name of last act}. Weren't they great?"

"Hello everyone. It's great to be here. What a great day!  Let's have a round of applause for {the organiser/the weather/the birthday girl/the lovely couple}."

Oddly, some people find saying their own name difficult when they meet someone new.  I tend to avoid the "Hello, we are The Undersigned...." approach as it feels like a job interview.  More importantly, it doesn't give the audience anything to react to. They will already have seen your name on posters, or don't care.  Also, this kind of intro almost irresistably leads on to an explanation of what you are all about (just like a job interview) - they don't want you to tell them, they want you to show them.  

Generally, I like to get an audience clapping straight off - and if you can get them clapping about themselves even better. 

The purpose of the intro is not to win them over. It is to help everybody RELAX and the audience will only do this if they feel that you know what you are doing.

Preparing how you are going to start is really important. Take some time over it so that you can do it comfortably without stumbling. It may feel artificial but it will get more natural.


Next time, we'll explore STEP TWO - Engage often, keep it short and sweet.

This is about how to introduce songs, speaking really clearly and whether to attempt your favourite 'A man walks into a bar' gag.

I know I should learn scales but why....?

I'd been playing guitar for 20 years without learning anything other than the minor pentatonic scale. And I'd convinced myself that somehow the struggle to find my own way made me more authentic, more of an artist, more 'indie', more 'true'.  Sound familiar?

Oh god what an idiot.  Have you ever seen a picture by an artist who doesn't get the perspective right?  Rubbish isn't it?  Well perspective is to art, what scales are to music. Perspective makes a picture make sense. Scales are the periodic table of music. They make a complex thing simple.

Added to that no teacher or friend had ever explained to me what I'd get out of scales or how much fun it can be.

So, no matter how good you think you sound, or how content you are with your playing, if you haven't got to grips with scales here are 10 good reasons why you should learn them and learn them well.

1. You improve your left-hand right-hand picking coordination.  Your playing becomes smoother and more fluid. Who doesn't want that?!
2. Your left-hand gets stronger and you finally get to use your pinky properly rather than avoiding using it. 
3. Your picking gets faster and more consistent.
4. You get to understand how chords are made and how to build melodies over them.
5. Your ear starts to recognise notes so you can copy songs by ear more easily.
6. You start to be able to play the notes in your head more quickly rather than spending hours looking for the next note.
7. You learn a whole bunch of famous melodies by accident. See, you don't just learn scales up and down in note order - you play them by skipping notes, or playing runs of 3 or 4 notes, or just playing them randomly.
   Try this two steps up, one step back pattern: play the root (1st) then note 3 (3rd) then 2nd, 4th, 3rd, 5th, 4th, 6th, 5th, 7th, 6th, 8th.
   Doing this type of practice makes famous melodies jump out at you.
8. You really 'unlock' the neck and get comfortable playing everywhere.
9. You learn how songs are constructed out of chord progressions (these are called diatonic if all the chords are from a single scale).
10. It stops you from just playing the same old riffs over and over again.

I spent a year on the major scale using the http://www.justinguitar.com/ method. And I got all of these things and more out of it.  A year from now you'll wish you had started today.  If you do nothing else in your guitar life - master the major scale. 

For more on learning scales click here