my first gig

[Bob Wiegers]

after over 10 years of playing on and off, about 5 years of playing in church now and then, and just over a year of writing my own stuff, I've finally worked up the nerve and got the opportunity to play at the grand opening of our local coffeeshop!

I'm pretty excited to be able to do my original material, even if I'll just be background noise for the good patrons of Pasha here in Chattanooga (http://www.pashacoffeehouse.com/) (March 6, 6:15pm). I'm planning on doing guitar/voice, OM/voice and instrumental OM. we'll see if this leads to anything more around town or not.

I very much appreciated a recent thread on set lists. any other advice would be most appreciated. and if you're in the Chattanooga area next Friday, come on out. Pasha's got the best coffee in town (as good as the original Greyfriar's)

woohoo!

[Boy Howdy]

Congrats Bob! That is great news and sounds like so much fun! I bet that will open a lot of doors for you to play in other venues. Go for it! Make sure to let us know how it turns out.

[Avi Ziv]

Very exciting!! Please report back on your experience

[Countrygirl]

Good luck to you!!!
I am jealous you live in TN i love it there...In my avatar I am riding at Normandy Lakes..

[billkilpatrick]

in bocca al lupo! ...

[Rick Schmidlin]

Congrats,there is hope for me as I am approaching five.

[Bob Wiegers]

the gig went well! thanks for all the well-wishes. a bunch of church and neighborhood friends came out, so the small room was pretty packed at times.

from what I could tell, folks responded best to my songs-with-words. I wrote most of those with guitar, but I played the OM on as many as possible, and I think it worked pretty well. my wife joined me for harmony on a couple tunes, which was the best part of the evening for me.

I screwed up a couple of my instrumentals, but I doubt people noticed much. my very first vocals song I had the capo way too high, so I had to re-start. oops. that was probably the biggest flub of the night. for most of the night my pick kept slipping. I think my right hand was too tense and sweaty. most of my folk songs I have little pauses between the verses (an effect I probably use too much), so I used that opportunity to re-grip. no such luck for the instrumentals tho. plus I do everything too fast when I'm nervous (most of my stuff isnt meant to be fast).

I'm honestly not a great musician on the OM or the guitar, but hopefully the songs are interesting enough to be enjoyable. I think a lot of what I bring to the table is a unique experience with the octave, mixed with locally-based folk songs and some usual singer/songwriter fare.

so over all I think it went well. sure, the room was full of mostly folks I invited, but it was nice to play my stuff for people and get a good response. I dont think I'll aggressively try to land a lot of gigs, but as opportunity comes up I'll probably do it again. it'd be great to get the guys to back me up, but it's hard to find time these days. the owner of the place said she wants me back for a night of just me (I shared the bill with 2 other guitar guys), so that counts for something I guess.

here's a pic of me and the wife singing a song for our little girl. she gets shy in crowds so she insisted on coming up with her:

http://wiegersfamily.com/music/pasha2.jpg

[Jim]

Congrats on your first gig, hope you have many more. You have a lovely family.

[Mike Snyder]

Cute kid. Reminds me of my grandaughter, a little. Hey, lower the mike for your gal, fer crikes sake!

[Bob Wiegers]

Hey, lower the mike for your gal, fer crikes sake!

hehe...that's exactly what she told me after this tune, although in the photo I think it makes her look winsome. so the next tune I lowered it and stooped a little :-)

[Bertram Henze]

the gig went well! ...
... a pic of me and the wife singing a song for our little girl. she gets shy in crowds so she insisted on coming up with her

Congrats to opening a door into a larger (and frightful) world.

Your little girl's face seems to reflect that nervous ordeal we all have to go through until we get used to it - kids are so much more honest... :)

Bertram

[Bob Wiegers]

if I may resurrect this one...had the 2nd gig at the local coffee shop, and it went well. a couple improvements: the wife got her own mic (and sang on many more songs), got a friend with a bass fiddle to play with us, my right hand was MUCH less tense and we were able to relax and have a good time (hiring a babysitter for the kids helped with this one). still not sure if we're cut out for a "real" stage, but we're having fun.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3410/3472642686_7f0f9b4fd8.jpg

[mandozilla]

That's great Bob. Now all you need to do is get a b**jo player, a fiddler, and another mando/guitar picker and you'll be on your way! I guess you can tell I'm a BG nutcase HaHa. You do have a lovely family Bob...you ought to get your adorable little girl a, dare I say it, uke. :grin:

~o):mandosmiley:

[onassis]

Congrats! Looks like a lot of fun! My personal experience is that I've been surprised by how much I've enjoyed being on stage. When I first started doing some open mics, I was nervous and uncetain of my playing abilities, but still somehow managed to make it through without too many mistakes. It wasn't beautiful by any means, but it wasn't bad either. Now, even though I'm a somewhat shy person by nature, opportunities to get on stage get me jazzed up. Maybe it's the hidden rock star wanting to come out. Hope you get plenty more chances at it!