Good time yesterday: my first time on-stage

[ack1961]

Hey all,

We threw a High School graduation party for my oldest son yesterday.  Since we were having roughly 80 people over to the house, we thought it would be fun to have his band play out on the back deck during the party. They asked my 12 year old to join in on drums, so they had 2 drum kits, bass, and 2 (later, 3) guitars and all sorts of stuff to bang on.  I setup the sound gear, then I grilled....in the 95 degree F heat.

After they played for a while, my oldest calls me over to the stage and asks me to sit in for a few songs.  Everyone who knows me knows that I'm extremely stage shy and have never played a single note outside of my jam room.  I couldn't say no.  It was really cool standing there between my 2 kids playing a few Clutch songs, Low Rider & War Pigs...followed up with a few Wiggles tunes for the kids.  (I think I nailed "Fruit Salad").

At one time or another, we had most of the neighborhood at the house, and it was a great time.  Several other folks grabbed an instrument and joined the jam. I was surprised how quickly I overcame my stage-fright and how comfortable I was playing.  Granted, I was surrounded by family, friends and neighbors...
It was cool that at one point later in the day, all 5 kids playing on stage had all graduated early that morning.

Good time...strike it off the bucket list.

[Dave W]

Good for you! It's big the first time you get up there. Even if you have no desire to go further with it (like playing in a club), it will be much easier to do it again.

[TBird1958]

Congratulations!

I hope you find playing out as addicting (in a pleasurable way) as I do, by nature I'm quiet and shy too - before a show I'm keyed up and nervous, afterwords I'm spent ( in a happy way, like after sex  ) but in great anticipation of performing again. Truly one my life's great moments!

Rock on

[OldManC]

Congratulations, you popped your gig cherry! No turning back now, my friend.

This is the coolest thing I've read in ages. I'm really happy for you and for the obvious love and support you share with your kids. I hope I can be the same way with mine as they grow older.

[Highlander]

 

[SKATE RAT]

it's addictive too. once you see the crowd move, you're hooked.good luck. i'm trying to put something new together myself.my last gig was in Jan. i miss it bad.

[Denis]

Congrats, sound like you had a blast!

[godofthunder]

 Glad you had a good time! It is not a easy thing getting up on stage. My first time was my 8th grade talent show and it was not fun! I kept coming back I wanted to be up there so bad.

[Chaser001]

Congratulations on that and I hope you get to play on stage some more. 

[ack1961]

Thanks to all for the nice comments.
It was certainly a day that I won't forget anytime soon.

What really surprised me, and some of you experts might explain this to me, is that my amp was pretty anemic outdoors.
In the Jam Room, it rattles windows and can overpower everything in the room.
Outdoors, it struggled - a friend who was helping us out with the sound kept turning me up.
People were giving me the "thumbs down", which I interpret as "your volume is too low". 

I used a Peavey Mark VIII (600W @ 2 Ohms) with a 210TVX & 115-BW (both are 4 Ohm cabs) - it sounded fine, but I had both the Pre & Post Gain turned up to past 75% and started to see the Compression light on quite a bit.  The DDT Compression circuit is great as it eliminates audible clipping & distortion, but serves as a visual warning. 

I was really shocked at how the guitar amps blew it out of the water outdoors...I also have this thing about cranking my amplifiers, so it could have just been operator error.

Steve

[Highlander]

Sound reflection in the room - no walls equals...

[OldManC]

From a completely non scientific POV, how your cabinets throw the sound waves makes a huge difference. When I was first playing out I had an 8X10 and a 4X12 folded horn. On stage I would keep turning up because I couldn't hear myself but at the back of the club they were being thrown against the wall every time I hit a string. Sound guys hated me and it took a while before I realized they were right! (To a certain degree. )

[jumbodbassman]

great  to hear.  it's addictive isn't it!!!!