Last year at Christmas, I could barely play 5 songs. By “play,” I mean sitting with my guitar and being able to make it through a song, knowing the words and chords without relying on sheet music. I had a couple of songs I was close to “nailing,” but the others I cloyed my way through.
A year later, I can now play an hour’s worth of music (or more) and my setlist is now in the double digits. I’ll still miss a chord change now-and-then, but I’m confident in my ability to play music. This from someone who believed the messaging that he’d never be good enough to perform with a guitar.
What’s the difference a year later?
A good portion of my growth can be attributed to practice. Most of the previous 365 days of 2020 (in the midst of a global pandemic), I spent hours alone in my basement: just me, three guitars (two electrics, one acoustic), a combo amp, a laptop, and a small Bose speaker. I acquired a two-channel PA midway through 2020 and a couple of microphones. These tools allowed me to approximate the live performance space, or a reasonable facsimile.
I have no crystal ball and hence, no sense of the next time I’ll be in front of an audience of flesh and blood humans. Once our “esteemed” leader, Governor “Crackhead,” shut everything down this fall, she deprived me of my weekly opportunity to get out and hit open mics. This was an essential part of my growth as a performer. No matter how much you practice, standing on a stage in front of a bunch of total strangers is an entirely different animal than sitting alone in the basement. Songs you’ve nailed time and time again become clunky messes played live in front of an audience. But, falling on my face made me better.
[I’m sure some people are like, “WTF–why you be callin’ our wonderful guvvie a “crackhead.” Well, there’s still some evidence from news reports in the early 1990s that have since been stuffed down the memory hole, as these things often do, when those in power are doing the wronging. I know, “just put your mask back on, Jim and get in compliance”!!–jbe]
Let’s get er’ back on da’ rails.
Seth Godin is someone I’d call a “guru” of success. I’ve returned to many of Godin’s prescriptions for “pushing through” failure time and time again. I’ve attained success with my writing and other endeavors. Mark liked Godin’s orientation and we talked a lot about his book, Poke the Box. I have no idea, but sometimes I feel Mark’s smile from somewhere when I’m playing music.
The time will come (I hope) when some normalcy returns in 2021. When it does, I’ll be ready with my guitar to make some noise in front of an audience, at a venue somewhere in Maine (and beyond?).
Speaking of guitars (and non-sequiturs), Phoebe Bridgers plays the same guitar I do, save that her Danelectro is more sparkly and she’s a shade prettier than I am (by just a hair). 😀