The feeling you get from playing a great show
Making music is very rewarding. From the very beginning I have always loved the small accomplishments that came from learning to play. At 16, when I got my first bass guitar (A Bradley P-Bass copy that I sort of wish I hadn't sold) I was in awe of the possibilities. As I learned the notes up and down the neck, I would start to put the "2 + 2's" together and started learning what the intervals sounded like and felt like. With each new day (I used to practice in stead of doing my homework...) I got a greater sense of my own worth as a musician.
Jump to 17. I found that a friend, Dan, was playing in a band and went to their rehearsal. The bass player/singer, Richard, had learned to play bass for this band. I asked if he would like to be able to focus on vocals and that was it. I was in my first band. My Twin brother Matt was in to play rhythm guitar, too! and I was stoked!
After a few months of writing our own Grungy riff rock (it was the 90's after all), we got a gig. It was a showcase of local bands at a community center waaaaaaay out of town - in December... It was cold. I remember that. I remember being a bit nervous, having never played in front of others before. I had been in church choir and in a few school singing groups... And there was that one winter growing up in Canada when I would go out during recess and stand on the top of a snow-bank and sing (Yell?) 'Blue Suede Shoes' to a crowd (3 or 4) of adoring school girls... but as far as playing an instrument on stage, that felt like something completely different and much more intimidating... I didn't really look past the edge of the stage, the strap-button on the upper horn of my bass came completely out of the wood (screw and all) and I had to catch the bass before it hit the ground. There were a lot of people there. Our set went pretty well (for all that our vocalist was just screaming with a ton of effects on his vocals and never actually learned the songs that my brother and I had written....) We had two drummers, just because. Our 25 minutes went by really fast. I wanted to do it again, and again, and again! I was hooked!
In the years between then and now (almost 20 years, actually) I have played a number of shows that I cannot being to estimate. Some were rough, some terrifyingly exhilarating, and some just amazing.
There is nothing that can touch the feeling of playing a set with a group of friends, knowing that you have rehearsed and played the songs many times over, and the grooves lock in and the people dance and clap. Then they ask for 'One more song!', like the people did yesterday. and you get 4 more minutes to rock their souls.
And this is why we do what we do. More than the art and the release of writing and sharing your ideas and 'being heard/understood' the energy of a good set is as good as it gets!
Making music is very rewarding. From the very beginning I have always loved the small accomplishments that came from learning to play. At 16, when I got my first bass guitar (A Bradley P-Bass copy that I sort of wish I hadn't sold) I was in awe of the possibilities. As I learned the notes up and down the neck, I would start to put the "2 + 2's" together and started learning what the intervals sounded like and felt like. With each new day (I used to practice in stead of doing my homework...) I got a greater sense of my own worth as a musician.
Jump to 17. I found that a friend, Dan, was playing in a band and went to their rehearsal. The bass player/singer, Richard, had learned to play bass for this band. I asked if he would like to be able to focus on vocals and that was it. I was in my first band. My Twin brother Matt was in to play rhythm guitar, too! and I was stoked!
After a few months of writing our own Grungy riff rock (it was the 90's after all), we got a gig. It was a showcase of local bands at a community center waaaaaaay out of town - in December... It was cold. I remember that. I remember being a bit nervous, having never played in front of others before. I had been in church choir and in a few school singing groups... And there was that one winter growing up in Canada when I would go out during recess and stand on the top of a snow-bank and sing (Yell?) 'Blue Suede Shoes' to a crowd (3 or 4) of adoring school girls... but as far as playing an instrument on stage, that felt like something completely different and much more intimidating... I didn't really look past the edge of the stage, the strap-button on the upper horn of my bass came completely out of the wood (screw and all) and I had to catch the bass before it hit the ground. There were a lot of people there. Our set went pretty well (for all that our vocalist was just screaming with a ton of effects on his vocals and never actually learned the songs that my brother and I had written....) We had two drummers, just because. Our 25 minutes went by really fast. I wanted to do it again, and again, and again! I was hooked!
In the years between then and now (almost 20 years, actually) I have played a number of shows that I cannot being to estimate. Some were rough, some terrifyingly exhilarating, and some just amazing.
There is nothing that can touch the feeling of playing a set with a group of friends, knowing that you have rehearsed and played the songs many times over, and the grooves lock in and the people dance and clap. Then they ask for 'One more song!', like the people did yesterday. and you get 4 more minutes to rock their souls.
And this is why we do what we do. More than the art and the release of writing and sharing your ideas and 'being heard/understood' the energy of a good set is as good as it gets!