Does this sound familiar?

Lango-Django

Usually I play guitar and banjo in a trio led by a clarinet/sax virtuoso specializing in 20's and 30's music. To me, the big challenge of this group is playing solos without any other instrument than the bass to back me up... somehow without that rhythm guitar or piano to keep the beat and play the chords, it's like somebody just ripped off the old security blanket; even though I've gotten better at it over the past few years.

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But every now and then I luck into a solo gig, and for these I mostly play jazz standards using backing tracks.

(Yeah, I know a lot of you guys hate backing tracks. But if a gig only pays a hundred bucks, what are you gonna do?)

For these solo gigs, like the one I had the other night, I try to practice my ass off.

One reason is to make sure I can play the heads as error-free as possible, because this is actually the only time I ever play heads. But of course I also practise soloing as well.

The other day as I was practising my soloing I felt really down in the dumps... totally locked into certain patterns which have ossified to the point where, alas, they are who I have become as a soloist.

I was feeling as if it was futile to practice--- WTF, why reinforce these cliched patterns even more?

Have you ever felt that way?

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But then somehow, magically, when I actually played the gig in front of an audience, I forgot all about that old cliched stuff and just played whatever I felt at the moment!

Now I wouldn't go quite so far as to brag that anyone would ever confuse my all-too-predictable phrasing with any member of my holy trinity (Eddie the Father, Django the Son, and Oscar the Holy Ghost).

But I played the gig! And people liked it! And I liked it! And I had fun! And I made a hundred bucks! And I got another gig out of it!

So life is wonderful again!

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Although the financial rewards are minuscule, gypsy jazz is an extremely demanding art form. I've been following Scoredog's postings about his progress with interest.

Django and many of the modern day European virtuosos have set the bar so high that old fellers like me will probably never even get close to it.

But why should that discourage us from just getting out there and doing the best we can?

Does every painter who picks up a paintbrush feel discouraged if they can't paint at least as well as Picasso? If so, there'd be very little painting done!


Will

PS Now to get back to working on my Soundslice lessons with Duved D. and see if I can manage to drill some new patterns into this old noggin.

Scoredog

I think the biggest trick, especially as we get older is doing it for the pure joy of it. Most of us are not programmed to be able to let go and just enjoy the moment (self included) but you just did and that in itself probably is the ultimate goal.

AndrewUlle

I think that, assuming some reasonable competence with the instrument, most people in the audience mainly pick up on the player's energy and enjoyment with his art. There is a synergy of the open dialogue with an audience - people seem to sense the performer's commitment that comes across when he (or she) gives themselves totally to the performance, and loses the normal self-consciousness that limits too many musicians and singers.

Pizzazz is not what attracts the average listener. Getting the audience's attention and interest will hopefully get them involved in the performance by supplying energy as feedback to the player(s). Maybe it has to do with the perception of vulnerability that a performer exhibits when they are "all-in."

I have seen very talented groups sound flat until the audience began to get involved. After that occurred, they almost sounded like a different band entirely. So I say, give every performance all you have, don't worry too much about the technical aspects (or not being as good as Bireli) once the show starts - work on the relationship with your audience.

My two cents' worth, anyway.