open mike report
Feb. 12th, 2003 11:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jfbMission City Coffee Roasting Company, 2003-02-12
I've had an acoustic guitar for a few years now, and have been performing with it for, I think, most of a year. It's pretty nice, but I bought one with no pickup (because I wasn't performing then, so what did I need amplification for?), and it's been getting inconvenient. There are various issues like the difficulty of miking acoustic guitars well, but mostly for me the tipping point was a few weeks ago, watching Erin McKeown bopping around while she played her guitar, and being frustrated that I can't move around because I have to keep the soundhole near the microphone.
So Saturday before last I went to Gryphon Stringed Instruments, tried out their cool guitars that are set up with multiple pickups, picked out one that I liked, and left the guitar there to get it installed. A week and a half, they told me, the longest any of my instruments has been out of my possession since I moved here, and surprisingly anxiety-inducing.
But last night I came home to voice mail that it was done, so I ran out and picked it up, came home and played around with amps and effects, and smiled a lot. And tonight I went to Mission City--the most electric-friendly of the open mikes I regularly go to--with the guitar and the effects box to try out some of my newly quasi-acoustic guitar numbers on a crowd.
Aaand, due to unforeseen circumstances, there was no P.A.
So we played an entirely acoustic night, which was great fun in an entirely different way. I got several comments on the Kris Delmhorst song "Words Fail You", because it's a great song.
I've had an acoustic guitar for a few years now, and have been performing with it for, I think, most of a year. It's pretty nice, but I bought one with no pickup (because I wasn't performing then, so what did I need amplification for?), and it's been getting inconvenient. There are various issues like the difficulty of miking acoustic guitars well, but mostly for me the tipping point was a few weeks ago, watching Erin McKeown bopping around while she played her guitar, and being frustrated that I can't move around because I have to keep the soundhole near the microphone.
So Saturday before last I went to Gryphon Stringed Instruments, tried out their cool guitars that are set up with multiple pickups, picked out one that I liked, and left the guitar there to get it installed. A week and a half, they told me, the longest any of my instruments has been out of my possession since I moved here, and surprisingly anxiety-inducing.
But last night I came home to voice mail that it was done, so I ran out and picked it up, came home and played around with amps and effects, and smiled a lot. And tonight I went to Mission City--the most electric-friendly of the open mikes I regularly go to--with the guitar and the effects box to try out some of my newly quasi-acoustic guitar numbers on a crowd.
Aaand, due to unforeseen circumstances, there was no P.A.
So we played an entirely acoustic night, which was great fun in an entirely different way. I got several comments on the Kris Delmhorst song "Words Fail You", because it's a great song.
acoustic open mic
Sorry about the "unexpected acoustic night". My car died right as I was about to go there.
Can't wait to hear your new pickup sounds..