Originally Posted by: mlambrechtsI've a suggestion: whatever the outcome is, promise to repeat this next year (they'll be amazed about the progress you made!).

That's probably not gonna be a problem. The whole crazy bunch is gathered at least once every quarter, and some how, I end up having to play for them... Everytime. Even though I usually haven't learned a huge number of songs between each time, they still want me to play. At least this time I have enough songs I can play the Rhythm to to create a small set-list. The biggest problem here would probably be that half my audience is instinctively anti-Guns N' Roses, while the list of song I can play holds at least 2 Guns N' Roses-songs ("Patience" and "I Used To Love Her" flawlessly from start to finish, except for solos, as well as the first half of "Sweet Child O' Mine" and more or less "Chinese Democracy"). Then there's some other simple songs that people can dance to if they want to, though I don't expect it: "La Grange", "Smoke On The Water" and "Whole Lotta Rosie". Add in a jam or two and I should be able to entertain the crazy bunch for at least half an hour. And that's before even adding original material. If I add that, I might even reach 45 minutes, although I'm not sure. I could try giving them a taste of my own music and see how they react to it.

Most of my own songs use a standard 12-Bar Blues Form, one of them with such an annoying but catchy rhythm that it's been stuck in my head for the last two months! Conveniently, it's also one of those songs that doesn't have lyrics yet... I've considered taking the lyrics from another song in the same key, that I can never remember the rhythm to, and slamming those two songs together. That way I'd have two unfinished songs less, though I'd only get one song that I can remember how to play out of it :) Might give some good results. I've also got a song by a band I auditioned for last summer, that I'll be playing a cover of.

I'm still not very good at writing songs, though. the riffs and chord progressions come somewhat naturally for me, and I think I'm starting to improve my improvisation (to the point where my cover of "Patience" only uses the first half of the solo from the recorded version before going into an improvised solo using the Pentatonic Minor and Blues scales). If words just came as naturally, I'd probably be able to write more songs than I could ever publish... I'm not sure how good an audience these people are, when it comes to testing new songs. I only write Rock, Blues and a bit Metal, they listen to a mix of things. Two of them only listen to Pop, the rest are a bit more supportive, but only one of them has heard me play some original material, while I've been jamming, so all in all, I have no clue what to expect. No matter what comes out of it, I know it'll be another chance to grow as a musician.

And even if I can't sing the songs while playing them by next Saturday, I can still try and learn it for the time after this family-gig :) And hey, if I can't sing and play, that's not the end of the world. It's usually still fun to play for friends and family, because they're less likely to cut my throat if I miss a beat or hit a bad note. I'm actually looking forward to trying some soloing in front of them, since I've never done that either. I'll probably be spending a good deal of time until the family-gig warming up, rehearsing my set-list and finding some good backing tracks to solo over, so I can be as prepared as possible for this. I don't really expect to be able to sing while playing, but it would be nice. Seems like I may have underestimated how long time it takes.

Well, gotta make the best come out of this gig. I just realized it'll also be a year whole year since the first time I played for this audience, though there's one new person who's never heard me play, but he's pretty much into most types of music, so there shouldn't be any problems there. I trust most of the people I'll be playing for enough to know that they'll try to keep me going for as long as possible, and that they won't really care what I play as long as I play something :) I can throw in a sing-along if I want to (Knockin' on Heaven's Door), or between songs, I can throw in some random jamming to keep the flow going. All in all, they just want to hear me play, and I just want to make sure everyone is having fun.

haghj500, I still have my beginner's amp, and I have a microphone lying around somewhere without a stand. I just didn't know you can use a microphone with a guitar-amplifier. I'd obviously have to mess with a few settings and find a way to create a make-shift microphone-stand, though... Even if I won't be able to sing along in just two weeks :) I already plan on getting someone with a decent camera to film the entire thing and send it to me, or just use a camcorder, so I can watch it later and hear how it sounded. And maybe share the thing so I can get some comments and suggestions on how to improve in the future :)