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Open Mic


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When I was younger I used to play Open Mic's at a blues bar in Flint Michigan. They are all different, so I can't really speak on the one you are talking about. But the one I did (about 8-10 years ago now) really helped my playing. They would let anyone get on stage and jam with the house band. It was different for each instrument obviously, but for lead guitar players it was ruff. They would tell you what key the song was in and when they said "go" it was your turn for a solo. No practice, no sound check, just let's see what ya got. Very sink or swim, if you swam they would let you come play again in the future. If you sank, well, go home and practice. But anyways, it was a good way to prove yourself. After getting on stage and killing it a few times, really gave me a lot of confidence.

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  • 1 year later...

Played Friends of Mine last night, and I used that link in the opening post to find out about it.

Since purchasing speakers for this laptop last week, I have been playing a lot more guitar (again) - Am back to being able to hear my guitar turned on as well as anything playing on this laptop thanks to these speakers - where 20 minutes to 30, maybe 40 minutes of guitar play a day, has easily gone up to 1 to 2 hours minimum. Then this evening, I busted my finger.

Still hurts. I was trying to get at this frozen ice cream stuck to my freezer, around 5pm, I was trying to pull it apart from the freezer and then my left index finger (fretting hand/finger) snapped back!

Moving it round because in fear of a broken finger, I was pushing it against my other hand/finger (my healthy appendages) comparing what's in place, and because I'm a 'nfn (Normal for Norfolk) mutant' by blood, I'm a lil' flexible in my double jointed fingers anyway, but I have done the digit some damage, my flexible healthy finger, though flexible, is more firm, and... Doesn't hurt. :lol:; En-route to the A&E (ER) department after deciding to go because picking up a guitar right after it happened and my finger feeling different bending, plus the pain...

When I was on the street for the A&E that's halfway between here and town @ around 5:30pm (I used public transport, these busses now have clocks in them) I decided... It probably wasn't broken, and if I got another bus there, to this music shop further up the main road I was on, if I left then (I got off, walked around a chemist (drug store) next to the hospital looking for something to maybe set then wrap my finger with myself! I only found the wrap - might return there this Halloween as the Mummy) then decided to catch a bus to the guitar shop before they closed @ 6pm... I made it, played on a £500 something ($800 something) Gretsch, unplugged, liked it, more importantly, liked that I was able to play... I figured, had it've been JUST LIKE how it was when I picked up a guitar to test it after 'I popped it', I would have then decided 'screw it, I'd go into A&E.; - Wasn't the case, was fun still, nice guitar. - Hung out in the local town centre (center) and did some shopping because that guitar shop closed @ 6pm, got in, had a J' - Decided, at around 7:45/8pm to go out and do open mic, ... So I found that page I like, the one in the opening post, picked a few that I liked the distance of (given it was like 8pm in the day and I was here and nothing was packed), 2 didn't answer (though useful, that page I like is old), so after ringing my short list of places that I got from that page, this one I found in Beckenham in Bromley answered, and the open mic event was on, got the info, packed this guitar that I switched to the other day randomly during mid jam and pretty much have played on ever since, think I put in like 3 or so hours playing that particular day, so much so, that I switched just to shake things up a bit but also; the guitar I switched to now reminds me of someone I lent it to, and I like that, so I switched to this guitar from my 1996 Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul Standard to that guitar, my 1960's customised Framus Hollywood with the same Seymour Duncan APH-1 set that's in my Les Paul, took my Framus Hollywood! - The idea came to fruition for this bad ass customised beauty when I was 21, I timed it to be like a 21st birthday gift to myself, my guitar/done! - and it was. Am now 28 and up until last night, haven't taken that guitar out to a show. So that was cool, I've had it longer than my Gibson, a lot longer with all things considered since I've had that guitar before it was restored and finished with what I saw in this guitar when I bought it in 2000, old, dilapidated, loose 'the bridge wasn't bolted to the guitar, the machine heads were rattling... Was painted from gold to brown and given a humbucker pickup in the neck position plus it's 2 original Framus P90 looking pickups, mounted on a wooden scratch plate!? It was £60, I was 13, I haggled it down to £30 but then left £15 deposit and paid for it and picked it up a week later... And... That was the 2nd guitar I bought that month (I bought the first ever guitar I bought, a brand new guitar for £130 just 2 weeks prior to that, still have it, took it out and performed with that guitar a bunch of times when I was younger) - The person I lent my wicked cool Framus to, is wicked cool still, so cool I trust them with this Framus Hollywood and... It's a really nice guitar, but, my friend did miss having a guitar to play; All in all, I finally took this Framus out and played a show with it, and that feels great, and I really love how it feels, how it looks and also that it is a vision I had back when I first laid eyes on it and saw the body shape/colour (color)/wooden scratch plate that came to fruition - but, this guitar reminds me of my friend now, and, I like that, and if guitars had souls, I think this guitar is missing my friend; I think the next time I see them, it'll be with this 1960's customised badass Framus Hollywood.

Was cool though, finally taking that guitar out and playing it, and on the spur of the moment too, didn't plan to do it, just did it.

I did a loose jam and then Sweet Child O' Mine - was fun.

Got out in time to be on like the last 11:30pm tram just up the road from this venue in Beckenham Junction.

Might return next month, there one's monthly. I'm ready to see what Thursday brings.

Edited by Snake-Pit
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  • 6 months later...

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