Open mic last night!

I played my first open mic last night.
I'm in a Folk Music Club and played at our monthly coffee house.

Three songs... two were on an Alvarez Jumbo guitar, one on my Gretsch Clarophone Banjolele. The Uke song was in the middle.

I played:
Guitar - Shake Sugaree by Elizabeth Cotten.
Banjolele - Backslider's Wine by Micheal Martin Murphy
Guitar - And When I Die by Laura Nyro.

The Uke'd song is one I play all the time, has four chords D G C and F so I picked an easy really familiar one for the Uke, since my Uke-ing has been in the background for a while. It was probably the best song for me that night. It's about a man who finally realizes he's an alcoholic. It's a great song. and it sounded great on a Uke.

It was a real head rush. I was more nervous afterwards than before. Gonna do it again!

I play in a jam weekly, and we play with a vocal mic with the amp in the middle. This was a surprise with the PA and hearing my instruments. Just a sonic variance from what I am used to.

I did a little banter too. When I put the Uke back on the stand and turned back to the audience, I looked back to the Uke and said, "What?! No. You just played your song. No. He has six strings and you have four. I don't care it you're older. i need six strings for this song. No. No. We'll talk about this when we get home. I Said when we get home. Okay" Then I looked back at the audience and shook my head. That kinda went over big.

Poor banjoleles never get no respect.

Congrats! I would tell you the first time is the toughest, but I'm not sure that's true :shaka:

Hey brother

Good for you for gettin' out there and bringing the uke!

Next time, boy oh boy....but I dont want to make you nervous or anything....:music:

Good for you! Getting up in front of folks takes some real moxie.

Saw this title and it applied to me too. I'm playing at the Uke Fest in Obing Germany in a couple of weeks so I thought I should try and get my sealegs under me first, so I did a couple of open mikes down at a local coffee shop.

That was a good idea, since playing live is a different story from playing in my room or recording music. It went pretty well, with the main issue being that things sounded different playing in a larger space with amplification.

The second time was easier, and a few people were tapping their feet with my opener.

Not sure if I will make this a regular thing, but it was kind of fun.

Good for you. I think that playing and entertaining people is what it is all about. It sounds like you put on a pretty good show.

LOL Glad it went so well, and thanks for sharing!