Open Mic Night And You

A chair on a stage surrounded by many guitars. Open mic night, you can picture yourself there on the stage, imagining you are giving a great performance of your own music. Blues, Rock, Jazz, Folk Rock, Country, etc. What do you play and do you write your own works? Photograph credit Jim Anderson of Blue Front Blues Room.

Many of us have anxiety for performing and find it difficult to share in public. But a friendly audience is here tonight. Warm and welcoming. You relax a bit more as you move into your song. Your confidence builds as you play and become absorbed in the music. After you are done the audience applauds it's approval and you are ready for your next of three songs you can present tonight. Your patter is minimal, your stage presence is lacking professionalism. But that is not the point. You are sharing your music live!

Perhaps you have done this a few times, like I have. There is nothing like it. I recall one experience when I lost my song right at the last verse. I just stated "I lost the song!" and the audience empathized with me. So I announced that my mother n law was in the audience, 74 years old, she had come though not feeling well to hear me sing and play. At the time she was our only parent/grandparent left as all others had passed away. So the audience applauded her.

Then one of them began to sing part of my song aloud. This put me back on track and I was able to finish the song and play another two. It was a nerve racking experience but I was filled with adrenaline and I had to keep playing. The audience was so appreciative and supportive it really helped. Many of them were there to play and had experienced the same thing I had. I received a lot of encouragement after my performance by some very good performers.

It was worth it.

Here is a chord progression from Rikky Rooksby's book "How to Write Songs on Guitar". I found it enjoyable to play around with but with out a song yet. It is good for practice and inspiration to use these progressions found in his book. G Em G Em Am D Am D. Try it and you will like the way the minor chords give flavor to the structure.

By the way I have no affiliation with Amazon Books or Mr. Rooksby. I just have a copy of his book and find it very helpful for songwriting. Thus the reference and link. I owe the chord progression to his book so I owe a link to it. Perhaps you'll find it helpful too.

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