Members seagullplayer77 Posted June 13, 2011 Members Share Posted June 13, 2011 On Saturday, a friend of mine and I played at another friend's wedding. Let me preface the whole story by saying that there was a major lack of communication on the part of the couple. The groom was very hands-off about everything and the bride was very "Whatever you want to play is fine! I just love acoustic guitars!" Anyway, she wanted us to play as people were getting seated before the wedding, so my friend picked out some fingerpicking tunes he knew and I noodled along with him. I brought my mandolin and we did a tune together, and by the time we finished those, the wedding should have been about to start. He left to take pictures, so I played a few fingerpicking tunes myself to kill the remaining time. The pastor came in and said the bride was running five or ten minutes late, and that I should play some more. The problem was that at this point, I was just about out of things to play. I'm mainly a rhythm guitarist, but strummed chord progressions with some occasional flatpicking is not particularly intriguing. I eventually ran out of things to play, took out my mandolin, and did an okay job of a tune I hadn't practiced in a while. I stopped playing because it looked like maybe things would get started shortly, but it was a false start and I didn't want to start playing again. About a half hour late, the wedding party was finally ready to start, so the pastor started motioning for me to play. And I wasn't aware that I was supposed to play anything for the processional. That was bad . I picked something fast and played it well, but I was uncomfortable doing something totally unrehearsed. During the reception, several people complimented my mandolin playing and the music overall, and I felt much better. And the bride was absolutely thrilled---everything was perfect, just as she hoped it would be, and so on. She had to hold back tears when she was thanking me. So I guess we did okay after all . The compliment that really took me by surprise came from an older guy. He came up to me at the beginning of the reception, said he enjoyed the music and asked very seriously, "Are you a studio musician?" I said that I wasn't, and he said something like, "Well, you really know your way around several instruments." I couldn't have been more delighted. A happy bride and someone who figured me for a studio artist. It doesn't get much better than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Misha Posted June 13, 2011 Members Share Posted June 13, 2011 Congrat's SeagullPlayer77! Oups!! I meant MartinPlayer77!! Do you have clips?????? (I have one but not about guitar playing... https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=170761656318131&oid=223687114801&comments ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OldGuitarPlayer Posted June 13, 2011 Members Share Posted June 13, 2011 Well done! As musicians we are our own worst critics. The listening audience usually hasn't a clue about how to play an instrument but can usually tell if someone is good or not. I guess now it's time to broaden your material and add a few more fingerpicking tunes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Terry Allan Hall Posted June 13, 2011 Members Share Posted June 13, 2011 Excellent, bro! Weddings can so often VERY nerve-wracking, for anyone doing anything creative (music, photography, flower arrangements, etc.)...sounds like you did great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members plurabelle Posted June 13, 2011 Members Share Posted June 13, 2011 I was in a near identical situation 3 weeks ago. My mom, and sister are professional wedding coordinators, and they booked me for this wedding. I'm playing while everyones being seated for the ceremony. My sheet music keeps trying to blow off the stand, guitars won't stay in tune, etc. Two days prior I developed an infection in my right thumb, making it excruciatingly painful to play finger style. At one point I got a request to turn up my amp when I started playing some willie nelson. Then my sister tells me at one point to keep playing until I'm told to stop. I ended up playing 30min longer than I was supposed to, and ended up just working on on some original material I had during the extra 30min. No one was any wiser. Afterward I got a lot of compliments on how good I sounded. Totally made my day. I thought I did awful, but I was the only one. Its tough sometimes to remember that most people don't care how good you are, they just want you to entertain them. If you can make them enjoy themselves, then you've won the battle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jkater Posted June 13, 2011 Members Share Posted June 13, 2011 Well done. Must be a bit nerve racking playing improvising in such a formal important event. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members seagullplayer77 Posted June 13, 2011 Author Members Share Posted June 13, 2011 Thanks for all the kind words. It was nerve-racking, definitely. But it sounds like I came out ahead. All in all, a good day . Well done! As musicians we are our own worst critics. The listening audience usually hasn't a clue about how to play an instrument but can usually tell if someone is good or not. I guess now it's time to broaden your material and add a few more fingerpicking tunes? My thought exactly. As I was sitting there trying to come up with something to kill the extra time, I realized that I don't have that many "interesting" tunes in my arsenal. I know the chord progressions to plenty of songs, to the extent that I usually don't play with music, but I only have a half dozen fingerpicking pieces that I can play well. Time for some woodshedding, I think . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Christhee68 Posted June 13, 2011 Members Share Posted June 13, 2011 Way to go SGP. It Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members knockwood Posted June 13, 2011 Members Share Posted June 13, 2011 Well done. Must be a bit nerve racking playing improvising in such a formal important event. I would {censored} my pants. Congrats, Martinplayer77! A confidence builder like that can give you an indefinite boost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Christhee68 Posted June 13, 2011 Members Share Posted June 13, 2011 I would {censored} my pants.Congrats, Martinplayer77! A confidence builder like that can give you an indefinite boost. I have a friend who Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guildfire Posted June 13, 2011 Members Share Posted June 13, 2011 I know what you went through. I also did a wedding last weekend. Favor for a friend. I asked who else was playing and they said nobody, just you. Great. Man that was pressure! Just me on acoustic guitar through the church PA. Did mostly instrumentals and backed up a singer on one song. She liked the key of F. Great. Capo time. Same thing as you, very casual instructions from the bride and groom, but you don't want to be the one to mess up their big day. Everyone said the music was great so I'm happy I survived it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sgt. Rock Posted June 13, 2011 Members Share Posted June 13, 2011 A woman was crying right in front of me at Friday night's gig while I was playing an original song. She said it touched her in a special way. I didn't know whether to feel bad or good about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Opa John Posted June 14, 2011 Members Share Posted June 14, 2011 Congratulations, Chris. They say "the cream rises to the top", and I guess that's exactly what you did. Very few of us could've handled the task. I couldn't have done it, that's for sure. Not instrumentally, anyway. The only way I could've done is if they'd wanted to endure my Dylan/Prine voice for about 45 minutes straight. And, even then, the songs I do wouldn't be appropriate for a wedding. You should be proud of yourself and I'm sure the compliments were well deserved. You get an ATTA BOY!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OldGuitarPlayer Posted June 14, 2011 Members Share Posted June 14, 2011 [video=youtube;11GEx-PyNAc] :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Samilyn Posted June 14, 2011 Members Share Posted June 14, 2011 Well done! Not many can hang onto their wits and keep playing under that kind of circumstance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarist21 Posted June 14, 2011 Members Share Posted June 14, 2011 That's awesome! Way to fly by the seat of your pants. So many weddings are like that and it is completely nerve-wracking like TAH says, but I think it's also really good for our brains. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members seagullplayer77 Posted June 15, 2011 Author Members Share Posted June 15, 2011 I know what you went through. I also did a wedding last weekend. Favor for a friend. I asked who else was playing and they said nobody, just you. Great. Man that was pressure! Just me on acoustic guitar through the church PA. Did mostly instrumentals and backed up a singer on one song. She liked the key of F. Great. Capo time. Same thing as you, very casual instructions from the bride and groom, but you don't want to be the one to mess up their big day. Everyone said the music was great so I'm happy I survived it. You said it ! Two summers ago, a friend from church asked me to do the music for her wedding reception. She gave me a list of songs and the corresponding CDs, which was great. I just had to pop in the CDs and play the music. I must've done a good job, because the next summer, another friend asked me to do the same thing. She didn't give me CDs, but she gave me the list of music ahead of time and I was able to buy the songs from Amazon. This wedding was totally different because neither the bride nor the groom gave me any real input. After playing guitar/mandolin for the wedding, I hooked up my iPod and a few laptops and played background music for the reception. I found out that they wanted songs for the father/daughter and mother/son dance as I was eating. I'm glad I had an Internet connection, or else I would've been sunk! Yeesh. A stressful experience, but everything turned out well in the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OldGuitarPlayer Posted June 15, 2011 Members Share Posted June 15, 2011 You said it ! Two summers ago, a friend from church asked me to do the music for her wedding reception. She gave me a list of songs and the corresponding CDs, which was great. I just had to pop in the CDs and play the music. I must've done a good job, because the next summer, another friend asked me to do the same thing. She didn't give me CDs, but she gave me the list of music ahead of time and I was able to buy the songs from Amazon. This wedding was totally different because neither the bride nor the groom gave me any real input. After playing guitar/mandolin for the wedding, I hooked up my iPod and a few laptops and played background music for the reception. I found out that they wanted songs for the father/daughter and mother/son dance as I was eating. I'm glad I had an Internet connection, or else I would've been sunk! Yeesh. A stressful experience, but everything turned out well in the end. It sounds like you handled it like a pro should. I find with these type of gigs it's the stress or anxiety is part that whole experience. The rush of being able to pull it off and entertain is one of the main reason's why anyone performs in public. Trust me no matter how many gigs like this you play it never goes away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guildfire Posted June 15, 2011 Members Share Posted June 15, 2011 Basically bride and groom are turning over the music to you, and that's a huge responsibility. Everything is live, real time. No second chances. Kind of like living on the high wire, very satisfying if you can pull it off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OldGuitarPlayer Posted June 15, 2011 Members Share Posted June 15, 2011 Basically bride and groom are turning over the music to you, and that's a huge responsibility. Everything is live, real time. No second chances. Kind of like living on the high wire, very satisfying if you can pull it off. Many many years ago I was in a country/rock band and on the eve of my own wedding I had to play a 30th wedding anniversary party about an hour out of town. It was in a small town and the people there were of the age that they liked oldtime country music like Johnny Cash, George Jones, Buck Owens stuff and we could play that stuff. I remember during a break an older women came up to me and said smiling "I have never heard anyone play that Johnny Cash song live. Thanks so much for playing it" This was that song.[video=youtube;4xPQ16Asyoo] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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