The Next Step…

For the half dozen (or so) of you that read this blog regularly, you know that a little over a year ago, I committed myself to getting out and performing more. Shortly after that, I reported on performing at my first open mic as a solo instrumentalist. Now, I am pleased to report that yesterday, I played my first full set as a solo instrumentalist.

It was at the Stouffville Strawberry Festival. I played a full 50 minute set as part of the York Region Fingerstyle Guitar Association’s “Showcase”. It was… not horrible. It was… fun… fun in the way that I imagine bungy-jumping is fun. I lived, therefore it was fun.

I realized shortly after I was invited to perform that I was going to have to play pretty much every song I knew. I had to go back and dust off a couple of tunes that were all but forgotten to fill out the full fifty minutes. I even learned a new tune. In a new tuning! It meant more practice. It meant more focused practice. All good things.

Now I’m looking forward to next time. Next time I will try to remember that I don’t have to tune by ear when I have a tuner on the ground in front of me. (Sorry for the delay folks – though it did help fill out the set.) Next time I will have more repertoire. And next time, (hopefully) it will be more fun… maybe even fun like a birthday party is fun.