Originally Posted by: haghj500Kasperow,

Jamming to a beat is huge in advancing faster and you know what you need to work on, so half the battle is done.

You impress me as a brave man, a lot of people do not have what it takes inside them the play in front of people as much as you have in your short time playing, let a lone when they know they are just learning the parts days before they hit the stage. Go forth and conquer young rock star. hehe.[/QUOTE]
Thanks. It's one of the only things that really interest me anymore. Two years ago, I'd spend hours in front of a computer. Now, I spend the same amount of time with a guitar in my hands or studying music.

I bet lots of fledgling musicians have trouble finding any kind of audience to play for. I keep reading and hearing others saying "it's so f***ing impossible to get a proper audience these days!" And in the meantime, I just prepare a setlist every time I know my brother's coming over, because that's usually when the rest of the family is gathered.

I'm not sure why, though, but in the beginning, before I could even play Smoke On The Water, they insisted that I play something. Now, whenever they come over, they just take it for granted, and I like that. I love playing for them, because even if they can clearly see I mess up a solo or a riff, or hit a bad note or fifty, they don't comment on it immediately. And thanks to the loving and supporting people I play for frequently, I have a good idea of what it's like to play for others. They say they support me all the way, and simply want to keep up with my progress. I've even been told that my brother got a bit sad when he found out I had forgotten to tell him about the gig! To set things right, I plan on recording my little section of the gig.

Next step might be to find a few candidates for starting a band, while I'm at the gig. Lots of other relatively new musicians are going to be there. Guitarists, bassists, drummers, vocalists, pianists... It should be possible to find a few good ones, talk to them and ask if they're up for jamming and then see how things go. I would prefer if I could find enough people to start a band completely right away and start jamming. At the rate things are going for me, right now, I might just be able to find that band and possibly get a few songs together and play a few shows wherever we can get away with it. Then again, finding people to play with at that kind of free mass-audition shouldn't be a problem. People come there because they want to show others what they've got, so they might be there looking for a band as well. And I won't have to do preliminary auditions either, since the school handles that for me :D

Also, regarding the part with learning my parts only a short time before I have to perform, I actually find that to be an advantage for me, since it makes me more focused on getting it right as fast as possible. Whenever my typical tiny audience is going to be gathered, I usually write my setlist 3 weeks before, and add a new song that I need to learn before then. Last time, that was Knockin' On Heaven's Door.

[QUOTE=haghj500]Scatting is a music form in its self, far more than just singing and playing notes. It is pretty much improvising everything from the first beat to the last. So it may help you learn many things at one time.