5 Tips to rock an open mic night
How to get on stage with confidence and make your first open mic night a big success at your first songwriting show!
I’ll never forget that night. For months I had hoarded songs and practiced them relentlessly in my living room. I was all alone in my apartment when I had the thought “ I think it’s time to try an open mic night.”
It was time to slay the dragon. I was all alone and the only thing left to do was to force myself to get on stage. If you want to be a songwriter, you have to do it. I was 38 years old with a book full of new songs and nothing to lose. I grabbed my nice shiny guitar and headed down to 6th street in Austin, Texas to Maggie Mae’s bar. The same place where back in the day, the famous Stevie Ray Vaughn himself stayed the stage with his virtuoso talent.
My nerves were on fire. There was a room full of people and the host called my name. He made a comment about my Martin guitar and how I must have a day job to have a job like that. I got on stage and that’s when It happened. He introduced me, I strummed the first chord, and the most god awful buzzing sound came out of my guitar.
It wasn’t music!
The host looked up and said “your battery.” The battery was dead in my shiny new Martin. It wasn’t a cool moment. I was freaking out. He graciously handed up his worn out box and said “you can play mine.”
I hit that box and out came the songs. The strings were hard to play and I remember the lights from the stage hitting the end of that guitar. I was hooked
There was no turning back!
Now since this is a blog to help songwriters, especially new ones learn what I’ve learned. I’m going to share a few tips to help your open mic run a little more smoothly than mine. These are just a few observations I’ve noticed from going to open mics. I hope yours goes great and hope these tips help out.
Here we go.
1. Any decent sounding guitar will do, but I would recommend a new set of strings and a fresh battery. I always keep a spare battery because it sucks when your battery goes out on stage. This happened to me on my first open mic night.
2. Make sure to take a minute to tune your guitar before you go on stage. It's a nervous thing right before you go up, so It's easy to forget. A tuned up guitar makes all the difference in a good sounding set. I always keep a tuner in my bag. it's a good idea.
3. Picks. Always take a few extra picks. There's always the veteran guitar player around who never has a pick. Be the person with the extra pick and you just might find yourself accompanied by a sweet lead guitar player by the end of the night. This is always a blast.
4. ALWAYS wait for the host to unplug your guitar. There's nothing worse than blasting every ones ears with a loud "POP" after you've serenaded them into bliss
5. Choose an open mic that's more suited for your style of music. I've found that it's easier to meet people to play with because you like the same stuff and it makes hanging out for the night way more enjoyable. You'll see what I mean.
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About the author. Jay Cannady is a songwriter and blogger based in Austin, Texas