Oh No, I Didn't

So I went and did it.

I bought myself a looper pedal.

I was going to settle for maybe a Digitech JamMan Express XT or Boss RC-1 for the sake of budget, but my Facebook guitar buddy convinced me to splurge a bit on a Boss RC-3, which has 99 banks to save loops on and a USB so you can save those 99 on your computer, empty the banks and make 99 more. 

So why a looper pedal? As much as I enjoy recording duet tracks on Garageband, I have to do one track, then go back and do the second track and it takes a while, but with the looper I can hit the switch, record, play one part, hit the switch to overdub the second part, and it's done.

Feel like it's starting to get serious now. I'm still not a great guitarist or recording master by any means, but I'm starting to get into a nice groove with both, and my goal is to be performing in public by summer. I've gotten some lyrical ideas down and hopefully I can start making my own songs. My sister's wedding in August might be my first real live performance playing guitar, and then from there I'll try and get into some open mics, maybe have some business cards made and try to get gigs at weddings, parties, school functions, etc.

I've played live at church stuff in the past, but the audience tends to be a lot more supportive. When I play at bars, lounges or whatever, who knows what type of crowd it'll be. I might get booed off stage within five minutes. But it's funny how a lot of insight I've gotten on live performance has come not from musicians but stand-up comedians. One of my favorites is Steve Byrne (who I saw live last summer, BTW). He said the key is if you can try new material, bomb and still keep your cool. 

And again it depends on the crowd. Maybe a crowd mostly full of young girls might want something sappy, and a crowd full of, say, bikers might want something more gritty. Fortunately, I like all kinds of music, so no matter what the audience I'm pretty confident I'll be able to cater to them.

Time to get back to work. Got a bit of the carpal tunnel so I bought some wrist supports at Target and they seem to help. I even play guitar with them; I was worried they'd get in the way but it's been pretty smooth.

Here's a great demo video: