I've done a few of these reports lately so in summary.
-I've been out 16 times with it live this year so far.
-If I look back on where I was at the beginning of the year, the change is significant.
-I really look forward to the challenge of playing live now and whilst its hardly Madison Square Garden , you have to start somewhere.
- generally it only lasts from 15 to 30 mins.
-Each time the crowd noise is different , the sound is different, the light ( can I see the fretboard? ) and so on, it teaches me to focus on playing and filter out distractions which can be significant.
- My pieces vary to try & keep it interesting but I dont really have the time or skills perhaps to fully " write " them out out so within a framework or theme they are in part improvised I guess. I like this spontenaeity, I enjoy thinking sometimes a little ahead of where I am at , if somethings works well I might go round it again, recovery is sometimes the art of no one noticing, so long as the time hangs in. And of course these are little performances and venues where people are not expecting John Petrucci's spectacular precision.
I've met lots of great people and have now been invited to Jams among melbourne's late night subculture of artists who inhabit warehouses round the city, thats next week, and there are prospects of collaborations also.
What I really need to do now is build more material and tidy it all up to the next level.
I also like singing and playing as we see so much of from Oliver on Stickist, so far Aint No Sunshine works OK and goes down well, Layla is not quite ready, playing & singing is another thing again.
So thats it for now, hope to get another short video up soon of one I sort of jam on with the Grand.
Speaking of the Grand , I'm nearly "Transitioned " from the Alto, its a 12 string beast of unlimited possibility ( you have to get one Rodrigo ).
Some shots below from Monday night .
Video also taken at another venue but I dont have it yet.
