A few years ago I decided to try my hand at playing my guitar and singing during open mic night at a single one of the bars I prefer to frequent in town.
I didn’t actually believe it would ever develop into anything, let alone an ongoing set of local gigs.
There were a handful of people at the bar that night who encouraged me to play more after I was done performing a rendition of America from Simon and Garfunkel. I just had my acoustic guitar with me that night, however nowadays I use more stage equipment. I officially play my electric guitar into a series of effects pedals before running the audio in and out of my tablet. The music recording software basically allows me to play bass and drum backing tracks while I do my thing on my electric guitar. It would be excellent to play in some kind of band in the distant future, however for now I am more than cheerful just playing as a solo act at local bars. I’m glad that the main bar that I play at the most has its own PA system inside. It would be truly tough for me to cart my own PA system around to all the bars I perform at. They even have a full stage lighting kit with several spotlights and an array of multi-colored lights. For now I am just going to treat this as part time work without any misconceptions about getting a full stage show to travel the country or the world. It’s a gratifying hobby and a fantastic way to unwind from a long and difficult work week. It’s also convenient not having to deal with unit rentals to get access to a decent PA system.