Playing for videos on TH-cam and taking just the best and cleanest and on-the-spot take is nothing compared going live. This is a GREAT video for everyone to hear and see. People should really appreciate your release of this video so they can see what TH-cam vs IRL really is for playing. Not many have a backbone like you have. Old school guys are old school guys apparently. I salute you, brother.
Do have to continue sligthly. Live also has to be live. Not just the same songs I played the same way sounding exactly the same as on record. That I can do at home on the couch. That's why I ain't into modern metal. So you miss a note? You play something 'wrong'? Those old jazz guys used to say 'if you play it wrong enough times it sounds right'. The whole live setting is about band on stage connecting with the audience. Is the audience having fun? That is EVERYTHING. That is all. Those people come to the next gig, they tell about you to their friends, they listen to your releases and so on and so on.
Seconding this comment! You said it like it is @MaestorRasanen. When I'm sitting here in front of Logic I can clearly hear the metronome ticks, I get multiple takes and patch then often. (Often I still don't sound as good as your live version, Mike, but that's for me to practice more lol). In any case, this is a controlled environment I can go back and do what I want. If you can CTRL+Z, then it's not really the same as performing. Playing live is a different game, the drummer will have a swing even when playing with a tick, bass will have to find a pocket on a somewhat moving target, and that will vary, so the guitar will also need to respond. Even if it was a drum machine, the string players would still have a swing. This is natural and of course results in missing notes, harmonic pinches not sounding sometimes, bends going a bit sharp or flat, etc... We just gotta channel our inner Bob Ross and embrace those things are "happy little accidents"! Most often the music actually sounds better or more energetic live because of those happy accidents. It will certainly sound more human and less robotic. Last year and this year I was playing live with a band and if I could get 90% of my parts right I would feel pretty happy about myself! And that's my perception of that 90%, if recorded and listened to in isolation it would probably be more like 50% 😁! But that's ok! As long as it sounds cohesive with the band and works in the mix in the context of the show being played, you're good!
Dude... Playing live, individually, we're only as good as our worst practice session. I learned that a long time ago and took a lot of pressure off. Doesn't mean it's okay be complacent or lazy, just know that in the excitement of a live performance, we get squirrelly. Good to analyze but don't beat yourself up! Cheers!
@@davidhan635 Short answer: It seems not. Slightly less short answer: Much like that one Voltaire "quote", it seems to be in line with what he thought but expressed by someone else. Apparently, one of his pupils (Ferdinand Ries) has described how he was fine with technical mistakes but would get angry when the expression wasn't right.
After years of trying to nail perfect shows, I've realized something cool. Unless it's a total trainwreck, the crowd doesn't care about our slip-ups. I've had folks praise me for a song even when I messed up. Striving for perfection is nice, but let's not beat ourselves up over it. Only us musicians notice the imperfections. Here's to enjoying the music without sweating the small stuff!
I had a drummer once that would count everybody's mistakes. I finally said, ok, next show, we will all sit on bar stools and nail it. No running around, no interacting with the audience. Of course didn't do that but the point is, there will never be a perfect show (not wise) if you are entertaining as well. ANd like you, I've totally butchered a solo and had people say how bad ass that solo was. And there I was kicking myself. Play for the 99% casual fans. Not the 1 guitarist in the back that is critiquing everything. (All this said, try to be as precise as possible younguns, but understand if you are entertaining the crowd and putting on a show, you probably will flub up some.)
This brings back memories! I played a gig with a cover band once, since their regular guitarist had quit. I had practiced A LOT before, well... except the solos (I'm not a solo guitarist). I knew the riffs but not the solos, so I mostly improved some sh*t to fill out some of the empty spaces. It sounded like balls to me - I'm my own worst critic - but apparently people liked it, they told me afterwards. That just goes to say... people are weird.
Yep somebody told me this when i was a kid and first started gigging, the audience is 99% not musicians, they do not notice even major mistakes, just do no stop playing, ever, and they wont notice.
I'll guarantee you that 99.9% of the audience didn't notice and still thought you sounded awesome 😂. That's the beauty of it man. The average person is just psyched to hear us even if we know we're screwing up.
probably because alot of what you do as an artist or gutarist, is train your ears. you train them for playing on time signature/metronome, and the notes of whatever scale you plan to play in. having trained your ears for so many years will cause you to notice a minor mistake more commonly then somebody whos drunk and just there to head bob. I mean i guess you can technically say your training your ears when listening to music as a fan, but really it's much less intense because you aren't applying that to something like playing the Guitar, or Singing; It takes alot more focus and time to train yourself in that sense obviously.
As amateur musicians we are always much more critical on ourselves than others ever are. We know what we CAN pull off but doing the same thing live is a whole different story.
About 10% of the audience or more are musicians... But, unless they are stuck up aholes, they also understand the reality. All that matters is if you and the audience is having fun. I sound engineer in a local rock club, some of the sloppiest bands are some of the best acts. But.. i do have to say that there is a correlation, above certain technical threshold it does sound better and audience will get on board MUCH easier when every note hits them just right.
Dude. It's literally all about how it sounds in the mix with live recordings. That's what makes it feel exciting and raw. The studio is for perfection, the stage is for energy and connection. Your performance sounded awesome.
I once played a gig and a string snapped during the final song. I bluffed my way through the solo at the end, when I got off stage it turned out that NOBODY NOTICED and they all thought it was great. Audiences mostly aren't musicians and often don't pick up on the things that musicians agonise over. Playing live is about projecting passion, that's what the average audience member responds to. They don't care about the details that you do.
Metal gigs are a bit different... the audience has quite a lot of musicians.. Depends on the exact scene, but those musicians usually do understand that having fun is still most important, they understand punk.
The funniest thing to me is that often even other musicians won‘t notice the slight slip ups. If they are looking for mistakes, sure. But if they are invested in the show, unless you‘re actually missing more important parts consistently there are few people who will notice. Small slip ups often even go past your own band if it doesn‘t affect the rythm.
Man, we're not machines. It's not about everyone playing perfectly, it's about how you deal with mistakes and keep going. Yesterday I was at one local band's show. I noticed a couple mistakes the guitarist made, but he got through it, and I believe nobody even noticed. The overall vibe of the concert was great! And if I wasn't playing in my band for a while I wouldn't have noticed any mistakes either!
I use custom IEM's on stage and have been using them for the last year now - the difference in what you hear is crazy. Definitely affects how you play live, and its way more difficult - because you're more aware of the clarity of what you're playing, but also trying to keep the 'feel' of playing live and the different atmospheres of each gig. It's tough, but you've gotta enjoy playing live and not worry too much about the odd mistake, or part you only nailed like 80% that the crowd probably wouldn't ever notice anyway!
Because he has passion man, people dont care about small mistakes, its live music bro and also you're harshly exaggerating how much he messes up, occasionally in solos he hits bum notes but never messes up riffs and stuff.@@rockapartie
I've always been a home player so I have no concert stories to tell. I dig the fact that you're willing to be really open about your playing- warts and all. A lot of TH-cam guitar personalities don't open up like that. Great video.👍
I really like when good musicians share their fails stories. Not because I want to see them fail but because it shows that even them are imperfect and I should not beat myself for comitting mistakes.
Watching the game tapes is important. You SOLD IT, though. That's the important part in a live performance. We didn't know it was "wrong" until you told us.
It’s this kinda mentality that has lead to so many bands using backing tracks, that quest for perfection when music , especially rock / metal, isn’t really about being perfect it’s about the vibe and energy of live music. In that moment no one would notice a few slipped notes. The energy was great.
Ugh, listening to the vids people take of our shows is like a gruesome car accident. Horrifying, but almost impossible not to stare at. And sometimes you're pleasantly surprised with a killer performance.
Long time musician here. My advice to gigging novices is to practice while in the position you will be in while performing. That is if you are going to be sitting on a chair at the performance, practice sitting in a chair. If standing, practice standing. Get nervous when a spotlight is in your face, yes, as funny as this sounds, practice with a light shinning in your face. Practice in the dark. Do anything to get over the butterflies while you practice and to reinforce your body playing position. I had the spotlight stage fright pretty bad so I set up our practice space with spotlights in all of our faces. I think it only took me a couple of practices and now no stage fright at all. Now we practice in a room lit only by black light mostly because it just looks cool but there are some pretty dark venues out there!
Thank you sharing this. There's not a lot of TH-cam guitar players that would put their fails out there. You're one of the realest guitar players on TH-cam. I've been watching you for years and I appreciate all the free education you've put out there for the world to enjoy.
I fell of a drum riser in the middle of a song...luckily it was during a pause and I had just enough time to jump back on stage and finish the fill like nothing ever happened. Epic learning experience...don't put your drum stool a couple inches from the edge of the stage. Lol
You are so honest and open about yourself. That humble, down-to-earth attitude shines through in your lessons, which I am enjoying immensely. The learning never stops.
I remember from when we were kids at Hamilton elementary Mike. You always had talent at whatever it was you chose to do, but also hard working. That is a rare combination. Great to see you still have that in you my friend.
Hey Mike, we multitrack record all of our shows and this happens to me every time! Working on trying to not let it overshadow the great times at the gigs and how into it the crowds were. It's easy to be overcrital and to hyper-analyze the recordings, when in reality - the crowd loved it and the band had a blast. Thanks for the video!
I wouldn't worry about it! Barely notice sitting in the live mix. But good on you for picking it apart to improve yourself! One again like you said its one thing to be sitting in your room playing and a whole different world up on stage.
You're so right about the "flow" of some parts. It's one of the problems with muscle memory. If it gets derailed, you have not been practising "how to get back on track" from a trip up so there's nothing to fall back on. You can play these impressive parts because you don't think about them, your hands just do it from countless hours of practice. We generally put little to no practice in about recovering quickly from a slip up, playing under pressure or in an odd position. Instead, we jump onstage and just hope for the best! The bright side is, most music sounds a little bit better if it's not 100% perfect. A little looseness can bring the feeling of danger and energy. Love your videos, man. You always come up with great and creative topics and seem like a decent dude in general.
I have this experience a lot - and I am a drummer, by the way, and the one who does a lot of the recording of our bands live. I do find, when recording live and playing it all back together as a stereo track, that the effects, the other instruments, even some of the crowd noise if you have that in there, does "cover" a lot of "mistakes". So then when you listen to the whole thing as if you were there, you sometimes get a "hey that sounded pretty good" - but when you solo just your part only and delete the rest, yup, you start to hear "all" the missed steps. This is especially true if your track is raw and unprocessed. The more interesting thing, though, is talking to those who were in the crowd: they can hear a "completely" different take than the one being recorded: "man, that was great - you NAILED it!!!!".. etc. I think there's an atmosphere that is created that is greater than the sum of its parts at live performances. That's my experiences and my two bits.
I absolutely love how real you are Mike. Yes ! i have definitely cringed when I've listened again to myself, particularly when soloed out, when it sounds fine with the other tracks or players, I discovered this big time just lately. But I also agree so much with you, to improve, I like to pick out where I've gone wrong and you have to listen back to do this, i believe it's fundamental and practised by anyone who seeks greatness in anything and we need to hear really what others are hearing from us. Also helps to be reminded how overdubbed/autotuned so much of what we listen to is when we are comparing. It is painful sharing our embarrassments but if you can, it's inspirational to me. Thankyou again Mike for an honest review of yourself, as an incredibly talented guitarist as you are, you remain so humble, sets you apart in my opinion and a really nice personal quality in all the noise out there.
That took a lot of guts. If I wasn’t already a subscriber, I would be now. But keep in mind, at a live show, no one else is hyper focused either, so don’t let anxiety over perfection take control. Rock out with your clock out and enjoy the stage time, my friends.
Like people already commented, the solo however precise you wanted it to be, sounded incredible with the rest of your band doing their thing. You still nailed the sound and feel. I know feel isn't really a thing if you don't know how to play, but you do and you were making up for your mistakes pretty quickly.
I agree that watching or listening to gig and rehearsal recordings is increadibly useful, both for improving everyone's individual performances and just generally getting tighter as a band. I generally have the opposite experience you are describing here. I'm pretty critical of my playing in the moment -- I know exactly what I'm trying to do, so I notice every imperfection no matter how trivial it might actually be. But when I listen back afterwards, it is almost always better than I thought while I was performing -- the mistakes are there, but they are usually smaller and less consequential than they seem at the time. That realization has helped me to play with more confidence on stage and not let the inevitable imperfections undermine my performance. Afterwards, I dig into the problem areas during practice and rehearsal to try to do it better the next time, but I don't worry about them as much in the moment.
Dude. People are there to have the EXPERIENCE. I have never heard your song before and when you mixed that solo in with the live bandmates, it sounded ripping. Honestly, you're 100x better than most of the guitarists on any stage you would run across. Keep rocking and don't sweat the small stuff.... 🙂
I remember playing an open mic night at a local bar. We did Crazy Train, and in the moment, I thought I nailed it. It still sounded pretty good, but going back, I noticed a few parts I flubbed, I was very shocked. Thanks for sharing this, Mike!
For some reason I feel more relaxed and in the pocket while on stage. While prepping set lists during practice everything gets picked at...no pun intended. Great upload.🤘
I’ve had some terrible mental health as a result of examining my live recordings. It’s taken me beyond imposter syndrome. I’ve felt like a complete fraud and that I don’t deserve to assert myself as a shred guitar player. Seeing a professional relate to the cringe and misery of putting a sloppy solo under the microscope and then go so far as to show it to everyone is so sincere, refreshing, and just the encouragement that I needed. Even our heroes have these moments, we just rarely get to observe or notice. Most wouldn’t dare put them on display even though it would probably benefit a lot of people. Thank you for this. Very glad the TH-cam algorithm put you back on my feed today.
I told my girlfriend the secret to playing fast. When playing insanely fast... make sure you hit the first and the last note correctly. Everything in between is a distorted blur. Especially if the crowd has been drinking a few. They won't notice. But you missed the first note!! I do it all the time too.
The crowd's reaction is the most important! We've done shows where everybody made mistakes and afterwards people were like "That was the best show you've ever done!". Playing live is all about the atmosphere and having fun basically.
That whole solo sequence was well put together. You guys sound tight! Dude even Satriani and Govan and Paul Gilbert flub stuff. The beauty of it is it shows our humanity and its show business floating by
I played live for the first time around the end of may this year. The band playing at the restaurant we were at wanted me to come up and play Panama. I never played with a band before and I couldn’t keep track well and I messed up the solo. But it was still a great experience.
I’m getting one of these Jackson’s this weekend. Same color too . Sick guitar. But I think it sound fine . Live you want to focus more on movement and performance . I think playing to perfection can take a back seat for the sake of putting on a good show
It doesn’t pay to put the microscope on your live performances. You nailed it at the end, everyone was into it and the band had fun but guitarist are such perfectionist.
Eh, there's a line between accepting that you'll make occasional mistakes, and accepting that you're being sloppy. If you're being sloppy, it does pay to take the ego hit and scrutinize what you're doing wrong so you stop doing it. Example here from OP shows sloppiness. He didn't just miss a note or two, he straight up garbled the whole solo.
Good video. Thank you, Mike. The same is true of martial arts. If you have ever videoed yourself, it can be quite painful going back and watching yourself, but its a very good learning experience.
Man, can't believe you did this. It's so hard. Playing live is about attitude. I played a song this weekend and the sound was just off and mics not working. Just powered through screaming rather than singing. But all had a good time, even got compliments. The video, however, does not lie. lol. Rock on!
Playing clean live is HARD. Really hard. As previous commentors already mentioned, it's a world of difference between studio or home recording, where you can get as ergonomic and comfy as possible and do as many re-takes as needed and then all the editing after. I will say that your live solo, although sure had some mistakes, actually sounded good with the rest of the band. I kind of like the imperfections that happen with live performances. The feel was on point and an errant note here or there didn't hamper that, and you definitely had the passion up there. So yeah, this was a great video man. Lastly, your singer sounds so much like the old Iced Earth singer!
Thanks gor sharing this Mike. I practice for gigs standing up, not sitting on the couch. Also to a click only, not even the track playing, so I can really hear only me. Record it too, this will really show you what you need to work on. Also practice your moves, choreograph them out. This process is terrible, but it will make you stronger! If you do it for 2 or 3 weeks improvement will happen. Better to sound bad in private and work it out there.
Hey great series. I really get it. Now I’m not a guitarist by any means . I have been playing about a year ( I have several videos posted here on YT) but before I was playing piano . It sounded good while I was playing but the recordings I have posted don’t sound good to me at all. Even the guitar videos I have posted sounded “ok” through a Roland mixer but when I play it through an amp with backing track just sounds very different. There’s a lot for me to learn lol!
Going back and listening to live performances or even old recordings of yourself is often a doozy. You learned from it though and that's what counts. Sounds awesome to me, mistakes or not. People are still happy to hear you live.
Nobody's perfect. U rock. Sounds good. Performing and growing, evolving, as we all go. I use this technique often. I'm of 2 minds. 1- live, mistakes included, create imo, a raw personal experience. I reliah it. No 2 shows r the same. 2- sometimes my mistakes r soooo good I can create a new solo or new song using it, or modify what I originally intended. I LOVE this. Keep up the great work
I’ve started live streaming, and I play songs from my catalog on either rhythm guitar or bass. In my DAW I removed the bass guitar from the songs and saved them in a folder. In a different folder, I have the same songs but with the rhythm guitar removed. It makes playing to the song feel as close to a true performance as I can get at the moment. Well, last week a played a song on bass but pulled from the wrong folder - the track I was playing to had bass but no rhythm guitar lol! I didn’t even clue in until I missed a certain guitar cue and in its absence made a mistake and also realized the bigger mistake lol. I decided to shake my head and finish the song, and have a laugh with my small crowd of viewers afterwards hahaha. I know it’s not the same as a stage in a club, but it was a mistake made publicly nonetheless. All good, lesson learned.
Great video. I appreciate the transparency. It's a horrible feeling when you realize you aren't killing it but instead, you are shitting the bed. I just had this happen to me recently as well. It's quite disappointing and shocking.
Listening to prior performance is how you improve. 1. Becoming a better player 2. Becoming better at identifying what works during a performance even if wasnt ideal 3. Sometimes a mistake becomes an idea
Congrats on 842k Subscribers! 🤘🏻🔥 I thought you sounded awesome in the videos that were recorded of the performance. I loved watching those, could really feel the energy from it and the audience looked like they were enjoying it. I can't even imagine how many times I'm gonna screw up the first time I get on a stage, but I guess it'll be a baptism of fire haha 😂 That Family of One solo sounds killer. Just think of what Kurt Cobain did on the Unplugged performance where he messed up and had to slide to the right note, ended up making the performance. I can't wait to hear the full Family of One song 🤘🏻🔥 What you say at the end about going back to look at your playing. I need to do that more, especially with the video I put up of me playing the Soul Asylum song Got It Pretty Good. I only watched it back a few times right after I recorded it to check it recorded okay sound wise. I need to go back and watch it again. I need to get comfortable watching myself play.
I feel that a few drinks is honestly my limit if I wanna be happy with my playing. Any more and my fine motor skills go out the window. However, a lil slop and loosey goosey makes the live feel for me. I feel like the studio is the place for perfection but live, it’s about the energy and vibes. I love your willingness to analyze your own music and talk on where you feel improvement is needed. Super big cheerz from ya boi in Wisconsin!!!!!
How often do you actually play live and not just at home for youtube or band practice stuff? Coming from someone who plays live every other night i genuinly reckon thats the key to being a lethal guitarist. Playing live gigs consistently for months on end is where you truly hone in the art of guitar. I genuinly dont consider someone even a real guitarist if they dont play live regularly. Not dissing as you sounded great on the video dont worry.
Been playing live since age 15. Obviously the more you play live the more automatic it becomes. If Sanctus played even once a month we'd be 100 times tighter in time like we were back in the day. I would never not consider someone a "real guitarist" just because they don't play live all the time. I guess everyone has their own definitions. ;)
@@TheArtofGuitar please ignore my comments 😅😑😅 i had a terrible night of drinking and i always leave these comments all over YT after such nights. Your a killer guitarist and i dont ever doubt or question you as whole ever.
Great video and as someone just learning eGuitar, Sytnth keys and music design I prefer it when I just jam out then use a tab... Honeslt it just more fun and sounds better I think.
i love your videos... you are such an inspiration. i started playing about nine months ago at 50 years old...its not easy but man is it fun... i got a 200 dollar epiphone les paul but it is so uncomfortable... someday im gonna get a V
When I heard this 1:30 It sounded a bit like hate train, that recording was way before Metallica wrote hate train so you guys were definitely ahead of your time!
again with the honest critiquing. not sure how well I would feel about doing this but I know it would definitely make me a better player. you have a very discerning ear. thanks for posting.
It does make me feel better... I've suffered this depression too... playing live no matter how experienced you are is just a different beast... so easy to make a botch job.
I had a much worse experience. Sadly it became the last show I ever played because I was so embarrassed even though it wasn’t entirely my fault. The sound guy was out of his mind or inexperienced but nothing I can do or say did he make the levels right. And there were about maybe 300 people there. I couldn’t hear the drums, other guitarist or bass so I felt like I was standing in the middle of a crowd of doing a solo. I kept turning around to look at my drummer just to predict where he was and the rhythm of his arms. Nothing was helping. I was panicking and although I knew the songs perfectly and was just hoping I was playing along with everyone, my hand kept cramping up and then I started overcompensating by adding random extra meaningless flourishes. We were opening and played about 30 min and it was recorded, not only audio, but multi cam video as it was also broadcast to a local college. I was so depressed after the show but I received everything. About 3 weeks later, I got the courage to try to listen to the audio. I got about 3 or 4 min in and I couldn’t take it anymore, I was so embarrassed. Never tried watching the video. I hung up my guitar and never played a show again. It’s been 20+ years and I still never listened to that show or any of our recordings again. Being in bands was a lot of fun but now it’s too much of a painful memory.
That’s exactly it! Nobody noticed! I’ve had the same experience many times in my teens and twenties playing live. We recorded everything we could and some of those recordings were even worse than embarrassing but what’s usually missing on those recordings is the vibe of the audience and that makes half of your performance. Try hanging one or two mics above the audience next time, it makes all the difference
Unless someone has the ability to single out your track live, then I could see why youd freak out but you sound awesome dude! I will say, thank you for sharing your vulnerability, because a lot of us musicians can relate to this so much.
Kudos to you shining a light on this when easily you could have a big ego and find a reason to not show this side of your performance. I respect it. Subscribed
Also, I've broken sticks during songs and had to limp through with just the bass player because the guitar players amp crapped out on stage. Good thing we were tight and had practiced mistakes like this on purpose in our practice space so when most of these things happened we were able to push through them. But hitting sour notes or improvising when you forget a part is what live music is all about. I'll take a raw performance any day over a a boring time aligned click track one.
3:28 tell me about it. I saw Metallica at PowerTrip amd kirk messed up the intro to nothing else matters. He blamed it on the heat. But hey its stuff like that, that adds to the memory and spectacle of a live gig.
What’s weird is that the recorded gigs where I thought I nailed things, I was sometimes sloppy. The ones where I wasn’t “feeling it” I played better, often much better than I thought. Odd.
Hey Mike, I remember reading a Dime interview from a long time ago and him talking about the importance of practicing standing up. The quote was along the lines of "you don't go to war sitting down." I would suggest you play more when standing instead of sitting on the couch.
I think you just tripped over yourself during that solo. I think it happens to everyone sometimes, when something breaks the brain to hand coordination, and you completely cock up something you could play in your sleep!! Even with the mistakes though, I still think you are one of the best soloists I've ever heard!😀
You’re really hard on yourself- & that speaks volumes for you AS a musician, bro. May I suggest that when you rehearse for these shows- do it standing up. You’re not gonna be sitting down when you play. ESP, with a RR V. Sitting down with the V even though you have your strap pretty much where it would be in both positions, a little bit of rest on that thigh changes everything. Thanks for always bringing honest content and again- I promised no one noticed-it still sounded badass in the mix🤘🏻
Sweet guitar!! Love my usa rr1. But thanks for video. I've playbacked alot of shows back in the day and I've never been happy with live solos. Always felt more comfortable in studio setting and live is just so chaotic especially with heavy music. Oh well. Like they say the tape never lies
The same thing happens to many pros and for many of the sane reasons! I remember Appetite For Destruction been my favorite cassette that I got for ‘88 and I really listen to it everyday in my Walkman. Then I remember seen Slash in that live concert in New York that was broadcasted by MTV and I could not believe what I was hearing.
I'm about to have my first gig in a couple of weeks. I will deffinetly listen to some recordings by people, but we don't have recording equipment, mainly because we are a cover band and 14-15 year old guys who are just playing for fun. I totally experienced the playback dissapointment feeling when i recorded some random songs that i played and had a headache, but this just helps towards improving my plaiyng.
I'll run through the set standing up and going through any patch changes on my fractal, trying to simulate live as much as possible, it's helped take out the variables i have some control over. It helps quite a bit, but i've had plenty of those board mixes haha
This was a good honest video, and you earned my Subscription today. It takes guts, to do what you did here. We are often our own worst critic. However, you were honest about your performance, and it drove you to become better. You can’t ask more than that. Great solo too!!!! 🤘🎸🤘
Never noticed live parts with this, but studio work Ive done and listened to the bass traks I had cut/ changed parts to the point that I questioned where did those parts come from !! LoL
A good friend told me a spoiler alert: every show will never be perfect. You can choose to be the type of player that wants to sound like the studio version, or the type of player that feels the vibe of the room. I personally love to see artists mess up live. It puts a human element to it. Far too often we get into the technicalities, but forget about the heart. Sometimes we sound sloppy, and that’s OK. As a matter of fact, it’s what gives us heart sometimes. Also don’t forget, that you came back in, and it wasn’t a total train wreck. I usually leave every gig with two things I would change or improve on.
All live rock albums are fixed afterwards. Iron Maiden even put it on the back of Maiden Japan cover. REO Speedwagon re-recorded Hi Infidelity live and it’s obvious they had way more background vocals than was possible live. There’s gonna be mistakes. Just have to try to keep it to a minimum.
Did a cover of Tobacco Road once. While playing, I had this feeling of being on the verge of losing control, jumping all over the neck and barely in time with the song. It was way off of my practiced lead. On playback, it sounded amazing. I was like, "Who is that awesome guitar player." Just saying playback can be an inspiration as well as a critique.
Recording at home is super accessible nowadays, and I definitely encourage anybody serious about getting better to try your hand at recording some stuff. And not just you trying to play some existing song, but try and record a part you've written, and try and double track it. If you've never done this before, it might not be pretty, but being humbled is kind of important if you really want to get better, cuz you need to understand where you're really lacking and build up a more professional level of tightness and skills if you really want to be a good/great guitar player.
Playing for videos on TH-cam and taking just the best and cleanest and on-the-spot take is nothing compared going live.
This is a GREAT video for everyone to hear and see. People should really appreciate your release of this video so they can see what TH-cam vs IRL really is for playing.
Not many have a backbone like you have. Old school guys are old school guys apparently. I salute you, brother.
Do have to continue sligthly.
Live also has to be live. Not just the same songs I played the same way sounding exactly the same as on record. That I can do at home on the couch. That's why I ain't into modern metal.
So you miss a note? You play something 'wrong'? Those old jazz guys used to say 'if you play it wrong enough times it sounds right'.
The whole live setting is about band on stage connecting with the audience. Is the audience having fun? That is EVERYTHING. That is all. Those people come to the next gig, they tell about you to their friends, they listen to your releases and so on and so on.
Seconding this comment! You said it like it is @MaestorRasanen.
When I'm sitting here in front of Logic I can clearly hear the metronome ticks, I get multiple takes and patch then often. (Often I still don't sound as good as your live version, Mike, but that's for me to practice more lol). In any case, this is a controlled environment I can go back and do what I want. If you can CTRL+Z, then it's not really the same as performing.
Playing live is a different game, the drummer will have a swing even when playing with a tick, bass will have to find a pocket on a somewhat moving target, and that will vary, so the guitar will also need to respond. Even if it was a drum machine, the string players would still have a swing. This is natural and of course results in missing notes, harmonic pinches not sounding sometimes, bends going a bit sharp or flat, etc... We just gotta channel our inner Bob Ross and embrace those things are "happy little accidents"!
Most often the music actually sounds better or more energetic live because of those happy accidents. It will certainly sound more human and less robotic. Last year and this year I was playing live with a band and if I could get 90% of my parts right I would feel pretty happy about myself! And that's my perception of that 90%, if recorded and listened to in isolation it would probably be more like 50% 😁! But that's ok! As long as it sounds cohesive with the band and works in the mix in the context of the show being played, you're good!
@@MaestorRasanen yup Mike is legendary this channel is growing into something spectacular.
@@MaestorRasanen But technology can help - in ear monitors is a god given tool!
Dude... Playing live, individually, we're only as good as our worst practice session. I learned that a long time ago and took a lot of pressure off. Doesn't mean it's okay be complacent or lazy, just know that in the excitement of a live performance, we get squirrelly. Good to analyze but don't beat yourself up! Cheers!
“To play a wrong note is insignificant; to play without passion is inexcusable.” ― Ludwig van Beethoven
To hear he said that, really inspires me..thank you for sharing
" I peed in the bed " - Me
"I pooped in Johnny depp's bed" - guess who?
Did Beethoven realy said that?
"Never trust a qoute on the Internet"
Albert Einstein
@@davidhan635 Short answer: It seems not. Slightly less short answer: Much like that one Voltaire "quote", it seems to be in line with what he thought but expressed by someone else. Apparently, one of his pupils (Ferdinand Ries) has described how he was fine with technical mistakes but would get angry when the expression wasn't right.
After years of trying to nail perfect shows, I've realized something cool. Unless it's a total trainwreck, the crowd doesn't care about our slip-ups. I've had folks praise me for a song even when I messed up. Striving for perfection is nice, but let's not beat ourselves up over it. Only us musicians notice the imperfections. Here's to enjoying the music without sweating the small stuff!
I had a drummer once that would count everybody's mistakes. I finally said, ok, next show, we will all sit on bar stools and nail it. No running around, no interacting with the audience. Of course didn't do that but the point is, there will never be a perfect show (not wise) if you are entertaining as well. ANd like you, I've totally butchered a solo and had people say how bad ass that solo was. And there I was kicking myself. Play for the 99% casual fans. Not the 1 guitarist in the back that is critiquing everything. (All this said, try to be as precise as possible younguns, but understand if you are entertaining the crowd and putting on a show, you probably will flub up some.)
to be honest, if i can't spot mistakes i feel bad. i want the live experience and not a perfect studio recording
This brings back memories! I played a gig with a cover band once, since their regular guitarist had quit. I had practiced A LOT before, well... except the solos (I'm not a solo guitarist). I knew the riffs but not the solos, so I mostly improved some sh*t to fill out some of the empty spaces. It sounded like balls to me - I'm my own worst critic - but apparently people liked it, they told me afterwards. That just goes to say... people are weird.
1,000% agree
I've even heard my friends that aren't musicians admit this lol.
"We have no idea when you mess up unless you stop playing."
Yep somebody told me this when i was a kid and first started gigging, the audience is 99% not musicians, they do not notice even major mistakes, just do no stop playing, ever, and they wont notice.
I'll guarantee you that 99.9% of the audience didn't notice and still thought you sounded awesome 😂. That's the beauty of it man. The average person is just psyched to hear us even if we know we're screwing up.
probably because alot of what you do as an artist or gutarist, is train your ears. you train them for playing on time signature/metronome, and the notes of whatever scale you plan to play in. having trained your ears for so many years will cause you to notice a minor mistake more commonly then somebody whos drunk and just there to head bob. I mean i guess you can technically say your training your ears when listening to music as a fan, but really it's much less intense because you aren't applying that to something like playing the Guitar, or Singing; It takes alot more focus and time to train yourself in that sense obviously.
As amateur musicians we are always much more critical on ourselves than others ever are. We know what we CAN pull off but doing the same thing live is a whole different story.
Because the ‘average’ person doesn’t know shit about music of true value.
About 10% of the audience or more are musicians... But, unless they are stuck up aholes, they also understand the reality. All that matters is if you and the audience is having fun. I sound engineer in a local rock club, some of the sloppiest bands are some of the best acts. But.. i do have to say that there is a correlation, above certain technical threshold it does sound better and audience will get on board MUCH easier when every note hits them just right.
Dude. It's literally all about how it sounds in the mix with live recordings. That's what makes it feel exciting and raw. The studio is for perfection, the stage is for energy and connection. Your performance sounded awesome.
Well said. Good stuff.
That guitar solo you wrote is so good and you're very brave to show your mistakes
Not bad for a bunch of strange teenagers I guess. ;)
I once played a gig and a string snapped during the final song. I bluffed my way through the solo at the end, when I got off stage it turned out that NOBODY NOTICED and they all thought it was great. Audiences mostly aren't musicians and often don't pick up on the things that musicians agonise over. Playing live is about projecting passion, that's what the average audience member responds to. They don't care about the details that you do.
Metal gigs are a bit different... the audience has quite a lot of musicians.. Depends on the exact scene, but those musicians usually do understand that having fun is still most important, they understand punk.
The funniest thing to me is that often even other musicians won‘t notice the slight slip ups. If they are looking for mistakes, sure. But if they are invested in the show, unless you‘re actually missing more important parts consistently there are few people who will notice. Small slip ups often even go past your own band if it doesn‘t affect the rythm.
Great for everyone to see this who hasn't been there. Those of who have, we feel for you man. Love your humility in educating.
Man, we're not machines. It's not about everyone playing perfectly, it's about how you deal with mistakes and keep going. Yesterday I was at one local band's show. I noticed a couple mistakes the guitarist made, but he got through it, and I believe nobody even noticed. The overall vibe of the concert was great! And if I wasn't playing in my band for a while I wouldn't have noticed any mistakes either!
I use custom IEM's on stage and have been using them for the last year now - the difference in what you hear is crazy. Definitely affects how you play live, and its way more difficult - because you're more aware of the clarity of what you're playing, but also trying to keep the 'feel' of playing live and the different atmospheres of each gig. It's tough, but you've gotta enjoy playing live and not worry too much about the odd mistake, or part you only nailed like 80% that the crowd probably wouldn't ever notice anyway!
Exactly
Kirk Hammett regularly messes up solos and riffs, his out-of-tune bendings make my ears bleed, and people still think he's great.
Because he has passion man, people dont care about small mistakes, its live music bro and also you're harshly exaggerating how much he messes up, occasionally in solos he hits bum notes but never messes up riffs and stuff.@@rockapartie
I've always been a home player so I have no concert stories to tell. I dig the fact that you're willing to be really open about your playing- warts and all. A lot of TH-cam guitar personalities don't open up like that. Great video.👍
I really like when good musicians share their fails stories. Not because I want to see them fail but because it shows that even them are imperfect and I should not beat myself for comitting mistakes.
Watching the game tapes is important. You SOLD IT, though. That's the important part in a live performance. We didn't know it was "wrong" until you told us.
It’s this kinda mentality that has lead to so many bands using backing tracks, that quest for perfection when music , especially rock / metal, isn’t really about being perfect it’s about the vibe and energy of live music. In that moment no one would notice a few slipped notes. The energy was great.
Ugh, listening to the vids people take of our shows is like a gruesome car accident. Horrifying, but almost impossible not to stare at. And sometimes you're pleasantly surprised with a killer performance.
Long time musician here. My advice to gigging novices is to practice while in the position you will be in while performing. That is if you are going to be sitting on a chair at the performance, practice sitting in a chair. If standing, practice standing. Get nervous when a spotlight is in your face, yes, as funny as this sounds, practice with a light shinning in your face. Practice in the dark. Do anything to get over the butterflies while you practice and to reinforce your body playing position. I had the spotlight stage fright pretty bad so I set up our practice space with spotlights in all of our faces. I think it only took me a couple of practices and now no stage fright at all. Now we practice in a room lit only by black light mostly because it just looks cool but there are some pretty dark venues out there!
Thank you sharing this. There's not a lot of TH-cam guitar players that would put their fails out there. You're one of the realest guitar players on TH-cam. I've been watching you for years and I appreciate all the free education you've put out there for the world to enjoy.
Nobody noticed, you sound fine live.....
Even so us musicians have to have this strive for perfection because once you lose that it’s all downhill from there
@@CarlReijer-lk2ntman do you try to be so annoying or does it come naturally
@@CarlReijer-lk2ntwhat the actual fuck...
@@CarlReijer-lk2ntbrother seek professional help
You could isolate SRV or EVH and I guarantee they've got some sloppy parts. But I guess it doesn't hurt to self evaluate to improve.
I fell of a drum riser in the middle of a song...luckily it was during a pause and I had just enough time to jump back on stage and finish the fill like nothing ever happened. Epic learning experience...don't put your drum stool a couple inches from the edge of the stage. Lol
You are so honest and open about yourself. That humble, down-to-earth attitude shines through in your lessons, which I am enjoying immensely. The learning never stops.
I remember from when we were kids at Hamilton elementary Mike. You always had talent at whatever it was you chose to do, but also hard working. That is a rare combination. Great to see you still have that in you my friend.
7:40 whoever is mixing this is doing a really good job.....drums sound amazing
One of the most likable people on the internet-and the most talented. Fantastic video and lesson.
Hey Mike, we multitrack record all of our shows and this happens to me every time! Working on trying to not let it overshadow the great times at the gigs and how into it the crowds were. It's easy to be overcrital and to hyper-analyze the recordings, when in reality - the crowd loved it and the band had a blast. Thanks for the video!
I wouldn't worry about it! Barely notice sitting in the live mix. But good on you for picking it apart to improve yourself! One again like you said its one thing to be sitting in your room playing and a whole different world up on stage.
You're so right about the "flow" of some parts. It's one of the problems with muscle memory. If it gets derailed, you have not been practising "how to get back on track" from a trip up so there's nothing to fall back on. You can play these impressive parts because you don't think about them, your hands just do it from countless hours of practice. We generally put little to no practice in about recovering quickly from a slip up, playing under pressure or in an odd position. Instead, we jump onstage and just hope for the best! The bright side is, most music sounds a little bit better if it's not 100% perfect. A little looseness can bring the feeling of danger and energy.
Love your videos, man. You always come up with great and creative topics and seem like a decent dude in general.
I have this experience a lot - and I am a drummer, by the way, and the one who does a lot of the recording of our bands live. I do find, when recording live and playing it all back together as a stereo track, that the effects, the other instruments, even some of the crowd noise if you have that in there, does "cover" a lot of "mistakes". So then when you listen to the whole thing as if you were there, you sometimes get a "hey that sounded pretty good" - but when you solo just your part only and delete the rest, yup, you start to hear "all" the missed steps. This is especially true if your track is raw and unprocessed. The more interesting thing, though, is talking to those who were in the crowd: they can hear a "completely" different take than the one being recorded: "man, that was great - you NAILED it!!!!".. etc. I think there's an atmosphere that is created that is greater than the sum of its parts at live performances. That's my experiences and my two bits.
I absolutely love how real you are Mike. Yes ! i have definitely cringed when I've listened again to myself, particularly when soloed out, when it sounds fine with the other tracks or players, I discovered this big time just lately. But I also agree so much with you, to improve, I like to pick out where I've gone wrong and you have to listen back to do this, i believe it's fundamental and practised by anyone who seeks greatness in anything and we need to hear really what others are hearing from us. Also helps to be reminded how overdubbed/autotuned so much of what we listen to is when we are comparing. It is painful sharing our embarrassments but if you can, it's inspirational to me. Thankyou again Mike for an honest review of yourself, as an incredibly talented guitarist as you are, you remain so humble, sets you apart in my opinion and a really nice personal quality in all the noise out there.
I can completely feel your pain. Playing live is a completely different realm. Great video
Thank you, Mike. You're like the therapist us guitar players need :)
That took a lot of guts. If I wasn’t already a subscriber, I would be now. But keep in mind, at a live show, no one else is hyper focused either, so don’t let anxiety over perfection take control. Rock out with your clock out and enjoy the stage time, my friends.
Like people already commented, the solo however precise you wanted it to be, sounded incredible with the rest of your band doing their thing. You still nailed the sound and feel. I know feel isn't really a thing if you don't know how to play, but you do and you were making up for your mistakes pretty quickly.
I agree that watching or listening to gig and rehearsal recordings is increadibly useful, both for improving everyone's individual performances and just generally getting tighter as a band.
I generally have the opposite experience you are describing here. I'm pretty critical of my playing in the moment -- I know exactly what I'm trying to do, so I notice every imperfection no matter how trivial it might actually be. But when I listen back afterwards, it is almost always better than I thought while I was performing -- the mistakes are there, but they are usually smaller and less consequential than they seem at the time. That realization has helped me to play with more confidence on stage and not let the inevitable imperfections undermine my performance. Afterwards, I dig into the problem areas during practice and rehearsal to try to do it better the next time, but I don't worry about them as much in the moment.
Dude. People are there to have the EXPERIENCE. I have never heard your song before and when you mixed that solo in with the live bandmates, it sounded ripping. Honestly, you're 100x better than most of the guitarists on any stage you would run across. Keep rocking and don't sweat the small stuff.... 🙂
I remember playing an open mic night at a local bar. We did Crazy Train, and in the moment, I thought I nailed it. It still sounded pretty good, but going back, I noticed a few parts I flubbed, I was very shocked. Thanks for sharing this, Mike!
I feel the same. My fundamental thought is, “Might as well go with it, no turning back now.”
ok
For some reason I feel more relaxed and in the pocket while on stage. While prepping set lists during practice everything gets picked at...no pun intended. Great upload.🤘
I’ve had some terrible mental health as a result of examining my live recordings. It’s taken me beyond imposter syndrome. I’ve felt like a complete fraud and that I don’t deserve to assert myself as a shred guitar player. Seeing a professional relate to the cringe and misery of putting a sloppy solo under the microscope and then go so far as to show it to everyone is so sincere, refreshing, and just the encouragement that I needed. Even our heroes have these moments, we just rarely get to observe or notice. Most wouldn’t dare put them on display even though it would probably benefit a lot of people. Thank you for this. Very glad the TH-cam algorithm put you back on my feed today.
Just watch Metallica, Kirk almost always messes up several solos (and plays riffs in a very sloppy way).
I told my girlfriend the secret to playing fast. When playing insanely fast... make sure you hit the first and the last note correctly. Everything in between is a distorted blur. Especially if the crowd has been drinking a few. They won't notice. But you missed the first note!! I do it all the time too.
"The notes in between are fucking with me" :DD
The crowd's reaction is the most important! We've done shows where everybody made mistakes and afterwards people were like "That was the best show you've ever done!". Playing live is all about the atmosphere and having fun basically.
That whole solo sequence was well put together. You guys sound tight! Dude even Satriani and Govan and Paul Gilbert flub stuff. The beauty of it is it shows our humanity and its show business floating by
I played live for the first time around the end of may this year. The band playing at the restaurant we were at wanted me to come up and play Panama. I never played with a band before and I couldn’t keep track well and I messed up the solo. But it was still a great experience.
Great strength to make this; you are a true Teacher!
I’m getting one of these Jackson’s this weekend. Same color too . Sick guitar. But I think it sound fine . Live you want to focus more on movement and performance . I think playing to perfection can take a back seat for the sake of putting on a good show
It doesn’t pay to put the microscope on your live performances. You nailed it at the end, everyone was into it and the band had fun but guitarist are such perfectionist.
Eh, there's a line between accepting that you'll make occasional mistakes, and accepting that you're being sloppy. If you're being sloppy, it does pay to take the ego hit and scrutinize what you're doing wrong so you stop doing it. Example here from OP shows sloppiness. He didn't just miss a note or two, he straight up garbled the whole solo.
It absolutely pays off to put your performances under a microscope.
Good video. Thank you, Mike. The same is true of martial arts. If you have ever videoed yourself, it can be quite painful going back and watching yourself, but its a very good learning experience.
Massive respect for this mate. So true! Props to you for having the confidence to put this out.
My bandmate once told me it’s not about how great you play , it’s about how well you recover from mistakes!
Recorded an hour long set earlier this year. Not a single minute worth sharing. Show was great.
Man, can't believe you did this. It's so hard.
Playing live is about attitude.
I played a song this weekend and the sound was just off and mics not working. Just powered through screaming rather than singing.
But all had a good time, even got compliments.
The video, however, does not lie. lol.
Rock on!
Playing clean live is HARD. Really hard. As previous commentors already mentioned, it's a world of difference between studio or home recording, where you can get as ergonomic and comfy as possible and do as many re-takes as needed and then all the editing after.
I will say that your live solo, although sure had some mistakes, actually sounded good with the rest of the band. I kind of like the imperfections that happen with live performances. The feel was on point and an errant note here or there didn't hamper that, and you definitely had the passion up there.
So yeah, this was a great video man.
Lastly, your singer sounds so much like the old Iced Earth singer!
Thanks gor sharing this Mike.
I practice for gigs standing up, not sitting on the couch. Also to a click only, not even the track playing, so I can really hear only me. Record it too, this will really show you what you need to work on. Also practice your moves, choreograph them out. This process is terrible, but it will make you stronger! If you do it for 2 or 3 weeks improvement will happen.
Better to sound bad in private and work it out there.
As a drummer, I concur
Totally nail it with a click all different tempos listen back critically you’re playing will improve immensely
That's trippy watching them isolated, but at a live show. It's neat watching the other guys move around but you only hear him pretty sweet😊
You did well. Sure that the audience did not notice the mistakes. Its all part of playing live.
Hey great series. I really get it. Now I’m not a guitarist by any means . I have been playing about a year ( I have several videos posted here on YT) but before I was playing piano . It sounded good while I was playing but the recordings I have posted don’t sound good to me at all. Even the guitar videos I have posted sounded “ok” through a Roland mixer but when I play it through an amp with backing track just sounds very different. There’s a lot for me to learn lol!
Going back and listening to live performances or even old recordings of yourself is often a doozy.
You learned from it though and that's what counts.
Sounds awesome to me, mistakes or not. People are still happy to hear you live.
Nobody's perfect. U rock. Sounds good.
Performing and growing, evolving, as we all go.
I use this technique often. I'm of 2 minds.
1- live, mistakes included, create imo, a raw personal experience. I reliah it. No 2 shows r the same.
2- sometimes my mistakes r soooo good I can create a new solo or new song using it, or modify what I originally intended.
I LOVE this. Keep up the great work
I have watched myself since I started. It helps your onstage ears.
I’ve started live streaming, and I play songs from my catalog on either rhythm guitar or bass. In my DAW I removed the bass guitar from the songs and saved them in a folder. In a different folder, I have the same songs but with the rhythm guitar removed. It makes playing to the song feel as close to a true performance as I can get at the moment.
Well, last week a played a song on bass but pulled from the wrong folder - the track I was playing to had bass but no rhythm guitar lol!
I didn’t even clue in until I missed a certain guitar cue and in its absence made a mistake and also realized the bigger mistake lol.
I decided to shake my head and finish the song, and have a laugh with my small crowd of viewers afterwards hahaha.
I know it’s not the same as a stage in a club, but it was a mistake made publicly nonetheless.
All good, lesson learned.
Great video. I appreciate the transparency. It's a horrible feeling when you realize you aren't killing it but instead, you are shitting the bed. I just had this happen to me recently as well. It's quite disappointing and shocking.
I'd bet the crowd still loved you, seemed like they were having a good time 🤘
Listening to prior performance is how you improve. 1. Becoming a better player 2. Becoming better at identifying what works during a performance even if wasnt ideal 3. Sometimes a mistake becomes an idea
Love these real videos. Laying it out there for us. Much respect. \m/
Congrats on 842k Subscribers! 🤘🏻🔥
I thought you sounded awesome in the videos that were recorded of the performance. I loved watching those, could really feel the energy from it and the audience looked like they were enjoying it.
I can't even imagine how many times I'm gonna screw up the first time I get on a stage, but I guess it'll be a baptism of fire haha 😂
That Family of One solo sounds killer. Just think of what Kurt Cobain did on the Unplugged performance where he messed up and had to slide to the right note, ended up making the performance. I can't wait to hear the full Family of One song 🤘🏻🔥
What you say at the end about going back to look at your playing. I need to do that more, especially with the video I put up of me playing the Soul Asylum song Got It Pretty Good. I only watched it back a few times right after I recorded it to check it recorded okay sound wise. I need to go back and watch it again. I need to get comfortable watching myself play.
Dude you’re a really solid guitar player. And you played pretty damn great live. Even many of the pros dont play perfect live.
I feel that a few drinks is honestly my limit if I wanna be happy with my playing. Any more and my fine motor skills go out the window. However, a lil slop and loosey goosey makes the live feel for me. I feel like the studio is the place for perfection but live, it’s about the energy and vibes. I love your willingness to analyze your own music and talk on where you feel improvement is needed. Super big cheerz from ya boi in Wisconsin!!!!!
How often do you actually play live and not just at home for youtube or band practice stuff? Coming from someone who plays live every other night i genuinly reckon thats the key to being a lethal guitarist. Playing live gigs consistently for months on end is where you truly hone in the art of guitar. I genuinly dont consider someone even a real guitarist if they dont play live regularly. Not dissing as you sounded great on the video dont worry.
Been playing live since age 15. Obviously the more you play live the more automatic it becomes. If Sanctus played even once a month we'd be 100 times tighter in time like we were back in the day. I would never not consider someone a "real guitarist" just because they don't play live all the time. I guess everyone has their own definitions. ;)
@@TheArtofGuitar please ignore my comments 😅😑😅 i had a terrible night of drinking and i always leave these comments all over YT after such nights. Your a killer guitarist and i dont ever doubt or question you as whole ever.
Thanks for the honest response. Been there, done that. ;)
Great video and as someone just learning eGuitar, Sytnth keys and music design I prefer it when I just jam out then use a tab... Honeslt it just more fun and sounds better I think.
i love your videos... you are such an inspiration. i started playing about nine months ago at 50 years old...its not easy but man is it fun... i got a 200 dollar epiphone les paul but it is so uncomfortable... someday im gonna get a V
By the way love the channel. You bring up so many thoughts and ideas I had when I was a teenager!!! Keep it up man. Merry Christmas.
When I heard this 1:30
It sounded a bit like hate train, that recording was way before Metallica wrote hate train so you guys were definitely ahead of your time!
this vulnerability to share this is amazing.
"The notes in between they are fucking with me"
I would love to hear this song and others of yours live!
again with the honest critiquing. not sure how well I would feel about doing this but I know it would definitely make me a better player. you have a very discerning ear. thanks for posting.
It does make me feel better... I've suffered this depression too... playing live no matter how experienced you are is just a different beast... so easy to make a botch job.
Makes me feel better about my mistakes. Good video Mike . Humble as always
I had a much worse experience. Sadly it became the last show I ever played because I was so embarrassed even though it wasn’t entirely my fault. The sound guy was out of his mind or inexperienced but nothing I can do or say did he make the levels right. And there were about maybe 300 people there. I couldn’t hear the drums, other guitarist or bass so I felt like I was standing in the middle of a crowd of doing a solo. I kept turning around to look at my drummer just to predict where he was and the rhythm of his arms. Nothing was helping. I was panicking and although I knew the songs perfectly and was just hoping I was playing along with everyone, my hand kept cramping up and then I started overcompensating by adding random extra meaningless flourishes. We were opening and played about 30 min and it was recorded, not only audio, but multi cam video as it was also broadcast to a local college. I was so depressed after the show but I received everything. About 3 weeks later, I got the courage to try to listen to the audio. I got about 3 or 4 min in and I couldn’t take it anymore, I was so embarrassed. Never tried watching the video. I hung up my guitar and never played a show again. It’s been 20+ years and I still never listened to that show or any of our recordings again. Being in bands was a lot of fun but now it’s too much of a painful memory.
That’s exactly it! Nobody noticed!
I’ve had the same experience many times in my teens and twenties playing live. We recorded everything we could and some of those recordings were even worse than embarrassing but what’s usually missing on those recordings is the vibe of the audience and that makes half of your performance.
Try hanging one or two mics above the audience next time, it makes all the difference
Unless someone has the ability to single out your track live, then I could see why youd freak out but you sound awesome dude!
I will say, thank you for sharing your vulnerability, because a lot of us musicians can relate to this so much.
Kudos to you shining a light on this when easily you could have a big ego and find a reason to not show this side of your performance. I respect it. Subscribed
Mike stop it, that was awesome. Youre a great guitarist. And you have a very cool & informative YT channel.
Happy holidays. Peace.
Also, I've broken sticks during songs and had to limp through with just the bass player because the guitar players amp crapped out on stage. Good thing we were tight and had practiced mistakes like this on purpose in our practice space so when most of these things happened we were able to push through them. But hitting sour notes or improvising when you forget a part is what live music is all about. I'll take a raw performance any day over a a boring time aligned click track one.
3:28 tell me about it. I saw Metallica at PowerTrip amd kirk messed up the intro to nothing else matters. He blamed it on the heat. But hey its stuff like that, that adds to the memory and spectacle of a live gig.
What’s weird is that the recorded gigs where I thought I nailed things, I was sometimes sloppy. The ones where I wasn’t “feeling it” I played better, often much better than I thought. Odd.
Hey Mike, I remember reading a Dime interview from a long time ago and him talking about the importance of practicing standing up. The quote was along the lines of "you don't go to war sitting down."
I would suggest you play more when standing instead of sitting on the couch.
I think you just tripped over yourself during that solo. I think it happens to everyone sometimes, when something breaks the brain to hand coordination, and you completely cock up something you could play in your sleep!! Even with the mistakes though, I still think you are one of the best soloists I've ever heard!😀
You’re really hard on yourself- & that speaks volumes for you AS a musician, bro. May I suggest that when you rehearse for these shows- do it standing up. You’re not gonna be sitting down when you play. ESP, with a RR V. Sitting down with the V even though you have your strap pretty much where it would be in both positions, a little bit of rest on that thigh changes everything. Thanks for always bringing honest content and again- I promised no one noticed-it still sounded badass in the mix🤘🏻
Sweet guitar!! Love my usa rr1. But thanks for video. I've playbacked alot of shows back in the day and I've never been happy with live solos. Always felt more comfortable in studio setting and live is just so chaotic especially with heavy music. Oh well. Like they say the tape never lies
The same thing happens to many pros and for many of the sane reasons! I remember Appetite For Destruction been my favorite cassette that I got for ‘88 and I really listen to it everyday in my Walkman. Then I remember seen Slash in that live concert in New York that was broadcasted by MTV and I could not believe what I was hearing.
I kinda like the rawness of the sloppy version, yeah it sucked isolated, but mixed with the band it really fits the energy
I agree, it just sounds more raw and real. Also, it's crazy that you're literally everywhere, I watch your DragonForce covers a lot
Mike's "embarrassing" live recordings sound better than our home studio recordings.
Brave and honest, RESPECT
I'm about to have my first gig in a couple of weeks. I will deffinetly listen to some recordings by people, but we don't have recording equipment, mainly because we are a cover band and 14-15 year old guys who are just playing for fun. I totally experienced the playback dissapointment feeling when i recorded some random songs that i played and had a headache, but this just helps towards improving my plaiyng.
Enjoy the journey. :)
@diver158 You'll do fine, man.
@@TheArtofGuitar Got any tips for playing in the cold by the way?
Yes, don’t. 🤣
@@TheArtofGuitar Yeah, thought about that but we have 2 major-ish gigs in the city for a Christmas market and its open air.
I'll run through the set standing up and going through any patch changes on my fractal, trying to simulate live as much as possible, it's helped take out the variables i have some control over. It helps quite a bit, but i've had plenty of those board mixes haha
This was a good honest video, and you earned my Subscription today. It takes guts, to do what you did here. We are often our own worst critic. However, you were honest about your performance, and it drove you to become better. You can’t ask more than that. Great solo too!!!! 🤘🎸🤘
Never noticed live parts with this, but studio work Ive done and listened to the bass traks I had cut/ changed parts to the point that I questioned where did those parts come from !! LoL
A good friend told me a spoiler alert: every show will never be perfect. You can choose to be the type of player that wants to sound like the studio version, or the type of player that feels the vibe of the room. I personally love to see artists mess up live. It puts a human element to it. Far too often we get into the technicalities, but forget about the heart. Sometimes we sound sloppy, and that’s OK. As a matter of fact, it’s what gives us heart sometimes. Also don’t forget, that you came back in, and it wasn’t a total train wreck. I usually leave every gig with two things I would change or improve on.
All live rock albums are fixed afterwards. Iron Maiden even put it on the back of Maiden Japan cover.
REO Speedwagon re-recorded Hi Infidelity live and it’s obvious they had way more background vocals than was possible live.
There’s gonna be mistakes. Just have to try to keep it to a minimum.
Did a cover of Tobacco Road once. While playing, I had this feeling of being on the verge of losing control, jumping all over the neck and barely in time with the song. It was way off of my practiced lead. On playback, it sounded amazing. I was like, "Who is that awesome guitar player."
Just saying playback can be an inspiration as well as a critique.
Recording at home is super accessible nowadays, and I definitely encourage anybody serious about getting better to try your hand at recording some stuff. And not just you trying to play some existing song, but try and record a part you've written, and try and double track it. If you've never done this before, it might not be pretty, but being humbled is kind of important if you really want to get better, cuz you need to understand where you're really lacking and build up a more professional level of tightness and skills if you really want to be a good/great guitar player.