My official video from the Battle of the Blues Grand Finals came out today. I sort of felt like someone punched me in the gut when I found out, despite the fact that it actually should be a good thing. I have some very mixed emotions about it.

First off, I just flat out didn't play my best (or even near it). And the worst part was that it wasn't entirely my own fault. The sound guy forgot to turn on the monitors at all, so all I could hear of myself was slapback echo from the mains. And I couldn't even hear that until a little past the volume swells of the electric song, because the sound guy forgot to turn on the mains! So even the audience couldn't hear me. So I was in full blown panic mode, which is a big part of the sloppiness of my playing in places. And before you say I should have stopped and had them start again, I couldn't. They were beyond extremely rigid as far as going by the timed schedule and I honestly doubt they would've let me start again. And plus, how amateur would it be to just stop? Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches.

I think it would've helped if they had abandoned the five minute set up and sound check rule for this stage of the competition. It works fine when you're playing in a Guitar Center store to a backing track with no sound guy controlling your volume. But in this setting, it simply doesn't work. What band have you ever seen set up in five minutes on a stage like that? None, they don't do that for a reason. The only thing I really regret not doing would be reaching back and turning the amp the rest of the way up. But I was shocked by the fact that I couldn't hear anything coming out of my guitar, so the thought never occurred to me. The more than five minute set up would have done wonders for my tone too. It was way too tinny for my taste, I like tone with lots of beef. And honestly, the Forum Caster really doesn't sound that bad. Normally it sounds great. After talking with the other competitors, nearly all of them hated their tone. So at least I wasn't the only one!

Despite all the crappy-ness, I think I definitely learned a lot of lessons and came out of it a better player and a better person. I didn't really care about winning, and I was honestly very happily surprised that I even made it as far as I did. In fact, in some ways not winning is a relief. First off, I have to deal with enough sexist comments anyway, but if I had won I'd be hearing nothing but "she only won because she's a girl". And in a way not winning is good because I get another shot next year. And again, I'll just be doing it for the fun and the practice. Plus, all of us competitors became really good friends off stage and everyone was (and still is) very supportive and respectful of each other. Plus I've gotten all sorts of gigs and publicity things turning up for me here at home all of a sudden, so all in all I think it was worth it. Even if it turned out to be a lot harder than I initially thought.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. Here's the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPrAD9w-kic&list=UUr4kaFJ16UqtDQRzadrVkzw&index=5&feature=plcp

And because I would really rather people see me in a better state of playing and of mind, here's a video of me when I'm not in full blown panic mode.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wj4wO6FaGgw

And here's an audio clip of me soloing during a gig last weekend. This is what happens when I don't have a bunch of judges and Joe Bonamassa watching me...

http://soundcloud.com/rebeccalaird/cant-you-see

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I think that was quite good , Becky - despite your problems !

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A-man

I agree, a performance will rarely if ever go perfect, but despite being unhappy with the tone and monitoring, you showed a great ear for blues and melody Well done, it sounded great!

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"reach for the sky and aim for the moon, for if you miss you will end up among the stars"

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http://www.youtube.com/user/Almungo/videos?flow=grid&view=0

Ms. Laird, we are each our own worst critic...you have nothing to be ashamed of! Nicely done, your professionalism and talent clearly overcame the challenges!

WOW! From the total beginner perspective, that was beyond great! Despite all the hurdles you had and the wise and wonderful JB judging you. If you come up Waxahachie/DFW way, holler. Will definately try to make it to see you live.

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I believe that Jimi, Stevie, Jeff, Robert, Hubert, Les, Leo and the "Duck" are all looking down on Joe B. saying "Holy smokes that dude got some stuff going on!"

Check out the cause:
http://crossroadsguitarfestival.com/

Rebbecca that was very good no matter what happened you should be proud of yourself as we all are proud of you.

Rebecca; great job on all of the video's you posted. I wish what is on the Battle of the Blues video was what we had heard in the audience.
Just to clarify for everyone, what GC put on the video is an audio feed off of the board, not what we heard in the audience. In the audience we could barely hear her. I was wondering why she was being so timid in her playing, when in reality she was playing her heart out, we just couldn't hear it. Since I was sitting near the judges, you can guess what effect that probably had.

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Awesome!

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Well put Drew. I felt that the sound guy screwed the audience. Way to go Rebecca. You have some great feel. Say "Hi" to your parents. It was great chatting with them.

For someone like me - at the bottom of the Learning Curve looking up, your playing sounds great !

If you don't mind me asking, how long have you been playing? How did you learn (Private Lessons, School Band, Videos, etc.), your approx. age (I know you're not supposed to ask a woman, but believe there's an exception for women guitar players) ?

I think you showed alot of poise up on stage and despite technical difficulties, gave a pretty good account of yourself !

Well done you.. !!

cheers!

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Rebecca, that sounded great!

Congrats.

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-T

"You can't spend what you ain't got, you can't lose what you ain't never had" ~ McKinley Morganfield

Both performances (electric & acoustic) were great! Congrats on all your accomplishments. Your weekly performances are keeping you pretty busy, and you still make time to get out to the open jam at The Big Easy! That's lovin' the blues! I'm gonna try and make it out there next Wed. Hope to see ya.

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Blues Deluxe Reissue
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Your playing on a bad day is still pretty damn good. I'm not just being polite. That really wasn't bad and under the circumstances you demonstrated professionalism and maturity. I'm f'n proud of you.

How's Houston? I grew up there but it's been several years since I've been out that way.

Cheers,

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In my opinion Leo Fender had essentially perfected the guitar amplifier by 1964.

That was awesome! Most of us only wish to be as talented.

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Well, if that's a sub-par performance, I wish I sucked a little more. That was excellent.

I can understand your panic and fear--people don't understand what it's like to being playing "deaf"...nerve-racking to say the least. You were professional and kept your cool, and that's impressive as well.

Just wait 'til next year!

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



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