Archive - May, 2010
Taverna Gorgona
Today I’m back at Taverna Gorgona, such a great place for Greek food.
It’s a 6pm start and I’ll be playing until 10pm. I’m using my small PA and patching into the restaurants house system. It sounds really good in here. I began playing at 6pm and then took my first break at 7:30pm, I know it’s a long first set however I’d rather be playing guitar than sit around drinking coffee. Actually this gig is pretty casual so I relax and enjoy a cup of coffee with I’m playing.
On my break I took a few photo’s for the blog, recharged my coffee and then went back to the guitar and played until 9pm. Then it was time to put my order in for dinner.
The best part of playing here is eating the amazing food on my dinner break. It’s always fantastic, no matter what I order. Tonight is Chicken Souvlaki however I’m not a big Greek salad fan so I always opt out for the Caesar salad. I finished my meal then finish with a short half hour set to end at 10pm. Then it takes me 30 minutes to 
pack up and load the car. (most of the time seems to be spent wrapping cables) Then it’s an hour drive home.
I can’t hear my guitar!
hello john, came across your fine website in my quest for trying to get a decent and good live amplified classical guitar sound. im from Dublin Ireland and im doing a similar type of gig that your doing small clubs laid back venues wine bar etc but am havin real trouble in hearing myself when people start yapping! some gigs worse than others. i see you have an excellent set up gear wise and was wondering hows it workin for you. i use two aer classic pro amps with a takamine tc132sc classical using a digital delay over the two amps also two aer as 281 pa speakers as an add on from the amps. yes really good gear but cant hear myself! everything is fine except when people start talking the sound is completely sucked up.when i turn my guitar up the response and sound of the guitar is awful, like a electric guitar with rubber bands as strings all the acoustic subtlety gone. would a compressor help do you think or in your search for your live sound have u encountered my problems. over here in Ireland none of the music shops understand where im commin from and think im nutts but its a real problem as id like to pursue this type of work more as i enjoy live playing but cant play with the sound i have.im on you tube under pat coldrick if you want to hear me play just so that you can see that im real and not wastin your time!id apreciate any help john as your the first person ive come across who seems to have a handle on the whole issue of live amplified Spanish guitar sound. your website is excellent well done and look forward to your reply. p.s.ive noticed you say you use in ear monitors im just wondrin would this solve my problem in hearing myself? how do you find the sound of your guitar through them? many thanks john and continued success with your music. regards pat coldrick http://www.mesentertainments.com/PatColdrick.html
Hi Pat Yes, I think I can most definitely help. A lot of my performing is corporate, just me, my guitar, and 100 to 600 very valuable CEO’s all networking in the same tiny room. The answer to your question and sanity when playing these events (and really any gig) is most definitely “good professional” in ear monitors! I almost always perform with one in my ear and one out to hear the ambient room. Unless the room is so loud that you can’t speak to the person next to you. Then I put both monitors in. (It’s hard to believe but I have performed in rooms so loud that I’ve left the room with my ears ringing just from the volume of everyone networking around me. It takes a while to get them as you will need to visit an ear specialist to take impressions of your ear. Then send them in to have your in ear monitors created. I use monitors called Livewires. They are located in San Francisco. I bought theirs because they are extremely reasonable, the quality is very good and I was extremely impressed with their customer service. They were also highly recommended by a few industry friends of mine. I currently use their duel driver monitors. They sound great. You can also save a lot by not going wireless. The good wireless systems can be around $1000 and is not necessary for what we’re doing. All the best, John G.
Corporate performance at the Pan Pacific for the Canadian Academy of Periodontology
Today I’ll be performing at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Vancouver. This will be a private corporate event for the Canadian Academy of Periodontology and I’ll be playing with my quartet. I’m also very excited to be performing with Al Johnson on bass guitar. Al will be subbing in for Brent gubbels.
I arrived at the Pan Pacific shortly after 3:00pm to set up for a 5pm start and we’ll play until 7pm. A two hour corporate performance is a short one as the average gig is three hours. It’s also really great finishing up and it’s still daylight.
Normally we would set up against a wall however for this event we were further out into the room as to not block the clients tables.
It was a relitavely small group, 100 to 150 people. For us a small group is wonderful as we can hear ourselves really well.
It’s always a lot of fun having someone new with us on the gig and Al did a great job tonight in the bass guitar department. It’s so nice working with talented musicians. No rehearsals, just open up the charts and go!
At 7pm it was time to tear it all down. The feedback was wonderful as everyone really enjoyed our performance.
Tomorrow night it’s back to Taverna Gorgona for another solo guitar performance.
