7 Tips for Open Mic Newbies

I encourage any player of any type to participate in their local open mic sessions. It’s a great way to cut your teeth as a musician, to get over stage fright, and to try out new material in front of a real audience. It’s also a goldmine for networking with other players.

That said, there are right ways and wrongs ways to play the open mic game. The etiquette may be a little different depending on the place and host, but there are a few things that never go over well and can wind up making you look like an amateur and occasionally, downright foolish.

Here are a few tips that will guide you around the most common pitfalls for open mic newbies.

Scope the Place Out

Are you a singer/songwriter who idolizes Dashboard Confessional? That’s great; just don’t show up at a jazz session and expect your music to go over well. Before you show up to play, visit just to listen. What type of music are they playing? Are covers allowed? Is it a jam session where everybody’s winging it? What is the general skill level there? It doesn’t take very long to pick up the vibe of a place. If it’s a good fit, bring your instrument next time and put your name on the list!

Prepare Your Set

This isn’t always a problem because newbies usually have something in particular they want to play. Prepare 3 or 4 songs to perform and get them up to snuff before you go out to play. If you tend to blank out when you get anxious, scribble the tunes down on a scrap paper and keep it in your pocket. Preparing a set ahead of time allows you to best represent your talent, and writing it down will help you avoid that awkward on-stage moment when you don’t know what to play next.

Bring Your Own Instrument

I see it happen all the time – someone wants to play at an open mic, but they don’t have an instrument. So they start asking people if they could borrow an instrument.

Don’t do that. Don’t be that guy.

For many of us, our instruments are very near and dear to us. Some of us have spent a great deal of money on them. And you, a stranger, are pressuring us to allow you to handle a delicate, very personal item. We don’t know whether you respect the instrument. We don’t know where your fingers have been. So we will either say no (and remember you as that guy or girl) or grudgingly say yes – watching with trepidation as you play your set.

House instruments and backlines are exceptions. Sometimes, an open mic host or some attendees will provide instruments or amps for others to use. This most commonly happens with drum kits. It’s okay to ask about these instruments because they are there for others to use. Just don’t ask the guy with a Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster if you could borrow his guitar.

Tune Your Instrument Before You Hit the Stage

There are few things more annoying at an open mic than someone tuning up on-stage. I would go so far as to say it’s disrespectful to the others waiting to play – there is a limited amount of time in the night and you are eating it up fumbling with your tuners. The solution is very simple: tune your instrument before you hit the stage. It’s a little detail that will make you look much more professional and put together.

Be Mindful of the List

Don’t go to an open mic and expect to play Stairway to Heaven, American Pie and Master of Puppets (I know, weird set). Those songs are all extremely long. Again, there is a finite amount of time in the night. Be mindful of the list length and pick your tunes accordingly.  If you do decide to do a longer tune, don’t expect to play all three songs you may have been allotted.

As an adjunct to this point, don’t ask the host for more time. He or she is trying to get everybody their stage time and you being greedy doesn’t help. If you want more time, ask the host if you can sign up again. You’ll get another set if it’s a dead night.

Never Apologize…

This is huge with nervous first timers. They apologize for sub-par performances. Do your thing, do your best and accept it. Often, you’re the only one who notices that you flubbed a solo or sang the first verse twice. Apologizing calls attention not only to your mistakes, but to your character as well. Own your mistakes not by apologizing for them, but by standing by them.

Apologizing before a song is even worse because you are communicating to the whole venue that you have no confidence in your abilities and you’re not to be taken seriously. If that’s the case, why show up to an open mic at all?

…But Don’t Say You Can Play Something When You Don’t Know How Play It

I once met a young guitarist who talked a pretty confident talk. He said he was new in town and looking for a gig. I asked whether he could follow and improvise in a certain style. Without missing a beat, he said yes. So I set him up with a couple players and… the guy could barely play a pentatonic scale. Long story short – he train-wrecked, annoyed the other players, and embarrassed himself. Afterwards, he confessed he was just learning his instrument and wanted to start a garage band.

That’s all well and fine – and it’s exactly what open mics are for. But don’t bite off more than you can chew. Don’t say you can play something just because you’re jonesing for stage time – it won’t go over well and you won’t make any friends doing it. Push your limits, but know your skill level.

Conclusion

Open mics need not be nerve-racking. If you go in prepared and respect the other people participating, you’ll have a great experience. Be aware of yourself and what you know, and most importantly…

Show up.

-Chris Lazaga
Audiomunk

I decided to write about something a little bit different today. If you like this kind of content – focused around traditional musical performance as opposed to gear and technology – leave a like or a comment to let me know!

I figured I’d toss up a gallery of this particularly good open mic session that happened a couple years ago. Enjoy!