In November 2014 I performed for the first time at Slow Dancer in Ropponmatsu, Fukuoka and 8 months later heres a short performance I did again at Slow Dancer. Thanks to Katsu and Akiba and Taji for always listening!
Ishida
Here's another recording of a long set I played at the same bar as the
first gig. This was a surprise party my friends had set up for me
because I was leaving Fukuoka (I'm currently typing this in the Sapporo
airport as I left this morning). I've collected 5 or 6 professional
photographers as friends so this time, my friend recorded everything,
they took pictures, and even made me a real Japanese hankou which is
like your signature that you stamp in red ink.
This recording has way way more mistakes - I didn't practice / prepare at all
because I was moving and selling and throwing away various crap all day. Luckily I had my note book showing the song order / keys from last time. Also
I was even a little bit drunk, so maybe thats why I'm so chatty between
the tunes...
Anyway, there are moments where wow my intonation has really improved
thanks to that Harry Nilsson song. Also its difficult to play with
someone live as it can be distracting! Extra concentration is required
to remember where you are and where you're going. Other than that, yes I
need some kind of upgrade to my recording device to get better quality
recordings - although this one sounds a little quieter to me?
Ishida
This is from my first gig about 2 weeks ago at a bar in Fukuoka. I was
invited to play after another musician heard me sing a few tunes at a
different bar on the house guitar - he said please come to my show and
you can play a few before me! That turned into playing for half an
hour. Luckily thanks to the blog I had 10 songs that were more or less
ready to go!
The first thing that blew my mind was how much better the bar owner's
recording sounded when compared to mine! I told him "Man I wish I had a
set up like yours!" and he whipped out a small recording device thats
just like mine! He showed me he has a mixer where his microphones all
lead to and then from the mixer 2 cables go directly into the recording
device. This means I need one of these mixers! Its also amazing how
playing in a bar full of people is quieter than my recordings in my
apartment where I'm the only one there.
Nevermind the musical errors - damn its embarassing to hear your own screwed up Japanese on a recording.