Have fun running an open mic night

It can be frustrating being a musician if you don't have people to play with or opportunities to perform. I've managed to achieve those by reaching out to the local community. It's taken a couple of attempted, but I've established an active group of musicians who enjoy getting together to play.

The first thing you need is a venue. A pub is great as they are often desperate for customers and people enjoy a drink. I just talked to some of the local pub owners about meeting there regularly and some were interested. Then you need publicity. These days we have the internet, so use things like Facebook and Meetup to let people know something is happening. Old fashioned posters can help too.

What I've set up is a weekly get-together where we just play each other songs. It's all very friendly and supportive. Some people have offered lessons before the main session to help the beginners get up to speed. We now have a core of people so we can guarantee at least a few each week.

The next step was to create an opportunity to perform. We run an open mic night once a month on a Friday night. For this you will probably need a PA system. Ask around as someone is likely to have something. Even a karaoke system may be enough. You mainly need at least a couple of microphones and be able to plug in other instruments.

This is Glenn who supplies our PA and Danielle who I often accompany. This has got me into playing some cool jazzy stuff. Collaboration is another of the benefits. Several have emerged from our group of people. Note the guitar rack on the right. One of these is handy to protect all those valuable instruments.

We are happy enough to just perform to other musicians, but other people will come along to enjoy the show. We get all levels from beginner to professional and people will often surprise you. It's very supportive and nobody even gets paid. We are just doing this for fun. It's certainly made me a more confident performance and people have remarked on that. I get some nice compliments on songs I have written.

You do have to manage some sensitive egos. We have a three songs per set rule, so that nobody gets to take over the night. They generally get a second go anyway. It's usually some form of organised chaos, but I see a lot of smiles every time.

I can really recommend this to all musicians. It all costs you very little, but it will make you better at making music.

Rock on!

I'm Steve, the geeky guitarist.

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