The most intimidated you've ever been?
 

About 5 years ago I got to hang with Alex Masi in West Hollywood. We'd become buds via the Shawn Lane forum I ran.

Alex Masi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

We had lunch, talked about our shared influences (Ritchie Blackmore and Robin Trower the most obvious) and ended up back at his apt. Lots of guitars and amps lying around. I asked him to play something for me.

He handed me a guitar and said: YOU FIRST.

I was just about shaking playing in front of him.

I go to a weekly class/jam session thingie. Pretty chill, basically just people exchanging tips and having fun and ****.

But they almost always push me out of my comfort zone musically, which is great.

My Grade 6 piano exam last year. I was doing one classical piece with a lot of long runs. If you're tense, you can't play them. Thankfully, the lady giving the exam had a signed recent picture of Billy Joel doing his stunned face on the wall. I just looked at it the whole time.

Last job interview I had for the position I currently hold. Was very under-qualified for the job, lucky they took me in on faith based on a good reference.

I almost got abducted by a Nicaraguan taxi driver once. He was screaming in my face, telling me that the bus I was about to take out of the extremely dangerous black market was going to rip me off, and I had to come with him, NOW. I never found out whether he was a kidnapper or just a very loud concerned citizen looking out for my well being, because I decided to run away. I had a friend pick me up instead. It took a long time, but better a long wait than a shanked cut and stolen organs.

Just realized this thread is in Talk Instruments, so I guess you're looking for intimidating situations in music, my bad.

Last Halloween our band was doing a party gig with some other local bands, we were encouraged to dress up. I had this weird full face pigeon mask that I had ordered from China. I'm not sure if intimidated is the right word for it, but once we started playing I knew it was going to be a rough ride. Anyone who has worn a full latex mask while playing knows how badly sound is distorted inside the mask, everything rings and just grates your eardrums into a pulp. Combine that with being a little drunk, having not practiced as a unit in two weeks, tripping circuit breakers, and you've got yourself a terribly messy performance. We were all off that night, totally sucked.

Lucky everyone in the crowd was hammered too, they seemed to enjoy it.

Bumping this for the newer members/players.

A few months after I started playing guitar I was working on a children's show as a sound guy (can't really be fancy and say 'audio engineer' as I do now, as I didn't really do any engineering) and had a crush on the girl that played Snow White.

One of the guys who was playing Prince Charming brought an acoustic guitar to occupy his time in between the matinee and evening show, and some of the little children in the show dragged everyone out to listen because he let them play his harmonicas and they fancied they were a band.

Eventually he pried out of me that I "play" (I say it in quotations, because again, it was about four-ish months after I started) and handed me the guitar to play. My crush, and a few other people in the "crowd", asked me to play something. I was insanely nervous.

Luckily as soon as I got the guitar I noticed his strings were abhorrently disgusting. They had what appeared to be sweat and skin follicles crystallized into a green gunk. I handed the guitar back to the guy who owned it and quickly sought hand sanitizer.

She, adorably, ended up apologizing for the rest of the break.

Sadly, I haven't seen her since the end of the run.

About five years back my brother and I were doing some blues/grungy music and had landed a spot in the local blues festival. Unfortunately it was one of those type of shows where you have to play through all of their provided equipment,"No Exceptions" Not being familiar with the setup and having no one there to help out they pushed us out on stage, I had been having some wiring problems with my guitar cutting out before hand but soldered up everything and thought it was fixed. When we went to play I was getting no sound at all, the power light for the amp was on so I figured my guitar was just busted. I went back stage and asked one of the other acts if I could borrow their guitar ( I felt like such an ass just at that point however, they reluctantly agreed) but when I went back out I got no sound from his either. The stage people were just staring at me from the side and rushing me but offering no help. It was only then (5 minutes that seemed like an hour) that I realized the amps they had for everyone to use had a "Standby" option. as soon as I switched it and the sound came on I was relieved but really felt foolish for not realizing it straight away. I switched back to my guitar and the show went just fine, but it was really intimidating having a street full of people looking up at me wondering what I was waiting for. I hate using equipment I am not familiar with and not getting a sound check :(

I started palying gigs when I was 15. For the first two years I would panic before every show, my hands were shaking and I used to ruin songs, my bandmates wanted to kill me.
After palying for almost 10 years i finally feel confiedent enough to the point that if somebody puts me on the spot I know that there are certain things I can nail raight of the bat and sound good. Confidence I something I had to learn with experience.

I think it depends on why I am performing. If its others pushing me into it i mess up if im inspired and for myself im good.

At a bass clinic, Jeff Berlin handed me his bass and said "here, play a little". Gulp.





He said I needed to increase the volume of my pickups and strum lighter

I guess it would be when there I have the chance to play alongside a veteran musician at my old music school and to have him know every single technique I used, naming it out loud without fail. To have someone narrate your every move and adapt to what you do is kinda surreal, but fun of course :)

My first vocal exam at university. I cried for 2 days before the exam, thinking they would hate me and I shouldn't even continue the education (music teacher). I got a B. Yay. Had a lot more confidence after that.

Consider yourself lucky, I'd ****ing love to meet the jewish 'cortisst' himself.

Probably my senior year of high school, but only for the first half (I was in a military boarding school with higher standards than public school) but halfway through I went crazy, started smoking cigarettes as a way of life (a military school thing) and Christmas treed all my final exams. So it was two extremes of me caring way too much and then far too little.

The first one I owned was like a family heirloom that nobody wanted. When I had bought my Saz new the second time I owned one direct from Turkey with the whistle flute (and bells and all), a lady approached me in the street while I had it slinged over my shoulder and asked me to play. I said I don't do that kind of thing. Later, I got really angry because I had to go see the doctor while I was there and I was unhappy. I was afraid I could not be a hopeless Romantic.

Some time later, when a family member came to my house, I was still a novice but maybe had a year of playing and he picked it up and played what seemed like the most skillful tune I ever heard. I got jealous that I couldn't live up to this because I wasn't raised in the same culture.

I think my Uncle bought me another one, and then when his in-laws asked me to play, I got embarrassed and smashed it because that's how I feel being intimidated. I must have owned four to this day, but it's hard for me to do requests unless you listen right away.

When I went to college, a guy I knew who was into music offered to find a gig for me because he played clubs. That was the scariest it felt but I knew I'd never go that far because I didn't believe in myself - but nobody did at that time from what I gathered. After, I tried to play for some friends and they didn't really listen so I felt out of touch with my generation.

A year after that I started to play online to find listeners because there are a lot of second generation Turks like me, and that was a real barrier that I worked through. Now, I just play anyway without overvaluing it because feeling intimidated about your art means you just have to bring it to it's conclusion. Kind of feel the fear, and do it anyway. After I did that, I smashed it to pieces because of all of that and the emotion I felt associated with it. Sometimes, I would break a string or my hand slipped and I punched it in the sound hole, but I totally destroyed it because of my wild side. For a long time I thought that was all that it's good for and that's a lot easier than trying to replicate that time you met your hero and missed out.

Probably in recent times, I just felt intimidated to pick one up again in case I crush them, but I did it and I bought one new for myself. I asked my Bro's girlfriend for advice because he is in the music business, I wanted to order to a store but I just ordered with DPD to my home. You always have to live up to your goals and heroes in the end and that's what separates us from the animals.

Holy crap!!!!! Berlin is a ****ing monster!!! Saw him with Holdsworth many years ago in Boston. My jaw bled for a week.

Love that Bruford album. Wish those 4 guys would have stayed together a lot longer. They were magic.

Could be Gingivitis, you should floss and use mouthwash more.

Lol ily neo