Playing My First Show Since Pandemic Began

I was set to retire from performing, the pandemic hit, started my retirement a little early, but after a year of not doing something I love, I'm getting back on stage again.

I have played guitar a lifetime and have been in several bands over the years. I have played just about every genre of music that can be done in a working band.

It has been a blessing throughout my career of playing in bands to always be surrounded by really great players. I have learned, you are only as good as the people around you.

Now getting back on the horse is not as easy as I thought it would be. When I played my final show, I put my gear away and didn't touch it until recently when I went to run the sets.

Found out that a lot of the material I retained, but some of it seemed like I had never played the songs before and had to re-learn quite a bit of stuff.

I can tell you this much, I wish I would have started sooner on running the songs because it is one thing to play the song by itself, but when that song is a part of 2 90 minute sets, that is a lot of material and my hands are out of shape.

I have a thumb injury right now that is making it harder to play the songs, and because I will play with some great musicians, you have to play hard and tight in this band. When we play Bruno Mars, Journey, Florida Georgia Line and so much more, it has to be dialed in.

So the lesson I learned was, it's ok to take a break from the instrument, but if I plan on playing real shows again, I better start practicing much sooner next time because there is stamina that goes along with playing and I have a feeling this Saturday night my hands are going to be hurting.