whenever I listen back to recordings I end up thinking "god, do I really sound like that?!"

The first time I heard my voice recorded I honestly thought there was something wrong with the tape-recorder. As for the first time I heard my sorry attempts at playing an instrument...

I find the trick is to record and forget, then spring the recordings on yourself at a later date - play a batch of recordings while you're doing the ironing or something. I've had recordings I thought were complete failures improve miraculously in the space of 24 hours not listening to them.

The performance does have to be that much better, at least technically, if you're recording - playing live you can blow past the bum chord or the fluffed line and nobody minds. Yet another hurdle for poor aspiring wallabies ("but I won't have to be perfect on the night...").

Latest frivolity: The Crow on the Cradle. Pro tip: if it sounds like rubbish, leave it 24 hours and try again.