Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

BEEF JERKY just posted a real nice comment. "CRAP"
Just to set the record straight I really enjoy all the great music posted up here. Most of you are extremely talented.
When I go into a solo I may have a rough idea of what I'm going to play, after that it is all subject to me and the players I'm jamming with. Most of the time I can not even come up with the same licks I used the last time. I try and avoid licks as much as possible.
That opens the doors to endless creative creative solo opportunity.
I put up that video, I was just trying to figure the song out. We played it again Friday, if you take the time to compare all my fills and solo you see I'm starting to come up with much better ideas.
I also put up a short solo on one of my tunes Fire. I could never solo it like that again. I had only one thought at the time and that was to reach down into the very heart that piece of wood I call my guitar. I think I succeeded.
So any way beefy boy when you get to my level of playing give me a call,,,OTHERWISE just keep it quiet.

Solo sounded great I thought .... kinda Allman-ish.
Never play it the same way twice is my motto , also.
F the haters.

I can play any note I want to, as long as I play the right note next.

you can quote me on that.

Some live in the box ... some outside.

I used to be spontaneous all the time, never playing the song the same way twice. But when I played it once, I could generally get fairly close to playing it the same way again if I liked the way it turned out. At times I worked with several bands per week, so I learned how each singer liked it, and what key they sang it in.

Once, right after we finished a set the singer came over to me as said "That's what I like about you, you never play the song the same way so it never gets old." I thought about that for a second and replied "The bad part is that I throw all the good chops out with the bad." I really did have a nicer version of that song a year ago, but it just kind of faded away.

After that I decided to work out my material and remember it. It is all spontaneous when you begin to learn a song anyway unless you are going to learn songs lick by lick. So I do both when I play. I am totally spontaneous at jam sessions, mainly because you have to feed off the other musicians in the group. But when I run across a lick that I like in the song, I keep it and I don't forget it. And as the song morphs, it keeps getting closer to what I want.

It is so easy for me to just be spontaneous. But I found that combining both takes far more dedication on my behalf. So I work on songs that I intend to record until I have everything like I want it, not to say I might change certain passages later if I come up with something better. But even when I play something I have worked hours to perfect, if the other musicians aren't there, I just adjust to what they are doing. I'm not so set in stone that I have to have things go my way, even when playing my own material.

Playem how they sound good, it's always
note for note, you know note after note, lol

I like to play a rockin song thru a;; the minor
modes and here what sounds good and then
improve on that, maybe try to slide into a
major scale every once in awhile. I never
play anything exact the same way everytime,
sounds like a Branson show.

Glen there's no doubt you can play, anybody
who says different doesn't know what the f#ck
they're talking about. Sometimes the comments
we make on nonmusic subjects, cause lesser
players to criticize are musical abilities, cause you
done wiped the floor with them on the nonmusic
subject.

I've listened to several of your tunes and liked
them all, we've also had our talks on nonmusic
subjects.Peace and keep rockin Glen.

Like any egotistical artist I love to go where it takes me. However, after you develop a following or start recording to you need to start knowing your parts.

You can still improvise on occassion - but your starting point then is the part worked out and rehearsed by the band. But it can usually write your own part - you just have to rememberr it.

Exceptions are groups like the Grateful Dead and various jam bands.

I like a well rehearsed act myself. Where each player knows his part and play it all the wasy through by himself. The key to your performance (to me) is the vocal. The singer has to know what to expect. Good singers pick up on well rehearsed bands and come quickly up to speed.

Talbot

Since my main thing is covers, I do try at first to learn songs as close to the original artist as Im can, after that I kinda deprogram myself and just cut loose on things such as solos, and as Ive alluded to on here, I try to use different chords, such as inverting a chord, basically playing it up side down if that makes sense, or little pieces of chords to creat tension in my rythyms of what might just become bland standards.

Soloing there are some songs that I play by the book, say crazy train, I do it real close, maybe some of the Zep break solos, I play them real close, but on other songs I just go whereever it takes me at the moment. Plus it tends to be influenced by whatever music Im listening to at the moment, lately thats been Van Halen, the early stuff, so I seem to incorporate a lot of little things he does in solos, but next week it could be someone else.

I think if you are being paid to play, then for the most part you need to keep things consistent, it helps your bandmates and you stay on the same page, but in my group we do ad lib a lot, which allows me to put my own musical personality into some songs that would be boring for me to play otherwise.

Played lead for a friend few years ago and he was always down on my messing up the solo's. Every rehearsal I'd miss something and he'd be saying I pay you to be professional. Lots of mistakes ...........So when we'd do the show I'd always play something other than what we'd rehearsed lol.
After the show he'd say wow that was great! Something about live stuff has that magic.

You can get away with quite a lot when playing solos provided you don't break the rules.

it really depends on what your doing right?

if you are in a wedding band (as a generic term)

then you have to play the song as close as you can. really that's what they hired you for,,, the good old days.
if your in a jazz band there is no close, but I suppose nowa days you have to accomplish form and bring the correct sound.
if you are trying to break new ground well that's up to you what you feel you can get away with and still have an audience.

if you get a sound cloud account you don't even need to be a musician you can even be tone deaf and claim you have a new song.
in rap you don't actually have to play anything you just need to be kind of an expert consumer.
except for regurgitation rock as an art form has been dead for some time.

it really depends on whats important to you.

My Fingers do their own thing. I can't play a song the same way twice. Not even covers.