General Music Chat

Well, finally some results. Pulled in the driveway a few days ago and there's a note on my mother's car, (she's out of state and left it with me for safekeeping). Some fellow's name and number, looking for a guitar player. Called, he came over and talked it over for a while, it turns out he plays drums (right hand) and bass on a keyboard with the left. Sounded interesting so I took the Fender Champ and a couple of guitars to his practice room and we started jamming.

It's going quite well so far, he does a very good job of covering bass and simple drums, sings pretty well and it's surprising how full we can get it sometimes. So far we have over 20 songs worked out we can do (all covers) without a long drawn out rehearsal schedule. Nothing is perfected of course, and we're not going for "note for note", just as close as we can get with our instrumentation.

He's a seasoned musician, (name is Randy) plays quite well and not hard to get along with, and we both have very similar musical interests, primarily blues and rock. Some of the tunes I like doing he's been trying to get people to do but they weren't interested. And we've been pulling out some oldies I never expected.

I Got A Line On You - Spirit
Melissa - Allman Brothers
Magnolia - JJ Cale
Crazy Mama - J Cale

just to name a few. And a bunch of bar band standards, of course, including a couple we can't wait to drop from the list...soon as we have time to work up some tunes we like and want to do, but will take some work.

Now here's the kicker...Either this weekend or next, a club about an hour away wants us to play their grand opening, which is why he contacted me. I can't wait actually, I LOVE playing under pressure...we don't have 2 weeks of practice together yet, and don't have a full song list really worked up and off we go...I can't wait.

And - Some of you may remember I mentioned selling a guitar recently. Work slowed down a whole lot, the uncle I work with got sick, had to bite the bullet and sell my Washburn BT 2, the only one I could part with and get a little cash for.

So I'm replacing it. Put some money down this weekend on a Hamer I liked, I was the first one to play it the day it came in, same guitar Martin Barre played with Jethro Tull for years. I'll also be able to take it to gigs before it's completely paid for. But should be able to pay it off within a few weeks, between the job we have going and any gigs that may be booked.

So it looks like I may be out there playing again real soon, it's about time...whether this grand opening falls in place or not, Randy has contacts locally to play almost everywhere in town with no problem, and a good reputation to help out. I have a good rep with a few clubs too, so we'll be gigging within a month I'm pretty sure, maybe a lot sooner than that..

My sister said "boy that's something else, you go from nothing to 7 days a week"...that's about it, I was up getting ready to go to work (building a large deck) at 4AM yesterday, and practiced until almost 10 PM after work. It's really tiring sometimes, but worth it...

I'll post pics of the new Hamer soon as I get to take it out and beat it around a little.

That is way cool. Enjoy it, & may it just keep on building...

That is good news Pete glad things are picking up for you. I love that song Got A Line On you. was playing that song about 4 years ago.

Hey thanks guys, I won't be online much for a few days but will keep you all posted on how things are going.

That is really great. Good for you Pete. Always like to hear about good things happening to good people.
Kick out the jams, man!!!

Wait. He plays drums AND bass at the same time?!
I think I might be missing a bit of info. I'll blame it on my lack of sleep.

Somebody who plays bass, drums, and sings at the same time? Even Neanderpaul would be jealous. How cool is that. Two guys doing the work of four and hopefully getting paid for the work of four. Awesome.

Cool, proud for ya brother.

Enjoy your Hamer, great guitars. I had a 1981 Hamer Special that I used for most of the 80's, until I got my Strat in 1989. It had a preamp built in; I retrofitted it with a locking nut and Kahler tremolo. I heard you can actually go to the factory in Chicago and pick out your guitar.

Glad for you Pete.
Hope all turns out for the best.

Yep, bass (on a keyboard) with his left hand, drums with his right. And good at it.

Thanks guys, I hope to have at least a few gig pics before long, maybe a song if we can get it rolling, right now we're just cramming to get ready for a gig, which looks like next weekend.

I forgot something yesterday...when I went to check into the Hamer, I played it for a bit, plugged into a Princeton reverb and cranked it to 10, then put it in its gig bag and started to hand it to the proprietor to put up till paid for. Zipper was on bottom - bad location - and cheap plastic, it broke and the guitar FELL OUT. ON the floor it went, fortunately carpeted but luckily my big toe broke its fall. OUCHIEEEE...no it didn't feel good. It's healing nicely though. Knocked a chunk of skin the size of a dime off the side of my big toe where the strap peg hit, had to get a band aid, and limped for an hour or so.

Like I said it's healing nicely, and the guitar didn't seem to be hurt. I'll be sure to abuse it accordingly the first time onstage with it.

Practiced again last night, counted up and we have around 30 songs we can do without a lot of trouble already, most need a little polish, but a few more songs and we won't be hurting for material when we start to play. Of course it's a lot of "standards" for now, just to get together everything we can both do without a lot of trouble, then soon as we get a decent song list together start working on the ones that will take some practice.

Coming along nicely, we're both surprised how well we work together, and how close our musical interests are. He's suggested songs I've tried to get bands to play for years...and ditto for me. Several I wanted to do he has been trying to get people around here to play and getting no interest.

Nah, Neanderpaul wouldn't be jealous, he does it all by himself...