General Music Chat

Had a pretty good gig last night.

It's a real small joint, & there was a table of around 16 ppl that came out to see me...I have no idea who they are. I've seen some of them around, though. They got there 1 1/2 hours before I did, according to the owner, & were definitely there to see me.

Began with my horrible rendition of "Country Roads," sung as off-key as I can manage, but I changed the routine just a little...They loved it, & sang along once they caught on to what was happening, & I sang it rightly.

The place began to fill up right after I started playing, & no one left. By my 1st break it was all asses & elbows in there.

At that break, this guy came up to me as I stood out on the deck smoking...

"I play guitar hero real well. I want guitar lessons. You're the guy I know I could learn from. I know you have a guitar to sell me. How much?"

I told him $20 a lesson, & I have an old Johnson I'll sell him for $100. I figured he'd get my number & never call, but instead, he reached into his pocket & handed me a hunnert dollar bill & was flipping through looking for a 20 when I stopped him. The Johnson I have needs new tuners, & I left it over Dddonnie's when I was teaching over there. Gotta get it in shape before I sell it to this guy. So he's s'posed to call me Wed.

My 2nd break, a cpl came & asked me for lessons, too. I'm s'posed to be at their house with their 1st collective lesson on Tue evening.

The large table of ppl never left. I blew most of my signature songs in the 1st set, cuz they looked kinda old & I figgered they'd be leaving. I was scrambling for material at the end of the night, cuz I'm such a wuss & won't take those chances on stage if I think I might forget something. I shoulda played "3rd Rate Romance," after spending the time to learn it for the band, but I never actually worked out a lead for it (although the lead looks pretty simple & I coulda prolly yanked it outta my ass). I'm funny about things like that, though.

I'm gonna hafta relearn a lot of material that I quit playing years ago...includiong a few of my own songs! I got a request for 2 originals that those ppl had heard in years past, but I eventually stopped playing, even though they were good songs.

I guess it's true - I've forgotten more songs than I remember...DAMN I'm old!

End of the night, the owner came over & made sure to book me through Feb, once a month. He also made it very clear that I'm worth more than I got for that 1st gig, & paid me over twice that amount...

All in all, it was rather rewarding...

Hope your weekend's going well as mine so far...I got band practice this afternoon & blisters on my fingers!

Gotta love it!

FREAKIN' GREAT Philby. I like that.

Well, now I know where all my luck went.


Good for you man!

So I was at band practice yesterday, & the new guy was playing too quiet. I cranked his amp, & we started over. His timing was so off that I stopped the song, told him to check his timing, & we began again. He did a little better.

Next song, he started it off sloppy as hell. I stopped him, played his part on the bass, & made him work on it right there until I was satisfied. Then we went on.

Next song, his lead was wimpy. Again, I stopped everything, told him what we expect. When we did it over, he did better.

After our break, I took his guitar & wrote a little partial lead for "3rd Rate Romance," which he prolly never even heard before. I charted it out for him on the spot, & told him to both elaborate on it, & to finish working out a viable lead for the song.

In all, I prolly stopped him 6 or 7 times to address different issues with his playing...the guys said I was a little rough on him. I really don't think so - we've been working with him for 3 frikken months & he still hasn't a clue how to get the job done. I made him take notes on everything anyone said - write it all down - then I had him put the notes on top of his guitar in the case before he left. I also reminded him several times to use the guitar he's gonna play to practice with...DUH!

When he started to give me any excuse, I gently reminded him that he's had 3 frikken months, & it's time to sh*t or get off the pot. To date, I've been more than patient, letting the drummer give him most of the pointers, cuz I tend to be a bit blunt at times. But JEEZ, folks! If you can't play the intro to Folsum Prison Blues, straight up, without bluegrassy embellishments like hammer-ons & slides & such, I won't bother playing with ya! He's gotta get in a rockish frame of mind in spite of his damned finger-picks. I can't even get a decent strum out of him & it's driving me mad, I tell ya - MAD!!!

Of course, after Mike, the drummer, gave him a compliment on a lead, he smoothed things out pretty well. I think the "good cop/bad cop" routine might work, at least in the short run, at practices - but will he actually WORK on stuff at home like he's supposed to?

Only time will tell...

There's something about bluegrass players...when they're challenged with other stuff, they tend to fall apart & say "sour grapes" things about other music forms, as a rule. This guy hasn't done that yet, I'll give him that. If only he would tighten up his work, instead of being so frikken SLOPPY!

Anyone else have these issues?

Good musician / Evil musician

Hope it all works out for the best.

Can't make tis stuff up.

Of course! I just got a call from the guitarist. It seems he failed to collect the tablature I wrote out for him for the lead to "3rd Rate Romance," so I'll hafta rewrite it & deliver it tomorrow.

'Sokay, I guess, cuz I hafta write up my lessons for tomorrow night anyway. What's another page or two, eh?

Hmmmm....perhaps I should just start looperatin' like Paul & forget the whole thing...except the drummer called me this afternoon & wanted to know if I would have any prob's getting a passport, cuz he wants us to go to England & make some bucks. All I could say was - "Duh...it might be good to have a frikken ACT 1st, doncha think?"

I really don't like bustin' up everybody's bubble all the time...it just comes naturally...perhaps I should just stfu for awhile & work on my own stuff until everyone gets their act together...

"Duh...it might be good to have a frikken ACT 1st, doncha think?"

Hang in there brother.