Joining a band

Steve and Kasperow - Thanks for the feedback!! Just a short year ago, I never would have thought I could play a solo that was considered "lovely" or "confident". :-). Working through lessons here and getting advice changed that!

Sgt_Tee - Thanks for the advice. It's funny how just playing in a band improves your playing overall. I was running through some stuff this past weekend and I find things coming to me much easier. My skill has made significant improvent in just a short month. For now I'm just going to go with the flow as far as continuing this. Some things may take care of themselves just as a matter of course. I also need to see how I can incorporate this into my situation. With a full time job and a family, time is at a bit of a premium. This won't become my new career, but perhaps something I can do in retirement :-). Third Rail - that's a cool name for a band.

Great job!!

Thanks ThorfinnFrisken!! I appreciate you having a look.

So last night we had a good practice session. I have FINALLY resolved one issue - I nailed the Hard to Handle solo with the band!!! We played that song through a couple of times. First time though was the usual train wreck. Second time through, at first I thought "crap, I came in too early", but then the opening phrase came out smoothly. No I didn't come in too early, I had been coming in too late all of this time!!! When I have trouble in the future, I know it's something I should examine.

Long Train Running is pretty much down. So that's 3 songs in our setlist pretty much worked out. We started on Heard it Through The Grapevine and have that down pretty well too. We came up with a version that's a bit of a hybrid of the CCR and Gladys Knight versions. I play the major 7th chords with a typical funk rhythm where as the other guitar player plays some minor stuff behind it that blends in nicely.

The issue we have now is that people will be missing over the next couple of weeks. Last night, one guy was out. Next week, somebody else will be out. We have enough runway left that we should still have enough time to all play together before the final performance to polish the performance.

In the meantime, I'm going to work on solos for the 2nd part of Hard to Handle, Long Train Running, and Heard it Through the Grapevine so I have them in my pocket. I suspect I will be leaned on for that. Just last night, the guy who has been playing bass was playing guitar for HITTGV. I figured he'd be itchin' for a solo. No, not for that song...I had to take it. Sigh...

If I do them, they will be improvised, but I like to at least work out a framework to work in. That worked well for me with Wild Night.

I didn't expect to be the "lead guitarist". It's a little uncomfortable for me, but sometimes it's a little pressrue that propels you to the next level. Fake it 'til you make it!

I'm starting to wonder what form things will take if we continue on. That's drama that will unfold later, but I want to start feeling things out now. We'll see...

We are now 2 weeks away from our final performance. We have our parts down for all 4 songs we are doing, we just need to solidify the song structure. I came up with a solo for Heard it Through the Grapevine that mimics the horn section from the original recording a bit. I may tweak it a little bit because it's a bit repetitive. It's a good starting point. For Long Train Running, I'm throwing in some nice long expressive bends to mimic the harmonica solo. Right up my alley!!

I seem to have dodged bass playing duties. Given the situation we are in, it only made sense. Our instructor is a good bass player, so he's more than capable and is willing.

For HITTGV, our instructor has us do this cool breakdown thing at the end where everybody but the drums and bass drop out and each band member is introduced and takes a solo. After that, we all come back in, build up a crescendo and end it. A lot of fun.

So the drummer and I have started recruiting band members to keep things rolling. The other guitar player doesn't seem to be committed since he's not practicing his parts and showed up 1/2 hour late last night with no real explanation. Not cool! When it is just the drummer and I playing, or the two of us and our instructor, it's really good and tight. When others get involved, it drags down and falls apart. So between the two of us, I think we have a good foundation to build on since we gell musically, share a common work ethic, and like to keep things organized. We have a lot of common ground in our taste in music too.

Bass players are hard to find unfortunately. To make this a reality, I may have to share bass duty with another guitar player. If it means the difference between having a band or not, it's worthwhile IMO. I won't mind when the other player is capable and the quality of the music isn't being sacrificed.

We have some nibbles, so perhaps by the middle to end of summer we'll be able to do a ~15 song set at a free "music in the park" type of event. One step at a time.

Next week we are practicing at somebody's house. The following week we will have a practice session with our teacher the day before the performance.

Till next time...

Another couple of instalments of one of the most fascinating threads ever on GT!
Thanks Rich for keeping us up to date with your inspiring progress. Can`t wait for the gig video! All the best, Steve

Thanks steve!!! I'm surprised at the level of interest. As long as there is interest I'll post. Video will definitely be posted. Fingers crossed it goes as well as our debut performance.

So here we are nearing the end. Last night 3 of us practiced at the drummer's house. The main idea was to get the 3rd bass/guitar player up to speed on what we went over last week. We drastically altered the song form of Heard it Through The Grapevine to do band introductions and end. To keep it straight for me, I went through our last band practice and wrote it out. While I was at it, I wrote out the form for every song we are doing since all but one of them we've modified. At this point, most of us know all of our parts and we have a good groove going, we just all need to be in sync with the song form. Everybody has a copy of what I put together, so we'll all be working from the same page...literally :-).

The singer who will be singing for us will join us next week for our final practice. I hope it isn't too much that has to come together at the end. Since we all know our parts, if we stray from the form I'm sure we can get back on track quickly and easily.

One thing that struck me last night was how good the groove is now. We struggled with it in the beginning and our mentor would have to pull out his cowbell to help us all stay in time. It's been weeks since the cowbell has come out! :-). Now we take "being in the groove" for granted and focus on other stuff. Not bad for 2 months I thought!! The downside of having the groove down...it's too easy to get lost in and lose your place! There were a couple instances of that last night.

We are mapping out a plan and strategy to continue on with a subset of us. Mabye then we'll be able to come up with a name :-).

One thing of note - when practicing HITTGV the other night, I was using my pedal emulator and stumbed upon the "auto-wah/compressor" pedal. I gave it a try and was surprised at how well it worked. Yes, it sounded a bit like a cheesy TV theme from a 70's TV show, but it was fun and worked. It worked especially well with my solo which attempts to emulate the sax solo. I used the effect at practice last night and everybody thought it was pretty cool. It also led to a jam of Voodoo Child! I think I'll leave it out for our final performance next week, but for the band that follows on, I may use it. If anything, I'll use it for the solo.

Next week, I hope to be back glowing in the success of our final performance with video. Fingers crossed... :-).

Sounds great maggior.seems ur haveing fun and thats what life is all about.ur dedication and hard work is paying off for you...caint wait too see the video,iam sure its gonna rock.ur a good player dont forget that....see i always had a problem with stage fright...the very first time i played live was for the church i was goin too.they lost there guitar player.they knew i played.how can u say no to ur pastor.so i agreed to play 3 songs,and when it was time for me to get up on stage,my hands froze.but did make it through.twenty pounds of sweat later...best of luck to you.axe

Thanks Axe!!! Funny, I started out playing in church too. I have stage fright too, but I've managed to deal with it. I think everybody has it to one degree or another. With the church gig, it became routine after a while. I'm hoping I won't be as nervous this time around as the last at the open mic. This time, we'll be doing 4 songs, so I'll be up there long enough to get comfortable and settle in. With one song, it felt like it was done as soon as it started.

Anders told me in another thread that stage fright (being nervous) is part of the experience - it's part of the excitement of playing.

Thanks for the vote of confidence!! I've put in the work, now I just gotta let it happen.

I love reading your posts about this band-adventure. I'd prefer to be experiencing something similar first-hand, but somehow I can't seem to find a band... bummer... Your posts are nothing short of the high-light of my week these days, so please do continue keeping us updated :) Besides, it's always motivating to read someone else's success-stories, even more so when we're practically watching from the sideline as the story unfolds :)

On the bright side, my lack of better things to do these days (that is, while my fingers are resting from playing guitar) has led to me learning to use the recording software I got with my Amp to create some simple Drum and Bass tracks I can practice soloing over, so I guess it's a good thing I don't have to worry about rehearsing for a gig or anything like that right now :) (though I should probably consider getting ready for April 25th, when my brother and his fiancé are coming over, just in case they want me to play something...)

Thanks Kasperow! I'm really glad you enjoy reading my posts about this. My writing this helps me process and internalize what's happening and people here seem to enjoy reading about it. Hopefully others will find this motivational and inspirational to keep going and strive to play music with other musicians if that's what they want.

I've been following your adventure as well. So it's done now? The last I read I though it was delayed for a considerable amount of time. You also declared that your teacher no longer had anything to offer you for your learning...which is a bummer. Certainly learning recording software is time well spent. Good luck with that!

You are destined to find yourself a band and a gig I'm sure. Keep at it! In the meantime, have fun honing your craft.

Thanks :)

I wouldn't quite say my "adventure" is over. There's just not really been any noticeable leaps forward. The music school gig is still scheduled for the end of the month, and I'm going to stick with the lessons until after that gig (unless they postpone it again). Of course, that's provided my teacher doesn't cancel any more lessons due to sickness.

In a way, I'm happy that I have two whole months off. That gives me a lot of time for practicing guitar. And when my hands get too tired to play guitar, I can spend as much time as needed on learning to use my recording software. I'm gonna try and see if I can create just a simple backing track and then try improvising over it. It's not quite as fun as jamming with a real band, but it's better than nothing and this way I won't have to worry about the drummer not keeping a steady tempo :) If things go well, I might even put the recording up on YouTube and give you guys the link so you can listen to it and give feedback :)

I know I also mentioned trying to build my own amp, but that's gonna wait a few days until I get the last parts needed. Right now, I don't think I have a speaker (can probably find an old pair of computer-speakers and take one from those), and I'll also need a bit of wire and I'm waiting for my Breadboard to arrive. Once I get those parts, though, I'll build a small amp for my own use (think some like the Marshall Micro Amps) :)

Wow, the gig got postponed way out!!! It's great having backing tracks to practice over. I use my floor pedal with it's built in drum beats and looper to create backing tracks on the fly which is really convenient. One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was to always practice to a metronome or drum beat. The drum machine never tires and it's ALWAYS right in time :-).

With your amp project, are you building both the amplification and power circuit? You have to be really careful with power circuits since you are dealing with AC input voltage that can kill you. Tube circuits are even more dangerous - 600V is nothing to mess with!

Anyway, glad to hear your gig is still on. And definitely post some audio or video when you can! I'd love to check out what you've been doing.

Yeah, I know well enough how dangerous the electronics can get when working on stuff like Amplifiers. I'm studying to become an electronics engineer, but there's a break before the company I'm working for as an intern has the room to take me in :) It's always nice to have a back-up plan if the music doesn't work out, and I've long wanted to really get into electronics (it's the only reason I went to tech-school after the obligatory 9 years in what equates to elementary school).

I'm planning on building just building a small battery-powered amplifier to begin with. Once I get the Pre-Amp, Tone Control and Power-Amp stages built, I can always try expanding each of the stages to make it louder! 1W through a small 2" speaker should be sufficient for starters, though :)

In the meantime, I'll try and see if I can get some proper beats down for some original stuff, and play a bit with mixing the stuff so it sounds good. Once it sounds the way I want, I'll upload it somewhere on the internet and give you guys the link :)

That's cool! Definitely, you always gotta have a "Plan B". Before doing software development, I did electronic repair - mainly 2 way radio stuff. Electronics is interesting stuff - have fun with it! It's great that you have a specific application to experiment with - guitar! You can also mess around with designing and building your own distortion pedals.

Indeed. I've already tried building one Pedal myself, using a schematic for a "Dunlop MXR Custom Badass '78 Distortion". I tried it in-store, and loved the sound, but sadly it was beyond my budget at the time. Then a friend of mine, whom I met at the place where I study electronics, suggested finding a schematic for the pedal, buying all the parts needed and then build it myself. Cut the price down to about 40% of the retail-price :) Had a few problems with it, though, since some of the components lost a few legs when I tried building the pedal. My next project after building an amp might be to get a bunch of enclosures and some more components and try building more pedals. I've found a few simple designs that I think might be worth trying out.

Well, this is the second to last installment of this journey. Last night we had our final rehearsal and tonight is our performance of our full set of 4 songs at the open mic. 8 weeks really flew by!!

I'm SOOO glad we did this rehearsal the night before. My concern was that if it went badly, we had no time to recover. If it went well though, it would all be fresh in my head. Writing out the song forms last week worked out well because copies of it were pulled out and it was used to help our singer with some of the variations we put in.

We still have no name, so I proposed we be called "Designation: Unknown", which is nothing but a fancy way of saying "The Band with No Name". We'll see if anybody remembers that when we get put on the list by the host :-). I had also floated "Designationally Challenged", but I got a lot of puzzled looks on that one.

For myself, I feel confident that I know the song forms and that I have all of my solos under control. Last night was the first time I had that level of confidence in ALL of the songs, so that felt good. Hopefully that confidence makes it easier tonight and I can actually ENJOY the experience of playing. I'll report back tomorrow on how that goes :-).

Hopefully I'll have video to post also.

Until then...

Rich, good luck for tonite! Can`t wait for the last instalment, although I don`t really want the story to end. For sure you`'ll nail it! Best wishes, Steve (one of your UK fans!)

Thanks Steve!! Hopefully the story won't end and it will just be the close of this chapter.