Weird day today...

Hi guys (and gals),

So... Thursday I had carpal tunnel surgery and I can't play guitar for 4 weeks... 

Ready... 1... 2... 3... Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww, poor Brian! 

Yes, I know.  Thank you for the pity party!  But now that it's over, I wanted to say that I play for my church every Sunday.  We have a small church with not much musical talent.  Me and the pastor are the only two guitar players.  We have a bassist about half the time, so Pastor Rick and I also will trade off playing bass some Sundays.

Here's the kicker... no bassist available today so I played bass on a keyboard (oh, the shame!) 

It was just weird... and it looks like I'm gonna have to do it for the next few weeks too!  Guess it's a learning experience!  I've dinked around with keys before a bit, so I have a rough familiarity.  I also have a good grasp of chord structure and music theory, so the layout of a keyboard isn't too bad to work with, but wow... playing bass on one is just not the same!  I could play the notes, but there was no oomph!

Anyone else have any weird or uncomfortable playing situations that you'd like to get off your chests?  You know, talking about it can help it feel better!  

Well ... I have a gig this week with a sax player. He has been playing for years, and he has his own band. He's been on a few music tuition courses, including one recently where Alan Barnes (a superb British sax player) was the main tutor. There's just one problem - he still can't play to save his life! He's supposed to be a jazz player, for goodness sake, but he can't even play melodies unless he has the dots in front of him. I'll give you an example: 'Tenor Madness' is a well-known piece for sax; he has played it hundreds of times, yet I can guarantee he'll be practising it backstage beforehand. It's only a 12-bar blues with a repeating phrase, for f***'s sake. 
You know what it's like - it's the people with no talent but with the gift of the gab who get the gigs!

David_A wrote:You know what it's like - it's the people with no talent but with the gift of the gab who get the gigs!

Ain't that the truth!  I sometimes wonder if I shouldn't hook up with someone like that... then I could just show up and play, letting him/her do all the schmoozing to get the gigs!

get well soon dude

I had some weirdness this weekend, a drummer I worked with for about 10 years over 3 bands dropped me a line to say that he had moved back to the UK from Russia and did I want a jam, so I've gone from working on stuff for looped solo guitar with drum machine or stompbox, to re working it all for a band
good weird!

xbarnesx wrote:get well soon dude

I had some weirdness this weekend, a drummer I worked with for about 10 years over 3 bands dropped me a line to say that he had moved back to the UK from Russia and did I want a jam, so I've gone from working on stuff for looped solo guitar with drum machine or stompbox, to re working it all for a band
good weird!

Thanks xbarnesx... and in my experience, good weird is usually VERY good!  

I'm hoping so
we last played together about 10 years ago but always had that bit extra between us they we always knew what the other would be doing especially when writing
very exited

Carpal tunnel is no joke, sorry to hear that man. 

One gripe about playing out... I play in a couple bands, the one is for a Biker Church.  We have a great stage, a real nice drum shield with sound insulation, a great big garage set up with chairs, tables and sofas, sweet road signs on the wall like a biker clubhouse, and a ton of Harley's that park out front.  Just a very cool spot.  BUT... we have no monitors.   We use the mains placed slightly behind us so that I can hear myself sing.  That stinks.  Any singers out there, you know what I mean!  I may buy them myself soon, it's almost impossible to sing well without clearly hearing WHAT you're singing!!!

The Chad wrote:One gripe about playing out... no monitors.  We use the mains placed slightly behind us so that I can hear myself sing.  That stinks.

10-4 that good buddy!
Nothing worse for a singer than trying to monitor yourself off the mains, for the whole band in fact.

Mostly I used a small 40watt powered floor monitor and we also had a couple of nice little "hot spot" monitors mounted on mic stands for the lead player, and especially, the drummer!

Gotta have foldback for the the singer and the drummer, at the very least! I was lucky enough to acquire a set of Toa wedges from a church band many years ago which are simply fabulous; really flat frequency response - no feedback problems -, and able to be used for the whole Steve Harris "foot up on the wedge" look!! I run mine through a slave amp specifically designed as a foldback amp.

I hope your recovery is speedy and complete, Bri, and that you're back behind a guitar sharpish!

And hey; doing bass lines on a keyboard never did Ray Manzarek any harm, did it!!

Embarrassing moments, well, there are SO many but one springs to mind when I rocked up to the local blues club one evening, guitar in hand, ready to jam with as many bods as I could. I rated myself pretty highly at the time - hubris is a cruel bitch!! - and groaned audibly when asked by a couple of old fellas if I could accompany them on guitar for a short set... 
The clarinet, soprano and tenor saxes in front of one bloke should have given me pause, as should the small but perfectly formed Kurzweil console in front of the other...
I asked what they were going to play and the keyboard player gave me a score that had more black on it than white, told me that the first tune had a 4 bar guitar imtro in some godawful key, and then stood there expectantly.... waiting for the young, snotty whizkid to light a fire...
Didn't happen and from that moment forward I learned to a) respect my musical elders, and b) that speed picking and fancy glissandos are no substitute for solid chops!!

John, what a great story!  I can relate!