Hey folks, for those new to the diary, I am a middle aged musician enjoying somewhat of a musical renaissance, including finally picking up the bass as a secondary instrument. I have been learning mostly on the fly gigging with 2-3 others, & documenting my gigs with brief writeups. See the links to past entries below!
Two shows in one week! We are going to need a tourbus soon!
We played for about 2.5 hours tonight, to a decent bar crowd. Everyone was a little off in one way or the other, almost to the point that we seemed to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. I thought most things sounded pretty good, and sometimes it got great, but it was just an off night all around I think.
Frank is recovering from a flu, Jim seemed hesitant to really let go on lead, Matt was feeling stiff on the cajon, and I felt a bit timid in terms of more complex lines. Honestly, I think Frank called maybe 2-3 too many unfamiliar songs, which threw us all off. I think this was more optimism than it was inconsiderate, as he felt we could handle most anything, and by and large we did. We probably got the best crowd response tonight as ever. I did a *lot* more singing, including taking the co-lead on "Can't You See".
Midway into "Simple Man", Frank asked me to slap on the G and A. I told him I didn't have the chops, but he insisted, so I acquiesced, and a huge grin spread across his face. I think I managed a reasonable facsimile of slap bass anyway, just with a basic slap/pop on the octave notes. I think my timing was mostly improved, but I need to work on locking in better, as I can drift out of step sometimes.
I used my MXR Octave Deluxe and *loved* it. It doesn't take any of the low end away, and was great to use sparingly to thicken the tone out. I also used the B string a *lot* more, continuing a trend.
My biggest challenge now is working on which note in a scale to land on in key areas, IE, if I am playing After Midnight, and want to dig into the D scale a bit, when does the 5th work best vs. the 3rd, etc. This is going to take a lot of study & practice clearly, though I do find myself able to "work it out" many times. I like to try different lines during one of the copious amounts of guitar solos, keeping the good bits for the next time we play the song!
All in all a great night out after a roller coaster week. I am definitely eyeing a 4 string short scale to complement my Stingray 5. Baby steps tho...
#1 #2 #3 #4 #5
#6 #7 #8 #9 #10
#11 #12 #13 #14 #15
#16 #17 #18 #19 #20
#21 #22 #23 #24
Two shows in one week! We are going to need a tourbus soon!
We played for about 2.5 hours tonight, to a decent bar crowd. Everyone was a little off in one way or the other, almost to the point that we seemed to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. I thought most things sounded pretty good, and sometimes it got great, but it was just an off night all around I think.
Frank is recovering from a flu, Jim seemed hesitant to really let go on lead, Matt was feeling stiff on the cajon, and I felt a bit timid in terms of more complex lines. Honestly, I think Frank called maybe 2-3 too many unfamiliar songs, which threw us all off. I think this was more optimism than it was inconsiderate, as he felt we could handle most anything, and by and large we did. We probably got the best crowd response tonight as ever. I did a *lot* more singing, including taking the co-lead on "Can't You See".
Midway into "Simple Man", Frank asked me to slap on the G and A. I told him I didn't have the chops, but he insisted, so I acquiesced, and a huge grin spread across his face. I think I managed a reasonable facsimile of slap bass anyway, just with a basic slap/pop on the octave notes. I think my timing was mostly improved, but I need to work on locking in better, as I can drift out of step sometimes.
I used my MXR Octave Deluxe and *loved* it. It doesn't take any of the low end away, and was great to use sparingly to thicken the tone out. I also used the B string a *lot* more, continuing a trend.
My biggest challenge now is working on which note in a scale to land on in key areas, IE, if I am playing After Midnight, and want to dig into the D scale a bit, when does the 5th work best vs. the 3rd, etc. This is going to take a lot of study & practice clearly, though I do find myself able to "work it out" many times. I like to try different lines during one of the copious amounts of guitar solos, keeping the good bits for the next time we play the song!
All in all a great night out after a roller coaster week. I am definitely eyeing a 4 string short scale to complement my Stingray 5. Baby steps tho...
#1 #2 #3 #4 #5
#6 #7 #8 #9 #10
#11 #12 #13 #14 #15
#16 #17 #18 #19 #20
#21 #22 #23 #24
