Out of the pool...
It's been a couple of weeks since I played out... anywhere! I've decided to stop torturing perfectly good musicians with my obviously amatuer abilities. The last jam I attended the lead guitarist insisted on teaching two of us (me included) Stormy Monday. Now, back when Sparks Music was still about music I was getting to where I had the changes down fairly well. But that was quite a while ago. I wanted to learn this song and one of the regular jammers was starting to get interested in Jazz, so I thought this would be the perfect bridge from Blues.
Well, we'd only tried it a couple of times when Sparks Music pulled the plug. That was back about January or March, I think. Since then I'd occasionally run into it at the jams, but it was about 40/60 original format/Allman Bros. version.
That is until the last couple of times I played out. It seems that someone decided that this song was my weak spot and that I "had to know it." When we got up on the stage it was announced that we'd do Stormy Monday and when I said that I didn't know it well enough to play it he went ahead and started explaining the changes. Now remember that we're standing in front of a bar full of customers waiting for the music to begin!
So, I asked told him, "Come on. You're not really going to teach us a song right now are you?" He just said it was easy enough and started playing the intro. Of course the drummer then started and we all had to follow along. Needless to say, it was a real train wreck.
So, I've taken myself out of circulation for a while and plan on going back when I'm confident. Until then, I've started trying to teach myself the Mississippi Saxaphone. That is, the harmonica (or mouth harp). I've seen it played by so many people (good and bad) that I couldn't resist figuring out what's up with it. Combined with this is the fact that I've met several extremely good players who have inspired me to take up this most emotive instrument. One of them even makes his own microphones and has sold them to some of the best harp players in the country!
As they say, when one way closes another opens...
Well, we'd only tried it a couple of times when Sparks Music pulled the plug. That was back about January or March, I think. Since then I'd occasionally run into it at the jams, but it was about 40/60 original format/Allman Bros. version.
That is until the last couple of times I played out. It seems that someone decided that this song was my weak spot and that I "had to know it." When we got up on the stage it was announced that we'd do Stormy Monday and when I said that I didn't know it well enough to play it he went ahead and started explaining the changes. Now remember that we're standing in front of a bar full of customers waiting for the music to begin!
So, I asked told him, "Come on. You're not really going to teach us a song right now are you?" He just said it was easy enough and started playing the intro. Of course the drummer then started and we all had to follow along. Needless to say, it was a real train wreck.
So, I've taken myself out of circulation for a while and plan on going back when I'm confident. Until then, I've started trying to teach myself the Mississippi Saxaphone. That is, the harmonica (or mouth harp). I've seen it played by so many people (good and bad) that I couldn't resist figuring out what's up with it. Combined with this is the fact that I've met several extremely good players who have inspired me to take up this most emotive instrument. One of them even makes his own microphones and has sold them to some of the best harp players in the country!
As they say, when one way closes another opens...
posted by Mondo | 2:02 AM
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