So last week I had to miss for my son's preschool graduation. From what I heard it didn't go well and folks were struggling. I was hoping that wasn't going to be a trend.

Our sax player dropped out. Unfortunately he wasn't ready for playing in a group. So our songs choices will be changing a bit since we were trying to target some songs that featured sax.

Our new guitar player is working out great! He's got some chops with both rhythm and lead and puts in the work to learn the songs. It takes a lot of pressure off me. The second guitar player from last time seems to have stepped things up too. He took the solo for Honky Tonk Women which took even more pressure off me!

So far we are working on Honky Tonk Women, Day Tripper, and Whole Lotta Love.

I'm a bit disappointed that I am playing rhythm on Day Tripper. The guitar player from last time round sounds like he's been practicing it and is getting there. I've got nothing to prove, so I'll let him have it...he seems eager. I asked that I take the solo though :-). The rhythm on that song is kind of fun so I don't mind. I also remind myself that this is a class, so it's good to give others some opportunities if they work at it. If this were a "real band" situation, I would insist on the lead part being played better.

Whole Lotta Love is going to be AWESOME!! My new Les Paul shines here...no surprise! I kind of scoffed at the suggestion at first, but with my new laid back attitude, I said "sure, let's give it a try". I found some tabs for the solos which I agreed to try. I even found one that seemed very accurate! After a couple of nights, I can play them 90% I'd say. The second riff with all of the pull offs in the open position are tricky for me, but I want to learn it for real - it sounds so cool. I was surprised I was able to get that crazy 2 step bend going. I have to smooth out some timing and work on consistency...but I have it under my fingers at this point! I surprised myself on this one...I thought these solos may have been slightly out of my reach. I sense a Zeppelin kick in my future :-).

So I'm feeling good about this group. The new laid back attitude I've decided to adopt about it and having some competent players to share guitar duties with are really making a difference.

Until next time...