So, tonight is open mic night. Last night's rehearsal for it went well, though unfortunately we will be doing instrumental versions since we won't have a singer. It will be Honky Tonk Women and Day Tripper. Nothing overly exciting for me since the other guitar player will be taking the HTW solo and Day Tripper is something I've been playing since I first learned guitar. I have a consistency issue with the bridge in DT (I'm about 95% consistent), so I'm sure the adrenalin will start pumping as that part of the song approaches.

We made some progress with Whole Lotta Love. The rough parts there are going into and coming out of the stops. It was a mess starting out, but was greatly improved when we were done. As long as there was improvement, I'm happy. It's a challenge for our drummer, but she is stepping up to it and meeting it head on! I've got the solos down and came up with a cool riff to echo the part where Robert belts out "Way down inside....woman...you need me". It was a great exercise in using the guitar to mimic a singer's phrasing and motion from one note to another - lots of partial bends that I can't even identify what they are - quarter step, half step.... Then, for the sustained "Loooooovvvvve...." I do a bend and tremelo pick as I bring it down, giving it some good vibrato once it's come down. That was fun!!! I don't know if we will keep it in the song, but it was a great learning exercise. We can keep it in our hip pocket in case the singer's voice is shot and can't do that part. Oh, and it's the first practical application I've found for tremelo picking.

With this new guitar player we have already started looking for rehearsal space for when we are done with this music store gig in a month. We've decided we'll give it a go and see what happens. Our bass player is really taking to his role on bass...which is good since his main instrument is guitar. The new guitar player is a pretty solid rhythm player that can play some riffs, so it looks like I'll be the lead guitarist. Learning WLL has really brought my chops up to a new level and has given me a good boost of confidence, so I'm more comfortable with this role that I was before.

We did Your Momma Don't Dance and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to play a good solo at tempo. Well I've improved in that area too. My speed bursts are longer...just need to work on extending them further. Listening back to the recording, I said to myself "wow, that sounded really good!". Love those moments!!

Our first run through of China Grove was pretty good too. So we may be able to add another song or 2.

The ongoing challenge with this group is keeping enough space for 3 guitars. For this reason, I'm REALLY looking forward to when we can break out on our own. Though the down side is we will lose the awesome guidance of our mentor. Maybe we'll be able to bring him in periodically to help us out and give us advice on a consulting basis.

Until next time...