Another week down and another song in the bag. Much to my surprise, we seem to have China Grove down. I still have to polish the last part of the solo, but I'm 90% there...that will just take a little more time. Playing the solo with the band last night it struck me how much he uses space in the solo. It's a really rockin' solo, yet there is lots of space in there separating the licks. Goes to show you that you can really rock a solo without baraging your audience with a constant stream of notes!

Whole Lotta Love is much more together that last week...forward progress is always good. Your Momma Don't Dance is proving problematic...who would have figured that! My problem is that I decided to play the riffs closer to the nut to give it more of a twang so I'm retraining my fingers. Again...just a matter or practice.

Levels continue to be a problem. After being told last week at the open mic to turn my amp down, I was more conservative with my levels last night. I could barely hear myself while I was playing...and also in the recording :-(. I'm not sure why our mentor didn't say anything. My guess he's probably more focused on the groove and us keeping it together, not how balanced our levels are.

So yes, these rehearsals are becoming old hat, and we are ready for something more :-). Last night we checked out a rehearsal space in the area. It's in a pretty old building that isn't exactly easy on the eyes, but it's roomy and nicely equipped. It will be my first time playing through a half stack :-). As our drummer said "it's not the Taj Mahal". I pointed out that we don't NEED the Taj Mahal and I certainly don't want to pay Taj Mahal prices. A lot of local bands rehearse there, so it almost feels like we are taking our first step to becoming part of the local music scene.

The first thing we will be rehearsing for is opening up for our drummer's husband's band at a "Concert in the Park". This will be my first time really playing out! It's not quite like playing in a bar where expectations are higher because people are paying money, but it's a step from the really safe environment of an open mic. We will be leaving our 3rd guitarist out of this since we don't plan on including him down the line anyway. Hopefully that doesn't get wierd since we are doing this gig the week before our final open mic.

I have a feeling this time it will work. The fact that we will be rehearsing somewhere other than somebody's house will make a difference. Also, our second guitarist is not shy about stating his thoughts and is decisive. This should help us from getting bogged down. It just feels different this time...