Back in a band

Sounds like all those things you cannot control around you were out of control. Starting with no singer. Going through with it gave you more stage wisdom that you can carry forward with you. Some of the stuff until you live it you will never learned it.

I do not reply in this thread much, but I do enjoy reading it and thank you for updating the story. So many things you talk about I relate back to.

I was 15 the fist time I hit a stage in a tavern and had fake ID that said I was 18 (to be legal). Stopped just after I turned 18. I learned more about getting along with and compromising with people in those 3 years than I have before or since. From band mates to tavern owner to fans they all look at the process different.

It angers me when schools cut music programs and not sports programs, as I believe playing in a band teaches you more about dealing with people, working as a team and timing, than playing on a football or baseball team.

Thanks for updating the thread.

Hey Haghj -

The thought crossed my mind last night that this is part of the game...you have to deal with diversity and roll with the punches. Our drummer's husband's band played out the other day and had to use a generator as a power source and the generator wasn't up to the task. They just had to deal with it...


Anyway, I wasn't going to post the video because it really isn't anything special. The songs we did are easy and I didn't take any big solos. But, after watching it, I changed my mind. We had fun! If anything, we had better stage presence. For myself, I figured nothing was really at risk so just get up there and have fun!

BTW, I'm the white haired dude in the middle playing the Les Paul without a pickguard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHPPwn67wgc&feature=youtu.be

Originally Posted by: haghj500It angers me when schools cut music programs and not sports programs, as I believe playing in a band teaches you more about dealing with people, working as a team and timing, than playing on a football or baseball team.

Thanks for updating the thread.

I'm with you there. One of the teachers at this store, who was the mentor for the junior rock band, also teaches at a school. She was told last spring that they were cutting the music program and she was going to lose her job. She told us last night that they reversed it thanks to a petition and protests put together in the community. I was glad to hear that her story had a happy ending...for now anyway.

I think both music programs and sports programs are important. I hope at least one of my kids catches the music bug. I thought my daughter did, but it doesn't seem so. She still has time though. I'm hoping that the memory of last night for my 7 year old son will encourage him to get involved with music. Apparently he was grinning from ear to ear relaying his experience to his siblings.

Great job Rich - thanks 4 posting.

Thanks fretsmith! Thanks for reading my posts.

Watching this reinforces what I've heard other say - better to play a bad note in-time than good notes out of time. I missed some chord changes, hit the wrong chord once, the band cut a verse short so I continued playing a wrong chord...those are only the ones that come immediately to mind :-).

I paid none of it any mind and kept it in time...so it was not as noticable...certainly not as noticable as when the other guitar players couldn't keep the Day Tripper riff in sync...even though they were playing the correct notes.

Good job Rich..
I think the rest of the band showed their disappointment with lack of enthusiasm. At least you had both feet moving..
On the school part of the post. I think all extra curricular activities are important. Myself, I did Gym Club, ski club, drama club, and junior class play crew. I think it got me to socialize with others that I may not normally have otherwise. Only wished I would have had a music opportunity.

The bass player is grooving pretty well, but he's in the shadows on the right. The guitar player on the right in the plaid shirt was never on stage before, and the guitar player on the left...that's just the way he is.

Wait until you see and hear our singer in a month! That will be a show. Too bad we only have him on loan...perhaps we can make it a long term loan :-).

I too wish I had music opportunities in school. I make sure all of my kids have them!

Originally Posted by: maggiorWe really weren't into playing...we felt like we might as well just head home, what's the point. We waited 2 hours to be on stage for about 10 minutes - 4 of those spent setting up :-).

Ok my friend, time to adjust that attitude.

While it is disappointing, gotta play every gig like it matters. Though I understanding this situation is not alike a gigging band but if you are working on stuff like stage presence, you're trying to become better at performing. That means that these 4 to 5 people (that aren't related to you) should get as good a show as you can do.

Never be disappointed by the size of an audience, be happy that there is anyone that cares to listen to you.

What if the others in the band aren't into it too? Change their attitude with simple 'hey, we get to do this so lets have fun with it'.

In 1982, I saw Blue Oyster Cult headline to 14,000 people. They were a great performing band during that show. I saw the same Blue Oyster Cult in 1991 at a club with about 300 to 400 people.

Wanna guess what happened?

The did as good a show, if not better, than when they were playing to 14k...The club was built as a disco in the 70's...had an awkwardly located dance floor in the middle if the room, you couldn't really stand in front of the band like you can at most clubs. The audience had no choice but to pretty much remain seated to watch the band. The set up was not an ideal for bands. Imagine being a true million selling headliner at one time...having to play to that old disco room. They were playing their best for anyone that would listen because they had a passion for it.

See where I'm goin' with this?

Sounds like things could've gone better for you. I haven't had the chance to watch the footage yet, since the internet is down, and my phone sucks at streaming videos on youtube, but I'll check it out when my internet connection gets back up... Until then, I'm running on my phone's Wifi... I hope on your behalf that the next show will have a slightly bigger audience :)

In hindsight, it really wasn't any biggie. We had fun, we got to play some music, my son got to see me on stage from the front row, and I have a fun story to tell...

Jeff - even though we weren't into it, we got up there and did it. I don't know about my band members, but once we started playing...it didn't matter to me that the place was empty. Frankly, being blinded by the lights up there, I can't tell if there are 5 or 105 people in there, so it didn't matter.

We may get a gig opening for our drummer's husband's band at a "concert in the park" thing. As it is, these aren't widely attended. As the "opening act", we'll be playing mostly to the main performers, their families, and the people from the town's rec committee :-). Doesn't matter...we'll be playing out!

When you come down to it, if there is at least 1 person out there, that's one more than the number that hear me playing in my basement!

It's all good...

[QUOTE=maggior]

When you come down to it, if there is at least 1 person out there, that's one more than the number that hear me playing in my basement!

QUOTE]

Hey Rich,

Too right! I think there's a big difference between playing the guitar by yourself at home and then getting up a stage with other guitarists like you guys have done. Every credit! I hope you keep us posted 'cos I'd like to be in a band and I find your story very inspiring.

Best wishes, Steve

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...

Originally Posted by: Steve Barrow[QUOTE=maggior]

When you come down to it, if there is at least 1 person out there, that's one more than the number that hear me playing in my basement!

/QUOTE]

Hey Rich,

Too right! I think there's a big difference between playing the guitar by yourself at home and then getting up a stage with other guitarists like you guys have done. Every credit! I hope you keep us posted 'cos I'd like to be in a band and I find your story very inspiring.

Best wishes, Steve

Yes, there is a huge difference playing with fellow musicians! Having an audience also makes a huge difference...nerves and adrenelin kick in and it is exciting. I'm looking forward to our Concert in the Park gig since I will actually be able to see the audience because I won't be blinded by stage lighting.

I'll keep posting since I know people are reading. With recent developments, things may start getting really interesting :-).

So rehearsal went very well last night. I was very happy to have Your Momma Don't Dance under control...though the other guitarist is having the same problems I was having last week. I'm sure he'll have that sorted out by next week. It's a 12 bar blues, but it has a twist in it and if you miss it, you end up lost.

China Grove and Whole Lotta Love are both great too. A couple of spots here and there are shaky, but a little more work and those will be consistent and show worthy! I have my solos down pat for both of these, so no worries there for me. I just have to keep running through them to keep them fresh...that's easy!

Day Tripper and Honky Tonk Women are old hat for us at this point. We ran through them last night and they were better than before.

We decided to add a 6th song...Start Me Up. That will be interesting because the band I was in as a kid played that song. We did it with basic chords back then. It will be fun to learn it the right way.

So I am pleasantly surprised with what we've been able to accomplish. We'll have a good number of songs despite the fact that a couple of them were a significant challenge for all of us.


Looming ahead in 2 weeks will the 4 of us performing at a "Concert in the Park". This is going to be fun!! We start rehearsal for that the week after next in the rehearsal space we found. It will feel like we are a real band at this point. Our drummer is part of the committe that signs bands up, so she will have our name added to the flyer as the opening act. If all goes well, that flyer will be framed and put up in my practice space.

My wife told me that my youngest son, who is 5, is really looking forward to seeing us perform. I know I'll have at least one enthusiastic audience member no matter what. :-)

Sadly Generation Gap was taken...as were a whole other bunch of names we were tossing around.

So, after a bunch of brainstorming and searching through a thesaurus, we came up with...Radio Gap.

So we'll try that on for a while and see how it feels.

Attached it the flyer that was distributed this evening. Radio Gap (featuring yours truly on lead guitar) will make their public debut in 2 weeks on August 8th as an opening act.

Hopefully this will be the start of something great!

Congratulations - a proud moment for the band. Maybe one day the flyer will become a valuable item of rock memorabilia! Good luck with the gig, Steve
P.S. I like the name Radio Gap - sounds intriguing.......

That is so awesome! Looking forward to watching the recording, if you can get someone to record your show :)

You should definitely keep that flyer somewhere safe. Who knows how much that simple piece of paper will be worth in a couple of years if you guys become successful? Good luck, and remember to give it your best!

Thanks guys! Yes, this was definitely a moment of pride for us. As not to jinx us, I'm not going to hang this up until we've been successful at our gig. Now that things have settled down after the excitement, we are figuring out when we can rehearse and what our setlist should be. The good news is that our singer, who is quite the entertainer, suggested we limit our song list a bit so he can "market" us a bit and introduce the band members.

I said something to my wife joking that she may be holding what could become a piece of rock memorabilia :-). You never know... :-).

I'm sure this will be recorded...at the very least audio. The guy that usually does video for us will be doing our sound (which of course will take priority). Perhaps he can set up his camera to just take a static view of the stage...better than nothing.

I can't wait!!!

So last night was our second to last rehearsal at the music store. Our bass player was out...we knew ahead of time. Our third guitar player was out unexpectedly. He neglected to tell us he was on vacation! Just part of the reason he won't be continuing on with us.

Depite the missing players, it was a decent session. We worked on Start Me Up. Lots of little wierd stuff going on in that song despite its simplicity. There is some strangeness with drums on the intro that even had our mentor (who is a drummer) baffled. I'm sure that will get sorted out. I need to learn some of Ron Wood's riffs and fills in the song to make it more interesting.

For myself personally, all of my guitar parts are in the bag and old hat at this point. I just run through them each day to keep them fresh under my fingers. As a band, we need to tighten some of the songs up, but that just takes time and practice. I'm so glad we are doing China Grove - for some reason I just love playing that song. I'm really looking forward to performing that song in front of an audience. I'll get to do that twice since it will be in our set at the park and at the open mic. I'm also glad that we took on the challenge of Whole Lotta Love. It shows that we can take on a challenge and work through it together as a band.

Next week I have us (Radio Gap) booked for 2 2 hour rehearsal sessions. Then Friday is our debut performance at a concert in the park. The following week we have our final rehearsal at the music store, then our final open mic performance. After that we'll take a breather for a week and then start working on new songs for Radio Gap. We'll also start trolling for some open mics in the area that we can hit and start spreading the word.

In no particular order, our setlist at the moment for the concert in the park will be:
Day Tripper
China Grove
Hard to Handle
Honky Tonk Women

For our open mic performance at the music store, the setlist will be:
Day Tripper
China Grove
Honky Tonk Women
Start Me up
Whole Lotta Love
Your Momma Don't Dance

It's gonna be a crazy couple of weeks!