Musicians check in here. If you play, tell us about it!

[DaveP]

Roy Clark and Buck Owens playing "Ghost Riders in the Sky". Roy is 78 when this was filmed. He's lost just a little of the speed edge, but still putting on a good show. A must see!

RFD TV still carries Hee Haw. Every once in a while, I'll flip over and catch it. I always enjoyed watching Roy play guitar.

 

[sandybeach]

Good one, Bass! I wondered how that all came about. The bass player in the story was obviously from the Stanley Clark funk genre and not of the more traditional John Entwistle/Paul Mcartney line of bass players. I can understand the confusion in heaven as funk floated upward.

Love me some Stanley Clark and Rollo Radford bass! As a guitar player I think I play bass more melodically. But I really dig the bass notes, there's something very satisfying about figuring out whether the bottom or the fifth or something totally different would sound right with what everyone else is playing, you know what I mean?

Man I heard this cat a couple of nights ago. Gypsy Jazz. This guys fingers just flew. Ever hear of Alfonso Ponticelli? Not sure if he is just local - definitely of the Django Reinhardt school of playing.

 

[DaveP]

Never heard of Ponticelli, but I'm not a big follower of current bassists. I follow guitar players for the most part.

I love to hear a bass player who can fit chromatic scale notes within the song and pop a little harmony where it fits. A walk up to the 4th on the return to the tonic (creates a dyad) can add lots of interest to the song.

 

[Black Strat]

Roy Clark and Buck Owens playing "Ghost Riders in the Sky". Roy is 78 when this was filmed. He's lost just a little of the speed edge, but still putting on a good show. A must see!

Good one, Dave! Love watching Roy play...

 

[Pipeous]

We've played this 100,000 times, but the problem is it was 50,000 days ago

 

[bassnut]

Somebody threw down a $20 last night so we had to play Mustang Sally.
I could see everybody's face instantly light up when we started it.
What is it about that song?

 

[sandybeach]

Bass- I'm thinking it was because of Sally Ride passing? I think of her every time I hear that song. I heard it last night and grabbed a video Some old blues cat in a band in the park at a local food truck fest - I may put it on my YouTube channel but the sound quality could be better.

 

[DaveP]

Somebody threw down a $20 last night so we had to play Mustang Sally.
I could see everybody's face instantly light up when we started it.
What is it about that song?

I think it's because it's a blues song wrapped up in a Stax soul music shell that sounds like something the Stones would have played. Everyone STILL loves the Stones.

Mustang is one of the hottest cars on the road today ... what goes around comes around. And, Lamborghini doesn't fit into the meter of the song, anyway.

 

[DaveP]

We played a lot of one nighters for all sorts of organizations. There were company parties, social clubs, and hotel gigs where the hotel provided the band in a package deal with a meal in the ballroom for x number of people. The ballroom and country club gigs were the ones I really enjoyed. You'd have 300 to 500 people competing for the dance floor and lots of energy in teh room.

Inevitably, someone would come up and ask us how much we'd charge to play another 30 or 60 minutes. We'd tell them overtime was $200 or $300 per hour and they'd walk around collecting money from inebriated patrons. They'd come back with a bucket full of cash, set it on the stage, and we'd play another 30 minutes. By that time, people were leaving in droves since it was late and we'd play out the last dancers. We cleaned up a few times. When you have that many drunks reaching in their pocket pulling out 5's and 10's it adds up quick. We were always pleased at the take.

 

[BadHabitBand]

How's the Wolfgang Special? I'm seeing a lot of Eddie's ads in Guitar World.

Sorry for the delay Dave. It's a great guitar. It's comfortable and the short scale makes it feel so easy to play. The humbuckers really scream too.

 

[DaveP]

All the musicians must be on vacation this week!

Sure looks lonely in here ...

 

[bassnut]

Not me. I have to learn a particular song by tonight. We never rehearse. We learn a new song separately and debut it on Thursday nights with lyric and cheat-sheets at the ready. Hopefully it evolves into something useful and personal over time. If not, we dump it.

 

[bassnut]

Well, that was easy.
I learned the bass lines playing along on the first pass! I haven't forgotten my 80's "chops".(peddling 16th roots)
Simple but fun. I have to really appreciate my band mates for their efforts.
I feel a little guilty sometimes. Jimmy the drummer is doing the lead vocal.



Something tells me this is going to be a sleeper. No guitar solo. I'll bet Pat is going to sneak one in anyhow. If the audience likes it well keep it. So far it's biggest fan that I can tell is Jimmy. He wanted to do it.

 

[bassnut]

We did it and it was fun. Personally, I thought the song was kind of flat. Not very special or exciting but doing it live was fun.
Live music rules.

 

[DaveP]

When you play in front of the same audience night after night, they understand "new song" struggles. If you have to impress on a first night gig, you have to be tight and well rehearsed. First impressions are tough gigs.

It's interesting when a band announces a new song in a concert and the lead singer asks for patience while they perfect this new creation, and walks around singing with a cheat sheet in his or her hand. I'm watching the musicians to see if they fumble and search for the right chords and licks.

 

[BadHabitBand]

All the musicians must be on vacation this week!

Sure looks lonely in here ...

Was on vacation last week. Trying to get caught back up at work and home, all the while prepping for a huge show tomorrow. We're playing a benefit for a local high school's football team, and the attendance is blowing up. Most likely going to be the largest crowd we've ever played for. Good times.

 

[James Hart]

mostly in lurking mode here... the real world has me job hunting and trying to get a handle on Catalyst frame work within wordpress so I can edit some pages for a local business and get paid. I've developed in the LAMP environment for years and can find my way around just about any code... but add a layer of "I don't know code but want to build a dynamic business website to make lots of money" on top of "here is a backend to build sites on if'n you don't know code" and I'm friggin lost!

 

[bassnut]

When you play in front of the same audience night after night, they understand "new song" struggles. If you have to impress on a first night gig, you have to be tight and well rehearsed. First impressions are tough gigs.

It's interesting when a band announces a new song in a concert and the lead singer asks for patience while they perfect this new creation, and walks around singing with a cheat sheet in his or her hand. I'm watching the musicians to see if they fumble and search for the right chords and licks.

Pat usually says "Hold on tight to your drinks ladies and gentlemen. This could be a bumpy ride."

 

[DaveP]

mostly in lurking mode here... the real world has me job hunting and trying to get a handle on Catalyst frame work within wordpress so I can edit some pages for a local business and get paid. I've developed in the LAMP environment for years and can find my way around just about any code... but add a layer of "I don't know code but want to build a dynamic business website to make lots of money" on top of "here is a backend to build sites on if'n you don't know code" and I'm friggin lost!

I wrote application software back in the 80s for several companies in town. There was a Ford dealer, a Chiropractor, a large rehabilitation company, and a company that provided sitters and maid service for shut-ins along with RN monitoring. I spent more time than I planned on at first, but was able to design reusable modules that paid off in later projects. I made about $15k over a 5 year period and more with modifications and additions after the sale. It was grueling work considering that I had to bone up on my accounting methods, but it paid for my high priced addiction to computers and peripherals.

I've thought about web site design, but there are so many places where you can design your own these days, I never delved into it. 1&1 has run a multi-page ad in Maximum PC mag for several years. It sounds like they have a point and shoot method for web site creation.

 

[DaveP]

Pat usually says "Hold on tight to your drinks ladies and gentlemen. This could be a bumpy ride."

That's a good line! We'd just say "Bear with us, we just learned this one day before yesterday. You're the test crowd! If you can dance to this one, we'll consider it a keeper."