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

[Vape Suzette]

DaveP: That concert ticket is delightful to see and a music historian would love to put that in the books! I mean, 1969 and the admission was only 1.50 ? ! ? Time travel is possible after all, well, after seeing that! I love the fourth line: Music Feast! What great fun and hard work as well. Such a loss with Duane Allman dying so young. Twin guitar harmonies from heaven. Your group must have been great. Did you ever run into Johnny Winter? I made it to his last concert and he was having serious breathing problems. I swear, music was so great back then. Not just amazing, but important. I truly regret never seeing The Allman Brothers. But the most important concert from my youth was when I snuck into a Johnny Winter concert at Armadillo World Headquarters in 1980. We waited over an hour for him to show up, but he gave us more than the price of the ticket that night. He played for over two hours easily and he was all revved up --lol!!! He used to throw his slide and I used to dream of catching it. Some dream of catching a bouquet of flowers, my dreams were to catch a slide ... ha-ha!!!

I can't imagine playing double slide harmony as fast as the Allman Bros did. How did they even do that? It makes me wonder, "what are these strings for?"

 

[DaveP]

Duane was a god with a slide. He and Dickie just melded together when harmony time came around. Duane was a great guitarist in his own right, but when he played slide there was a different mindset that came out of him. Dickie had a country flair in his playing and it showed strongly on some of the songs he wrote. Rambling Man was one of those. He was also a natural born blues player. He and Duane both listened to old blues greats to develop some of their solo talents. They knew all the licks of the great blues players.

I wasn't that close with those guys. In 1969, I had just graduated from high school. They were mid 20's. We just happened to be the house band for a while at that club and got to pal around while they were rehearsing. The rest of the time they were either out on the road or sitting a couple of miles away at Capricorn Studios on Broadway. Phil Walden gave us a tour of the studios, but we weren't invited to sit and watch them record.

Living in Macon you frequently saw famous musicians and singers walking down the street. Otis Redding lived in the area and his family still lives on a huge farm in the next county, complete with a mansion style country house.

Little Richard used to work sweeping floors as a bus boy in a restaurant about a mile from where I lived as a child. Phil Walden used to eat there sometimes and heard him singing while he worked. Phil signed him up after an audition and the rest is history.

I went to school with Ronnie Van Zant, the lead singer for Atlanta Rhythm Section. He was the lead singer in a local band called the Celtics and got signed on with Buddie Buie. Our bands were friends with each other and sometimes we'd sit in. ARS was a reformation of Strawberry Alarm Clock (Their hit was "Incense and Peppermints") with Ronnie as lead singer.

Buddie Green played in a band called Buddie's Buddies. He later found fame in christian music. He wrote "Mary, Did You Know". Both our bands played at Mulberry Youth center when we were 15 or so. They had bands upstairs and downstairs on Friday night.

Ronnie Howard (fiddle player) Album "All American Redneck" was a regular player around town. His home bar gig was Nashville South, where he was discovered and signed.

The local music shop hangout was Bibb Music Center. If you hung around often enough, those guys would show up and hang out for a while. Sometimes an informal jam would develop. We were surrounded with famous people and thought little of it. They weren't exactly famous yet back then. They were just guys we met and knew here and there. Once they got famous they left and you hardly ever saw them again. The Allman Brothers were seen frequently around town, though. They lived on College street for a while and then bought the house on Vineville Ave that's now the ABB Museum.

 

[Vape Suzette]

So glad you decided to create a place for musicians. I ain't done nothin' since I got up today -- ah, but I worked for several hours and practiced pieces from some of my guitar heroes and then got so involved in Brubeck that I burned dinner. My husband loves certain of his food charred, says it reminds him of barbeque without the mess!

I started thinking about my crazy road years and traveling with a comedy troupe from Ren Faire to Ren Faire along with my husband before we got hitched. I had always wanted to be married and he always wanted to be a citizen!

One night before the dawn, we pulled into a truckstop in Plateau, Texas ... to find ourselves in the presence of the Ramones!!! Joey/Jeffrey looked like a long-haired stick insect! They were really, really nice and shocked anyone in a horrible place like that would recognize them. It was so surreal and funny!

 

[Hypnophone]

Yeah, that was Hypnophone, the drummer in the videos he posted.

I did spend part of a year around the Allman Brothers while we were both playing a club in Macon. I didn't hang out with them (fortunately), but we and they used the club for rehearsal time during the week and we played their breaks when they were doing their obligatory one Saturday night a month in return for a place to practice during the week. We were the house band Friday and Saturday nights and they needed a rehearsal hall. The owner Guy White and his Dad owned the building and ran a TV-Radio repair shop on the first floor. The Hullabaloo Club (national franchise chain) had rented and remodeled the upstairs and used it for a while as a college club. There was a bar, a large dance floor, and a stage in two large rooms with high ceilings. When they moved out and left the fixtures, Guy White opened it up as "The College Discotheque". This was during the 1969-1970 period right before the first album came out.

All we knew at first was that a band that was recording at Capricorn studios up the street needed a place to practice during the week. They pulled up one Saturday afternoon in two U-Haul type trucks and the roadies started hauling cabinets, road cases, and a Hammond B3 up the fire escape. They eventually filled the dance floor with equipment and one of them remarked, "I guess we don't need to unload the other truck!". Once they got set up and played their first tune, we were blown away by their skills.

They would load up and go on the road here and there and come back after the weekend. The roadies came in one day after they had driven back from New York and told us that Twiggs Lyndon, their road manager, was arrested for murder after stabbing a club owner in New York over money. Two of my neighbors who were doing roadie work/hanging out with us at the time signed on as roadies with the Allmans and went on the road with them for an extended period when they started touring to promote the first album.

This is one of the posters that Guy had printed and put up around town. We didn't even get billing for our part, but we did play their breaks!

Wow! So, you had an experience with them. Awesome! I hope that there wasn't too much damage....

 

[Hypnophone]

Golly Gosh Darn. Here's some really top-notch playin'.
Drums/Bass/Guitar/Keys
mmmmmmm,

 

[Hypnophone]

Duane was a god with a slide. He and Dickie just melded together when harmony time came around. Duane was a great guitarist in his own right, but when he played slide there was a different mindset that came out of him. Dickie had a country flair in his playing and it showed strongly on some of the songs he wrote. Rambling Man was one of those. He was also a natural born blues player. He and Duane both listened to old blues greats to develop some of their solo talents. They knew all the licks of the great blues players.

I wasn't that close with those guys. In 1969, I had just graduated from high school. They were mid 20's. We just happened to be the house band for a while at that club and got to pal around while they were rehearsing. The rest of the time they were either out on the road or sitting a couple of miles away at Capricorn Studios on Broadway. Phil Walden gave us a tour of the studios, but we weren't invited to sit and watch them record.

Living in Macon you frequently saw famous musicians and singers walking down the street. Otis Redding lived in the area and his family still lives on a huge farm in the next county, complete with a mansion style country house.

Little Richard used to work sweeping floors as a bus boy in a restaurant about a mile from where I lived as a child. Phil Walden used to eat there sometimes and heard him singing while he worked. Phil signed him up after an audition and the rest is history.

I went to school with Ronnie Van Zant, the lead singer for Atlanta Rhythm Section. He was the lead singer in a local band called the Celtics and got signed on with Buddie Buie. Our bands were friends with each other and sometimes we'd sit in. ARS was a reformation of Strawberry Alarm Clock (Their hit was "Incense and Peppermints") with Ronnie as lead singer.

Buddie Green played in a band called Buddie's Buddies. He later found fame in christian music. He wrote "Mary, Did You Know". Both our bands played at Mulberry Youth center when we were 15 or so. They had bands upstairs and downstairs on Friday night.

Ronnie Howard (fiddle player) Album "All American Redneck" was a regular player around town. His home bar gig was Nashville South, where he was discovered and signed.

The local music shop hangout was Bibb Music Center. If you hung around often enough, those guys would show up and hang out for a while. Sometimes an informal jam would develop. We were surrounded with famous people and thought little of it. They weren't exactly famous yet back then. They were just guys we met and knew here and there. Once they got famous they left and you hardly ever saw them again. The Allman Brothers were seen frequently around town, though. They lived on College street for a while and then bought the house on Vineville Ave that's now the ABB Museum.

The ABB museum? THAT is cool! Someday, I'll get down there. ...and not just for the ABB history!
Thanks, Dave!!!!

 

[Vape Suzette]

So it was YOU ... Hypnophone, who I have been listening to in the group, "Schroomville". I wasn't clear on who posted what, but you really cover the Allman Bros beautifully! It's quite a feat. You are in North Texas, so how close does that put you to Fredricksburg (sp? it's been many years) and Austin? I used to swim in Lake Travis and go to concerts at Armadillo World Headquarters before they turned it into a parking lot. Joni Mitchel was right after all. A parking lot ... gasp!!!!!!!!! I also used to go to The Rome In (when they were open) and I was the only customer in there one afternoon when Stevie Ray Vaughan was doing his sound check. I had no idea who he was, but it was while he was playing a lot locally with his brother in Double Trouble.

I bet I wouldn't recognize Austin anymore, but I could always find the house I lived in on San Gabriel. You must have heard Carolyn Wonderland out of Austin who was helped much by Johnny Winter before he passed on. She's wondrous. We have an office in Austin that we might transfer to in the future. A very far off future!

Hmmm, Schroomville. Is that a place or has it anything to do with mycology? How did you get the name? Great music. You do play with bad asses ... hehe! I have been meaning to tell you that I was a member of "The Church of the Subgenius" now nearly since its inception!!! I converted as many people as I could! The church of Bob ... ha-ha!

 

[DaveP]

The ABB museum? THAT is cool! Someday, I'll get down there. ...and not just for the ABB history!
Thanks, Dave!!!!

Click on Museum Tour to see the rooms that have been converted into memorabilia displays. The site is well done and more extensive than it first appears to be. On occasion there are bands that play for various events at the house. Check out the photos link.

Home - The Big House Museum

 

[DaveP]

Wow! So, you had an experience with them. Awesome! I hope that there wasn't too much damage....

I was aware that they were road rogues! To me they were great musicians with the potential to be famous. Being barely out of high school at the time I was wary of those guys and the crowds that they hung out with. It's probably a good thing that Alan Walden told us during our audition that we were a couple of years out from being signed. He wanted everyone to be 21 or over to sign contracts and urged us to write some of our own music. Other than that he said we were good at cover tunes and he'd like to have us. That may have been a positive brush off or seriousness. I wasn't ready to live on the road, though, especially after our former keyboard player came back from his tour with Wilson Picket suffering from malnutrition and the effects of alcohol and illegal substances. He spent a few days in the hospital after being sent home from the tour.

 

[Vape Suzette]

Hi, Dave: I didn't know the ABB were rogues. I heard just awful stuff about Johnny Winter, though. nonetheless, I just could not help but love his amazing blues skills. It's a tragedy when drugs ruin careers of the truly gifted. I toured the museum and have to have my husband check that out. How lavish! My husband got me the entire collected works of Wes Montgomery -- on DVD!!! Now he was an honorable man! A lot of people don't know the truth about what really happened to Emily Remler. She was snorting up coke and speed on an international flight. Her family did the best they could to suppress it, but it was talked about around Berklee. Too many losses. Stupid losses.

 

[DaveP]

Hi, Dave: I didn't know the ABB were rogues. I heard just awful stuff about Johnny Winter, though. nonetheless, I just could not help but love his amazing blues skills. It's a tragedy when drugs ruin careers of the truly gifted. I toured the museum and have to have my husband check that out. How lavish! My husband got me the entire collected works of Wes Montgomery -- on DVD!!! Now he was an honorable man! A lot of people don't know the truth about what really happened to Emily Remler. She was snorting up coke and speed on an international flight. Her family did the best they could to suppress it, but it was talked about around Berklee. Too many losses. Stupid losses.

The short time I was around them they were pretty laid back guys. After they started touring they started doing some creative concoctions to stay up for the gig. Toward the end they were reported to be suffering from having too much fun. Not a one of them was worth a million dollars when the Capricorn artist career was over (according to the local newspaper articles). They said in an interview that they discussed the money issue with Phil Walden (the promoter) and he told them that touring costs money. They had the finest hotels, booze, rented limos, and a number of other things he had to pay for as the bills came in and that's all that was left after their lavish lifestyle. They tell a different story, though.

They did do one album called "Enlightened Rogues". Actually, they were nice guys when I knew them early on, but I spent relatively little time around the band members once they started touring. The roadies would come to the club and pick up gear that they needed for the road. We saw Twiggs Lyndon (their road manager) more then we saw the players. Once they found a better rehearsal location we lost contact and only read about them in the paper. Probably not a one of them would remember any of us, but they would remember the time they spent at the College Discoteque.

 

[Vape Suzette]

Hi! I feel as if I have been gone for several light years. You mentioned Little Richard a few pages back and I just heard some news about him suffering from extreme chronic pain. I saw recent footage of him talking about how he will never let a doctor operate on him again. Something went terribly wrong with his hip surgery. Then he started having chest pain and ate several aspirin and had his son turn on the AC. They said it most definitely saved his life from a heart attack. What a character. I like him. Always have. And from Macon, too. Wow.

I have to get on with the job of becoming a CGP. At least six hours a day. Liberty Bell March, here I come.

 

[djentleman]

Do you play an instrument?

I play guitar, bass, program/arrange, and do vocals (started off singing way back in the day, went to growling fairly quickly), and am pretty adept at digital recording & production.

Have you ever played in a band?

Played (guitar) and wrote with an original band (progressive/crossover metal) in Portland, Oregon... plus had a collaborated in a couple of studio-only side projects. I dearly miss it. It's hard to find motivated musicians here in Phoenix, especially wanting to do anything modern and/or forward-thinking. These days I'm just trying to build back up a studio so if nothing comes along I'll probably do something more Trent Reznor D.I.Y.

Are you a musician who would like to learn or help others decipher the finer points of playing an instrument?

Not really... LOL! I'll drop some pointers and encourage others to explore the vast world of theory, technique, and styles that are out there, but at the end of the day, I'm into it for the sake of creativity and art, and would rather see that side of the coin manifest in aspiring musicians. Instruments are just tools to put sonic paint on the digital (or tape if you roll that way) canvas.

 

[James Hart]

Hey all, glad to see this thread is still moving along... How's everyone been? I'm still vaping, playing, and living. Just kinda forgot this forum was around.

 

[James Hart]

According to His law, having a low B string is allowable so long as it's use is restricted to act as a thumb rest and nothing more. Verily, I say unto you, a special Hell awaits those who presume to use it otherwise. And there is yet another, more hideous damnation, usually reserved for overly egotistical guitar players with marginal talent, who ad extra strings to their bass above the blessed G. Take heed.

Yeah, I don't buy into that dogma...

...and most the rest of my tools

 

[DaveP]

I play guitar, bass, program/arrange, and do vocals (started off singing way back in the day, went to growling fairly quickly), and am pretty adept at digital recording & production.





Played (guitar) and wrote with an original band (progressive/crossover metal) in Portland, Oregon... plus had a collaborated in a couple of studio-only side projects. I dearly miss it. It's hard to find motivated musicians here in Phoenix, especially wanting to do anything modern and/or forward-thinking. These days I'm just trying to build back up a studio so if nothing comes along I'll probably do something more Trent Reznor D.I.Y.

Not really... LOL! I'll drop some pointers and encourage others to explore the vast world of theory, technique, and styles that are out there, but at the end of the day, I'm into it for the sake of creativity and art, and would rather see that side of the coin manifest in aspiring musicians. Instruments are just tools to put sonic paint on the digital (or tape if you roll that way) canvas.

There's a member here on ECF named Surf Monkey who lives in Portland. He's a bass player by night and a commercial graphic artist by day. You might look him up and see if you have anything in common musically.

Welcome to the musician thread, BTW!

 

[djentleman]

According to His law, having a low B string is allowable so long as it's use is restricted to act as a thumb rest and nothing more. Verily, I say unto you, a special Hell awaits those who presume to use it otherwise. And there is yet another, more hideous damnation, usually reserved for overly egotistical guitar players with marginal talent, who ad extra strings to their bass above the blessed G. Take heed.

Yeah, I don't buy into that dogma...

...and most the rest of my tools

Agreed 100% on that. I've got an Ibanez Terra Firma six-string that I'm converting over to subcontra, with a nice .266 on the low A00/G00... I'll post pics when the suspension bridge cables are on there.

Those are some great looking basses, BTW.

 

[James Hart]

Those are some great looking basses, BTW.

Thanks, the 7 is from Bee Basses, the 5 and 6 are from Benavente Guitars... I had all 3 built to my specs, the 5 & 6 were 12 & 11 back, the 7 was 9 years back. The 4 string and the regular guitar are both 1983 Ibanez. The upright is a 15ish year old Engelhardt.

I just ordered a 6 string bass from Bee that will be my 9 month old daughter's starter bass when she is ready (and will be a fun piccolo for me until then)... same shape as the 7, called the Worker Bee, but in his brand new 'BayBee' line @ 23.5" scale. It will be all mahogany with this Bubinga top and fingerboard.

Here is a Worker BayBee next to a regular sized bass

I'll tune it E-e like a guitar for now, then B-c in standard bass range when my daughter is ready to start learning to play.

 

[djentleman]

Thanks, the 7 is from Bee Basses, the 5 and 6 are from Benavente Guitars... I had all 3 built to my specs, the 5 & 6 were 12 & 11 back, the 7 was 9 years back. The 4 string and the regular guitar are both 1983 Ibanez. The upright is a 15ish year old Engelhardt.

I just ordered a 6 string bass from Bee that will be my 9 month old daughter's starter bass when she is ready (and will be a fun piccolo for me until then)... same shape as the 7, called the Worker Bee, but in his brand new 'BayBee' line @ 23.5" scale. It will be all mahogany with this Bubinga top and fingerboard.

Here is a Worker BayBee next to a regular sized bass

I'll tune it E-e like a guitar for now, then B-c in standard bass range when my daughter is ready to start learning to play.

Yeah, I was going to say it looked like a Bee. Killer stuff. I'd love to do a full custom, 39" scale seven or something similar, but it's too rich for my blood. I don't play enough of one particular instrument to bury three- or four-grand into anything. I got plugins, interfaces, pedals, mic pres, etc. to support as well.

I've got an Aguilar OPB-3TK pre that I'm going to drop into the subcontra Ibby; the stock Bartolini's are plenty good. A ways back, I had a Conklin Bill Dickens sig. 7-string w/ the low C#0 (.195 if I remember).

I'm not primarily a bass player, but I'm on my third eight sting guitar at this point, and they keep getting longer and tuned lower, so it's just easier to have a mating bass + rig at hand as opposed to trying to find a bass player that'll be on board with reconfiguring their junk as such. Fifty percent of a monster guitar sound is a monster bass sound, after all. Fact. Plus, I love a groove where the guitars drop out and the bass moves the song under your feet.

Good to see I'm not the only one who guitar tunes his basses as well.

 

[James Hart]

Fifty percent of a monster guitar sound is a monster bass sound, after all. Fact. Plus, I love a groove where the guitars drop out and the bass moves the song under your feet.

Good to see I'm not the only one who guitar tunes his basses as well.

I always had power trios over the years... slightly prog, slightly jazz, slightly funk... but really just classic rock power trio based. In 1989 when I was looking to expand my chord voicing abilities, I ordered a Carvin LB75 that I sent them Ultra light Rotosounds to use in its final set up. .090 low E and an extra higher string to make it EADGB. High C NEVER crossed my mind, I noodled around on guitar, so why would I put a high C instead of a high B When I ordered my 6, I played with B-c and B-b... but for fretless, the B-c works better for me, but I still switch it to B-b occasionally.

I use super light strings on my 4, 6, and 7... Kalium balanced sets with .106 low B with a .079 E. My 5 string is set up like my upright... pure thump! It has some Labella Deep Talkin Bass flats. with .128 B and .109 E. My 7 string full set is .106 -.079 -.059 -.043 -.031 -.019 -.012 with the b and e unwrapped... it takes an extremely light and controlled touch, but the depth of tone is well worth it for the stuff I play.

My guitar wears old school Dean Markley 'light top / heavy bottom' strings... but I'm going to give Kaliums a try once I'm out of the DM since I was instantly sold bass wise when my friends Chris and Skip first came to market as Circle K strings.

Bartolinis are some good sounding pickups, I have a POS early 90s imported Hamer that I put a set in... completely woke it up. Bill Conklin makes a killer bass... not a fan of the back of the neck to body transition though.