Music. That’s happened today from the time I got up until I got home sixteen hours later. I talk about music styles but the real work of a band is getting everything up to speed. I’ve passed the 42 song margin in a month. This monstrous effort is still a net savings over formerly trying to get 18 guitarists to learn even on of my songs. That’s the 18 guitarists I tried out over the years who didn’t work out. Guitarists don’t like learning new music since they already know all the cool stuff.Egad (gadzooks), I’m playing [tunes] that I swore I never would. “Mustang Sally” and “Spooky”. But, I’m in a band again and 42 songs represents a tremendous investment in skilled labor and time. Trouble is, everybody has a limit and I’m nearing mine. I do not “speed learn”. Every note has to be nailed down in perfect timing before I even try to “capture” the song. This requires [for me] about 30 detailed repetitions of each song, pausing on the difficult passages.
Why? Because this pays fabulous dividends as opposed to being just another hack player in the local bars. If things continue as they are, I can think of 18 guitar players who will eat crow. I’m lucky to find a like-minded group of people who only needed a bassist, you know I almost did not respond to the ad [because it was CL]. They are still cautious about my sincerity which I understand because they expected many more months to pass to get to this level, time to evolve the band ties. It’s been slightly over five weeks since we met.
What pushed me to answer their ad was they specified they wanted someone who could learn the tunes at home. Aha, tips me off they’ve met the local turkeys. The jerks who never practice and try to wing it at rehearsal. The “I’ll just follow the guitar player” types, who can, but one beat behind. On the other hand, this new band (although they are shy to compliment) knows I’m doing my homework We are acing the tunes first time, fine enough to get out there and gig.
After today, I will diminish coverage of the band in this blog. Reason? It would quickly dominate every day. Instead, I’ll report more on the fun parts of band existence. Woefully I’ve missed it for years, I’m just not in my natural state not being in a band. Without music, everything is third-rate to what I’m used to. I have not met one talented lady since I arrived in this part of the world. Hold on, I did see a lady guitarist in south Miami that one time with JP. But she had a tough hide, that one. Acted on stage like a friend of the club owner, type of thing.
History time. A review of the first two bands I started, beginning three months before I became a teenager. I remember my motives exactly. I wanted the pretty, lively gals, the groupies. I wanted the easy money, back then band guys made like $50 per gig (although we never did). Everyone looked up to stage musicians (possibly because they were standing on a stage?). And, by coincidence, there was a successful rock band in the area where one of the members was my own age.
Mind you, that band was managed by his parents and all the older members were seasoned musicians. That’s kind of opposite of what I had to work with. First band, I took whatever was available, the next time I tried to pick and choose the musicians but the pool was too tiny. I still took what I could. The point is, each instance [of incorporating a new member] required approximately six months. Experience has taught me that was the window one has to work with.
With today’s new band, I believe by next week, that’s a month and a half since beginning here, I’ll be ready. They were expecting six months and we can go ahead now. That, even removing the musical part, is impressive. [That's confusing. Let me reword. Getting the new person in a situation up to the point where you can go make money is tough. I'm saying a few weeks to get there is a real accomplishment even in other fields less complicated than music. Know what I mean?] And that first gig is so important, the general population cannot imagine it. Even with an existing band, the odds of success still hover near 1%.
ADDENDUM
Now I’ll mention a little secret.
The band gave me some demo music to listen to. Many times this is a studio-produced version with little resemblence to their true stage sound. This instance was live tracks and aha, it was stage music. Someone like me pounces on such meta-information for quite a different set of reasons. This disc inadvertently gave me an untold advantage.
I can pick out the standard I have to meet against the old bassist. And also, determine the level I’ll need to discourage competition. While I’m not out to get the last guy, I am, after all, selling myself against others I’ve never met.
I could not believe it. The last bassist was comping. I never comp. He knew the stops but that is rarely an accomplishment in my books. He was your typical 70s – 80s “backup” bassist, present but neither adding nor subtracting from the show. This works, but even one member doing this keeps the band out of the big league. Among the other things he’s doing that I don’t do are
Playing unison notes with the guitarist
Using generic riffs to older tunes
Too many root-fifths, far too many
Omitting bridges and passing tones
Same style in every song
I’m not saying these are wrong, only that they are quite different than what I do on stage. The disc was audio only, so unless he was doing somersaults or riding a horse, I honestly think I can do much better. My entire form is to captivate the audience by introducing an angle they have not heard the music from a hundred times before. I have every intention of doing the best job I ever have with this one.
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