One year ago today: January 28, 2017, Anita Briem, sigh.
Five years ago today: January 28, 2013, I want to go visit Georgia.
Nine years ago today: January 28, 2009, Harry Lantz?
Random years ago today: January 28, 2004, a disjointed calendar entry, maybe?
Things musical get seriouser and seriouser; I updated my lyrics book this morning. With 42 songs, I easily get overwhelmed on stage, especially all those second verses. I don’t have a lengthy history of vocals, I haven’t fronted a show in around five years. Two of those wasted with the five-piece in a sense because they never did state they had a pact to never let me sing. Not because I wasn’t good, but because ain’t no damn bass player gonna sing in any band of theirs. Also, Lady Nik mentioned she could sing a bit, but so far has not deigned to do so. Indicating what, I don’t know. But I could use the help.
Today is slated to go over the guitar parts, taking a closer look at how the duo parts are melding, section by section. This attention to detail is the opposite of comping. It’s a neat effect you get from going that 10% further than most guitar players ever seem to manage. They do great intros, breaks, and outros, but slough their way through the rest of the tune. They often talk about arranging the music. I’ve never seen any one of them do it. Learning the riffs is not the same thing. Myself, I sometimes go over the music note for note. You watch, soon Lady Nik will ask when I’m happy with a presentation. The answer is until you are proud of what you played, then you’re done.
Like I said, she is struggling at the right spots, so I know she’s getting into the method. And she’s doing it successfully, which is more than I’ve seen in years. I’ve asked her to develop her own super-fast strum for the Johnny Cash numbers. I do this hoping a real guitarist will do a better job that I can, but that can sometimes take too long. So today I’ll show her the easy way that works for me. And plow ahead. At some point now, we’ve played every tune on that list a few times, so I put on the brakes over new material until we get these ones shined up. Progress has just become another function of time.
But not too much time. You see, we’ll get away with these arrangements simply because they are musically outrageous. You can’t play music like this without a lot of good old-fashioned imagination. Most of what we do is a first in terms of bass & acoustic. Now that I have a guitarist willing to make the effort, there is no limit. Why am I going over all this before the rehearsal? It’s to form a basis for comparison at some later period. Like if I ever write my memoirs. Here goes.
Many a time I’ve said I am neither a loud nor a complicated bassist. I don’t use pedals or tricks, but when you hear me play, it is evident that every note is important and every song is precious. A listener picks up how an unmistakable attempt has been made to make every sound right. I have no problem with painstaking attention to detail. Did you know I have in the past been described as bass royalty, and that is no exaggeration. I’ve had standing ovations—and I loved it, not for the glory, but because it showed I was on the right track. Ah, but the glory lingers.
Now the sad part. One would think music is a hobby with no limit; that one who applies to it will get continually better over his life. That, alas, is only partly true. You see, around the time I hit 50-ish, I began to notice my mistakes, just small things at first. The odd dropped note, then a missed cue, it was entirely normal, but over the years it accumulates and I am forced to admit that performing does have a boundary. And I’m approaching it.
Consider this. The new guitarist is already better than my ex. She knows more chords and has a real flair for learning, whereas before I had to pretty much teach what I wanted and settle for what I got. Yet, in the early 90s, we were making $330 per night with the longshoremen, plus often another $150 in tips. You can figure that out in today’s money. That is the era where I banked my paychecks. On a good week, I made more under the table than at the job. Yes, I had expenses, but they were music expenses which included a Cadillac, California, and caviar.
And now? Now I know this band could be my last fling.
Driftwood
By D.M. Vernon
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Ah, the first winter rainstorm is here. True, rain in a tropical setting would not normally cause too much disruption to the locals, but this is Florida. Both lanes were blocked and I was twenty minutes late. I subjected Lady Nik to three and a half hours of grueling tests to prove she has been doing the homework. She passed. I really do have one ton of experience with band management. I’m working with criteria that has worked before, whereas some people I won’t mention by name are persisting with methods that have never worked. I should send him a video of what we’ve accomplished over here.
On the surface today’s session would seem like a big long guitar lesson. But that would be glossing over the real issues. Now that progress has become both steady and carefully measured, we can get directly to the nitty-gritty of finding the best arrangements for what we do. Please, please, keep in mind there is nothing difficult about what’s happening, we are working at keeping it simple. And this is normally where you’d get massive backlash from a guitarist, who will insist on playing everything to his own personal cutting edge. It’s another point you have to get past or it will bite you later. The band has to become more important than the individual. That seems to have already happened.
Mind you, that is not any guarantee of anything and I certainly didn’t say it was. It is a big stepping stone that determines whether we become a good show band or just another couple of musical hacks. What I find heartening about the mistakes is that she’s making them at the same spots I did so long ago. That is, I recognize the stumbling blocks and was regularly able to supply solutions that worked at least once before. She can find other solutions, but for now we can carry on. Don’t underestimate this.
This might seem tedious to the onlooker, but it makes for later success on stage. Sure, I’ll give you an example, I’m generally good for that. While most musicians like chord patterns with an easy nature, many hit parade recordings have irregular passages and studio errors. I walked us through each such spot on our song list. Keep in mind while all this is going on, we are talking through other matters, usually logistics. A lot of ground is being covered that is distinctive to each band—but only if they get that far. If you had been listening in, well, it sounds like a bunch of do-this-do-that, which is anathema to most guitar players.
Tunes on our list that have these syncopations are the timing in “Long-Haired Country Boy”, the verses of “Tennessee Flat Top Box”, the intro to “Six Days On The Road,” and the many times these hits have a different chord progression during the instrumental breaks than the rest of the song. Changing this progression is a mistake I never make. I’m happy with the results of today. Many a time it was just a matter of pointing out to Lady Nik where the musical exception was lurking and then she could play it, boom-boom. Did you get that, Mr. Fancy New York Guitar player from last summer?
It should not be much longer, though we have not yet set up and played through stage gear. We’ve had audiences that mostly consist of her family and pets. I’ve remarked about the barking parrot, but did I tell you one of her [four] dogs is totally into the music. It sits in front of her and watches intently while she’s playing, ears twitching. I think she has two daughters with grandchildren who will likely be first to hear the results. The presentation is becoming noticeably more impressive each time around.
I have hopes that it will blend well enough to book something shortly. There is no substitute for stage time. My estimate? A good five or so gigs will be enough to refine the sound to 90% as good as we will ever be. There is no such thing as a band everybody likes, but this one is, IMHO, already a better compromise than most of what I’ve seen in Florida. Being a duo is already a plus. Yep, if this goes, it will be the fourth all-girl band I’ve ever played in. And when do we get to hear Lady Nik sing?
ADDENDUM
It might come in handy as a travel ledger. I’ll see if there is a crack on-line. I have noticed it also resists trying to delete transactions. That should always be possible, even if it requires some security measures to do so. In my opinion, not allowing the user to delete transactions at the management level is the reason Peachtree remained second-rate software.
Later, the library has blocked the crack site, but the company, based in New Zealand, wants $50 for the registration code. That would probably be reasonable had they not advertised it as free. A “free download” or a “free trial” is not free, so I’ll continue having a go at this.
Last Laugh
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