Another month as passed and winter is starting to set in. During these cold winter months, I get a little stir crazy. This is the time of year in which I miss playing in a band. Not that I'm a touring professional on the local bar scene, but rather being able to step away from the computer and actually stand up next to bass player and drummer. It's a wonderful experience to say the least. It's an opportunity that only a few HOC members actually get to enjoy on a regular basis. It's a littl
Music has always been a strong presence in my life. It has always been around. There are lots of musicians on both sides of my family: my paternal grandfather played acoustic guitar; my mom's youngest brother plays guitar, there are professional musicians on both sides of the family, my parents are very decent singers, so is my sister, I consider myself very musical, my wife is a classically trained pianist (and she plays a lot, too), our children are very musical as well. I grew up with a ton
Music has always been a strong presence in my life. It has always been around. There are lots of musicians on both sides of my family: my paternal grandfather played acoustic guitar; my mom's youngest brother plays guitar, there are professional musicians on both sides of the family, my parents are very decent singers, so is my sister, I consider myself very musical, my wife is a classically trained pianist (and she plays a lot, too), our children are very musical as well. I grew up with a ton
Well I just got off the phone with Ren Wall of Heritage Guitars. He's the person at Heritage that Jay Wolfe and myself have been talking to about the different things that I wanted on my guitar. I guess Ren is one of the answer men from Heritage. Anyway we finally got all the details finished and the order is made. So know I just have to wait for Jay to give me the full price of the guitar so I can pay half. They told me in the begining that it was a third up front and then pay in full when done
I started playing Guitar in Kearn's Utah. In 1972 I was in Kearn's High School And my best Friend Joey Stay's father had a music store that he named after his oldest son's band Strawberry Orange. My father at the time bought me used equipment because he didn't think we would stand by it very long.The first guitar was a Kalamazoo KG-2A and amp was a Kalamazoo 2 or 3 I can't quite remember. Between Joey and I we played at his church for the first time playing "Proud Mary".WE practiced together and
I’ve been back on the Heritage Owners Site, posting sparingly at first, but watching the other members’ posts with great interest. What I really like is the random gallery generator at the top of the screen. Nothing worse to set off a fit of G.A.S pain then seeing all the other Heritage options out there I could be playing. I think after having my 140 for a few months, the honeymoon is over. I guess at this point, I understand now why Brentrocks astounds us with his near daily transactions o
As some have noticed, I have not logged any posts on the HOC for most of September. (Thank you to Tully, Slammer, Koula901, and Steiner for asking me if everything was ok). I recently came to the conclusion that I spent way too much time on a forum discussing guitars, amps, and gear, rather than actually playing, practicing, and learning guitar. I’ve been a member of the Heritage Owners Club since the 9th of August, 2010. At the time I’m writing this passage, I’ve logged in 3,427 posts. 3,1
Since my last entry, events just seem to have conspired against us. My dear friend and fellow guitarist in the band, Peter, is having tests because he thinks his cancer has come back. On top of that, he and his wife have gone off to their place in the south of France for an indefinite period of time, I think that he just needs to get some peace and quiet and get away from it all. I sincerely hope that he is ok, I have a huge amount of respect for Pete and I am sure that he has good reason for g
Since my last entry, events just seem to have conspired against us. My dear friend and fellow guitarist in the band, Peter, is having tests because he thinks his cancer has come back. On top of that, he and his wife have gone off to their place in the south of France for an indefinite period of time, I think that he just needs to get some peace and quiet and get away from it all. I sincerely hope that he is ok, I have a huge amount of respect for Pete and I am sure that he has good reason for g
Since my last entry, events just seem to have conspired against us. My dear friend and fellow guitarist in the band, Peter, is having tests because he thinks his cancer has come back. On top of that, he and his wife have gone off to their place in the south of France for an indefinite period of time, I think that he just needs to get some peace and quiet and get away from it all. I sincerely hope that he is ok, I have a huge amount of respect for Pete and I am sure that he has good reason for g
Since my last entry, events just seem to have conspired against us. My dear friend and fellow guitarist in the band, Peter, is having tests because he thinks his cancer has come back. On top of that, he and his wife have gone off to their place in the south of France for an indefinite period of time, I think that he just needs to get some peace and quiet and get away from it all. I sincerely hope that he is ok, I have a huge amount of respect for Pete and I am sure that he has good reason for g
Since trying out a Heritage guitar in a shop in the late '80s, I had wanted one. After graduate school, university position, getting a start with our family, I was able to save money for purchase of high quality guitars. I renewed my guitar tech hobby in the late '90s, bought, fixed up, and sold many Korean guitars... working up to higher end goals. My collection slowly grew, 71 Gibson SG, 78 Gibson ES 345, 78 Gibson Les Paul Custom... These ladies are beautiful...
In 2007 I purchased my
Just when I was beginning to wonder how long I could hold this band together, as we had recently lost our very new singer, out of the blue I get an e mail from a guy about seven miles from me asking if we are still looking for a singer. Well, of course I e mailed back and said yes, with my telephone number. I am careful about giving my phone number away on the internet, you don't know who is taking it down with some nefarious thought process going on in their heads.
So, I spoke with the guy,
Here we go again. As you will know, if you have been reading my blog, that we worked really hard to find a singer to front our band, Route 62.
One of the essential criteria for the singer would be his willingness to buy a vocal pa. After all, I would not join a band and expect them to buy me two or three guitars and a nice valve amp, but when it comes to singers, they seem to expect the band to provide their equipment. After all, we are not asking any one to buy a mega rig, just something t
Our quest for a singer has ended. The last guy who came to audition was not very good at all, and he left somewhat dejected looking. However, after putting posters up in every guitar shop and web site we could find advertising for a singer, we finally found the right guy. I must say though, that very very few singers got in touch with us, and I think that is because here in England the live scene is not very healthy for bands like ours. In years gone by, we used to have what we called Working Me
OK, the gig was played, the autopsy was performed and we have hunted high and low for would be singers. We have put ads on internet sites, in music shops, and asked around. We are auditioning for a singer!
One guy called us up, and wanted to come for an audition, but when we said that we would expect a singer to bring a pa with him to the band, he said he was going to buy his own mic and stand, Well, I suggested to him that when the rest of us have spent a lot of money on guitars, amps and d
Today ( 3rd March,2011),I heard from an old friend that a local bass player (Hull, East Yorkshire,U.K. ) had passed away at about 63 years old.When I hear news like this,I generally think over how our lives interacted.Stan Saye was the bass player in a local band called the Hammer.I made a couple of records with this outfit,before Stan was a member.When the original band split up,it reformed with Stan,singer John Parker,Another John on drums,and probably,most importantly,Rod Temperton on Keys.Th
Just realized I haven't added anything to this blog since last August ! Must be the fact that I joined Facebook ( As Peter Alton,with the same cartoon badge.There's a million 'Peter Greens' & they all play guitar ) I have a collection of old band photo's from the 50's 60's etc.of groups & entertainers in my area of the U.K.,and I wanted to get them into cyber space.If anything happens to me,they would be lost forever,now anyone can view them.They have been widely viewed by many people,me
Our first gig was played, and we were not 100% happy with it, gremlins in the works the week before for me. As I said, I really went for it, but as I have reflected on it over the past week, I know I was way below the standard I should have been at on the night. I had too much stuff going on in my head - unemployment, a lousy job interview the day before, and other stuff. In truth, I did not feel personally ready to play live. But as I said before, we were well received by a welcoming audience.
This entry tells of the week leading up to our first live gig and the gig itself.
Did you ever have one of those weeks where after you have practised, practised and practised till you got your parts right, had some great rehearsals, then for some reason, you seem to just not be able to get things right. Well, that is what exactly happened the final week before our first gig. The catalyst was that we started to practise as a band line up would be on stage, with some borrowed monitors which we
Since my last entry on my blog, the band, Route 62, has had two practices. Last week we added the final two songs to our set list for our forthcoming gig, and now we have the luxury of just polishing them up and bringing them to an acceptable level for public performance. As this is going to be our first gig, I am sure that we will be ok, but not as sharp as we are going to get through playing a few more live situations. The one pain in the neck though is almost having to re learn the earlier so
