hitting the groove....
Entry posted by mark555
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What a week it's been, the hottest week of the year so far, but when we get heat in England it can also get very muggy and can drain you and make you very tired.
Last Friday a friend I have known for thirty five years or so invited me to go and watch his band as they were playing in the local pub in our village. I was very pleased to meet another of my friends who was also at the gig. Pete, owner of the yellow telecaster had come back from his place in the south of France for a week or so as he was going to a Neil Young gig in London later the following week then back to France. However, it was nice to see him and to learn he is actually gigging as a duo in France with another English guy. Our mutual friend, Rob, was the drummer with the band we had gone to see and each musician was of a good standard. What was interesting was the the guitars and bass had all been built buy the guitar player in the band, and were of a high quality. I was interested to see the band as we will play many of the gigs they play and I wanted to know how we would compare. They did play a few of the songs we play, but although this band was very good, I am pleased to (modestly) say, that the songs that both bands play, we play them better! However, I have to say that they were very good and did some songs that we wouldn't have done. they were nice chaps.
At the pub there were two couples in their mid 20's and the girls were rather tasty, we had chatted to them on and off during the evening and for the last half hour of the final set, one of them came and got me up dancing with her! Now, I have no false hopes, but I have to say that it was very nice to dance with a rather attractive woman of half my age!! I am still basking in the glow of it!
So, the next day was band rehearsal. We were all tired, I had stayed up too late the night before and could hardly stay awake for band practice. We were disorganised, too tired and just out of sorts. We weren't learning anything, just wondering which song to play next. Dave, our other guitar player was not a happy camper, and when we asked him what was the trouble, he said he was fed up. So, we all sat down and had a chat. He said we weren't accomplishing anything, just playing songs. He was spot on, we had got 24 or so songs in the bag and we needed to get down to it again. So, we kicked some ideas about and decided that we would learn a Snow Patrol Song "Chasing Cars" and Brown Sugar by the Stones, both his choice. Well, I am great with Brown Sugar, but my music tastes seemed to end with Bad Company back in the seventies! So a Snow Patrol song was a very new idea to me. But, as we all have input, we said OK, lets go for it.
Well, today we had our usual Saturday afternoon practice and we kicked of with Brown Sugar. I had taken my 555 specifically to use on this song, tuned it to open G and away we went. The first two times we played it was so so, but then all of a sudden, Bang! We were in there rocking it like we were born to do it. Mick and Keith would have been proud of us. Terry, our Drummer was putting down a perfect beat. I must admit, I was very pleased how the snow patrol song went, and I really enjoyed playing it. We might be a bit slow getting to gigging level, but we are purposely ensuring each song we play can be done to the standard we expect of ourselves. Our one weakness is the vocal set up, but we are getting a sound engineer in to help us with that, we think we need better PA speakers.
As for next week, we are letting Terry the drummer chose a couple of songs, which he will e mail to us. He's a big Stones and Kinks fan, so maybe something from them.
Now then, about that rather shapely woman at the pub.......
Thanks for reading and best wishes to all,
Mark
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