Lev
January 13th, 2009, 05:54 AM
Hey Fretters, I've had very little time to post here lately, juggling fatherhood, work, beating the credit crunch and now playing in a band has taken up much of my time.
The band thing is a pretty new venture and in it's infancy but already I've learned alot and have had to re-approach many aspects of my guitar playing. I answered an online advert just before Christmas seeking a guitarist for a covers band in my area. I was delighted when I called to find that the band members were of a similar age to me (I always dread calling up and getting a pre-pubescent voice on the other end of the phone). So it turns out this is a three piece with the drummer taking lead vocals - which is pretty cool I think. Both he and the bass player have a load of gigging experience so I'm very much the new guy.
The first main challenge for me was to learn about 25 songs note for note in the space of about 2 weeks. Many of these songs I wouldn't have dreamed of learning if I was sitting at home practicing. The band pretty much focuses on alternative rock from the 70's, 80's and 90's - U2, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, The Killers, Coldplay etc etc. I've always been more of a blues based rock guy so learning songs outside of my comfort zone has been both challenging and enlightening. I have alot more respect for some of these bands than I had before, for example the intro to The Killers song Mr. Brightside is one of the most technically difficult riffs I've ever come across (Give me Eruption any day).
So after learning off most of the tracks we met up to rehearse last week and challenge number 2 presented itself - to accommodate the singers range we need to change the key of some of the songs - Doh!! I managed to do this on the fly until I needed to play open string parts. So next time I'm bringing a backup guitar tune to D. We're also toying with the idea of a couple of acoustic numbers which means for a gig I'll be bringing up to 4 guitars (standard tuned guitar, standard tuned backup, D tuned and acoustic). I'm now starting to see the value of a VG strat/Variax.
The final challenge is how do I get my sound right at high volume without wasting valuable rehearsing time. Obviously playing at a volume that'll cut through against drums a bass is very different to playing at bedroom volumes. Therefore I really need to tweak my Amp EQ and my pedals, but I don't want to waste valuable rehearsal time tweaking (and annoying my band mates) when we should be playing songs. I'm beginning to see the value in simpler setups now, the less to tweak the better.
So all in all a couple of week in and I've learned alot:
1) Playing music that's outside your comfort zone can really open your eyes musically
2) VG strats are actually worth the money!!
3) The less to tweak the better when setting up for a rehearsal/gig
I'm sure there'll be lots more challenges as we get closer to doing our first gig (penciled in for Fenuary)... It'll be my fist time gigging in over 10 years so I'm sure the nerves will hit a little.... I'll keep you posted!!
Adiós!
The band thing is a pretty new venture and in it's infancy but already I've learned alot and have had to re-approach many aspects of my guitar playing. I answered an online advert just before Christmas seeking a guitarist for a covers band in my area. I was delighted when I called to find that the band members were of a similar age to me (I always dread calling up and getting a pre-pubescent voice on the other end of the phone). So it turns out this is a three piece with the drummer taking lead vocals - which is pretty cool I think. Both he and the bass player have a load of gigging experience so I'm very much the new guy.
The first main challenge for me was to learn about 25 songs note for note in the space of about 2 weeks. Many of these songs I wouldn't have dreamed of learning if I was sitting at home practicing. The band pretty much focuses on alternative rock from the 70's, 80's and 90's - U2, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, The Killers, Coldplay etc etc. I've always been more of a blues based rock guy so learning songs outside of my comfort zone has been both challenging and enlightening. I have alot more respect for some of these bands than I had before, for example the intro to The Killers song Mr. Brightside is one of the most technically difficult riffs I've ever come across (Give me Eruption any day).
So after learning off most of the tracks we met up to rehearse last week and challenge number 2 presented itself - to accommodate the singers range we need to change the key of some of the songs - Doh!! I managed to do this on the fly until I needed to play open string parts. So next time I'm bringing a backup guitar tune to D. We're also toying with the idea of a couple of acoustic numbers which means for a gig I'll be bringing up to 4 guitars (standard tuned guitar, standard tuned backup, D tuned and acoustic). I'm now starting to see the value of a VG strat/Variax.
The final challenge is how do I get my sound right at high volume without wasting valuable rehearsing time. Obviously playing at a volume that'll cut through against drums a bass is very different to playing at bedroom volumes. Therefore I really need to tweak my Amp EQ and my pedals, but I don't want to waste valuable rehearsal time tweaking (and annoying my band mates) when we should be playing songs. I'm beginning to see the value in simpler setups now, the less to tweak the better.
So all in all a couple of week in and I've learned alot:
1) Playing music that's outside your comfort zone can really open your eyes musically
2) VG strats are actually worth the money!!
3) The less to tweak the better when setting up for a rehearsal/gig
I'm sure there'll be lots more challenges as we get closer to doing our first gig (penciled in for Fenuary)... It'll be my fist time gigging in over 10 years so I'm sure the nerves will hit a little.... I'll keep you posted!!
Adiós!