Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny.guitar
I think others are missing the point.
I have had the opportunity to play with a gentleman like the OP described who went beyond improvised lead lines based on scales the key the song is in.
Following the melody with single notes and chord inversions fluently. It was at a country jam(I guess you would call it that) in a church in Florida. I was a 25yr old kid and the next youngest would have been 60. Totally eye opening experience.
The gentleman was in his mid 70's and was friends with my ex's father who took me. I desperately wanted to learn from him but we were only visiting from Canada.
Maybe it's a bluegrass style, maybe country but if I ever meet someone who can play like that again I will bug him till he teaches me everything he knows!
So my point is can you talk to the gentleman who normally takes the "lead" and maybe take a few lessons?
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The old guy who plays the leads on a Tele at this jam is in his early 80's. He's had an incredible life, having performed with the likes of Bob Wills, Willie, and a whole host of well known Texas musicians. He once owned a beer joint on the infamous Jacksboro Highway in a stretch of beer joints known for a shooting nearly every weekend. So he even had his own venue to play in. It seems like every old musician I've met since joining his circle has a story about how he helped them along.
I began bugging him as you said early on but that was to see his guitar collection of over a 100 acoustics in his home. The collection includes two Ren Ferguson built Gibsons given to him as gifts from Ren for a guitar construction idea he gave Ren when they first met. I finally got to go to his home and saw the Gibsons with the second paper label inside hand written by Ren as a thank you for his idea. I also learned he lives in a darkened environment with an extremely ill wife he cares for. I saw the other side of him besides the jovial, always smiling from ear to ear you see in public.
I made a comment to him awhile back about him showing me some things and he had no reply so I didn't bring it up again. We've become good friends since then. The 36 year old Yairi I inherited from a friend who commissioned K. Yairi to build it is what got me into this "predicament". The guitar shines so clearly above the Gibsons, Martins and Taylors in the jam session that the guy asked me to take a few solos on it. This reawakened a desire I've always had to be able to improvise leads. I fully intend to bug him to death about showing me some of his bag of licks. In the meantime I've been working on solos for two new songs I intend to spring on everyone at the jam. I'm just having a hard time with the concept of coming up with something other than a melody solo.
I liken where I am right now to how my lifelong career as a master signpainter got started. When I was young and fell in love with the idea of painting signs, I sought out a few master signpainters and became their shadow. It was a somewhat secretive craft back then as they were reluctant to create new competition for themselves. I persevered and gained their friendship and was eventually apprenticed by three of them and a life changing career was the result. I'm too old (physically at least, not in my mind though!) to ever attain any status as a guitarist who'll ever be known for solos. I'd just like to shine a little more on the Yairi I play for a deceased friend. I want a new dimension to my playing. I have a cd from a guy who has a picker named Bill Shute backing him up. The style Bill plays is what I've always aspired to. I'll get there!