The Acoustic Guitar Forum

Go Back   The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > PLAY and Write

Reply
 
Thread Tools
  #1  
Old 10-04-2014, 06:36 AM
815C 815C is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: The Hills Of Tennessee
Posts: 4,096
Default The importance of knowing SONGS

Small clip from last night's gig playing for Meghan Shanley. Got to play with some true Nashville cats - Steve Forrest/Bass, Karlton Taylor/Keys, "Smitty" Smith/Drums, Tim Coleman/Sax, Angelica Green/BGVs, and Sharif Iman joined us on Stevie Wonder's I WISH. This band had never rehearsed together and this tune wasn't on the set list - "What song should we do with Sharif?" - "Let's do I WISH" - "What key?" - "Eb minor" - let's go! Fortunately I had the changes to this song in my memory banks: repeat Ebm7 - Ab7 a few times, then Bb7 - C7 - Fm - Abm - Bb7 - C7 - Fm - Bb7(#5). It's good to know a lot of songs - not just the chords/riffs, but also the Form of the song (what order are the intro, verses and choruses and bridge and outro, where are the breaks, etc.). Often guitarists get so focused on the trees (scales, licks, theory, speed, etc.), that they neglect the forest (learning songs). Remember the END is to play songs. The MEANS is what it takes to get there.



Also, at the beginning of each of the 3 sets the keyboard player (Karlton Taylor who has toured with Tommy Emmanuel, Victor Wooten, etc.) would call out a jazz standard or two and we'd play those before the singers took the stage. I'd never played any of the standards we did last night before last night. Fortunately Karlton had notebooks for each of us with the lead sheets. These guys are all heavy duty jazz players and its easy to get intimidated in a situation like that. But it's important to stay relaxed ("not caring about what they think of you" - in a good way), and just have confidence and PLAY.

Last edited by 815C; 10-04-2014 at 08:36 AM.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 10-04-2014, 07:17 AM
mr. beaumont mr. beaumont is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 10,188
Default

Just...yes. yes. A hundred times, YES.
__________________
Jeff Matz, Jazz Guitar:

http://www.youtube.com/user/jeffreymatz
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 10-04-2014, 09:31 AM
Archtop Guy Archtop Guy is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: The Golden State
Posts: 679
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by mr. beaumont View Post
Just...yes. yes. A hundred times, YES.
+1

Plus, super impressed! What an opportunity to play with cats at that skill level! I want to be there!
__________________
Find your voice and tell a story!

Circle 'Round the Sun
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 10-06-2014, 01:20 AM
freyalewis freyalewis is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: London
Posts: 28
Default

Just seen the video and it looks awesome.
__________________
Visit at Broughton pianos.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 10-06-2014, 06:19 AM
clintj clintj is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Idaho Falls, ID
Posts: 4,267
Default

Great perspective. I'm guilty of thinking of parts, not songs, at times. Probably more often than I think I am.

Man you guys sound good! I would be so intimidated playing with musicians that talented.
__________________
"You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great." -Zig Ziglar

Acoustics
2013 Guild F30 Standard
2012 Yamaha LL16
2007 Seagull S12
1991 Yairi DY 50

Electrics
Epiphone Les Paul Standard
Fender Am. Standard Telecaster
Gibson ES-335
Gibson Firebird
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 10-06-2014, 06:38 AM
Earwitness Earwitness is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Austin, Tx
Posts: 2,078
Default

Hey, the thing is, they got to play with YOU!

Great job.

You just can't predict this life, can you?
__________________
2010 Allison D (German spruce/Honduran mahogany)
2014 Sage Rock "0" (sitka spruce/Honduran mahogany)
2016 Martin CEO-7 (Adi spruce/sipo)
1976 Ovation 1613-4 nylon--spruce top
1963 Guild Mark II nylon--spruce top
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 10-06-2014, 09:05 AM
RustyAxe RustyAxe is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 6,312
Default

Sounds like a GREAT time! It is cool to play with seasoned pros!
Reply With Quote
Reply

  The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > PLAY and Write

Thread Tools





All times are GMT -6. The time now is 04:11 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Copyright ©2000 - 2022, The Acoustic Guitar Forum
vB Ad Management by =RedTyger=