#1
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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. |
#2
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Just...yes. yes. A hundred times, YES.
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#3
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+1
Plus, super impressed! What an opportunity to play with cats at that skill level! I want to be there! |
#4
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Just seen the video and it looks awesome.
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Visit at Broughton pianos. |
#5
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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.
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"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 |
#6
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Hey, the thing is, they got to play with YOU!
Great job. You just can't predict this life, can you?
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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 |
#7
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Sounds like a GREAT time! It is cool to play with seasoned pros!
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