Last night we had a good practice where we worked on some stuff that we needed to and played a few just for fun. Alas, we were without our lead cat squeezer, our chief feedback engineer, our barrister, our Anchor: Philapalooza was absent. It’s tough to play a lot of the songs we do without a lead guitar, but it was a good practice anyway.
As a bonus, we will have a special gallery throughout the newsletter of things that are not a good substitute for a lead guitar.
Wes double-checked the speaker that died on us. It is not completely dead, but it needs to be put down. Dave plans to take it back and exchange it.
We warmed up by playing “All Along The Watchtower” followed by “Bittersweet.” We stick with the ones we’re good at! Then we played “867-5309/Jenny” which is another favorite. Next we played “These Boots Were Made For Walking” with mostly drums and bass. It was kind of amazing. Wes observed that there’s no way that song should sound that good without a lead guitar.
Then we played “Good Lovin’” followed by “Tainted Love.” We liked that one so much we did it again, even darker, with Dave filling in some of the spots with some experimental drummage. It was cool. Next Wes said he wanted to hear me scream so we played “I Wish I Had a Girl.” Then we played “I’m Gonna’ Be/500 Miles” and we really nailed that ending, which can be a little tricky.
Then there was “Lump” and the only thing we have to remember about this song is “Dave does three!” Always. Never four. Never two. Three. We played it twice, as a matter of fact, and the second time we played it even faster than the first. I didn’t think that was possible. I don’t think that Dave, in his anticipation of the “three,” remembers that I actually have to breathe a couple of times between lines.
We played “Gimme Some Lovin’” and forgot our custom ending. Fortunately we did it again and got it right. After that we played “Get It On (Bang A Gong)” which is getting to be one of my favorites.
We finished up the night with “What I Like About You.” We played it twice, working on an ending. Rodney came up with a great idea for a fun Rock-n-Roll ending. With a little practice we can make it work.
So we had a good time, got to hang out and make a little music, and tell jokes about PJ. That’s what he gets for going out of town! We also keep getting better at synchronizing our endings. That is key and it’s coming together. In the end. Heh.
Now we get to work on a list of songs to play at next practice. Perhaps it might include “Stuck In The Middle With You.” Maybe even a new song! Gasp!
No guitarists were harmed in the making of this newsletter.
Leave a Reply