The impossible has happened: I finally joined a band. Some weeks ago I saw an ad from a guy who was trying to set a new band up, and among the positions to be filled was the 'guitarist' slot. So I responded, and was invited to come around and talk abit about it all. By the time our meeting was to take place pretty much all other positions were already filled, and it became quickly rather obvious that I was going to be the rookie of the band. Up till that moment they had a 20 year old girl who'd been playing saxephone for 14 years, and a bassist, drummer, trombonist and singer, all between 30 and 45 years old, all having played for many, many years, and all of them having gigged before. And there comes me, been playing for 18 months, never gigged. Ouch!
Luckily I lack any form of humbleness so I just sat down with the singer/band'leader' to talk about what kind of music was to be played and what was expected of me. He told me that the music to be played was both the jazzy stuff (think Sinatra and the likes) and some blues stuff in the style of BB king and other such swinging blues. The setlist would consist of songs each and every bandmember would agree with, and if even one of us don't want to play a particular song it won't be played. Ofcourse this only works if people are not going to be too anal about it, but it seemed like a nice way to work.
So what was expected from me? Basically not much. I'm allowed to play what I like as long as it fits with the song. So I don't have to exactly study parts, I can change, add or remove parts as I see fit. Cool! Ofcourse some songs are more guitar-based then others, and some don't have a guitar on the original record. If that's the case I can write my own part to it, but this will ofcourse be low-profile. Interesting, since I normally only play songs where the guitar is the central part. This will require a much more humble attitude, and it's more about fitting in with the band then showing what you can do.
So the meeting ended, and he'd say he'd call me again soon. That was last sunday, where he'd invite me to come over with my guitar. The girl with the saxefonist was there as well, and we talked a bit more. Both us were asked to play 'something', and after that he'd start a backing track of 'The Thrill is Gone' with only bass and drums, where he'd sing and us two played our instrument. Was really nice, and although I'd never played that song before it wasn't that hard to come up with something decent sounding because of it's very simple structure. After a bit more playing I agreed to become part of the band. For the next few weeks we'll make a setlist, and give each member some time to get to know the songs a bit before coming together in one of the local practice rooms that are for rent here. Can't wait!
And this is ofcourse a great excuse to get myself a small portable practice amp instead of going around with a V-amp and a 4.1 HiFi set. :D Next week I'll be torturing the hell out of the Behringer GM110 & GMX110, Line6 Spider15 & Spider30, Roland Cube15 & Cube30 and Vox AD15VT&AD30VT. Will write some stuff about it if anyone is interested.
Congratulations! Sounds like a real interesting opportunity to polish your chops. Most of that old big band jazz had guitar in it, the guitar just played a very different role in the sound than it would in later music, partly due to the lack of good amplification. There seems to be plenty of room for arrangements that move the guitar up to take the place of some of the horns. Of couse, that was often done to bring the guitar into the position of the sax, so, in your case, you'll have to watch out against stepping on your sax player's lines.
I'm curious to hear how the amps hold up to the demands of the music. You'll probably need at least a pretty and jazzy clean and a bluesy lead, but what else will you be looking for?
Congrats, Arjen!
You're going to learn so much about music in the next few months you won't believe it - standards (like Sinatra tunes) are going to teach you progressions and fingerings you won't believe!
One tip... if you don't already have the Berklee method book I, go out and get it. Around page 58 there's a chart labeled "Chord simplification and substitution chart". Memorize as much of it as you can... then when you run into a chord like F13b9 you'll be able to plug in a Cº and not step on anybody's toes - it'll take you a while to learn all the chords, so shortcuts help a lot in the early days, and Leavitt's chart is the best I've seen.
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
Yeah, there is indeed a lot of room to bring the guitar a bit more to the front, but I'm going to be real carefull with it. At this moment I'd rather play too few notes then too much.
As for the amps ofcourse the biggest demands are a totally clean clean, a singing blues sound and properly tweakable reverb. I would like a 10" speaker, 12" will probably be too large and heavy to carry around, am scared that 8"might sound too thin. 30W would be nice, but I guess 15W might do the trick as well. The sax isn't going to be amplified so the volume won't be that high. As such I do want total control over the sound at any volume. Two footswitchable channels would be nice, but not really needed for this band as far as I can see. I might use this amp to play with others as well, so a good distortion and some effects or an effects loop would be ideal, but not absolutely needed. Weight around 27,5lbs maximum. Line-out and headphone out are important, but I assume they'll all have that.
Noteboat: Thanks for the tip, you mean this one? I'd already been doing 'Fly me to the moon' which seems to be a real classic progression, and the chords used really made my fingers doubt my sanity at first. Luckily my teacher has graduated from conservatorium and is a real good jazz player so he'll be, and has been, able to help me out here.
A 10" will probably give you a tighter sound. It's too bad Fender's are so expensive there, a Princeton Reverb might be a good choice for you, and a good tremolo might be useful in this band. Tremolo was popular, and if you listen close it's on a lot of old recording in a subtle way. I don't know how the Princeton SS amps sound.
I've heard some pretty full sounding Champs with 8" speakers, but there's a lot of reason for that and few amps are Champs.
Congrats, Arjen. Sounds like you hooked up with a good bunch. I'm sure you'll have a ball!
-- John
"Hip woman walking on a moving floor, tripping on the escalator.
There's a man in the line and she's blowin' his mind, thinking that he's already made her."
'Coming into Los Angeles' - Arlo Guthrie
Arjen, I meant this one. It's possible the chart is reproduced in other Berklee books, though :)
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
Congrats! If you get signed, give guitarnoise free advertising! 8)
Stairway to Freebird!
Arjen
Congratulations! I think that is fantastic. Yep, get ready. Your guitar playing is going to take a big step upward. Hey, I don't care what kind of music it is. If it's live, it's awesome! 8)
Hey, check this amp out. Traynor is not too bad on your side of the pond is it?
I would check out this amp. Very reasonable price, plenty of power. But the best feature is the two 8" speakers. My '58 Premier amp has two 8" speakers and you will not believe how wonderfully full they sound. Way better than any single 10" or even 12" speaker. They are really that good.
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
slothrob: A full tube amp isn't just way too expensive, but also way too fragile for the way I'm going to transport it around town. No way whatsoever those tubes would survive that. Might check out the SS Fender's, but the tiny SS Fenders I tried so far were rather dissapointing.
Pappajohn: Thanks, I'm sure it will be awesome indeed. :D
Noteboat: Oh great, that's ofcourse one of the few Berklee books Holland's biggest online book store doesn't sell. Will check out libraries for it. Thanks for the suggestion!
Yoyo: Not really the kind of music that will do well in big rock arenas. ;)
Wes: Yeah, I normally don't listen much to jazzy stuff but I see it as a way to expend my musical horizon. And there's plenty of stuff in there that I can't do yet, so it will be a great way to learn new things. As for the amp, thanks for the suggestion but I won;t consider it for two reasons:
1) I've never seen a shop sell Traynor amps over here.
2) I need to be able to carry it, bring it with me using public transportation, and even bring it with me on a bike. Two 8"speakers are both too big and too heavy for that. A pity, looks really like what I could use, and it's dirt cheap as well...
Look at the Roland Cube series.
http://www.roland.com/products/en/CUBE-15/index.html
http://www.roland.com/products/en/CUBE-30/index.html
http://www.roland.com/products/en/CUBE-60/index.html
B.B. King's backup guitarist plays through one of these, BTW. (Looked like the Cube 60 to me.)
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
Arjen
That amp only weighs 24 lbs. That is very lightweight. I am surprised you don't have them, Traynor's are English amps, no?
Perhaps you can pick up a Pro Junior or Blues Junior. You will be getting awesome tone then. Tube amps are not fragile unless you throw them around. I have never had any trouble with any tube amps, and I've owned many. I have had far more trouble with solid-state. Really.
Hey, get a good Behringer and use pedals for distortion.
Being in any kind of band will make a better musician out of you. Jazz is great music. I would play in a jazz band in a heart-beat.
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
Traynor's are Canadian. Yorkville is the manufacturer.
Richochet: will do, they are on my list. I play through a Cube30 during lessons, and the clean of those amps is amazing. Totally completely and utterly transparant clean at every volume. Really worthy of the Roland logo in that aspect. Reverb is very nice as well. At this time it looks to go between the Roland and the Vox, but I don't want to rule anything out yet.
Wes: hehe, they're apparantly not Brittish, and it is a bloody disgrace they aren't around here. Germany has them, France has them, UK has them, but us poor Dutch people (and the Belgians I believe) are not so lucky. 24lbs? That's really amazing for a twin speaker amp. Might cross the border and check out Musik-Produktiv, one of the biggest music megastores of Europe. Still doubt it is small enough to be portable on a bycycle though.
As for Fender tube amps: no way. Really. A pro junior is around $600 over here. Really totally outrageous, and Fender forbids US online stores to ship them to Europe. A Fender USA std strat is $1200 here. Those guys should be shot. As for fragility: Imagine riding your bycyle over ill-maintained roads with your tube amp on it. How many bumps do you think such an amp likes to receive on a daily basis? If I could transport them in a normal way I'd not doubt their fragility, but under these conditions I do. Secondly with those 15W tube amps I'll have little control over the sound/volume. No way to get it's great bluesy tones at low volume, or a clean sound at high volume. They are great amps, but I don;t think they are a viable option here.
As for the Behringer: It's an option, but I am scared of it's clean volume. Behringer GM(X) amps have a relatively quiet clean channel. While this is no big deal with my 120W GMX212, I fear this might be a problem with the 30W versions. But we'll see.
Arjen,
I used to play roadie to a group in England. They were kitted out with Vox AC30s and no-one ever treated the amps as if they were delicate (certainly not me, anyway). I don't recall a single incident of tubes crapping out because of rough treatment (or anything else for that matter).
People say you have to let them cool down after playing - I don't think I've ever seen one given more than about 10 minutes (drummers used to get preferential treatment in dismantling their gear), so the amps got a "grace" period.
If you want to take the amp on public transport or on a bike, find yourself an old frame rucksack. Ditch the sack and use the frame to carry the amp on your back. Even on a bike, your body will provide more than sufficient cushioning.
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
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