A friend of mine mentioned a couple months ago that he was wanting to get back into playing guitar. He's played on and off since he was a teenager and it had been a while. I had been wanting to start a regular acoustic jam and mentioned it to him. We got together the next week and I taught him a couple of songs I know and he showed me one he knew. His playing is rusty and he never learned much about theory and wants me to teach him the basics. He can sing well enough to get us through the songs and I'm wanting to stretch myself on lead. At first, we tried to throw in too many songs, so a couple weeks ago, we picked 4 and decided to focus on them. We got them down pretty well and decided yesterday to add in 3 more. We jammed last night and the improvement just in the past couple weeks is incredible. We are actually sounding pretty good.
I've even started singing a couple of songs. I still sing way better when recording because I'm more relaxed and not trying to play guitar or bass at the same time, but practice makes perfect. We'd love to find at least one more player and he knows a woman that plays and sings who wants to join us. She is an actual trained vocalist who travels and sings professionally, so she would be a great addition. My son was going to jam with us, but other things kept popping up and he's going back to school in a couple of weeks.
Our current song list:
One More Cup of Coffee
Tequila Sunrise
Mary Jane's Last Dance (I'm trying to sing, play bass and harmonica on this one. I may have to switch to guitar)
Hotel California (probably dropping this one, I don't like playing it)
New ones added last night
Bad Moon Rising
Eleanor Rigby (I tried bass and guitar for this one, not sure which one I'm going to stick with. There's so many things you can do to arrange this song)
Knockin' On Heaven's Door (I sang this one)
House of the Rising Sun (we had done this one the 1st night we jammed, but just added it back in last night. Tried bass and guitar, probably going to play bass on this one)
I like your song list. HOTRS seems like it drags on when I play it for some reason. Who knows. I wish I was close enough to join in. It all sounds like fun. 8) 8)
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
Wish you were close enough too, it seems like every song I've heard you play or mention is one on my list to do as well.
House did seem kinda long. What I've been doing is recording demos during the week arranging the songs so we have a reference. I'll see about tightening it up a little. We're not doing any lead parts to it, so the organ solo part in the middle is already gone.
