Well after dealing with the loss of our friend and fellow musician recently we finally made the plunge and it looks like we found ourselves another guitar player.
He is a student with the guy I take lessons from has been playing for about 4 -5 years but is a classically trained violin player who's been playing since he was 7 so he has alot of musical experience and he's a pretty good guitar player.
The potential seems really good in that he's just getting started with soloing (but he's already better than me) and having us both using the same instructor will help immensely with working out arrangements etc. He definitely has a good ear and his solo's are very musical melodic if not shredder like. Our old guitar player could really burn it up and loved to play loud the new guy is much more subdued part of which I think came from his early training.
We played twice now and he has several songs pretty down already he's a very fast learner.
I'm hoping that him and I can do more harmony stuff and trading licks etc in songs that I didn't do alot of with Justin.
Anyway it's strange and exciting at the same time. It's still very odd to be playing without Justin especially when we are playing songs that we played together for the last couple years and alot were songs Justin wanted to play. But we are all excited as the new guy Brian seems to fit in fairly nicely and he doesn't have a ego or anything so he'll be fun to play with.
Time will tell how this all goes but right now it's looking good. The only bad thing is that he doesn't sing and Justin sang alot of the songs so we really have to do something about that.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
Sounds promising. Keep us posted on how it goes.
Jim
...the new guy Brian seems to fit in fairly nicely and he doesn't have a ego or anything...
That's a good thing. If all he's interested in is making the band sound good, and not showing off, it's a GREAT thing!
...We played twice now and he has several songs pretty down already he's a very fast learner.
Even better!
I'm hoping that him and I can do more harmony stuff and trading licks etc in songs that I didn't do alot of with Justin.
Make sure you get that point across - start off on the wrong foot, and it'll take ages to put it right. I still can't get my mate Stu to use any kind of gain or overdrive whatsoever, and we've been jammin' for about 4 years now!
And now, a short message from the AAAA - the Association for the Abolition of Aberrant Apostrophes.
...solo's...
Chris - the plural of solo is solos. No apostrophe. The only time you'd ever use an apostrophe in that manner is if you'd been watching the Man From Uncle and said something like, "I like Napoleon Solo's suit." PLEASE - drop that apostrophe!
*Vic takes Grammar Police hat off and goes back to guitar....*
Anyway, I hope things work out for you mate....you've spent a lot of time and hard work on this project, about time things went well for you all. Best of luck!
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
It sounds like a good start. I'm glad to hear that yooze guys are going forward doing what you like despite that horrible loss. 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
Thanks guys, the reality is you have to move on there's really no other choice. Will never forget Justin and this new incarnation of the band will definitely be a move in a different direction which will probably be a good thing.
I still can't beileve that it even happened and really makes me start thinking about death and dying more...something I really don't want to think about.
But the new guy is about 10 years younger and his tastes lean alittle more towards alternative/metal than the classic rock we've been playing.
I think we'll still play a bunch of the songs for now at least. They are all pretty easy and he can pick them up quickly so we can build a repetoire. The new twist is that he WANTS to play out so I see that happening soon.
It's already got me thinking more about my playing. He was working on an Iron Maiden song which I think we'll try although singing it will be tough, the song is Children Of Damned which is pretty easy except for the tapping part. I've never done tapping so that spurred me to go check out some Youtube tapping lessons. So I have started practicing that each day and I've ordered the Doug Marks Metal Madness course (haven't bought anything in a long time) to see if I can build up my metal chops.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
A guitarist that plays at a respectable volume and doesn't show off? Hang on to him, they are few and far between! Sorry, bass player joke :D
Glad you found someone that fits in and helps the band!
Yea Jeff if our bass player doesn't scare him away he should be a perfect fit. He's been classically trained on the viola and has played that for 30 + years so he's well versed in theory etc. He will definitely bring some skilss that will eventually help the band.
The bass who I've known for years is killing me. All he wants to do is play out and I think it's more about showing off than anything else. The first night we played with the new guy we knocked off maybe 4-5 songs that we have been playing and that went pretty well, not perfect, but a couple more practices and they will be good but the bass player wanted to go find an open mic the next day and get out there. I don't think either me or the new guy are into doing that until a song is tight. being classically trained he's the kind that has to have a song down well in order to want to play it out. The bass player doesn't care how good it sounds he just wants to go out there and pretend he's a rock star or something. I don't get really get it he's by far the weakest musician of the four of us yet he's the one that always wants to be out there showing off. Oh well.
But on a different note maybe I'm getting some good karma I played golf over the weekend with a buddy I work with he brought his friend who ends up is a singer/guitar player although he says he singing is much better than his playing. I told him that we were looking for a singer and he said he was interested he's out of work at the moment.
But he comes highly recommended from my buddy and I trust his judgement not like some of the other people that have come by and said they could sing then when you here them it's like come on that's not singing. I told him what we were playing and he said he can sing alot of styles and wants to come by. Hopefully I'll get him by this week to see how it goes.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
