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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Being the best one on stage isn't always a plus...
Being the best one on stage isn't always a plus...
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Randy G. Blues
133 posts
Jan 12, 2010
1:48 PM
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That tile is a bit misleading. I always try to play my best whenever I play, even if it's walking down the street. I know of one local player who holds back at the local open mic jams for whatever reason...
But lately I have been back at the open mic jam, playing the first set. The "serious" players usually come up in the second hour and fill the stage to overflowing [a small room with a tiny stage-- drum set, THREE guitars, bass guitar, and harp]. A few weeks ago they created a sound so muddled and disorganized that I wouldn't have gone up even if invited. So the big talent is up second, and the first set has some OK players, but some are less talented or capable than most of us are accustomed to being paired with at a jam.
The drummer is usually quite good and we have had a good enough bass player that we have included him in plans for a group we are toying with at the moment. But the two guitar players are just OK. That puts a real load on my shoulders. First, I have become the front man by default. I have begun singing and am calling the tunes as well. I am getting more comfortable on vocals, but finding tunes these guys can play or know is the real challenge. As I mentioned in another thread, They had never heard "One After 909." And then I was singing "Key to the Highway" and assumed that they knew the tune... Idiot me.. They played it as a 12 bar (it's 8). Talk about having to think on your feet! I am singing, playing fills and solos, and all through the first verse my brain is screaming, "WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH 4 EXTRA BARS!?!?!" Easy enough to fill 4 bars between the two phrases of the verse, but figuring that out on the fly is another matter. I did, but was sweating it out.
So later in the set I wanted to sing "Blue Jean Blues" by Z.Z. Top. I love singing it and the phrasing leaves LOTS of room for fun, creative solos. The tune is in B minor, and the one guitar player that tried to handle a sort of lead thing didn't really seem to know B minor and kept hitting a chord in the IV, iirc, that didn't belong.. Sounded like it belonged in a B major tune... I guess.... maybe... I had to sing around it and my brain tried to take a coffee break, sick of dealing with it at this point. I told it to get back to work, and we worked it out.. sort of.
After that, I thanked the small audience for applauding, and said, "Than you all for being here at the weekly, Thursday Night Train Wreck. I hope no one was hurt when the last one came off the tracks."
And that is my problem. I was an art major and never took any music theory classes, never learned guitar nor keyboard, so it was impossible for me to tell him what chord was wrong and what he should play. Just this morning I spent some time this morning working out the note progression, by wrote, for that song for each of the three-note phrases for the I, IV, V [my nomenclature is weak, but I hope you get the idea].
It's hard enough playing MY instrument and I put a lot of pressure on myself to achieve and better my skills. I do get frustrated on stage when the folks I am paired with (by chance usually) haven't heard of common tunes nor know the basic chord structures for common keys...
So this week I have been putting together a set of Robert Johnson tunes (mostly) which are all I-IV-V structure and mostly 12 bar. I can't wait to see what happens when I throw the 18 bar number at them, "They're Red Hot." Heck! If I have to think up there on stage, so do they! ;-)
The more I learn about music, the more respect I have for good musicians, and the more I realize how little I know. Just the ability to memorize a few hundred (or thousand) songs and recall them effortlessly deserves our respect. I might someday make a decent frontman, but our female vocalist states that my backside is my best attribute, and who am I to argue?
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phogi
175 posts
Jan 12, 2010
2:31 PM
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I think being able to tell everybody what chords to play is a GREAT idea.
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jawbone
219 posts
Jan 12, 2010
2:49 PM
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Hey Randy - I had the same thing years ago - but I was the messed up one - I didn't realize Trouble in Mind was 8 bar (almost identical to Keys) so I told the guitar accompianist "12 bar in E" so off he went and there I was 8 bars later making up lyrics on the fly sweating like a pig - sure taught me to think things thru before I step into that mess again!!! But once again - no one was injured!!
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If it ain't got harp - it ain't really blues!!!!
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hvyj
80 posts
Jan 12, 2010
4:58 PM
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It's always preferable to play with musicians who are better than you are. You not only sound better because of the surroundings, your playing will improve because of them if you get do it on a consistent basis (so long as you pay attention).
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Jim Rumbaugh
126 posts
Jan 12, 2010
7:03 PM
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As the "ramrod" of our club.... I gotta know the chords, changes, and styles. You need to learn to call out the changes. How to describe the tune. You gotta learn how to control the gang. It's one of the things I learned at Augusta Blues Week in Elkins, WV in Joe Falisko's performance class.
Learn the 12 bar, 8 bar and 9 bar progressions.
Learn 12 bar with a "quick 4"
Learn minor vs major.
Learn shuffle beat vs straight 4.
Learn to sick up 1,4 or 5 fingers, one beat before the chord changes.
Get those 5 down, and you can do a 2 or 3 hour set.
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Randy G. Blues
135 posts
Jan 12, 2010
10:48 PM
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Jim R.,
I was wanting to take the Masterclass last year because one of the things they covered was working with a band ( and it might have been Joe who co-taught it), subject matter much as you described. Alas, finances were not even close to allowing me to do that (it ends up being about a $900 weekend and I didn't have it).
Never thought of myself as a front man, and never really thought I would end up singing.. Now look at me! But seriously, I do like to sing, and being in front of an audience doesn't bother me, except when I screw up. I can usually cover my mistakes on harp really well (most of the "commoners" think I am a great harp player, but I know I am not). But it is REALLY tough to cover vocal mistakes.
jawbone- it is easy (as I learned) to play more bars then the song calls for. If you try to sing a 12 bar when they are playing an 8 bar, you're screwed! ;-)
A few years back I tried to sing "Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound" with a few folks who had never heard it before. It was such a wreck that when folks were applauding at the end I actually said with a smile, "Oh, please don't applaud. You're only embarrassing yourselves." ;-) But it really was that bad. The band missed every change, and the ones they hit went to the wrong notes.
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Joe_L
2 posts
Jan 13, 2010
1:41 PM
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Hi Randy,
Everybody goes through these times. If you want to have a successful jam experience, a lot of times you will have to stick to the lowest common denominator. Darn near everyone has heard 12 bar Jimmy Reed tunes. People that don't typically play Blues regularly will know that pattern. Those usually work.
As you've already learned, if you do something people aren't familiar with, you're bound to experience a train wreck. If you think an 18 bar tune is going to immediately flop, you shouldn't call it. It makes everyone look bad. Additionally, calling out the fact that everyone looked bad by informing out to the audience a train wreck just happened isn't likely to win a person friends.
It's best to learn from those experiences and not repeat them. It makes everyone in the group look better. The songs will sound better. It'll also be more fun for everyone and isn't that the goal of making music as a group?
Reducing the number of bad experiences for your fellow jam participants will earn you lots of credit. Don't forget, the musical world is a big place. As you pointed out, there are a lot of tunes. What's common to one person is an eclectic tune to another person.
I've been playing the harmonica since 1980. If someone called out "One After 909" or "Blue Jean Blues", I would have to admit I don't know those tunes and just try my best. It may or may not work.
If they aren't on the same page as you musically, maybe it'll be in your best interest to chat with them and find some common ground.
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