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mark555

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  1. mark555

    sharpening up

    By mark555,

    Since my last entry on my blog, the band, Route 62, has had two practices. Last week we added the final two songs to our set list for our forthcoming gig, and now we have the luxury of just polishing them up and bringing them to an acceptable level for public performance. As this is going to be our first gig, I am sure that we will be ok, but not as sharp as we are going to get through playing a few more live situations. The one pain in the neck though is almost having to re learn the earlier songs we put into the set list.
     
    Looking back a few months, it is now totally obvious to me that getting a new drummer was the best move we made to progress the band forward. Since Allen, (the old man of the band) joined us, we have had weekly rehearsals and this has been the thing that has made the difference. The band has moved forward much faster for it. And in fairness to Allen, he did bring with him an expectation that we were serious and it made us raise our game. We now have twenty four numbers which are more or less ready to play, and there is enough experience in the band to overcome any live hiccups.
     
    One thing that is bothering me is that our PA is not fully up to the job of gigs, although it is loud enough, what we do not have is a monitor system. Normally that would not be a problem, we would just go out and buy what we want. However, right now only one of the band is working, one of us being retired and the other two being out of work. So, today's task is to beg a second pa to use as a foldback system. WE have speakers we can use, but not a power amp. It will have to be the next thing on the shopping list when we get some gig money in.
     
    Other events which are band related have been a trip to our very own Peter Green's home, which I have made an entry about on the Family Tree. Peter and I have been friends a few years now, and he has a good working knowledge of wiring pick ups and also setting guitars up. Peter has some beautiful guitars of various brands, all if which are great player's. Anyway, Shaun, our bass player, has a new Precision, which is really a "bitsa" - bits a this and bits of that... It's a lovely white body with rosewood neck, and he needed everything wired in, with the Seymour Duncan bassline pick up it sounds excellent, Peter did a great job. I also changed the strings on the 555 because I wanted a lighter gauge for the style I am playing in the band. It did have 12's on it, but I have gone down to 10's for the string bends. I didn't know how to correctly adjust the truss rod, and Peter taught me how to do it, so now I am ok with that, which is a big help.
     
    Next wednesday is our final rehearsal before the gig, and we are going to do an afternoon and evening to polish everything up. We are almost there now, perhaps those less that perfect songs will just give us that raw edge - as the songs says, "it's only rock and roll, but I like it."
  2. mark555
    As I said in my last blog entry, our band, now officially known as Route 62, is getting close to our first gig, which although is being done for free as a thank you for some very excellent rehearsal facilities which we enjoy without cost, we are expecting some sort of spin off one way or another via a couple of paid gigs. However, on a personal basis, I have not played live for a few years, so it will be good to dip my toe in the water again. Also, it will give us a chance to see which songs work and which ones we are not going to use at other gigs.
     
    Talking of gigs, they local live venues, usually pubs, are closing at rather an alarming rate and there are less and less places to play at and actually get paid, but there is no way I will be playing at any venue where the operator gets money off my guitar playing yet will expect us to play for nothing. There are too many of those venues and too many musicians playing for nothing - which of course means that other bands are less likely to either get a paid gig or have to pay for free, on the promise that if they go down well they will get a paid gig next time. But the question I ask, is will next time ever come? If my gut feeling is right, those who run these none paying gigs will just wait for the next band willing to play for nothing and book them. Sadly there are too many bands willing to believe these people, and also younger kids who are just desperate to get out and play to an audience.
     
    Which, leads me on to something else. Because of the rise of shows like X Factor and American Idol etc, in many cases young people just see bands as four or five kids who dance about with their trousers round their backsides supposedly singing, with not a guitar or any musical instrument in sight. So, when they do get to hear a proper band, they don't know what is good and what is poor, so they accept a lower standard. Now that is not to say that there are not some really good young players out there, far from it. It's just that young people are being denied the opportunity to see and hear them because the likes of the afore mentioned shows have got such a grip on the music industry right now that in England anyway, real talent is being strangled and choked out as it can not get through the system and that was said by no less a luminary than Brian May.
     
    Anyway, I digress. As a band we are meticulous about trying to get the sings we do as good as we possibly can, and we will work on a number until we feel it is good enough to gig. We were not happy that we were progressing the set fast enough, so we planned a rehearsal that would start at 1.30 in the afternoon and go on until the evening, which in this case was 10pm yesterday. The plan was to learn four new songs and and rehearse at least half the set.
     
    The practice was a real success and four numbers duly added, including Before you Accuse Me and I hear you knocking. Easy ones, it is true, but none the less good live numbers. What we found with the other songs though, particularly some we had not rehearsed for a few weeks was that we had forgotten arrangements and had to re learn them, but they were done very quickly as we soon remembered them. I was really pleased that my slide playing, which although I am at the very beginning of, is coming along nicely. Having recently had a really bad cold which has left me with a nasty cough, at 5.30 I was ready for a break and something to eat. So, leaving Pete of the yellow telecaster fame to watch over the guitars and equipment, the rest of us set off for the local fish and chip shop. Very few American's have had really good English fish and chips, and you really are missing a treat here.
     
    On arriving at the fish and chip shop, we placed our order as they deep fried the fish fresh, and the lady asked us if we wanted fish and if so how many. Allen, our drummer asked if he had to catch the fish himself, and the lady asked if he wanted to borrow a rod. To which I could not resist replying that "Allen has his own rod, but please don't ask him to get it out." The two fifty something women behind the counter just burst into laughter and one said to the other that she had walked into that one! We all had a good laugh, went back to the practice hall and enjoyed our food.
     
    The rest of the evening was very productive, and for me there was a nice surprise in store. We actually rehearse in a church which is a nice modern building and away from the chapel part is the recreational hall where we rehearse. Around the building there are other rooms of varying sizes for teaching areas etc, and while we were rehearsing our set, the children of the congregation had come down to an activity of some sort. Among those attending the activity were my twin nephews who are eight years old and their little five year old sister, my niece. These are the children of one of my younger brother who died three years ago this coming April. So, as you can imagine, I take my responsiblities as their uncle very seriously and I love them very much. As they were looking through the door I asked them to come in and they give me huge hugs and kisses, and thought it was great to see uncle marks band! they had never seen a live band before and were enthralled - maybe they might want a guitar one day.
     
    By the time it was ten we were all tired but were very pleased with our long session, it had been all work and had paid off. We will do another one in a couple of weeks time with a normal three hour rehearsal next week. We know that when we start gigging, which will hopefully be soon now, that we will be ready.
     
    Thanks for taking the trouble to read.
  3. mark555

    Plan A, what's plan B?

    By mark555,

    The weekly practices are happening and things are moving forward nicely. However, we found that our success and work ethic of the past few weeks was the result of a really good plan - we had the first fourteen songs pre selected so we knew exactly what we were doing. As the main lead player in the band, I could work on solo parts weeks in advance and be ready when they were needed at rehearsal. It was an excellent method and was working really well. Anticipating the arrival of the day when we would need to have the second set of fourteen or how ever many songs ready to draw from was fast approaching, my calls for a meeting to select the songs fell on deaf ears - very busy band members. Not that no one cared, they just didn't get round to it. This led to the last two practices finishing and then us scratching our heads to think of what songs to practice during the week so we would be ready for the next rehearsal.
     
    The net result of not having a plan in place is that we have selected songs that we would really take as second choice just to fill in. Not that they are poor songs, but you end up with the songs that have been done time and time again by other bands, but in fairness we are going to keep these songs down to a minimum, maybe a total of six in the set. Johnny B Goode may well be one of the greatest rock and roll songs ever to be put onto vinyl, but it is some what over done, and in many cases very badly. in fact, one of the worst versions I have ever heard can be seen on youtube and is done by Chuck Berry himself along with John Lennon and it is truly dreadful.
     
    So the remedy is that I shall be going through my CD collection and looking at quality tracks the match the ability of the players in the band and the vocal range of the singer, who by coincidence is myself. I never wanted to be a singer, but having tried to get a line up of four organised and reliable, the last thing we want is another individual who might not prove as committed to turning up at rehearsal as we are. If we have a good quality just now, it is the fact that we had a good attitude to moving things forward.
     
    Democracy is a fine institution, but I am finding that in the context of a band you can have too much of a good thing, so Peter (other guitar player) and myself have realised that we need to take charge and plan, then give the band the direction it needs. When we have next selection of songs, we will work to plan. the impending first gig is free entry and we are not taking any money because it is a thank you to the church for letting us use the facilities free of charge for rehearsal, so there is not the pressure that there would be from a paid gig where people were paying money either for drinks or what ever. But I do think it is important to put a well thought out set together and set yourself apart in some way from the other bands playing the same circuit.
     
    One really good thing I have to tell you about is that I am now playing a little bit of slide. We have put the Rolling Stones version of Little Red Rooster in the set and even though I say it myself, it sounds excellent. Do something simple and well, and the end result is usually very effective. I am really pleased how well little red rooster has turned out for us because is gives us a blues song to play that not every one else is doing and is instantly recognisable by those of a certain age, and the slide adds something else into the mix.
     
    Another good triumph for us was getting down a good version of "This Flight Tonight". Written by Joni Mitchell and covered by Nazareth (Scottish rock band) in the 70's, it took us a lot of effort to find the right key for the vocals. Again, not a complicated song, but we have found that simple does not mean that it will be easy to put together, particularly to do properly - for us, "nearly" isn't good enough, it has to be right.
     
    I have started to get some posters out to publicise next months gig, if we get two hundred out on the night I will be pleased. The purpose of a free gig is for us to test the waters with the set list we have prepared and get us playing live again. Once I get plan B of the set list finalised, I will be much happier. Selecting the right songs is critical - no use choosing something that is brilliant on record but is not right for you as a musician.
  4. mark555

    Making progress

    By mark555,

    A new year starts and we are back to getting the show on the road. Our new drummer has settled in and is now a part of the band fully. For a couple of months I have been very dubious about his commitment to the band, that he was just testing the waters and seeing how it goes with us - if he liked it he would stay, if not he would clear off and get another gig elsewhere when it came up. So, we are now a permanent set up as a band and I feel that I won't be having to get a new drummer again and bring in a new band member, which can be a real pain.
     
    The key to getting the band up and running will be consistent rehearsal, every week, our plan is to get four new songs down every week until we have thirty. We are half way there now, having had weeks of cancelled practices last year for various reasons, the band had a meeting last night and we have set a date for our first gig, which is Saturday February 26th. We practice at the church the bas player and I belong to, and we get a very nice facility free of charge, so we feel that it would be nice to make our first gig a free concert for them. The venue of the concert will be the larger centre the church has which has a hall within the building which is seperate from the chapel area and seats about four hundred people, it has it's own very nice stage with lights etc, so hopefully, with the right publicity we should get a really good crowd.
     
    I have finally found a role for the 555 in the set list, I tune it to open g and play the Stones songs in the set, which is great. By the way, One of the Christmas gifts I got was a fantastic leather guitar strap - black at the front, red leather at the back, red leather piping down the sides and double red stitching. Really high quality, made in Australia. So, the new strap has been dedicated solely for use with the Heritage - I always believe a really good guitar deserves a really good strap.
     
    So, we are now just finalising the date, we should get the official approval for putting on the gig by the middle of next week, which means we now have to get a name for the band. We were going for 'The Alligators', but it turns out that it is a very common name for bands and there are already two bands that could well be playing the same circuit we intend to get on with the same name. So, we are in the process of trying to come up with something that suits us. One name we have come up with is 'The M62's'. The M62 is the motorway that runs just north of our town and runs all the way from the east coast in Hull to Liverpool on the west coast. As three of us played in the same band some years back and the gigs we played seemed to be in towns along the motorway. In fact we have played in both Hull and Liverpool at either end of the M62, so we thought 'The M62's' has a certain ring about it. The other name we thought of was "Route 62", being a parody of Route 66. We do not have any roads classed as Routes here in England, so it's a bit of humour - the only problem is that I don't think too many people will get the humour.
     
    So there we are, we are now well on our way to gigging. A date has been set and a plan put in place, we just need to go out and find some paying gigs now.
  5. mark555

    getting back on track.

    By mark555,

    This entry the story continues of our band trying to consolidate with a new drummer, Allen, an old hand enjoying retirement from work. You can see pictures on the thread I started entitled Band Practice.
     
    We very sadly had to let our last drummer go. We liked him very much as a person, who ticked the essential box as being a nice guy. He could play well and we all liked him. However, he was the weak link in the chain and was the reason we were not going forward. Alongside a lack of communication from him, Shaun, Pete and I had a three hour meeting at my house to decide what we were going to do and we came to the conclusion that as three nice guys, it was against our nature to want to throw some one out. But we came to the conclusion that if we kept our drummer, we would be no further down the line in six months time.
     
    So, off I went and did the rounds of the notice boards looking for drummers who wanted to play with a band. I phoned Allen, who had put an ad on one of the notice boards looking for a band. I invited him for an audition, and he duly accepted.
     
    The audition was not as we anticipated because we had not played together for a while and we did make the fatal mistake of letting the drummer audition us. We offered him the job of drummer in the band and he was a bit none committal, so we pushed him to give us a yes or no and he said he would turn up at the next practice, the rest of us thought he was going to see how it went and make his mind up after the rehearsal. So, we decided on four numbers to rehearse and went our way. Pete (our other guitarist of the yellow telecaster fame) and I felt very strongly that we would find out at the practice if Allen was in or out, and we said we would have none of this 'you practice and I'll turn up and drum' business. If we got any of that we decided that we would shake hands with him and wish him well, we want a band member with full commitment. At this rehearsal we really took charge and showed our new member what we expected of him and that we were not push overs desperate for a drummer.
     
    The practice went really well and we nailed four new numbers, one of them being one of my favourites, Whiskey in the jar. At the end of the evening we planned four more numbers for next week, one of which is Bad Compnay's 'I can't get enough' which is another one of those songs I just love to play. I really like Mick Ralphs guitar style and I can get into it without any problems. We always sit round the table for fifteen minutes at the end of rehearsal and plan our next practice so that there is no wasted time, we are very business like at rehearsal, although we have a good time and we enjoy one another's company very much, in this band there are no ego's and no arguments, just a good work ethic.
     
    So, for now we have a full line up and and we are gelling well and getting things together. We aim to learn four numbers each week and get on the road in the new year. One thing we have learned from this experience in changing drummers is that if we need to, from now on we will be ruthless in getting rid of the drummer if he does not give us the commitment he has promised us. Three us go back twenty years, and we are aware that it can be hard as an outsider to come into such an established trio of friends, but we do make a great effort to welcome the newcomer and it is up to them to make that commitment.
     
    But here's the question I want to finish this entry on: Why do drummers think that every one else should rehearse and they should just turn up occasionally and take the money, without putting in the rehearsal hours with every one else?
  6. mark555
    After a couple of months our trusty little band of four is now rehearsing once again. Having to deal with the problems life throws up at you can put things in perspective. For example, Pete, our other guitarist, has a daughter who has had surgery to remove a brain tumour, so he has been down in London where his daughter lives to look after her and make sure all has been well. Thankfully the patient has had a tremendous recovery and is doing well.
     
    However, all this time off has slowed progression down and we need to really get things going much faster now, life moves quickly and is there to be grabbed hold of, not pass us by. So, I finally got round to starting to play in open G tuning which just opens things up for playing all those Rolling Stones songs you wanted to do. Brown Sugar, Honky Tonk Woman etc all now roll off the fret board so easily that I wonder why on earth I never did this years ago. But, better late than never.
     
    We have also given ourselves a name, and we go under the snappy title of 'The Alligators' which even though I say it myself, I think it is pretty good.
     
    Last Wednesday we had a short practice and rocked it with Brown Sugar, The Promised Land and Whiskey in the Jar, next weeks numbers for adding to the list are Rosalie and Back in the ussr, so we keeping up the dance rock theme. We don't play to impress other guitarists who just want to let you know they can play better than you, we are in for the fun and giving people a good night out for little expense - how many people work long hours for a low wage and just want a few beers on a weekend and get some entertainment they can enjoy and afford?
     
    Which brings me onto another subject. How many musicians strap on their guitar and just indulge themselves? I have seen many musicians in bands play to themselves - long drawn out solo's that are repetitious and boring, with obscure scales that just have no relevance to the song. Whjat a lot of players do is forget that once they are on stage they are there and are paid to play to and entertain the audience. I have seen some fabulous players just spoil it all by their own self indulgent playing - there's a difference between entertaining and bragging, they don't go together.
     
    I am still knocked over by my Tokai, perhaps I shouldn't be singing the praises of another manufacturer on a dedicated Heritage website, but this is a seriously good guitar, and incredible for the money, definitely one of the best buys I have made as far as a guitar go's. It performs great on the songs I use it for. It causes me to ask the quetion "why spend £thousands on a guitar when you don't need to? But if you DO need to, then that's a different matter.
  7. mark555
    We all love to make live music with our guitars, and it has been a good nine months since the last band I had put together called it a draw when all of a sudden the other guitar player decided that he didn't want to play in a band anymore. But I can respect that, he was after all, coming a long way and was working some long hours. So, we called it a draw and that was that. However, after a few months had gone by, Tony, our drummer, who incidentally had been brought in by Mike, our old guitarist, got in touch and said we ought to carry on. I was very pleased about that and got in touch with my friend Shaun, our bass player, about getting another guitar player into the line up.
     
    I put some ad's out wanting players interested to contact me, and sadly, very few did. I think that there are many people out there who want to play but perhaps are a bit nervous about doing it, and also guys of my age (50) seem to be more content to have their nice guitars and just enjoy them at home. There is nothing wrong with that of course, but we needed a player who had experience of playing live, and the few that contacted us were people who were looking to be in their first band. Anyway, it turned out that Pete, a mate of mine and Shaun, who we had played with before in a previous band in the early nineties, and recently played in a band with Shaun (that had never got off the ground gig wise) was at a loose end and asked Shaun what he was doing musically, and did he know if any one wanted a guitar player?
     
    So When Shaun brought this to my attention, I thought yeah - why not? Pete is an exceptionally nice guy, not exactly a killer player, but solid and easy enough to get along with and will give a proper committment and not let you down. As I like Pete very much I was pleased to have him on board. Pete is pretty minimal when it comes to gear, two guitars, one of which is a USA Telecaster in bright yellow and an electro accoustic. I myself favour guitars with humbuckers in them for the kind of music we are going to play and I am trying to persuade Pete to get a Heritage or something similar. I have recently bought a Tokai Les Paul which is made in Japan - more of that later.
     
    For weeks we tried to get an initial get together, but at Tony our drummer works alternate shift patterns we can only rehearse every other week. This is fine with me as none of us want this to rule our lives. But illness and severe colds and one of the band members daughter having a brain tumour held us back for at least two months. But eventually we managed our initial get together last night.
     
    The oldest guitar in my collection of four is my trusty old strat which I got about '88 brand new. I have never been fanatical about Fender guitars, but they are what a mechanic would define as a good adjustable wrench, able to fit different nuts. And this is what the strat is for me. It evokes no passion in me what so ever, it's a working guitar, nothing else. My next guitar is my Heritage 555 which fulfills the desire I have had since I was fifteen for a high quality semi - few 335's are even in the same ball park as this guitar, it is in mint condition and I intend for it to stay that way. But recently I have bought a stunning Japanese Tokai copy of a 59 les paul standard. Right now I can not afford a 150, I refuse to buy a modern day Gibson as they are just too over priced and not worth the money. I am pleased to say that the tokai performed fantasticly well, sounded superb and is a match, if not better than the current les paul standards out there in the shops. Tokai's that sell for the same money as Gibson's just leave them hanging on the shop wall, mine was £1000 less than a Les Paul standard and is better - that's the Japanese for you, they take what you make and make a better version of it for less money. These are guitars not only for players on a budget like myself, but for real players who are not tied to having a lifestyle brand guitar just for the sake of it.
     
    The rehearsal went well, the best number we did was the old Thin Lizzy version of the traditional Irish folk song "Whisky In The Jar". The three we want down next are All Right Now, I Can't Get Enough and Rosalie, shouldn't be too hard at all, but I'll bet we get a few more down as well next time.
     
    So now I have three great guitars, nowhere near as many as some here, but they all do an individual job. The next purchase for me is change of amp. However you look at it, the Fender amps they make these days are just not built to last. My ideal amp will be made by a local company called 'Matamp'. Completely hand wired point to point amps, these are as good as anything on the market. A small producer of amps that exports mos of its production the the states, but Andy Powell of Wishbone Ash uses them and they sound fantastic live - they will also last for ever.
     
    But for now, it is a case of getting the show on the road. Watch this space.....
  8. mark555

    Onwards and upwards.

    By mark555,

    With over thirty gigs played now, we all have a nice share of the earnings. So far I have been able to d home improvements, buy two more guitars, and various bits and bats with the money I earned from playing.
     
    Just now I am concentrating on buying what I need rather than what I want. As I want what I need, it's almost an oxymoron, but I would still rather buy a Gretsch or PRS than what I am currently buying. BUT.... sound reasoning is ruling the heart.
     
    I have been wanting a monitor of my own to add to our PA, which is owned by our other guitarist, and have been on the lookout. Last week I was down in the town of Doncaster with my work when I visited Electromusic, a family run business I have bought this and that from over the years, but never anything big - mainly because when I have money they don't have what I want, and when they do, I have no spare funds. But as I was looking in their PA department I came across a pair of Peavey monitors they just wanted to clear. Used but in good condition I bought them at a ridiculously low price and took them to rehearsal with me on Saturday to try out. I am pleased to say they do a great job for me, and they help the other guys as we now have four monitors instead of two.
     
    The other thing I have been wanting is a second amp as a back up. As we are playing so many gigs now, I don't want to be without an amp if one of them breaks down. I have looked at many amps, the one I wanted was just too expensive for me to justify, although maybe in a year or two I might get one - Fender Vibroluxe. I looked at several amps but was discarding an amp I have seen lots of times until I tried a new one out the other day. this was a Peavey Classic 30. I was very impressed with the tones and thought that it would be a great amp to use. So, I started looking for a used one and found out our fellow forum member Bob Meyrick had one to sell, so tonight we did a deal and I will collect it tomorrow.
     
    Band continues to make good progress, but dealing with some of the people who book acts can often prove difficult as they are either brilliant or totally bad to deal with. As usual it is myself who ends up chasing the bookings and I often wish that the others would do more but they don't and there is nothing I can do about that. I am not going to make an issue out of it because it will only cause bad feelings in the band. I am trying to get new venues in other towns and cities where we do not play at the minute. My logic is that if I can get 20 venues that will book us two or three times a year we will have all the bookings we want. Our mist successful hit so far is one venue that books us four times a year, and we go down pretty well there. It's a pub called The Boot and Shoe. We get a good crowd there and enjoy playing to them as there are always a good few nice looking women getting up to dance! Some of them are very nice looking!
     
    So that's it now, all the things I have added to my gear are essentials, from now on I can just use the money for treating myself!
     
    Thanks for reading.
  9. mark555
    Another Saturday and it's band practice - after a week of being up at 5.15 every day and lucky if I am home for 6.30 every evening, Thursday was horrendous. The motorway had been shut at a key point where two motorways merged and guess where I was. It took me three and a half hours to drive the 52 miles home from our offices.
     
    But, other good hings have happened within our family, my wife, Helen has secured a new job at a practice in the area after putting with dreadful treatment from the husband and wife team of doctors who have taken over the surgery where she has worked happily for thirteen years. She is very highly qualified in her nursing and was snapped up after a half hour interview. The people at the surgery where she is going to work could not be more different and the pay increase will be significant. On top of that, all our children are making their way in the world and we have a beautiful granddaughter who is a delight to us.
     
    As we were not rehearsing last week because I had too much to do at home, I took my Strat and Tokai (Les Paul) to the tech to get them adjusted and repaired. The strat trem block thread had completely gone rendering it useless, (it's twenty six years old and I have had it from new) the stop bar posts in the Tokai had lost their ability to hold the posts upright. It turns out that they were made of aluminium and not up to the job they were made to do. So, new parts were engineered and fitted, the trem block was drilled and a brass sleeve inserted and threaded. I also had some minor adjustments made, a set up etc on both guitars. If you read my last blog entry, you will recall I mentioned a guitar player who had made his own strat and the bass players precision bass. I took my guitars to him last Saturday lunchtime and they were both ready for me the following afternoon. They were superbly done and are a joy to play. While I was at the guy's (Dave) house, he showed me some of the other guitars he has made and I am seriously considering having him build a Tele for me. He has made a pink Strat that would rival Kuz's Kern Tele, with a stunning flame neck. He even winds the pick ups himself and builds them from scratch, they sound excellent.
     
    So, against a backdrop of good things happening, I was really up for practice today.
     
    Today we were going to learn Sunshine of Your Love and Lola, the old Kinks hit. Well, wouldn't you know it, that sometimes it's the easy songs that just won't work, and we couldn't make make Lola work for love nor money and after ten minutes scrapped it. So, on to Sunshine of your Love, which went so well it was great to play. We were so pleased with it, out of the blue I said wouldn't it be great to do Crossroads? Right away, Dave, our other guitar player went into the intro, we all hit it immediately and played a stonking version, we were all on a real high with it, we could not believe how well it went. There are not many bands with Crossroads in their set, but it's in our now, and we are very proud of how we play it. So, two really good Cream numbers in our set, so we just rehearsed some songs we had messed around with in the preceding practices. Those of you from the States will very probably never have heard of Cliff Richard, but he was Britain's first true rock and roll star and had a huge hit with a song called "Move it", which still stands up today, it is a terrific number. We revisited it and it was perfect. It was recorded with a Strat playing lead and I nailed the song perfectly. On saying that, it's not too hard to play, but you do need a specific "touch" to get it right. We also ran through a few of our other numbers to keep them fresh, one of our own favourites is Riot in Cell Block Number 9, but we play it with somewhat of a kick compared to how the original version was recorded by The Robins way back in the day. Look for Doctor Feelgood on youtube and watch their version of it.
     
    So today we are all really pleased with how things are going and very soon it will be time to start looking for gigs. The city of Sheffield is thirty miles south of here and has a lot of venues, so maybe we will be playing down there. We will soon be choosing two sets to play from our list, and polishing them until they are at a high standard.
     
    Meanwhile, Wishbone Ash are playing in our town in October, tickets will be bought!!
     
    To all of you who take the time to read my blog, thank you for doing so, and a thank you for the kind comments which are often posted, I still haven't worked out why I can not replay to them in the comments box.
     
    Once again, thanks for reading.
  10. mark555

    Almost ready.

    By mark555,

    We finally gave our band a name! We have opted for "Route 62" which is a spoof on Route 66. The M62 motorway runs from the east coast to the west coast and passes just north of my home town by about three miles or so. It is actually Englands busiest motorway. So, as we travel along it on a regular basis, we thought why not? the last band Shaun and I were is was given this name but it didn't get off the ground.
     
    I think (and this is only my personal opinion) that so many bands start rehearsing all the stuff that can at times take for ever to get done and no momentum is gained. Once again we have rehearsed songs which although simple are very effective, some more so than I thought would be. This week they were very easy, so we got five in. On saying that though, sometimes the ones you think will be easy end up throwing a spanner in the works. Terry, our excellent drummer, was having quite the time sorting out the beat to Wonderful tonight, which is our obligatory end of dance "bum squeezer". How ever, we came up with a good version of it and we were all pleased. As our first gig is a dance, we have put a lot of sings in that folks can dance to, including some good old fashioned rock and roll, my personal favourite being the old JOnhhy Kidd and the Pirates number, "I'll never get over you". One number I really like that we put in as an extra that took us no more than two goes to nail was "Knife and Fork", which is an old Rockpile number, really good.
     
    One thing we now need to do is get some pictures taken of us. We have started a facebook page just last night, so it is really early days on that. Our bass players son is really good with computer stuff so he is going to help us build a web site, I don't know how long it will be before we get it up and running, but sooner rather than later. We have not looked for gigs yet, but we have two to play so far. One on April 26th and another in May.
     
    We've now had four rehearsals and we have 19 songs in the bag, next week will be our last practice before our first booking, we have worked out that we will have enough material for two forty minute sets. I myself would rather play one longer set but the event organizers want two, so two it will be. Next week the main object will be to run through our set and just add a couple more.
     
    I now have my strat back from my son, he has neglected to wipe the strings clean after using it so the first thing I will do is put new strings on.
     
    We are getting very tight now, which is great, and we are getting to know each other really well "musically", if you know what I mean.
     
    Thanks for reading.
  11. mark555
    OK, the line up is complete and there are no more auditions to be held. We made our choice and we are sticking to our guns. And, a good choice it has turned out to be. This evening I wanted to call Simon, the guy who came last week, but I can not for the life in me find his telephone number, and looking back it seems that all the communication we had prior to the audition was through a site for musicians looking to find bands etc. So, as much as I would have preferred to have spoken to Simon personally because i feel it is good manners, I have had to send him a message thanking him for coming but explaining that we had chosen some one else. I told him that not being selected was not a reflection on his playing and on another week we may well have asked him to join. So, there we are.
     
    During the week we bought an old Peavy 600watt pa amp, it only cost £100 so we thought why not take a punt on it? It turns out it is rather loud! But, it will give us a lot of headroom to work with for the vocals, the quieter singers will be giving enough volume to get their voices heard. The down side is that I need to buy a couple of new mic cables and possibly a new mic. I also treated myself to a really well made used mic stand in the week, which payed dividends at rehearsal today.
     
    Today was our first rehearsal and the objective was to get at least four numbers down and play them at a level we could gig them. We worked on the following songs: Down at the Doctors and Back in The Night(Doctor Feelgood) Whiskey in The Jar (Thin Lizzy) I Hear You Knocking (Dave Edmunds). We really did work those numbers and got them how we wanted them, I am pleased to say that if we had to play an audition and choose four numbers, we could play those to a gigging standard. We have chosen four more for next week. We're aiming for thirty numbers to give us a full set. Just right now in the region where we would look to get gigs from, there are loads of blues bands, all sorts of youngsters playing what ever it is they do, but we all think that there is a big gap for what we want to do, which is Rock with a blues feel with two lead guitar players. Hopefully we will plug that gap.
     
    We rehearse at the church Shaun and I used to attend before we moved to different towns, as it is easy to get to and free to us as Shaun and I are still active within our faith. I only mention this because it is relevent to the fact that our new guitar player Dave, is not at all religeous and he is having a hard time remembering not to swear! It's quite funny really, we have told him that we will get a swear box and fine him every time he comes out with something he shouldn't. But he is trying, and today he didn't go off the grounds for a smoke, I think he'd had one on the way to rehearsal.
     
    Our first gig has already been cancelled, the party organisers think that every one would just prefer to sit and talk, and they have a bit of a disco - what a bad choice, there is no substitute for a live band, but try telling that to the masses who don't appreciate what real music is - LIVE!
     
    As promised last week, here are a couple of pictures. I am the guy with the Sunburst single cut. Dave is the guy with the white single cut, and my life long friend and true brother Shaun is holding his P bass which he bought in 1977 when we went to London to buy it. Terry is our Drummer,a really powerful player.
     
    Well, I can't post any pictures, so here's a link instead.
     
    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152070238653212&set=pcb.10152070239728212&type=1&theater
     
    Thanks for reading,
    Mark.
  12. mark555
    After the fantastic success of last week when Shaun and I found Terry the drummer, we were eager to start looking for the next band member, so we started scouring the usual web sites where hopefully we could find a few likely candidates for joining us. We were looking for a vocalist and guitar player, or if needs be, one guy who could do both.
     
    During the week I had contacted one or two more people who seemed to fit the bill and we invited a guy to come for audition. I asked many questions of him, but missed the really obvious one, which was "what experience do you have?". I don't know why I didn't ask this question, from the way he was talking, I just took it for granted - I won't make that mistake again. He told me he had really good gear, which is important because good gear makes for good tone. So, a time was arranged and we all turned up.
     
    Our guest was an extremely nice guy, he came complete with Telecaster and what he said was a Vox Valve amp. Now I have owned a Vox AC30 and I know what the sound like and what they look like, and this certainly was not an AC30 valve amp. I can tell a valve (tube) amp as soon as I hear it and this was not what he said it was. Perhaps he was inexperienced in the amp market, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt and say that perhaps he wasn't as knowledgeable as he needed to be when he bought it.
     
    We had e mailed him some very easy songs to get to grips with that he could sing and play at the audition, twelve bar stomps etc, the most complex song he had to learn was whiskey in the jar, chords only.
     
    Well, we started playing and it just was not working at all. Last week, when Terry joined us, it was Bang! Off we went and it came together instantly. This week, we knew from the word go that it was not going to work. However, the guy had turned up, and he deserved the courtesy of being given a chance, But half an hour later I had lost the will to live and our drummer was just desperate to go home. Shaun of course, as relaxed and laid back as ever, was just kicking the bass lines out, but we both shook our heads when we looked at each other.
     
    So here's today's lesson. There are loads of bedroom players who really think they can play and sing because that's all they do, but put them in with a full band, and the noise of it hits them and they are out of their depth. Our guest couldn't hold a tune and his timing was truly terrible, he had no strength in his voice and generally was terrible. After an hour (we were very generous) we cut it short and having already told him that we wouldn't make a decision there and then, we thanked him for coming and helped him pack his gear away. We then all agreed that I wold give him a call to thank him for coming but tell him that we needed some one with band experience and playing live.
     
    I really felt that it would only be good manners to actually speak to him, so I phoned him only to get his answer phone, so I left a nice message and e mailed him. he replied, saying that he had enjoyed himself but did find that he was not comfortable with the genre we play. So, there we are, all nice and polite and done properly.
     
    Next week we are auditioning a guitar player who says he has a lot of live experience and claims to be a good player. If he is good, that's great. But we will give him one hour and then hopefully audition another player i am trying to contact. Lets see what happens. Thanks for reading.
  13. mark555

    nothing's for ever....

    By mark555,

    Since my last entry, events just seem to have conspired against us. My dear friend and fellow guitarist in the band, Peter, is having tests because he thinks his cancer has come back. On top of that, he and his wife have gone off to their place in the south of France for an indefinite period of time, I think that he just needs to get some peace and quiet and get away from it all. I sincerely hope that he is ok, I have a huge amount of respect for Pete and I am sure that he has good reason for going away as he was so committed to the band. The first thing I knew about it was when I received an airmail letter from him explaining his situation and that he was therefore resigning from the band. Well, friendship counts for a lot, and I wrote back and said as far as I was concerned I would wait for him to come home and see what happens then.
     
    In the meantime, we had an e mail from our new singer saying that he could no longer be our singer because his mother had had a fall and damaged her hip. Personally, I feel he was just another time waster who didn't want to fund his own gear.
     
    The next thing that happened was that our drummer, Allan, decided that he had put too much energy into the band and now it was falling apart he would look elsewhere for a gig. To be honest, he is a fine drummer and good guy, I could understand his point of view. There was no falling out, just decisions to see what else is about. Allan said if he found anything and they want another guitar player he would recommend me...
     
    So, that just leaves me and Shaun, who have played together for years. For now, we are having a rest from things and just trying to work out our next move. Maybe losing the singer was a pain in the neck, but Pete pulling out was such a blow, he was such an integral part of the band and his absence was just too much to overcome. He is an incredibly nice guy. Shaun and I are putting everything on hold until Pete comes home, in this case it's more than about who is and is not in a band, it's about friendship and genuine care for each other. When Pete comes home, we will get together and see where we are all up to, but for now, it seems that all we can do is put it down.
     
    It has been a hard journey putting this band together, I don't know why it should have been so. the chemistry between the four musicians was great, both as players and people. In the end, it was the struggle to find a committed vocalist that was just too much, there just did't seem to be any one out there available who was really wanting to give it a go. The sad thing is, that although there are far better musicians than myself out there, our band could have done quite well and it is sad to have to lay it to rest. On the other side of the coin, Shaun and I are quite happy to get a rest from all the effort of trying to make it work. I am sure that in the not too distant future we will be making new plans. It's been a great journey and friendships have been made along the way that will last.
     
    Thanks for reading,
    Mark.
  14. mark555

    nothing's for ever....

    By mark555,

    Since my last entry, events just seem to have conspired against us. My dear friend and fellow guitarist in the band, Peter, is having tests because he thinks his cancer has come back. On top of that, he and his wife have gone off to their place in the south of France for an indefinite period of time, I think that he just needs to get some peace and quiet and get away from it all. I sincerely hope that he is ok, I have a huge amount of respect for Pete and I am sure that he has good reason for going away as he was so committed to the band. The first thing I knew about it was when I received an airmail letter from him explaining his situation and that he was therefore resigning from the band. Well, friendship counts for a lot, and I wrote back and said as far as I was concerned I would wait for him to come home and see what happens then.
     
    In the meantime, we had an e mail from our new singer saying that he could no longer be our singer because his mother had had a fall and damaged her hip. Personally, I feel he was just another time waster who didn't want to fund his own gear.
     
    The next thing that happened was that our drummer, Allan, decided that he had put too much energy into the band and now it was falling apart he would look elsewhere for a gig. To be honest, he is a fine drummer and good guy, I could understand his point of view. There was no falling out, just decisions to see what else is about. Allan said if he found anything and they want another guitar player he would recommend me...
     
    So, that just leaves me and Shaun, who have played together for years. For now, we are having a rest from things and just trying to work out our next move. Maybe losing the singer was a pain in the neck, but Pete pulling out was such a blow, he was such an integral part of the band and his absence was just too much to overcome. He is an incredibly nice guy. Shaun and I are putting everything on hold until Pete comes home, in this case it's more than about who is and is not in a band, it's about friendship and genuine care for each other. When Pete comes home, we will get together and see where we are all up to, but for now, it seems that all we can do is put it down.
     
    It has been a hard journey putting this band together, I don't know why it should have been so. the chemistry between the four musicians was great, both as players and people. In the end, it was the struggle to find a committed vocalist that was just too much, there just did't seem to be any one out there available who was really wanting to give it a go. The sad thing is, that although there are far better musicians than myself out there, our band could have done quite well and it is sad to have to lay it to rest. On the other side of the coin, Shaun and I are quite happy to get a rest from all the effort of trying to make it work. I am sure that in the not too distant future we will be making new plans. It's been a great journey and friendships have been made along the way that will last.
     
    Thanks for reading,
    Mark.
  15. mark555

    nothing's for ever....

    By mark555,

    Since my last entry, events just seem to have conspired against us. My dear friend and fellow guitarist in the band, Peter, is having tests because he thinks his cancer has come back. On top of that, he and his wife have gone off to their place in the south of France for an indefinite period of time, I think that he just needs to get some peace and quiet and get away from it all. I sincerely hope that he is ok, I have a huge amount of respect for Pete and I am sure that he has good reason for going away as he was so committed to the band. The first thing I knew about it was when I received an airmail letter from him explaining his situation and that he was therefore resigning from the band. Well, friendship counts for a lot, and I wrote back and said as far as I was concerned I would wait for him to come home and see what happens then.
     
    In the meantime, we had an e mail from our new singer saying that he could no longer be our singer because his mother had had a fall and damaged her hip. Personally, I feel he was just another time waster who didn't want to fund his own gear.
     
    The next thing that happened was that our drummer, Allan, decided that he had put too much energy into the band and now it was falling apart he would look elsewhere for a gig. To be honest, he is a fine drummer and good guy, I could understand his point of view. There was no falling out, just decisions to see what else is about. Allan said if he found anything and they want another guitar player he would recommend me...
     
    So, that just leaves me and Shaun, who have played together for years. For now, we are having a rest from things and just trying to work out our next move. Maybe losing the singer was a pain in the neck, but Pete pulling out was such a blow, he was such an integral part of the band and his absence was just too much to overcome. He is an incredibly nice guy. Shaun and I are putting everything on hold until Pete comes home, in this case it's more than about who is and is not in a band, it's about friendship and genuine care for each other. When Pete comes home, we will get together and see where we are all up to, but for now, it seems that all we can do is put it down.
     
    It has been a hard journey putting this band together, I don't know why it should have been so. the chemistry between the four musicians was great, both as players and people. In the end, it was the struggle to find a committed vocalist that was just too much, there just did't seem to be any one out there available who was really wanting to give it a go. The sad thing is, that although there are far better musicians than myself out there, our band could have done quite well and it is sad to have to lay it to rest. On the other side of the coin, Shaun and I are quite happy to get a rest from all the effort of trying to make it work. I am sure that in the not too distant future we will be making new plans. It's been a great journey and friendships have been made along the way that will last.
     
    Thanks for reading,
    Mark.
  16. mark555

    Out of the blue....

    By mark555,

    Just when I was beginning to wonder how long I could hold this band together, as we had recently lost our very new singer, out of the blue I get an e mail from a guy about seven miles from me asking if we are still looking for a singer. Well, of course I e mailed back and said yes, with my telephone number. I am careful about giving my phone number away on the internet, you don't know who is taking it down with some nefarious thought process going on in their heads.
     
    So, I spoke with the guy, who is called Chris, and we had a good chat. By now I am straight to the point, although always well mannered and pleasant. I explained that we had recently had a singer who was told exactly what was required and then when it came to the crunch had just wasted a lot of our time. Chris explained that he was singing in a band but there were alcohol issues with the drummer and other band members and that he was fed up with them, and was looking to get involved with a decent set of guys. I explained that we were not professional players, but that we have a professional attitude and we take practices very seriously and do not mess about and weedle away on our guitars, because we do that at home. I also made it very clear about the situation with him needing to buy a pa if he was to join us, and if he wasn't then there was no point going beyond the phone call. "Not a problem" he said, so we arranged an audition for the coming Wednesday, which was this last week.
     
    Peter, our other guitarist of the yellow telecaster fame, has been away at his house in France and only contactable by letter, so communication has been slow and I did not want to audition a singer without him there. For two reasons really, one was respect for him, and secondly he is a very wise individual when it comes to sussing people out, but as Alan,our drummer said, we need to strike while the iron is hot as there are a lot of bands out there looking for singers. So, Shaun (bass) Alan (drums) and myself decided to hold the audition ourselves as three of us would have to be in agreement anyway.
     
    Chris turned up on time, which is always a good sign, and had made an effort to at l;east try and get some of the songs he had not heard in his head and have a go at any of the fourteen songs we sent him. A very nice individual of 53 years old, he has been fronting a band for the last six years. We kicked off with my favourite Bad Company song 'I can't get enough' and he did well, we also did Alright Now, whiskey in the Jar and a fair few others. Chris did struggle with some of the keys we played in, which were actually geared up to myself, but on those songs he was comfortable with he was ok. He wasn't the best and not the worst, but definitely a guy we felt we could work with, so after the audition was through, (I had already informed him that we would not be telling him on the night) Alan, Shaun and myself stayed behind for twenty minutes and talked about it. The upshot was that we decided to go with him and that I would contact Pete and let him know of our decision.
     
    It has surprised me just how hard it has been to find singers, so we didn't want to pass up on a guy who could take on the role.
     
    The next day I got a call from Pete, just back from France and getting in touch. I explained what we had done and he was very supportive and said that we had done the right thing. I have known Pete for a long time now and I have a lot of respect for him, and explained that I was concerned about going ahead without him being there, but I needn't have worried. A true gent, he was just thrilled that we had a singer on board.
     
    So now all we have to do is get things going, and hopefully I will be soon telling you all about playing some live gigs.
     
    Thanks for reading, and best to all,
    Mark.
  17. mark555

    Now we are five!

    By mark555,

    Our quest for a singer has ended. The last guy who came to audition was not very good at all, and he left somewhat dejected looking. However, after putting posters up in every guitar shop and web site we could find advertising for a singer, we finally found the right guy. I must say though, that very very few singers got in touch with us, and I think that is because here in England the live scene is not very healthy for bands like ours. In years gone by, we used to have what we called Working Men's clubs. These were like a pub, but were for the working class man where he could get cheap beer and have a good night out. Most of these clubs had a concert room and would have entertainment on several nights a week, from comediens to singers, and bands. Some of the bigger clubs would house up to a thousand people in the concert room, but those size clubs were few and far between. However, they did provide a very fertile ground for talent to develop. But sadly, they have all but disappeared from the scene and along with their disappearence, many would be singers and bands have gone. Their heyday was the late sixties and early seventies. But, I digress.
     
    So, to carry on. Our new singer came to audition, a 29 year old police officer called Arron, and he can sing rather well! He also likes our stuff and sang some great songs such as Alright Now, and a few others we had asked him to. I knew right away he was the one we wanted, but we had agreed that we would give it a couple of days so we could all be sure we wanted to offer him the gig. So, after wednesday's get together, and the singing was done, we asked a few questions about his willingness to bring a decent qulaity (but not mega big) PA to the band, because after all, as I have said before, we as musicians have laid out a lot of money in amps and guitars, and we can not afford to subsidise him. He is very happy to bring his own gear to the party so now he needs to get a pa and decent mic. a 500watt pa should suffice as the two guitarists - myself and Pete, use 40watt valve amps and those are ample, so he needs real clarity.
     
    Arron is also a really nice and friendly guy, which suits us as there are no ego's in this band, just a a bunch of really good friends. On top of that, he's quite a handsome lad, which helps! So, now onwards and upwards, I think we now have the basis for a good line up. And, although I say it myself, on Wednesday my playing was cooking! As Pete of the yellow telecaster fame said, I was in the groove - it's great just to be able to concentrate on playing! Watch this space to see what happens next, and thanks for reading.
  18. mark555
    So here we are, with a band up and running that can play some half decent songs, we have a superb practice facility which is free to use and the two guitarists and bass player duly spend our spare time practicing at home so we can at least get things done at rehearsals. We are fortunate, our drummer is a guy we get on really well with and has constructive input and good timing, knows his job and does it well.
     
    But why do drummers seem to think that they can just turn up at a few practices and expect the other musicians to practice? I really like our drummer, he is a sound guy, just the man for the job. It is difficult to get together on a weekly basis because he works shifts, so we have to look at it every fortnight. But just now it seems like it is getting harder and harder to get the drummer to practice, we have all said we will work round him. He works evenings, no problem, we will practice in the morning for a few hours.
     
    I do not believe that the band is the be all and end all, our other guitar player had to take a lot of time out as his daughter recently had an operation to remove a brain tumour, so we were behind him 110%, and thankfully all went well. But where is the commitment these days? If you are going to join a band, you know that it involves practice. Why do drummers think that every one else can practice and they can just turn up and put the beat down??
     
    A band needs to be a tight, unified unit that plays spot on together. It's not a jam night or an open mike night, paid gigs expect a lot, and that takes effort.
  19. mark555

    Getting re organised

    By mark555,

    It's been a while since I last updated my blog here on the HOC, Been meaning to, but I have been waiting until some developments came along so I had something more to write about.
     
    Our band of four more was seeming to grind to a halt this year, Pete's daughter's brain tumour surgery took him out of action for two months, then he ended up in France picking grapes for three weeks, came back insect bitten but sun tanned and having a good time. He has a house of some description down in France and was getting it ready to shut down for the winter and decided to stay around a bit. Our drummer, Tony, works shifts and and has had all sorts of reasons why he can't practice, the main one lately being that he has hurt his shoulder.
     
    But, Shaun our bass player, Pete and I decided that something needed to happen to progress this along as we feel that we have a fair bit of potential for a half way decent band, so we sat down in my living room and had a three hour meeting and chat about what was holding us back. We knew already that it had been the lack of band practices and we knew why, but now were facing a more permanent situation because of our drummers lack of availability. The common consensus was that if we stayed with our present drummer we would be no further along in six months time than we are now. AS three very nice guys, we do not like the idea of kicking some one out, it seems to be against our nature, but what is in effect happening is that we can not achieve our goals because one of the four of us seems to take it or leave it. Coupled with a lack of communication because he doesn't like e mail, which makes getting messages to him somewhat awkward because he doesn't answer his phone much either.
     
    So, the inevitable decision was that we find a replacement drummer. Shaun and I had played in the past with a really good rock drummer called Jonathan and we thought we would invite him along as we felt that he would slot right in, however he never returned any messages so we have had to look elsewhere and we are not prepared to hang around.
     
    The next step was a trip to the local musical instrument stores where there were ads placed from people looking to connect with other musicians, I found three, one of which was a guy called Alan who seemed to be a good fit for us, and last night I called him up and had a chat for fifteen minutes with him and the upshot is that next wednesday night he is coming for a session with us and a chat to see if we all like each other. Hopefully things will work out, then if they do we shall have to find a nice way of letting our drummer go. I am not one for unpleasantness.
     
    On a different note, Shaun and I went to see Wishbone Ash last week, Which is Andy Powell and three other musicians, but Andy Powell has been the one member of the band that has evolved to it's present stage, which is an extremely competent band with excellent musicians forming the line up. The gig was excellent, the sound, everything was top notch. For those of you who are not aware of Wishbone Ash and their brand of music, it is very much twin lead guitar and it would be fair to say that they are more or less the originators of that style. They were incredibly tight and not a note out of place. Playing over 150 gigs a year they should be. But the venue was a 550 capacity building, no seats. What made me really sad was that here was a band with a tremendous pedigree, unsurpassed ability and a back catalogue of great music, playing to 500 people, while the dross on the X factor (UK talent show) America's got talent etc all end up touring the stadiums, and even those who appear on these shows with the audacity to call them selves a band, don't have a guitar between them, and very little talent. Yet bands such a Wishbone Ash (and others like them) not one only play to a very high standard, they write their own material.
     
    I can only say that mediocrity rises to the top and the mass markets are fed a musical diet of straw.
  20. mark555
    It's 5pm here in very sunny Yorkshire, which as you may or may not know is the centre of the universe as we know it. And as I have been tidying the house for when she who must be obeyed arrives home from the surgery, I have been thinking about various guitar related stuff.
     
    Since the arrival of my brand spanking new Tokai Les Paul, which I thoroughly believe to be better than the current Les Paul Standards I see in the shop, I haven't been able to put it down, and as a result, my playing is sharpening up, something which I am very pleased about. For Years I have had a book in my chest of drawers called Jam with Thin Lizzy, Eight songs tabbed for total accuracy plus a CD to play along to. Well, I didn't need the tabs to play Rosalie, but sometimes I use them like a road map, you know, look at which road I need to be on to get to where ever I am going, then just pick on reference points. So, this last week I have been learning 'Don't Believe a Word' which was about 1975 or 76, and one of my all time favourites.
     
    I was playing what my ears were telling me what's right, but the tab was saying I should be playing the second half of the lead solo two frets up, and that just wasn't working. So, just how are accurate are these books and stuff we can download?
     
    I am all for anything that helps us play better, but I think the more we can do for ourselves, the more accurate our own judgement becomes. I now have this solo and the rest of the song down spot on, and it ain't what the book tells me to play.
     
    Happy playing to all......
  21. mark555

    when I was a lad

    By mark555,

    I have been having a sort out lately of some stuff in the house and came across some old pictures which I had lost track of a long time ago. Among them was this picture of my first band. We were a trio, and it is a funny story how we got this band going. I met Shaun and Louis, two brothers, when they moved to Wakefield from Belfast because of the 'troubles' as they are known over there. Originally from Rochdale, Lancashire, just over the pennines from me. I hit it off well with these two friendly lads, and I said to Shaun one day, Do you fancy being in a band? His reply was that he could not play any instruments. Well, I was pretty much a lousy guitar player who only knew a few chords and I didn't even have an electric guitar, just a classical one my parents had decided I was going to have if I was to have a guitar - I never did learn the classical guitar, but wish I had. Anyway, I digress.
     
    So I said to Shaun that I couldn't play much either, but if we got some gear we could practice and form a band.
     
    I eventually got a really cheap and nasty Japanese copy of a Les Paul custom with the 'Sumbro' Brand on the top of the headstock. The pick ups were horrendous, but in the days of fuzz boxes etc you could get this horrendous distortion which at least gave you some sort of rock sound. The bands we were listening to at this time were British rock bands, Status Quo being our favourite along with Thin Lizzy and UFO. Anyway, One day I was in Huddersfield ;looking at a music shop when I saw a bass guitar for £20. It was a real cheap and nasty Egmond, a Dutch brand which was along the lines of the Gibson semi acoustic basses. So Shaun got that as a starter to practice on.
     
    I had by now been playing through a Vox AC30 top boost with a Gibson Slope sided 2X12 cab with jensen speakers, and before long had traded up to a used Marshall Plexiglass 100 watt head - if only I had that am now. Back then in the 70's, the rage was for guitarists to have the new solid state transistorised amps and you could get these fantastic valve heads really cheap, especially if they looked a bit tatty. But the general opinion was that you could spill a pint of guiness down the inside of a Marshall and it wouldn't hurt it.
     
    Louis, Shaun's brother, decided he wanted a go at playing drums, so we thought why not? He found a Premier Kit used for £125 and an older friend of ours who was the best drummer in town, took us to see if it was any good. It turned out to be ideal for a sixteen year old and it was duly bought, Louis started lessons and became quite proficient as his teacher was the above mentioned guy. So, there we were with the basis of a band but other than Louis with his premier kit, the other two of us had poor guitars. Shaun had been saving hard and eventually we went off to London for the day with his mum and dad and came back with a sunburst Fender Precision, so he was now up and running on a serious guitar. Not too long afterwards I got my first Gibson, a used SG DeLuxe for £175 from JSG in Bingley, the best guitar shop around at that time - sadly it no longer exists. So now we were away, all of us up and ready. We rehearsed as and when we could get lifts to the local church hall we used and got a few gigs. The most adventurous song we played was the Wishbone Ash number 'Blowin' Free' - quite adventurous for a bunch of young kids, but we made a passable version of it. Other numbers included 'Back in the Night' by Doctor Feelgood and 'In My Chair' by Status Quo. Our early gigs were three quarter of an hour slots at dances etc.
     
    Today I still play in a band with Shaun, who is now bald... But then again, I am overweight... we still practice in that very same church hall we played our first gigs. Sadly, Louis gave up on the drums, he would have been excellent, he had great timing and was very solid, I wish he had carried on as he is a great friend to this day and I would love to be in a band with him. The SG Deluxe went a long time ago and was eventually replaced for a short period by a Tokai Telecaster, which I traded for an SG Standard.
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