The Death Of Metal

Well, I think that's it for my foray into metal. It simply kills my right forearm to play it right now, which is something that came out of left field. I did something completely out of character and actually blew off rehearsal on Sunday. I'm not saying I'll never revisit metal for a laugh, but it had actually started affecting my ability strum and play less agressive stuff! Not happy about that.

So, I have two possibilities in the offing right now. One was from 'Join My Band' and the other was from Gumtree. I was subscribed to Gumtree a long time before I even thought about starting The Project, but had unsubscribed. Someone in my office has been looking for a new flat and reminded me that it's a decent resource. I'd pretty much written off 'Join My Band' as it seemed like most of the membership were in their teens.

I can't honestly tell whether either prospect is a great one, but y'know, if you don't test the water, how're you gonna find out, eh? One's just me and a drummer (so far) and the other one is me, three other guitarists and a drummer. Hey, maybe a four guitar lead is the way forward for Nu Southern Rock? A couple of the other guitarists have stepped up and said they'd be willing to have a go on bass (if someone has one!).

Meetup/jams in the next couple of weeks. I'll let you know how they go!

And news just in. It seems that an album entitled "The Roots Of The Allman Brothers" is due to be released in a week or so. Don't know where this came from! Details are sketchy but it appears to be a compilation of recordings which were considered to influence the Allmans back when they were getting started. Lots of blues stuff, obviously. Preliminary track listing goes something like this:

1) Key To The Highway - Big Bill Broonzy
2) Lost Lover Blues - Blind Boy Fuller
3) Statesboro Blues - Blind Willie McTell
4) Call It Stormy Monday - T-Bone Walker
5) Sweet Little Angel - B.B. King
6) Smokestack Lightnin' - Howlin' Wolf
7) Trouble No More - Muddy Waters
8) Can't Stop Lovin' - Elmore James
9) It Takes Time - Otis Rush
10) Deep Feeling - Chuck Berry
11) Need Your Love So Bad - Little Willie John
12) It's Too Late - Chuck Willis
13) I'm Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town - Louis Jordan
14) Did You Ever Love A Women - B.B. King
15) Wild About You Baby - Elmore James
16) Mona - Bo Diddley
17) Hoochie Coochie Man - Muddy Waters
18) 0range Blossom Special - Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys
19) San Antonio Rose - Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys
20) Nobody Knows You - Bessie Smith
21) Tears - Django Reinhardt
22) Come On In My Kitchen (Take 2) - Robert Johnson
23) T.B. Blues - Jimmie Rodgers
24) Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground - Blind Willie Johnson

Fascinating snapshot of the band's influences or shameless marketing of forgotten back catalogue tunes? You decide.

What Would Satan Do?

Right, first off I missed a major milestone a few days back. The Project entered the final 100 days. Yes folks, were down to double digits. I need to sit down, look at what time is left and actually figure out what my goals to be achieved by New Year's Eve are. I always knew that my action plan would have to be adaptable, but in truth I've kind of left the rails on that front. Must get more rails. I'm very glad to be starting a new guitar course in under a week as I found the last one very motivational.

So, having said that... what would Satan do?

On Tuesday evening I spent a few hours trying to get back into metal music, playing through some of the Metallica that I'd quickly taught myself in preparation for the jam with the metallers a few weeks back. I was painfully [cough] aware that I needed to play catchup if I was to join in successfully this coming Sunday. About 2 hours into trying to get my droning back up to speed I felt my tendonitis start to kick in. Ow!

Smart 39 year old kid that I am I figured I'd just keep going, only stopping when the shooting pains up my right arm got too bad. Clever, eh? Mama didn't raise no fool! So, because I'm an idiot, I had to take a break from playing on Wednesday, only resuming practice last night. Pretty soon after starting in on "Master of Puppets" the pain was back with a vengeance. I tried making the "Sign of the Devil" a few times to see whether that helped. Nope. Besides, playing with a pick and doin' that hand thing isn't possible. It ends up looking more 'pinkie out' tea sipper rather than hardcore headbanger.



"Screw this," I said to myself, reverting to playing less aggressive, less right hand intensive stuff... the Allmans' "Don't Want You No More" intro riff (the first thing I ever played on Red, which had make me instantly fall in love with My Precious)... Slash/Kravitz's "Always On The Run"... "Walk This Way". Pain subsided. Joy was felt.

Wait a minute!

Joy was felt! I was enjoying playing this lightweight stuff, whereas I wasn't getting the same kick out of playing the metal tunes. Okay... soooo, let's see... I don't particularly like listening to metal and I don't enjoy playing it, not least of which because it causes me pain! I did enjoy playing it with the other guys, but that was partly because of the whole band camaraderie etc. Noise making is fun, no matter what the noise.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that while I may keep playing with the metal guys on and off over the next few weeks and months, I need to not lose sight of what I enjoy. Makes sense?

I was actually going to post a video of my droning speed using different pick angles, as tilting the ol' pleccie is something that significantly decreases string resistance so you can play faster. It also noticeably changes the tone, and when you accidentally [cough] clip the strings with an upstroke you get quite a cool double-time sound. BUT... that was about the same time I decided to lay metal to rest for the night, so... you, loyal reader, get nuffink.... bumpkus... RIEN DE TOUT!

"Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
Ni le bien qu'on m'a fait, ni le mal
Tout ca m'est bien egal"

Ah, that Edith Piaf... she knew a thing or two about nothing, eh? (Basic translation 'a la chav': "I don't regret nuffink... not the good fings wot av been done ta me or the bad... it's all the fukkin' same ta me, innit?")

What? WHAT?

Oh, I give up. I wanna rock out, but metal's not for me, not long term at least. I have a note from my doctor...

Metal Update

After a few weeks of uncertainty I've managed to clarify what the position with me and the metal band is... or at least I think I have.

The party line is that I'm more than welcome to learn the songs, come along and play at rehearsals as and when I can/I want to. 'The band' per se is still in an emergent state and so it's not really a case of who's in the band and who isn't right now, it's predominantly a handful of musicians getting together, shaking the tree and seeing what (if anything) falls out. I made it pretty clear that I don't currently see it as a permanent thing (though who knows... maybe I'll have an untapped talent for it!) but for now it's better to be playing with other people than not, right?

I've not had the chance to practice many of the tunes on their songlist, so I need to get back on the horse and dig my heels in. The other guys are clearly way ahead of me as far as learning the songs goes, which seems to concern me more than it does them!

I still have other feelers out there. Still waiting for some callbacks [cough]. I actually do think that in the long run that the only way things are going to happen the way I want them to is for me to take the wheel and put a band together myself. In the meantime, though, I'm gaining experience of how studios work etc, which is all valuable stuff. None of it's hard, but when you don't know stuff, you don't know stuff, right?

What else..?

Erm... the WAES Rock School course should be starting next Thursday. Really looking forward to that! I just spoke with the head of music there and she said that she expects the course to go ahead, though they currently haven't reached the required minimum number of students. D'Oh! SO... anyone out there who's interested, check out the WAES website here. The course is from 6-8pm on Thursdays in the Victoria/Pimlico area.

Evening update:

OW! ARMS HURT! BACK HURTS! EARS BLEEDING! METAL FATIGUE... AGAIN!

"Seek & Destroy" sought me out... and destroyed me!

Totally Unrelated To Music, Guitar, Common Sense...

Ordinarily I make some attempt to tie posts into music somehow. I cannot, however, even be bothered with this one.

I need to get something off my chest.

We watched Guy Ritchie's "Revolver" last night. Not his latest one. The one before that.

What a STEAMING PILE OF CRAP that was. I thought "Plan 9 From Outer Space" was the worst movie of all time. "Revolver" just stole its crown. I cannot even begin to fathom where Guy thought he was going with this one.

Oh...
My...
God...

Don't even be tempted to rent it. Seriously. It's that bad.

Guitars I'd Like To Own

Filler alert! Filler alert!

There's not much project news except that I pulled Red out last night for my first electrificated practice session since we got back from vacation. Isn't that always the way... you take a week off and an extra half week of crap piles up that you have to clear out of the way before you can get back on track? Anyway, Red felt good... sounded good... but I was slow. Really slow. I tried leaping into some of the Metallica riffs that I'd learnt for Metal Session #1 but I couldn't get them up to speed. Damn fingers kept catching the wrong strings. Took a break and learnt how to play "Sweet Home Alabama" instead, which is a tune I've often thought of having a crack at but never did. After 30 minutes or so the main riffs sounded pretty good. Ran through the opening riff from Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" (yes, that was a deliberate pun) which is so simple... why isn't everything that easy?

Anyway, blah-blah-blah. Practiced. Went okay but not well, particularly in the metal department. Maybe if I'd jacked myself up on caffeine I'd have done better...

Doesn't look like I'm going to make it to band practice this week. I'd kept Sunday clear only to find out the metallers are meeting on Saturday. D'Oh! Nothing like communication, eh? I'm still not at all convinced that I want to play metal, but I am convinced that I want to play with other real live people, and they're the best bet right now.

Oh, in other news, the WAES rock techniques class has been postponed by a week, so don't expect me to write about how that went until at least Friday 26th... always assuming they've managed to fill enough places to make the course viable.

So... guitars I'd like to own (subtitled: a filler piece)!

A friend of mine who's been playing for almost 2 years now (I guess), just splurge purchased a Martin 000-28 Standard (i.e. not the Eric Clapton signature model). It's the kind of guitar that'll send most acoustic players into a drooling orgasmic frenzy but which looks so un-flash that it could easily be confused with a £29.99 plywood box from Argos by the uninitiated.

I would not mind having one (at all). Maybe if I'm nice to him he'll let me play it... I've asked him to take very good care of it... and leave it to me in his will.

I can't say, honestly, that it'd be on my list of guitars that I'd buy if I had stacks of cash. Then again, I've never played a real Martin (or even a fake one). I've been looking at my Ovation lately and wanting to buy another. It's not that I don't love my 1861 Balladeer, it's just that I've always strangely coveted the Adamas series. I remember first seeing one back when I was a kid and wondering what the hell it was. For example...



I won't bore you with my dobro/resonator fetish again, but yes... something like one of these is on my list...



Now, on the electric side, I've always primarily fantasised about having a Les Paul. Now I have one. I'm 99% happy, but...

...once you have what you want, sometimes you look around and think, hey, it'd be nice to have one of those to add to my collection. Therein lies the root of GAS (Guitar Acquisition Syndrome).

I never used to even think I'd want a Tele. To me (rightly or wrongly) they were always the idiot cousin of 'real' electric guitars. As I've aged, though (somewhat disgracefully), I've come to realise that sometimes simplicity is it's own reward and adding a Tele to the list of axes I wand seems like a natural choice. The idea of not having a separate fingerboard appeals, so why not have one of these:



Still on a Fender tip, other than a Strat (boring... not even worth a picture) the only other F guitar I've really liked is the Jaguar. I have no clue whether they play well, but they look cool...



On the Gibson front, it's only really the Les Pauls that do it for me. I'd have a vintage SG, just because Derek Trucks plays them, and I'd consider some huge hollowbody thing (like a 355 dotneck) if I ever got serious about jazzzzz, but stuff like the Flying V never really appealed.

...Oh and don't get me started on the BC Rich style of guitars. Too pointy. I'd have my eye out on one of those!

I just know one day I'll go totally glam and buy myself the goldtop that I've always been too embarassed to!!!!!

Here's Dickey Betts putting one through its paces...