Eureka! (and I ain't wet either...)

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 10 Nov 2006 5:33 am

Went on a road trip to Buffalo yesterday. bought $100 worth of "blues" CD's at the local football field sized music store.
Lots of B. B. King, Albert King, Johnny Guitar Watson, and a couple of 4 disk collections.
Took 'em home, played alongside of 'em for about 4 hours. Wow, what a trip.
Now I know "why" the C pedal. Sure is neat...

Gonna have a chance to sit with some pro blues pickers Tuesday nite. Don't want to look like an idiot.
Now if I can just find that "12 Bar Blues" course that has disappeared from my studio...[This message was edited by Ray Minich on 10 November 2006 at 05:38 AM.]

Chris LeDrew · Post by **Chris LeDrew** » 10 Nov 2006 6:42 am

Ray,

As soon as you get on stage, the first thing you should loudly say is:

"It's only three chords.........how hard can it be?"

Blues musicians love hearing that.

Mark Treepaz · Post by **Mark Treepaz** » 11 Nov 2006 5:56 am

Hey Ray,
Where did you go? Record Theatre?

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Sho-Bud LDG, Gretsch Syncromatic Lap Steel, Bach Stradivarious 37 Trumpet, Getzen Eterna Flugelhorn, Fender Precision Bass (pre-CBS)

Bill Duve · Post by **Bill Duve** » 11 Nov 2006 1:40 pm

I went to Limestone yesterday and bought 100 dollars worth of firewood

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I have kicked computers out the back door for less..

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 15 Nov 2006 4:05 am

Mark, got em all at the Walmart about 5 miles away on McKinley...Record theatre on SouthPark has gotten it's share of my $$$ though.

Well, the gig went fantastic. It was like playing behind ZZ top. When it worked, it was nirvana...
Bobbe Seymour, a big thank you to you for the Rythmatic CD, and for "On the Horns of a Dilemna". Familiarity with that genre was the key to my even surviving. The crew asked me back next week.
Meanwhile, gotta start remembering where those 6th's, 7th's and minors are. When you can't hear on the bandstand it's tough to use the "continuum method" (that's where you play a progression without knowing the details, 'cause it works, as long as you get to hear yourself keep going...once you stop... death...(as in where the hell am I?))

The gig was a blast. College town, St Bonaventure University, This could be habit forming

Mark Treepaz · Post by **Mark Treepaz** » 15 Nov 2006 5:52 am

Ha! That Walmart is only about 2 miles from my house. As is the Record Theatre.

I do a lot of the same. Throw in a CD and start playing along. I tend to make a lot of new fretboard discoveries that way. I set up the CD player within hands reach, and just hit pause when I stumbled across certain passages that I want to figure out. Granted, you tend to end up doing a lot of "position" playing (as long as you know the key and where than changes are) but it works well as a learning tool. I find myself playing position a lot when I'm learning parts for new tunes, but then once I get it figured out, I go back and "reverse engineer" them to understand exactly what it is I'm playing.

As it is that you got asked back for another gig, then it was time and money well spent!

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Sho-Bud LDG, Gretsch Syncromatic Lap Steel, Bach Stradivarious 37 Trumpet, Getzen Eterna Flugelhorn, Fender Precision Bass (pre-CBS)

[This message was edited by Mark Trzepacz on 15 November 2006 at 06:17 AM.]

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 22 Nov 2006 6:15 am

Well, a week later, and I played out with the Blues band again, & had a great time...
I'm not used to pushing the NV400 that hard.
Things got a little testy in the last 20 minutes, I was looking for a roll of chicken wire to string up... conditions settled down after the Officer took position with the patrolcar right outside the front door... Just like old times...

Darryl Hattenhauer · Post by **Darryl Hattenhauer** » 24 Nov 2006 8:36 pm

Which reminds me: I'm California's greatest musician west of Eureka.

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"The less I was of who I was, the better I felt." -- Leonard Cohen