Grr, learning to hit a note on the down-beat is kicking my ass. I need to hit notes on 1, 2+, 3, 4 & 4+ 
The metronome just makes my head hurt. After a while i just stop hearing half the beats it makes. I can count along with it, but as soon as i try to tap on the desk with it i drift right back onto the main beat. i could probably do it if i counted 1-8 instead of the "and"s but then i wouldn't really be learning it. I've gotten away w/o having to learn to count long enough, and this one bass line i'm going to have to count if i want to do it right. i've managed to learn to read basic sheet music, but so far this is kicking my butt.

My GK got to gig for the first time October 6th ! :-) And I'm glad we had already decided to take it instead of the 4x10 GK at the practice space because it was only me, the drummer and my 12yo to load the vehicles. The other guy (our lead guitar player got stuck at work).

We had my minivan and his small truck. We managed to pack in 2 mains, 2 kickbacks, 2 small boards and their amps, 9 mic stands, 3 of the heavy music stands, four guitar stands, the keyboard, and its stand, two guitar amps, an amp stand, my amp, my bass and my gear and all the drumset pieces, high hats, cymbals and cables, including the big mic snake! He was freaking, thinking we couldn't do it, and calling other people trying to get someone else to come help.

I just kept lugging stuff down the stairs (almost two flights) because i knew we had to be there by 10am to set up. (We were playing at the county swapmeet), us and 2 other bands that all share the same practice space and equipment. The 4x10 weighs like 80lbs, there was no way we could have carried it, and we sure didn't have room for it.

We had fun and my little 115 really rocked, we did run it through the mains because we ran everything into the board so we could record, but it held it's own anyway. We were playing w/o one guitar player, and we tanked one song because the singer usually cues off of him on that one, and she got lost, we waded through 2min of it and were all looking at the drummer who just gave it a big roll coming out of the chorus and we started the next song. ::shrug:: no big deal. It wasn't a song most of the people there knew anyway. They all seem to love Rockin In The Free World, so we stretched the heck out of that one :-) which gave me some freedom to move into the center and dance with the hot singer babe. Which of course we didn't get on video because i didn't realize my camera will only do video in 10min chunks :-(

One of the guys in the next band huffed at my amp and asked why we didn't bring the 4x10 GK and i told him "Cause no one else showed up to load". He STFU and said "I hear those 1x15's are pretty good" and went ahead and set up. I wasn't there when his band cleared off so i don't know if he said anything else about it, but when i wandered off to look around the swapmeet after they started he didn't look displeased any more.

Anyway, here's a couple pics, because i'm happy and proud and still floating from having played. The Angry Bird dogtag is in honor of my Army friend that bought the amp for me, it's his unit mascot. And it covers the minor grill damage that made the amp affordable.

Finaly got to play for more than just our own drunk friends!

We got to play after the Rhythm Fire kids in their showcase concert. They had a RF-oriented adult band close each night so we got to play Saturday the 3rd at The Eagles Club in Olympia. I nearly freaked out when I walked into the place and it was packed, but most of the people were there to see their kids play, or friends of the kids playing and as soon as the kids were done 95% of the crowd peeled outta there. It was scramble onstage as soon as the band before gets off and get playing as soon as you can, so I didn't mess with the amp at all. Skylar came up after the first song and turned me down a bit because we were too loud going into the FOH with the amps mic'd. I was standing in front of a huge bass stack and could hardly hear anyone but myself. I was scooching closer to Clint to try and get closer to the rest of the band so i could hear but it was a small stage. The one song I sing on I don't think my mic was even on, but I doubt most of the people there were listening at all. It was still hella fun though....and except for one song that we had changed which key we were playing in at the last moment and my fingers got lost, i did ok and didn't mess anything up. We did nine songs.

Yay! Off and running again!

We're going to try and practice every week so we can be ready for that paid gig in April. It's been too long since we all got to play together so this week was running back through stuff we already know, trying to get back into our groove.

We had the small practice room and it's only got an electric drumset and i really don't like the way it sounds. We usualy get to practice in the big room with the stage and the real kit.

Between the room, the different amps and the fact that two of us were still getting over being sick and two of the guys have relationship stuff on their minds the whole thing felt 'off' to me.

I recorded it on a Zoom H2 I borrowed from work, ended up with 8 songs. And at least i can let the drummer hear why i said i couldnt hear him right :-) I need to learn the setting on the Zoom before i use it again though, i know it can make a much better recording then i got, but since we dont run everything through the PA at practices i cant just run an output from the board to the Zoom either.

We did pick two new songs to work on at home and try to be ready to play at practice so at least we're moving forward again :-)

See what i did there??

I totally missed a party/band jam... proly because we didn't manage to take any pictures best i can tell. It was a grownups-only, drink too much, jam all night party. Most of it was a lot of fun, drinking beer, goofing off, taking the boat out on the lake, all with just adults....except that i got a distressing phone call from The Little as we came back to the house to start playing, and he was all upset that i wouldn't come right home and then i didn't feel much like partying so i stopped drinking and just stressed out and developed a gnarly headache. Everything was loud, and i'm not as good at just jamming as the rest of them were. I ended up sitting on the floor because i hurt so much and it seemed all i was doing was peddling E G or A half the time. I left early and let them keep the PA i had borrowed from work and return it on Monday. So now since we cant practice again for like 3 more weeks because everyone has a life, i'm uninspired and frustrated. I have one song Match and i are learning that i'm focusing on, but it just seems to go so damn slow when i cant just hook up with him when i need to go over a part again. I just feel stuck and lost and clumsy again. ::sigh::

Hell of a Party!

It's always a hell of a party at Betsy and Marks house... they have more friends than i could ever come up with. Four bands, Outnumbered (the kids), The Marked Bills, one i didn't know, us (Supah Sweet), and then Marcelo's band. I think Mark was in three of them in some way or another! Anyway, the kids went with me, and a friend of mine who took lots of pictures of us. I could hear my Little Guy yelling "Go Super Mommy" while i was playing, but i was trying to concentrate and smile once in a while, since i have so many pictures of me frowning at my fretboard :-). We had to play w/o Aaron, and i had to play thru the Pevey amp (which i never like my sound from) so things were different all around. I think every single song got messed up in one way or another, but both kids, and my friend said they didn't hear any mess-ups. Although my friend, who's one of those people who claims 'anyone can sing' did finally admit i may be 'tonally challenged' LOL. My Little Guy said 'it was ok, your mic wasn't loud enough anyway'.

Anywayz, here's some pictures!

4th of July party coming up!

We get to play at Betsy and Marks place on the lake again. :-) If the weather holds we'll get to play outside on the patio. We wont have Aaron because he needs to work so the last two practices have been w/o him and it's been odd. The new guy is cool, but it's weird to have the guitar player (and a much better one than me) looking to ME to see where we are though. He had been watching Aaron but w/o him that's shifted a little. Interesting because he thinks in "key of"and I think in fret numbers, so I've had to turn the headstock tuner on a few times to figure out what note i'm playing for him. It's going to be weird to play w/o Aaron though.