Yeah, I'm with the band...

Rosie and I center stage at
the Poor House Bistro

How do you find yourself on stage playing with a band after just three months of practice?

Just let it happen. That’s how.

Val at King Amp mentioned they offer a blues jam class on Mondays. I said that sounded cool but as a rank beginner I would need more time to be ready for such an advanced topic. No, he explained that if I was willing to do the practice, I could probably hang with the class. So I signed up.

I got an e-mail from my teacher a few days before the first session and watched the recommended videos and listened to Jimmy Reed’s “Baby what you do to me” a few time and was ready.

Wrong.

Among many things I learned that first night of the first class was that the graduation event included jamming on stage at a local bistro during their open Blues Jam Night.  Ok, I thought, if I totally suck and never get the hand of it I can skip the last session, right?

Other things I learned that night is that I totally misunderstood how to play that song. I also learned that my classmates were all pretty experienced players; many of them were return students. I really struggled that night but left determined to catch up.

I bought a volume pedal – which makes the transition from rhythm to lead easier – and practiced for hours at least once driving Kathy and Jax from the house. By the second class I could play 12-blues pretty solidly as chords but still couldn’t drive the “walking” rhythm by myself. Or Solo.

More practice and I was much better at the rhythm – even throwing in a cool B7 twang after the 12^th bar. I also cobbled together two leads as I learned that was the bare minimum to fill my part.

And then work intruded and I was forced to miss the third class. I was discouraged and decided that without the final class I would skip the show. I figured maybe I’d take the class again after I had some more time to practice.

Then on Saturday I got another e-mail from Ned describing how to prep for the performance. “I can still do this”, I thought. So I did. Out came the Jimmy Reed and the metronome. I played and played and played. By Monday lunch I had to actively stop playing to save a little strength for the show.

After a long debate I took “Rosie” my Am Std Telecaster instead of the Strat (which is still nameless). I had basically been practicing non-stop with Rosie so she went. This is the problem with really nice guitars. Because I’m worried about dinging up the Strat walking around the house I play Rosie a lot more often. Maybe I just need to man up and bash the Strat like I do Rosie.

Actually being on stage was kind of a blur. We played two songs including the Jimmy Reed classic that I practiced so much. I got to use both solos and had to make up another. I felt in time and had good rhythm. Afterwards I got lots of compliments especially from my classmates who heard me play that first night and knew how little playing experience I actually have.

My buddy in the crowd said I might have been a touch too loud and I hit a clinker on the made-up solo but otherwise sounded good. So I survived and still want to practice – although I think I’ll take a break from 12-bar in E.