lessons learned–if I can remember them
went to Bel Air yesterday to give my student his guitar lesson…found out he has a guitar amp that’s “not doing anything” except taking up space in the closet…IF I keep the amp, the next four or five lessons will be free; and the amp will belong to me…the trip from Bel Air to Derwood took nearly THREE HOURS, more than twice as long as usual…yes it was rush hour, but the real problem was the (at least) two traffic stopping accidents and the two downpours…every time I switched to an alternate route, I moved further away from where I wanted to be…to simplify–imagine going from New York to Los Angeles by way of central Canada…miraculously, I got to Derwood “on time”…Mostly I went to the Open Mic because a friend wanted my voice…NOWHERE MAN was good, but we’ve done it often enough, it should be good…IF I FELL was the one that moved me the most, because I was able to add the harmony part that I’ve been doing since the late 60s, which is approximately when I discovered I could sing harmony…In a relatively rare example of conceit, I must tell the reader that I’m better at harmony singing than most Musicians I know…I would like the naysayers to STFU (“that part wasn’t on the recording”) but just about the only weapon I have is perseverance, so that’s what I use…*I* say the people who complain are just jealous…IT’S ONLY MAKE BELIEVE was good too…just to be clear we’re talking THREE parts here…NOWHERE MAN had 3 to begin with, but IF I FELL (as originally performed by the Beatles) only had TWO and the Conway Twitty song didn’t have ANY…the O.M. host is a good harmony singer himself…and IMO harmony singing is my best thing–there’s lotsa “better” guitar players, drummers, and/or bass players than me…OK, enough already…the evening was good enuff to make me forget what it took to get to that point…
btw, the amp sounds good, but all the potentiometers need cleaning (I THINK) and I’m not sure it’s powerful enough for a “big” gig (i.e. a Daryl Davis gig) but for the places I play or hang out at (jams, open mics, etc) it should be fine…just the same, I plan to bring BOTH amps with me tonight…in fact the Peavey will serve as an amp stand to the Fender just in case…THAT’S a first…40 years as a guitarist and I’ve never brought a spare amp before…AND had it onstage…that’s being prepared, right? And one of the other lessons I’ve learned lately may be that just about everything might take longer than ya think it does…