Rhymed with Collision

As mentioned previously (I would link it, but, what would be the point) I had something this weekend that I dared not talk about. Well it has come and gone and now I dare.

It actually wasn't too huge a deal. I just auditioned with a local cover band. They had a flyer up on the Git-fiddle Center bulletin boards so I ripped offa tab and gave 'em a call. The guy I talked to was cool and I pretty much explained my situation upfront to him. My playing isn't top notch but my gear is. Wait. Scratch that, reverse it. Yeah, so I says, "well my gear kinda stinks, I'm in the process of upgrading it but that won't happen before Sunday," I says. He seemed largely unconcerned and we bounced a few ideas of how we could overcome such rig shortcomings, were it necessary to do so. Anyway, they had me to play with them on Sunday. They gave me a few tunes to learn, one or two with decently mobile bass lines and the other more representative of the kind of music they are involved in.

The audition set list went as follows:

• "Summer of '69" - Bryan Adams
• "Sold Me Down the River" - The Alarm
• "Hard to Handle" - The Black Crowes
• "Rock 'n Roll Fantasy" - Bad Company
• "Gimme Three Steps" - Lynyrd Skynrd

I didn't have a lot of time to get everything together (and I had never even heard two of the songs) but it turned out to be a great exercise for me. Who knew that "Gimme Three Steps" had such a bitch of a bassline. Anyway, I went in and played and it felt great. It's been a really long time since I played music with other human beings. After we ran through the audition songs we just kind of screwed around and played some stuff from their set list that I hadn't prepared but felt I knew well enough to stumble through (i.e. "You Really Got Me Going" - The Kinks, "White Wedding" - Billy Idol). We even played through the old Stevie Ray Vaughn song "Pride and Joy" which was another great exercise where I had to invent (while playing) a convincing walking bass line over a blues progression. That's not something I'm used to but it's the whole reason I started taking jazz bass lessons and I can tell they're already paying off. It wasn't 100% solid but there were a few moments where I actually sounded like I knew what I was doing. Anyway, they said they'd get back to me about whether or not they want me to join sometime this week. Honestly, I don't care if I get the gig or not. It'd be great if I did, just to get the chance to play regularly with some people again. Even if I don't know, I know I played well and if somebody just outplayed me or has better sounding gear. I can live with that. Either way I'll keep auditioning there are few womb-to-tomb certainties in this life: Death, Taxes, and the shortage of good bass players.

Shit, all that sounds awfully content and not-jaded. I'm breaking character!

Grumble, grumble, foul language, insults, warmongering, etc.


-Kroy has gone offline


you’ll never see me no more