First off, a quick apology for not getting this post up around the usual time. I’d offer up excuses but it would just sound like a lot of whining and since it’s my own stubborn fault, I won’t be doing that. Suffice to say, I spent most of the time I would normally be writing this post staring off into space like a zombie as that was about all I could do. Now that the cravings for brains has passed and I’m starting to feel more human again, I’m ready to get to this.
I had originally thought to write a different article than what this is going to be. I’d had a few encounters over the last week or so that made me think of something that I think we 
forget about, our health, and I was going to write about that. It would have gone nicely with why this post is late. That will have to wait because we had a Blues Jam out at Moochies and I think, since it was such a fun time, it will be more fun to write about and I’ll get to that other post another time.
Charlotte Blues Jam. Moochies. A Cigar Box 4 string guitar. That was fun. I do have video. I haven’t seen any of it yet. It’s downloading to my computer as I type. But I will get it up as soon as I can. I widened the field of view for this try so I could hopefully get everyone in the picture. I hope it doesn’t look too fish-eyed.
It’s kind of cool to see those of us doing stuff that is new to us start to learn and make progress with it. We’re pretty good at cheering each other on and offering encouragement and advice. And taking it when we ask for. So it’s cool when you see something start to come together for someone trying something new. I don’t know about anyone else, for me it just makes me want to cheer them on more. It was fun to get to see some of that this weekend. Progress being made and a niche being carved out, quite nicely.
I don’t have a large selection of songs that I can sing and play. I’m always working to expand that selection. As I’ve noted before, I usually target a few songs between each jam. Even with that, there are songs I’m really comfortable doing and so if someone wants to do one of those, I’m game. Even if I’ve sung and played it at the last six jams. I’ve noticed, this may not be 
unusual. We all have our favorites, or the songs we are most comfortable with and I suspect, when it comes time to play we tend to gravitate towards those comfortable old friends. It’s scary enough to get up on stage. Now you want me to do something different? You’re joking, right.
Seriously, we don’t grow and progress in our craft if we don’t stretch and step out and do something new or something outside our comfort zone. Sometimes that means taking on a song that you maybe don’t feel that confident in and doing your best. Sometimes it means taking on a lead and flubbing what you wanted to do. Sometimes it means taking on a song you know you can do but you can’t do it quite the way you want it. I did all these things this week.
It seems everyone does ‘Further on up the Road’. It’s a good song to do because everyone does it. But all the vocals I’ve heard on it, except one or two of the guys at the Blues Jam, sound a bit forced. I don’t really sing forced vocals so I’ve been having a challenge feeling like my vocal for the song really fit. But, when it came time to do that first set, and we chose the first two songs, and I nixed a couple, that was one of the ones left so, instead of Nick singing, as we have done before, he counted us into it and then I sang it. I’ve seen some phone video of it and I’m pleasantly surprised. It felt like it went ok and the video shows it did. I guess it’s a keeper and I’ll get better at it.
I tried to take a lead on ‘Rock Me Baby’. I’ve been working on it. But it didn’t feel quite right. So I was a little disappointed in that. Though not enough to let it get in the way of the fact that we managed to end all at the same time, on queue three times in one set. I know. Isn’t that what is supposed to happen. Yes. Yes it is. It’s one of the things I’ve been struggling with. This counts as a full on success all by itself.
I also took a chance on one of the songs I’m working on that I call ‘not ready for prime time’. In some cases, these songs will never be ready for prime time until you take them out and give them a whirl. So that’s what we did with ‘Everyday I have the Blues’. There are like a dozen versions of it out there. I’ve heard B.B. King and Albert King. I like Albert King’s a little better. It’s a little slower and grooves a little better. B.B. King’s 
sounds like it’s played with a big band and is a bit faster in my opinion. The tempo is probably the same it’s just the added instruments that skew it for me but I don’t think so. Anyway. We took it out and gave it a whirl. Again, I haven’t seen the video but I didn’t finish it thinking how awful it went so I figure that is a good sign. Since I was playing with Bryan for that set we did ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’. This had both some hit and miss for me. I felt pretty good about the vocal. I had to stop playing part way through because I got off beat. And my lead didn’t go as nice as I would have liked. Then again, Bryan sounded great. So… The cool thing about playing with Bryan is that he’s got these instrumental pieces that either are or just sound like they are surf guitar songs but slightly bluesy. I love surf guitar. I don’t
play it well yet. But, I might get there. Anyway, for our last song for that set we did one of these songs. This was my second big hit for the night. He offered a lead, I took it and… it just happened. That was the best feeling lead I’ve done. It felt like it fit. It didn’t feel like a struggle to fit the rhythm of it to the song and all of that. It just…oh cool. I can’t wait to see
the video.
So yeah, we have hits and misses. Sometimes in the same set. Sometimes in the same night. Sometimes in the same song. The key is to keep trying. Work on it. Make it better. I was recently viewing some Justin Guitar tutorials and his tips video in particular stuck out, for two reasons. The first being that he says basically the same thing I tell people. And that is to practice everyday, even if it’s just 10 or 15 minutes at a time. You can still learn that way. You don’t have to do marathon practice sessions and you’re probably better off not. The other thing he mentioned is to practice the hard stuff. The stuff you are struggling 
with. We all practice the easy stuff more because it feels good to play it. But if you don’t practice the hard stuff, it won’t get any easier. I know I have been doing this with ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’. I didn’t at first. But, using the excuse that I was adding new songs and needed to practice them to learn them, I have slacked off practicing that song. After this weekend, I know, it’s my hard song. I need to practice the crap out of it. I need to work on it every session. Even if it’s just one time through it. I need to do it. I need to remember to practice the hard stuff. And to keep trying.
As I said. I have video. I haven’t seen it yet. It’s just getting downloaded from the camera to the computer so it may be another day still before I get to it. But I will get things posted as soon as I can. Which could be a little challenge since I’ll be preparing for the Halligan’s Jam coming up this Sunday. Yes, back to back jam weekends. Enjoy. See you soon.