Not about ‘Satisfaction’. Though maybe for some. About getting what you want versus what you need. “You can’t always get what you want but if you try sometime you find you get what you need.”
I had a different topic in mind for this week’s post. But a conversation with a friend got me to thinking a little about how this week’s jam went for me. Don’t worry this is not going to be another train wreck story. Things went really well, that’s not it. I had a great time and got to play three sets, and like anyone, the more I get to play the happier I am.
Somethings went better than I feared they would and somethings just went different. And going different is sometimes the thing you need.
It’s easy to get stuck in a rut in anything. Including music and song choices for sets. You get a few songs down, what seems like enough of a rotation, and get really comfortable with them so that you expect or hope to play them every time. And then out of that bunch of songs, you end up with a smaller set of songs that you really like to play and you want to stick with that selection even more because you love to play them. That means you practice them more. That means you are more familiar and more comfortable with them. And you neglect some of those other songs a little because, they need work, or they make you work. That can work out ok, for a little while. Then what happens, when all those favorites, or most of them, have already been played? You can duplicate. Or you can adapt and go back to some of those neglected songs.
It’s a little like Bryan choosing from my not ready for prime time list. It requires a bit of stretching and reaching. And like any good stretching routine, it’s not so bad the more you do it. So the fact that Bryan had me outside my normal little box last time, made it a little easier to do that again this time. In addition to adding a new song. With a new technique.
New songs make me nervous. I’ve finally gotten fairly comfortable being on stage and singing and playing. Except. When it’s the first time I’m playing a new song. Then I shake 
like I don’t know what. Usually, once I get part way into the song I relax some and I’m ok. Still, getting through those first few bars, can be a little daunting. This week’s new song was ‘Voodoo Woman’. I’ve watched the video. It went pretty good. I needed to communicate the key and the structure of the song a little better. And I still need to turn up a little more on my leads. That aside. I think I made fairly effective use of the ‘Wah Pedal’. I used it for the intro and then again on my lead and I think it worked out pretty good. I need more practice with it to really make it what it can be. Even so, I think I did pretty good. I was and am, very pleased with how that turned out.
After that, for that set, I stuck with some songs that I really like and have become much more comfortable with. Which is my normal pattern. The second set got a little change up as I shared the vocal duties. I only sang on one song and then just played on the two others. I like doing that sometimes. It keeps me in practice following instead of leading all the time. So that was good. By the time I got to the third set, a lot of the songs I normally 
would fall back on, had been played by others already. This is where the adapting and revisiting neglected songs came in.
If anyone was paying attention, we went alphabetically and stayed in the B’s for song titles. That was fun. We did a couple of Jimmy Reed songs that I haven’t played in a while. Well not out, and not much at home. I try not to let them rust because of their rhythm and style so they weren’t completely stale. They just weren’t what I might have otherwise played. Not bad, just different.
Not being able to fall back to those ‘go to’s’ was maybe not what I wanted, and probably what I needed. That and Frank’s list. By going back to 
those songs, I’ve started to think about, spending a little more time on them and seeing what I can do to make them better. And doing the same with a few others. It also reminded me of the need to continue to expand my repertoire a little more aggressively. Though Frank’s list just makes that easier. I hope.
Frank’s list. I’m calling it that because he was the one handing it out. As I understand it, he put it together as a sort of cheat sheet of songs for when we’re on stage and can’t think of what to do next. It’s a great list. And a few of the songs I’ve found or brought to the jam ended up on it. Which is cool. Frank mentioned that he likes it when people bring something new or different. So I’ll be looking for that while I learn, or brush up, on the songs on his list.
We’ve got another jam this month and I’ve got video to get edited as well as songs to practice and learn. It was a three set night again so there’s a bit of work to do on the editing. I’ll try to be more timely with this batch. We had some interesting patrons and a few of them show up in the video so that should be interesting. The pictures are captures from the video of this last jam. Enjoy.