Return of the Music Project

I knew it had been a while since we'd gotten together, but hadn't realized it had been quite so long. In addition to the usual Jason and I, we had Sal, the guitarist I'd first met a couple of months ago.

Jason was really on this time. I talked to him about it afterward, and he felt the long break had done him good. It certainly sounded that way.

The session worked out well, for the most part. There was relatively good chemistry between the three of us, with a demonstrated willingness all around to try anything, which is something I'd hoped to see on a regular basis on this project. There were some rhythmic glitches here and there, which I think had more to do with a lack of familiarity with each other and with some of the songs than it did with anything else.

Sal did a nice job on the songs where he'd done his homework. The soloing on "Keep On Rockin' in the Free World" was impressive enough to catch both Jason and I by surprise. I caught him suddenly turning to look at Sal at exactly the same time I did. He played well enough on the material he hadn't practiced, but unsurprisingly, there was a marked difference in performance between the two. Two of my old bandmates from years ago (and two separate bands) could sit in with anybody and sound as though they'd rehearsed with the band for months, so I'm afraid they spoiled me in that respect. I tend to forget that not everybody can do that.

I was able to spend most of the session on bass, though I moved to guitar here and there to show Sal particular things on songs he hadn't played before. I was still handling all of the vocals. Sal has told me he loves to sing but isn't good at it. I know he's not comfortable enough to try it yet, but I get the sense that he could be persuaded in time. I don't care if he's especially good; I'd just like to get a break from time to time and even sing some harmony, and I'm sure he'd get better with practice if he can sing at all. I'm having trouble speaking today after singing so much yesterday.

Sal has a strong preference for playing with a second guitar player. That's fine, since we're looking to bring in more people anyway. Jason knows a couple of possibilities from his jam sessions that haven't included me, so we'll check 'em out as they become available and we'll see what happens. I'm looking forward to playing another session with Sal with less rust and better preparation all around.

One of the issues raised by Sal that I hadn't really considered was the potential difficulty involved in a rotating line-up with multiple guitarists. If, for the sake of argument, we had three guitarists involved with two playing each session and rotating attendance, who plays which solos? I'd thought we could just wing that depending on who is there on the day, but it's really not that simple for solos that require some real preparation. I suppose we'll cross that bridge if/when we get to it, since we've had trouble finding even one regular guitarist.

On a side note, our previous repeat guitarist Rob achieved his goal of joining a full fledged band that plays out, so I doubt he'll be turning up with us again. Jason and I will probably go to see them in a couple of weeks. I wasn't terribly impressed by what I heard of them from their website, but live recordings tend to be dodgy and probably aren't doing them justice.