JW - 2/11/2012

Had everyone on board for this one. This was the first time we did anything with three part harmony, and overall I'd say it went well, though not without some work. We were working on Dave Mason's version of "Bring It On Home", which even the established band members hadn't gone over in a while. After a couple of experiments, we settled on harmonies with Bill singing lead, Keith singing the next part up, then me. I found it unusual that Andy and Dale were as involved as they were in the process, because usually the non-singers stay out of the harmony work, but I think it really was helpful to get opinions from two people who could truly listen to the group effect without being part of it. We still need practice on this front, but overall, I was pleased with the resulting blend.

I still don't have "Mississippi Queen" down, and just can't get into this one at all. I've always prided myself on being able to find something about any song to like, but haven't found anything about this one yet. Gotta keep trying.

Still really enjoying "Kryptonite" and "Sweet Emotion", the second of which is my favorite song with this band so far. Started singing harmony on these, now that I can play them without thinking so much about what my hands are doing.

I was introduced to the "guitar string change" songs today, which are not regularly on the list, but are songs we can play with only one of the guitarists if the other has broken a string. I've had those in other bands before, but the fact that this band has songs for that purpose hadn't been mentioned until they were needed. "Crossroads", "Ain't Talking 'Bout Love", and "Red House" are apparently the songs I need to pick up for the occasion for future reference.

"Brown Eyed Girl" also didn't turn out well for me this time, as that turned out to be another song with a serious key change from the original (G to E). Back to the drawing board to make sure it sounds right, and I'm again thankful to have the five string. I've got three or four songs now that I really wouldn't want to play without one.

On a brighter note, I'm starting to see how good this band could be, given time to tighten things up. There's definitely work to be done, but if "Bring It On Home" is an indicator of how good the vocals can be, and the instrumental parts are already good, we'll do fine playing out. It's hard to know how well the group really functions until we get past the point where I'm fully integrated into the band and we start picking new material that takes the lead singer and I into account. That's going to take a while.