Second session with this band as full member, third session overall. No lead singer this time due to a personal emergency, so a definite change in the group dynamic as I'm trying to get a feel for things and learn the material. I've learned all of the songs in at least a rough form by this point, but as I'd said, JW sometimes does significantly different key changes or arrangements, so there's still a lot of learning for me to do on finer points.
Bill's absence was a plus for me in one respect. It meant that Keith was handling lead vocals, leaving the door wide open for me to sing whatever harmony parts I could find. There were a couple that worked out well (Three Doors Down's "Kryptonite" was one particular example), so I think I proved that I have something to bring to the table in that respect.
I also fell down in a couple of places. Frankly, some of the stuff these guys like falls heavily into what I'd consider "guitar wank", music with a primary focus on a guitarist indulging himself. I personally don't enjoy listening to that sort of thing, but I know some people do, and a lot of guitarists, unsurprisingly, love that stuff. So I didn't listen as closely as I should have to a couple of songs (Foghat's "I Just Want to Make Love to You" and "Mississippi Queen"), and got caught missing some riffs here and there in the bass parts. I rolled with it and have to accept that I have some things to work on after all.
This group has had a tendency to focus on the instrumental because their vocals just weren't that good before they were able to find a lead singer. I can see real possibilities here if we can play to that strength of the guitar players and I can step up into a stronger vocal role to give the lead singer more support. For that to happen, Keith is going to have to back off a bit vocally. That could work out, since he has plenty of spotlight time as the lead guitar player and the material lends itself to giving that role major focus, but people aren't always willing to give up a musical role that has traditionally been theirs.
"Sweet Emotion" was a monster song again, even missing the lead singer, and we also played through "All Right Now", which had a small piece of minor technical challenge to it for me, but went without a hitch. The former bass player apparently glossed over that part previously, so I got a pat on the back for getting that part right. I was told a couple of times that I seem to be fitting in well, so even though I'm not that comfortable yet and don't think I truly have the feel of the band, things are looking pretty good.
For the third time in three sessions, we played through at least three songs that aren't on our official list, just because someone started playing it and everyone else jumped in. Good exercise, if a bit of a waste of practice time.
We're now officially looking for work, since it'll be at least a month before any place would have an opening for us, and we'll easily be ready by that point. It's much more likely that it'll be a couple of months before anyone has room in their schedule.
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