JW - 3/10/2012

Still struggling inexplicably with "Mississippi Queen", though I've got it at least functional now. It's crazy how tricky this has been for me, when I learned far more difficult songs much more quickly. Just one of those blind spots. It doesn't help that I just plain dislike the song.

Volume was a little lower this time, and we had a decent run through "Bring It On Home" with three part harmony. Still some rough edges, but improving. My vocal role with this band is becoming clearer. I'm singing the higher parts, because I can. Keith and I still instinctively go for the same parts, so I'm going to have to get used to the next part up. This isn't a bad thing; it's a new challenge for me, and largely successful.

Again, some discussion of playing out. Consensus seems to agree with my thought from last time, which is that we're really just about ready, and by the time we get any work scheduled, we will be ready.

Jammed our way through the Who's "Substitute" and "Won't Get Fooled Again". I think we'll be keeping at least the first.

We also played through "We've Got to Get Out of This Place" by the Animals after Bill heard me noodling around on bass and heard something that resembled the bass part for that song. The first time winging it sounded good enough that we rounded off some edges and tried it a second time, which was better, so that was a completely unplanned new song that we've added.

Finally successfully used the Ashbory bass (the one with the silicone rubber strings) on a song with this band. "Hash Pipe" by Weezer really suits the sound I found with a new amp setting. I'd like to find another song or two I can use before it's really worth bringing the Ashbory when we play out. I have a few other songs to try in upcoming sessions.