Apr 17 2009
The Jam Report
Despite my misgivings in my previous post, last night’s jam was a hell of a lot of fun. It was the most comfortable I’ve been playing the upright yet. I got there a little late because I had family stuff I had to take care of, so I got myself all set up and the guy next to me suggests we do Heroes by David Bowie which I had brought in 2 weeks ago. He then sticks a mic in my face so I can sing it. I’m still not 100% up to speed on electric upright and I wasn’t even warmed up yet, so it was really awkward and I gave up singing halfway through the first chorus. turning it into a slow instrumental jam. I had printed out a couple of chord charts for stuff I knew I could play and sing at the same time, but I left them at work, so I just focused on playing. But at one point I went to the bathroom and this other guy was playing my bass when I came back (he was a classically trained cellist, so he did some amazing shit on it and at one point asked if I had a bow which I really wish I did just to hear what this guy could do with it) so I got behind a mic and started doing some background vocals and then sang lead on a verse and chorus. When I’m not trying to play an instrument, I can really belt it out, and this was a really fun song sing (Turn on Your Love Light - I was a deadhead for years so this one brought me right back). We did a lot of blues and early bluesy rock which led itself to great walking lines which I’m really starting to get the hang of. I really need to get disciplined about doing my scales on this thing so I really know where to go. Seeing what that cellist could do was like a kick in the ass to me.
