patentcad
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I consider myself to be a complete and utter guitar idiot, and few here would argue with that. I flew to see my dear old HS pal Az down in Fort Meyers, FL this weekend, which in addition to a nice break from the NY cold also turned out to be a total guitarfest. Az (John) is an oil futures trader by profession (self employed, he once worked on Wall Street doing that for a large brokerage) but his first love is music, and he has been in numerous small time bands from NY City down to Florida for 20+ years (he's in one now called the Ex-Bachelors in Naples, FL). So he has a lot of saddle time playing in front of and with other people. Az has kind of mentored me in my recent re-entry into guitars after a 10 year hiatus, which has been great.
So this weekend we:
Played and jammed together the first night.
Az showed me some cool rhythm guitar basics the second day and we started recording a cover version of S. Robinson's Motown classic 'Really Got a Hold On Me' that I had been working up for the local open mic night.
Today on day three his lead singer showed up, we all got to jam on the guitar for an hour and then Cary (said singer) laid down backing vocal tracks on the digital recording Az had done for me. Az also laid down a bass track.
So I got to play with other people, learn a few things, and lo and behold, actually successfully get myself on tape for the first time after 30 years of playing this instrument. Didn't sound too bad in the end. I laid down lead vocals and rhythm and lead guitar tracks, Az put down a bass line, Cary sang the back-up vocals. Very cool. All in 5-6 hours over two days. Az loves doing it too, I could tell. That recording would have taken me a month, and eventually I'll have to figure out Garage Band or Pro Tools (I have the LE edition @ home), but it was good to have the help of somebody who understands the digital recording process (it took him a year to master the basics on his Roland digital recording machine, but he knows what he's doing now).
Old hat for most of you, but new and very educational guitar experiences for me, playing with others, recording, coming up with a guitar solo that's concise and to the point and then laying it down on tape, etc. Looking forward to doing much more of that stuff.
So this weekend we:
Played and jammed together the first night.
Az showed me some cool rhythm guitar basics the second day and we started recording a cover version of S. Robinson's Motown classic 'Really Got a Hold On Me' that I had been working up for the local open mic night.
Today on day three his lead singer showed up, we all got to jam on the guitar for an hour and then Cary (said singer) laid down backing vocal tracks on the digital recording Az had done for me. Az also laid down a bass track.
So I got to play with other people, learn a few things, and lo and behold, actually successfully get myself on tape for the first time after 30 years of playing this instrument. Didn't sound too bad in the end. I laid down lead vocals and rhythm and lead guitar tracks, Az put down a bass line, Cary sang the back-up vocals. Very cool. All in 5-6 hours over two days. Az loves doing it too, I could tell. That recording would have taken me a month, and eventually I'll have to figure out Garage Band or Pro Tools (I have the LE edition @ home), but it was good to have the help of somebody who understands the digital recording process (it took him a year to master the basics on his Roland digital recording machine, but he knows what he's doing now).
Old hat for most of you, but new and very educational guitar experiences for me, playing with others, recording, coming up with a guitar solo that's concise and to the point and then laying it down on tape, etc. Looking forward to doing much more of that stuff.