23/11/09

Hi guys !

On Saturday my band and I, The Xylophone Race, had a gig. But it wasn't just our average set, it was a special Acoustic set. This required a lot of arranging and thinking on our feet (just like a session musician) plus there was the performance. The gig went really well I thought as it was an 'intimate' gig, so we could really get some banter with the crowd; we played for an hour and there was a good response. The gig actually got filmed, so I can use that as material for my portfolio. Why not check out the videos !

This is our song called Too Late:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obOy92Uc4a4

And this is a cover of the Bill Withers tune Just The Two Of Us:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbv5f_lhlyk

This Week, I was only in college on Wednesday... but that was only because I had to go gigging,

which brings me to another skill of a session musician, prioritizing. Anyway, in Kevin's class he

pointed out that I need to work on my fretting technique... Which I have been doing intensively

ever since, It has improved *phew*.

Otherwise not a whole lot happened this week...

Thanks for reading.

Watch the Videos !

 

16/10/09

Hello individuals,

This week has been brilliant. I got fired from my job.

Then I went for a drink to celebrate my misery.

Awesome.

Ironically, when I was at work that day, I was thinking about how situations at work could relate to my experience for graded unit, such as working with difficult people, having good communication skills and following instructions. Apparently being laid back and honest are not qualities that people look for in bar staff. Great. But at least this gives me experience in being knocked back from work... is that valid ?

Anyway this week at college was partially productive. There was no guitar class, so I made use of the time by practicing my solo versions of the Beatles songs. This week band work went well as the whole group turned up and we ran through the 5 songs we have for the gig, I reckon just a bit tighter and it'll be right as rain (I don't know where that phrase came from). We also got that dates for our presentation on the Beatles. Mine is on the 13th of January, expect a mediocre performance. Nah, I'll put a lot of effort into this one, it's quite an interesting subject. The most interesting class this week was Session Skills, it really showed me that I need to improve my sight reading. The song we were given was Deep Purple's Smoke On the Water, which I know what you're thinking, Is a very straightforward song, which it is. However, we were playing through the song with ease and then we came to the guitar solo...

On the score was Ritchie Blackmore's solo from the original recording, which featured all sorts of quintuplets and crazed phrases. So then I started to sweat trying to read this solo, but it wasn't happening. Sympathy quickly came my way from the other members of the group. So in the meantime I just improvised over the solo section so we could get through the rest of the song. That sounded alright. As soon as Gavin came in I told him he was having a laugh if he thought I was going to be able to read that solo that was notated. He laughed and replied, "You don't have to, you would just improvise over that section anyway as a session player."

I slapped my face into my palm and laughed over this realization. The song got nailed.

And that's about it.

See my words next time.

I need a job (again).

 

09/11/09

It's that time of the week again !

You'll be glad to know I finally got my Bill Withers CD and I'm groovin' like no body's business !

Anyway I'm just back from Inverness where I was doing a photo shoot with my band, I feel it went well. We also got a cheeky wee practice in there for our special acoustic set, quite a bit of arranging got done (another essential musician's skill),  more practice needed I reckon but we're on our way. 

In Kev's class I showed him what I'd done to the Beatles' Yesterday, he seemed to approve and showed me what other techniques and harmonies I could apply to the tune. Another 'highlight' of the week was the talk from Lorenz Cairns. He shared stories of sessions and the related situations, I think it was quite a good insight into what being a session player is like. Here is one of his insightful quotes:

Be all you can be and bring something to the table. - Lorenz Cairns, Perth College, 2009.

Pretty inspirational, eh ?

The final interesting part of college this week was session skills. We had a decent stab at Prince's 1999, which I struggled with the first one or two times through. This called my sight-reading skills into question, I MUST IMPROVE. But once I'd got it, we nailed it down.

Oh I also got a haircut this week.

Yep.