Rehearsal

Had our third rehearsal tonight, first one with Colleen on bass and back-up vocals. Went pretty well, except I still need to work on some of my solos. I was winging it a little too much for my liking. It's good not to be too "scripted" in one's playing, but I need to at least have a good idea of what I could play as a solo in a given song section. I don't have enough knowledge of the neck or of scales to completely wing it, unless I'm dealing with a basic blues structure or something, so it's best for me to work out what I would ideally play, and use that as a guidepost, so to speak. In other words, I may not keep going down the same streets, but I need to have a fairly solid awareness of the neighbourhood I'm in, if that makes sense. I need to map something out for "Your Cheating Heart" especially (btw, happy birthday Hank!). I'll do that tonight or tomorrow morning.

Colleen is a pro, and fit in very well. Picked up her parts with no problem. I suspect she was a little uneasy with the fact that we're still not as tight with some of the songs as we should be, although she didn't say anything. She's probably used to being a lot tighter with the material she does with the John Borra Band. But she was given a list of 10-12 songs to learn in the space of about five days, so kudos to her in any event.

Plus, we didn't have a drummer on hand, which is a further string left hanging--one day before the gig. Boag finally scared one up today (he had been waiting to hear back from some other guys, who, it turned out, were unavailable), but the new recruit wasn't able to make it tonight. It's a buddy of his from his Kingston days, who apparently has vast amounts of experience and should have no problem, provided we get time to run through a few things tomorrow, perhaps at sound check.

I think we'll be okay though. Having a steady drummer will give us all something to feed off and help provide some glue to keep everything together. Most of the songs are pretty straightforward, so I don't foresee any great catastrophe. I'm sure if we go astray somehow, or forget how to end a song, we'll feel our way through it and improvise something.

I'll also have to get an amp tomorrow, whether a rental or a loaner from a roommate of Boag's. Mine just won't cut it. I've been looking around for a new one anyway, so maybe if I rent one, I'll try to get one that I'm interested in buying, such as the Fender Blues Jr. Only 15 watts, which is plenty of power for a home practice amp, but it's also apparently very good for gigging--projects a lot louder than it should. And it's got that warm tube tone.

Best be getting on with it. The gig abides.