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RRK
Trad climber
Talladega, Al
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Nov 29, 2006 - 09:16am PT
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I played guitar for 25 years or so with various bluegrass and oldtime bands. (That's where I met Dirt, who tabbed out some Norman Blake tunes for me that I still have lying around somewhere.) Switched to dobro about 10 years ago to fill a blank spot with the New Vulgarians. (Dirt's brother sat in with us one banjo-less night during a club tour a few years back and that's when I found out that Dirt had taken up rock climbing - which I had tried to get him to do 30 years earlier). The New Vulgarians are on hiatus at the moment though we still get quite a few calls to play. I also do side work for my oldest son which I deem my highest calling. Just finished 3+ sets with him Saturday night (I was led to believe that it would only be 2 sets) which I greatly enjoyed and which lit the "playing" fire again. I'm not playing or practicing very much right now. I have a dob' student, so I at least have to get it out once a week plus sometimes play with various Vulgarians about once a week or so. However the 3+ sets we did Saturday was the first time in quite awhile that I've had to play through for the whole night, plus it was a 2-man show so I did all fills and breaks. Went from zero to wide-open in about 1 day.
RRK
PS saw this from Tom after I posted
"I'm trying to learn Dobro. I got a weekly bluegrass jam here in Bishop. My problem is that I don't know muh about blue grass yet. I keep playing the dobro like a slide guitar, which at times it is, but now when I listen it sounds like I should play it like a banjo.
Anyone else working on Dobro? "
For bluegrass I would recommend a series by a guy named Jay Buckey, which you can find online. He teaches several instruments very well. The material is a good value and comes with a CD. It covers all the pinching and rolling styles and gets you a very solid repetoir of tunes that you will encounter in the real world plus cool licks of all descriptions. Acutab has some of Rob Ikes stuff tabbed out which may be over your head to start but certainly a style worthy of emulation. Also you can get a tab from -I think Mel Bay - of the Great Dobro Sessions which is superb. (Get that disc for your own listening pleasure) Some of those tunes - particularly the Oswald stuff - is easily within your reach and sounds great (he did much of the dob on the original Circle album)
Good luck.
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dirtineye
Trad climber
the south
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Nov 29, 2006 - 10:29am PT
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RRK hush! You are making me sound old.
I "don't" flatpick any more, except for ONE tune.
However, I will gladly play a medley of Arkasas Traveler for you, with itself, in three keys, fingerstyle, if you EVER come off your property againfor anything but lunch, legal work, gout treatment, or picking up the kid.
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roslyn
Trad climber
washington
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Nov 29, 2006 - 11:03am PT
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cool thread. i've been playing guitar off and on since the 6th grade (70's).
I have a larivee and and a stock yamaha. My career never got beyond the proverbial kitchen party. As my buddy and i were to begin a busking career, i found myself pregnant, with no stamina to hit the streets.
I also "hack" away on the fiddle. I have a german model from the 1800's that was my grandfather's. It was restored by my best friend. I also have a french model that my husband got as payment when he was in the instrument repair business.
The Hubby also plays the banjo, he has a handmade model, old-timey, from the 20's
He also has a koa martin that some biker left at the repair store. This dude brought in the guitar with the side crushed. Seemed some business aquataince crushed it as a warning. The biker never returned and when the shop closed, bruce ended up with the guitar. With other activities like kids, life, etc., bruce never finished the restoration. He hopes to in the next few years.
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spud
climber
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Nov 29, 2006 - 12:27pm PT
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Accordion, for 42 years. Polka.
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the Fet
Knackered climber
A bivy sack in the secret campground
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Nov 29, 2006 - 12:47pm PT
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I've got an early 70s Les Paul Gold Top, and a Marshall Tube Combo (plus a few acoustics). I've never gotten serious enough to really learn, or play in a band, I just have fun in my garage or camping. I like everything but only really know/play rock.
My wife has a drum set that also resides in our garage. In the last 3 years I've taught myself on it, very fun.
When friends who play stop by we'll often have impromptu jam sessions.
I'd like to pick up a bass, setup a computer to record, with keyboards, but as mentioned it's hard to find the time.
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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Nov 29, 2006 - 01:26pm PT
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Piano since I was 6, but I haven't had one for 10 years. I was having a heck of a time w/ J's neice's piano lesson material over the weekend. My fingers sure have gotten stiff.
I used to sing in musicals, choirs, my college jazz ensemble, and a garage band. Now I just sing in the car. Really loud.
I couple of my songs (lyrics) were recorded by my friend's band in Belgium (La Vierge du Chancelier Rolin). They actually had a period of high popularity in the French speaking half (Wallonia) around the same time that the movie Singles came out. One of the recurring gags in that movie was that main character's deadbeat boyfriend kept insisting that his lameass band was "huge in Belgium". I laughed so hard.
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Gunkie
climber
East Coast US
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Nov 29, 2006 - 03:04pm PT
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Sissy guitar players :)
Trumpet player, all the way. I took lessons just outside NYC with a star student of Maurice Andre from the Paris Conservatory while in HS. Paid my way through undergraduate school playing. Got a music performance scholarship, but matriculated into the Electrical Engineering program. The cool thing about that was the school allowed me to maintain the music scholarship as long as I took the requsite ensemble and course work. So I spent an extra hazy year as an undergrad. My freshmen year I was second chair in the university orchestra behind the current 2nd chair in the Philadelphia Orchestra when he was a senior. Then I was the 1st chair for the next four years. I wonder where I would have ended up had I stayed on the music path. I also wonder about the summer of 1983, between sophomore and junior years, when I blew off a job with the Curry Company in the valley. I can tell you that I wouldn't have gone back to school had I done the Curry Company gig.
I play A-Piccolo trumpet for the occasional wedding and teach my oldest daughter [she's 1st trumpet/1st chair]. Currently, Brandeburg No. 2 is my personal musical Mount Everest.
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, Ca.
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Nov 29, 2006 - 03:17pm PT
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I used to play rythym guitar, but picked up the Bass because my band couldn't find a compatable player. It's a fun instrument. We call ourselves Smoke Break because that's the only thing everybody could get along with. I floated Tuolumne as a name but nobody liked it. I thought it was perfect myself. Oh well.
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pc
climber
East of Seattle
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Nov 29, 2006 - 03:41pm PT
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Nice Gunkie.
Read "Mozart in the Jungle" for a "cup is half empty" look at what your music path might have looked like. Makes me sad when I look at the state of the arts.
pc
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mcKbill
climber
Grundy Center
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Nov 30, 2006 - 11:10am PT
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Wow, neat to learn so many of you are bluegrassers. Me too, but I also play blues, and love covering Grateful Dead tunes with a little acoustic band called Terrapin Isle.
http://www.terrapinisle.com
We don't play out very often, but when we do it is typically a private party or a coffee house. The cigarette smoke in bars is very irritating for me and my bandmates.
We play some originals too...if you look at the main page of our website you'll see links to a couple of songs I wrote and recorded on my father's Boss BR-1600 digital recording machine. It's way better than the old Teac 4-track reel-to-reel.
I was lucky to grow up with musical parents. They never pushed me to play, but always provided encouragement when I showed an interest.
Music is a wonderful gift to share.
Jam on!
--mcKbill
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artmusicsouth
climber
VA
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Nov 30, 2006 - 01:00pm PT
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Right on Gunkie! I too play trumpet though not often. I did play a Bb Schilke picc but sold it as I just did not have time keep up the chops for the requisite gigs.
My main job is that I lead worship at a church in the swampy lowlands of SE Virginia.
http://www.wrpca.org
Not much to climb on around here. I live vicarioulsy through trip reports here and from my friends who still inhabit climbable territory :(
I noodle on a number of instruments as my job requires me to have some knowledge of the instruments we use. My main focus though as a musician is as a composer of "contemporary art music" for lack of a better term, i.e. new classical music (but not the frilly kind :) I have a web site that has some of my music on there if you're bored one day:
http://www.markchambersmusic.com
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GOclimb
Trad climber
Boston, MA
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Nov 30, 2006 - 02:25pm PT
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Used to be an opera singer.
Being a computer hack pays better.
GO
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Ouch!
climber
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Nov 30, 2006 - 02:49pm PT
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Brutus of Wyde
climber
Old Climbers' Home, Oakland CA
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Nov 30, 2006 - 03:04pm PT
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B.A. degree in French Horn performance and composition.
Brutus
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bachar
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Nov 30, 2006 - 06:06pm PT
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Good thing you can't hear this photo! JB
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pc
climber
East of Seattle
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Nov 30, 2006 - 06:30pm PT
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Hah! Offwidths and French Horns. Both require serious puckering ;)
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Nov 30, 2006 - 08:31pm PT
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Trombone and piano - I play like I climb - acceptably well and usually off the couch. Not half bad if I practise. I sing classical and barbershop and other stuff - anything but lead!
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john hansen
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 30, 2006 - 11:16pm PT
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We used to play a ton of gigs in the early eighties, rock and roll stuff. Billy Idol, Eddie Money, Thin Lizzy, Van Halen, Skynard. All that late 70's stuff. We would play 'Sweet Home Alabama' and then do 'Southern Man' . 'Saturday Nights Alright for Fighting'
Any thing that would get em up and rocking. Takes alot of work to get four 45 minute sets together. I played with three different bands over about three years and we finally got the best guys all together. We had alot of fun with light shows and segueing songs together(keep em dancing) and just making the show flow ( I always wrote up the set list's, an art in itself).
Lots of drugs, lovely ladies and adreniline. A couple guys went down hard snorting crystal meth and staying up for days on end.
Its very hard to keep five or six guys going in the same direction for a long time. I never did much of the 'hard stuff' and was actually doing my best climbing during those years... climb all day, play all night.
I've played alot of more mellow gigs since then,, It's still alot of fun.
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SuperTopo on the Web
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Duke and the Ducktails - 50s "rock?" (not my type of music but it paid well)
Let us know!