Search options (Page 68 of 71)

In the 70's I had a 6 night a week gig that lasted two years at a joint called the Skylark Club in Mobile, Alabama.
The manager was a country singer who sounded like Merle Haggard and Hank Williams but much louder. The club sat 500 and this guy needed no microphone. He would get up one or twice a night to sing country. The band would play rock the rest of the time. He had a wife and a girlfriend. The wife got tired of staying home alone and would come down to the club and sit at the table with the manager and his girlfriend.
The ladies would usually behave but once in a while one of them would lose it and try to stab him or shoot out the headlights on his white Cadillac with a pistol.

Had the good fortune to visit Scotland twice.
Heard some military guys that could flat out play bagpipes at the military tattoo in Edinborough. I found it stirring.
A Scotsman told me what a man has under his kilt.
1. His socks.
2. The future of the Scottish Nation.

joy123,
You have become aware of a major problem for guitarists playing alone. Having one song sound like the next is a good way to empty any room fast.
Now you can keep this in mind when you select songs to learn. Keep in mind how the new material contrasts with the tunes you already have on your list. Go for a wide variety.
I bought an effects pedal for my electric to change up the guitar sound - phase shift for ballads, distortion for boogie tunes.
I found that as I age I find myself choosing more slow tunes. DANGER! As you age be sure to have lots-o-boogie stuff for the young ones. It may be like work to pound it out but the 20's and younger will dig it. The golden years are no time to turn square.
I have a long list of silly novelty songs for me and others that like to laugh. I like to add a tear jerker to a silly set for contrast. Make 'em laugh. Make 'em cry.

A man walked into the bar carrying a dog with no legs - just a head and torso and set him on the bar.
The bartender, just to make conversation, said, "Nice dog. What's his name?"
The bar patron replied, "He doesn't have a name."
The bartender said, "Poor dog doesn't have any legs. At least you could give it a name."
The patron replied, "Why should I give him a name? He can't come when I call him."

A luthier offered to replace my original single wound Gibson pickups with Humbuckers for my 1960 Gibson 330. I'm glad I couldn't afford to make the change.
I later bought a 1975 Gibson 335 with double wound Humbuckers and hated the trebly Humbucker sound.
My old 330 has such a mellow sound. It's been my main axe since 1968.

Hi Stonebridge,
There's a pretty good chord website here:
http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/

Hi AndysMusic. There is a music store by that name in Mobile, Alabama.
I understand a rif can be any musical phrase played filling in the "gaps"between vocals (called playing fill) or a catchy lick in the intro, solo or ending of a song.
I had a lot of fun in the 60's playing trumpet along with a good tenor sax player "blowing shots" together to tunes by James Brown, Wilson Pickett etc...

I'm 67. Been playing in bars and eateries since the late 60's.
My songbook has 400+ tunes in it and is way too fat. I considered dividing it into two or more books but that presents a new set of problems.                                                                             Reading onstage while performing looks so bad to the audience. I prefer to limit my song selection and take no papers onstage. I have my fat book along in case of a special request and a heavy metal music stand with a light but the show goes more smoothly with more spontenaety if I can concentrate on my audience and play to and visit with them.

Years ago, on halloween, I set my P.A. system up on my front porch, turned the reverb all the way up, and played the theme from "Jaws"on my tuba.
My son took over and did a "monster" voice amplified that scared the bejesus out of the kids. He was really good. Only about two in ten kids that came by had the guts to come up and get their candy.
He even yelled at the police as they drove by. A co-worker brought her son by once and the kid ran screaming back to their car and locked his mom out.
This became a tradition for years. My Jamie was the infamous "Prince of Darkness" and we drew more kids at our house than did the halloween carnival downtown. I always had extra good candy for the ones that braved the terror and made it to the porch.

Rusty McHugh died recently. He was a real treasure and a permanent fixture at the Florabama lounge. He worked blue but occasionally wrote a song that would rip your heart out and stomp a mudhole in it.
I cleaned up some of the lyrics so I could sing this one with ladies present:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of3PerF1vuk

Been playing tuba along with John on this song by Mike Rayborn for years.
This weekend I sat down and learned to play guitar and sing it for my friends who love bad country music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SJhCiqBQmY