ivansc

There has been a thriving 50s and early 60s r'nr and rockabilly scene in the UK for decades. Sadly it is now slowly withering on the vine as the folks from my generation and the one above me die off. Work it out: earliest rock and roll recordings are from the late forties, so people in their teens then are now in their late eighties. And of course every generation removed from the original has less and less connection with the original music played live by the original players. I started very young - mid 50s - and there are very few players from even my era still on the scene. Locally there is ONE active drummer and ONE active singer left. I am teaching the only surviving local rhythm guitar player to play a bit of lead. We had played together in the very early sixties and he quit in 1964, only to take it back up again a year or so back. Quite an emotional experience in its own little way. Only him, Jenny the second drummer and Bob the second bass player in his 60's band still alive & Jenny no longer plays. In her day she was a great little drummer though. Nothing fancy but rock solid. She told me a few months ago that she would have loved to be "one of those drummers who could do solos" and never really realised at the time how well respected she was. Again she stopped playing seriously in around 1964/5.

Heh - was recorded in 1977 and the only surviving copy is the "off the desk" cassette copy I posted on SC, so it sounds pretty dire but at least it has a home somewhere other than on my computer or a slowly rotting C90!

P/J adaptation here on my main bass, too. The perfect compromise for me.

Voting with my feet. Just stuck a new "old" track of mine on there. From my Chappell Music demos days.

This thread is beginning to turn into Ben Hur the Movie.....

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1500627826' post='3339174'] Not bad for almost 71. Edit - cos I can't add up! [/quote] Oi! I`m 73. You ageist, you!!!

I would settle for just looking like Daryl, but if I could sing and play like him too.... Live at Daryls House is sooooo good.

Disco Glam Rock Ska-reggae-bluebeat WHY seem to be the ones that work most in my area. At least the ones making any money at it.... I do mostly americana tex mex Gulf Coast stuff to small but appreicative audiences (mostly!) these days, but there again I dont do that many bass playing gigs any more either.

Ashweb: showaddywaddy playing "real" rock and roll? You are joking.

Only another bass player is going to do that & the rest of the band will ignore him, too. `tis the bassists lot..... *sigh*

Funny - Today I did a first lesson with a friend aged 76 - I am 73 & we met in the early sixties when he played rhythm guitar in a band whose lead guitarist left to join MY band, whereupon I became a bass player! Because this guitarist was one of the best in the UK (although we didnt realise this till later) my friend never bothered to learn anything about lead playing. So 53 years later here we are, me teaching him left hand techniques for playing solo stuff! Never ever too late.... And such a pleasure to renew old acquaintances!

I use tiny A5 aide memoir cards on a sort of mini music stand clipped on my mic stand. Usually just the basic structure and any turnarounds, takes very little room and are enough to remind you where to go. Good luck.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1499935039' post='3334559'] Oh yeah, I've heard about this stuff. However, I'm not clear on what Nancy's point is? Blue [/quote] (grin) he is shocked and horrified that you never really heard much about this niche band. Me neither... apparently the guitar player widdles really well though.

I wish more of the gigging musicians I see accepted that they are there to ENTERTAIN the punters. If you arent grabbing their attention you arent really doing your job, so it is not going to have much impact on the crowd if you DO drop a few clunkers. However, if as Blue says you are comitted to what you are doing, you WILL be entertaining the crowd. The audience arent likely to be able to put a finger on any errors, but they will generally notice something went adrift, but only IF you have their attention in the first place. If you are playing live performance is everything, but it will only be as good as the time you put into making it asppear effortlesdsd in the first place. I have done several gigs recently with pickup bands and only ONE of them really nailed it. The one with the most accomplished players, who had also worked together a lot in the past.

Just remember the holes are more important than the notes in most of those songs.

@Phil Starr: I only use the two terms to differentiate between people who just want to play (and be good on ) their chosen instrument and others who for whatever reason want to play in a band because of the music itself rather than what they personally are playing. No intent to denigrate the players, as there are umpteen out there who I have relied on to make my own musical stuff great. But there IS a difference between players who are there to serve the music and people who dont care what they play, so long as it serves the song. I am in the middle of reverting to singer/guitarist status and am really happy to have a guitar player working with me who is both a player AND a musician. A rare combination. Plus I am egotistical enough to be happy that I have a bass player who plays scarily like me.

Barcelona was jumping when I went there a couple of years back. For instance there were at least half a dozen acts perfoming in Gaudi Park. All of them very good indeed. If you get the chance to catch five foot fingers they are also a great show. And Spanish.

The Epiphone prototype Explorer bass (that never went into production) that I was given in 1982. Mostly because I have played it to death & I dont think anyone would want to buy it! Jusrt realised how OLD that thing is! 35 this year....

[quote name='la bam' timestamp='1499245299' post='3330194'] Id say im enough of a musician to use my ears to realise that a lot of songs don't work or simply lose effect when you raise or drop the key, regardless of how good the singer then sings them. [/quote] With respect, have you tried re-voicing the chords in the sngs that dont seem to work? I have found that a lot of stuff is really that simple. One song I do was written in D with a dropped bottom E. I do it in B in straight tuning & it works fine.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1499241663' post='3330145'] What's your definition of a musician? (FWIW, I have to transpose on the fly all the time.) [/quote] Most of the people I have come across over the years who have attitudes about accommodating other player`s shortcomings refer to themselves as (Insert specific instrument here) players rather than musicians. Which pretty much sums up that particular attitude for me. Musicians play the tune as best they can together with other musicians. players are basically into their own bit (especially solos) to the exclusion of just about everything else. Anyone else have any thoughts on that assessment?

2 things: For the lazy/incompetent: Get a capo. For the rest of us, learn the nashville numbers system. Makes trasnsposing to ANY key a breeze. I sing anywhere from a tone to a natural third below written key on most songs. To be kind to guitarists I used to do House of the Rising Sun in E instead of A. Happily this means I can do most ladies songs in written key, an octave down. If you cant transpose to suit a singers range, you arent really a musician, are you?

I played inb a 50s rock and roll band in the fifties. Its a bit like Country music - "everyone" knows how simple and boring it is - until you actually try to play it properly. I had been away from rock and roll and coutry for a decade & then got back into an original 60`s band (well ONE original member left when I joined!) and had forgotten how demanding this sort of music can be - if you want to play it how it`s supposed to be. Biggest laugh was when we got a new drummer. Teaching qualifications out to wazoo, amazing technical player, played in a series of prog rock bands for years... He nearly died when I asked him to play fours on the hi hat.... till he finally tried it and "got" it. That band was one of the tightest groovingest bands I ever played in, but it took a lot of work and commitment to do it properly. Be warned!

Virginia Longanese Fred Fish Monica Messias All from when I worked at Barclays Bank as a kid. There were also a lot of unrepeatably smutty ones. Plus the chief clerk (who was in overall charge of the ledgers) had an evil sense of humour when it came to dividing up the ledger sections. Ones I can remember are BIG - BRA and TIT - VEE.

Wet Willie Keep on smiling. Saw them do this live at Summer Lights in Nashville back in the 80s. Jimmy was and still is a killer front man singer and harp player. I'll try and post a good video of them doing this.

[quote name='bazztard' timestamp='1499144357' post='3329447'] I mainly pluck with fingers but any Duck Dunn bassline needs to be played with a pick. It just sounds right. [/quote] AFAIK nobody told HIM that.