Interesting past 48 hours of being awake
Well the past 48 hours have been interesting. It started yesterday with a trip to out to the music store. You see, my acoustic guitar Madam captain is dead. The sound is horrid, the action is shot and the truss rod wont adjust the neck no matter how much I try, so now the guitar has become a canvas for DeAnna. So we went over to guitar center, and of course I started looking at everything and playing with everything. It only took an hour, but I ended up finding an acoustic/electric guitar that sounds good, plays well, and looks fantastic. Its an Ibanez EW20A. Its an all ash body with a natural finish so it looks like a side of freshly cut wood.
I also picked up a few things to fix up the 12 string, the T-26 and the mandolin, though I still need to work on them (I havent gotten the energy up to do it). We got home and I worked with it for a while with studio application and it performed wonderfully. I could go on for a while about it but its one of those things that words cant justify how nice it is.
That night DeAnna had the fantastic idea of working out some art work to paint on one of my guitar straps. She toiled all night coming up with the perfect picture, and in the end she came up with a beautiful sketch that when she got home, turned into a beautiful painting on my fathers old guitar strap. I'm sure with the quality of the work, and the love it was fashioned with, that he would have been honored to have this artwork on the guitar strap he used for 30 years.
I cant explain in words how much I love DeAnna and the artwork that she has done for me. My work area here around my computer has all sorts of the drawings she has made for me. They make me feel so loved, and so happy. It's wonderful to have someone that shares her gifts with me. She makes every day of my life so wonderful, and full of love and compassion. :-)
Before I spend the rest of 30 years talking about how much I love DeAnna and what she means to me, I'll tell you about today. Today I had an audition with a band from here in ypsi. I was a little worried about it, because I knew that it was with a group of older established musicians that have been playing music for longer then I have been alive. I got there, and we talked for a bit, then we started setting up. While I was getting my guitar set up, the Piano player, Mike, Sat down and started playing, which is when I feared for my life. The only time I have ever seen such piano playing was when I was watching Frank Zappa live in new york on DVD. I mean it sounded like he was 30 different people, playing on 3 different keyboards (he really did have 3 set up).
So I was thinking at that time I was in trouble, because I wasnt going to know these songs, and at this point in time he had begun playing funk/jazz hybrid music OF FAST HARD DOOM. I kept setting up when the bass player plugged in and started playing. Suddenly there was slap bass funk of UTTER DESTRUCTION next to me. This was about the time I was getting ready to wet my pants in fear for the psychotically talented musicians around me. The drummer finished setting up and began to play. He was the only person that didnt scare me more. Dont get me wrong he was a really really good drummer, but he didnt do anything that was supernatural like the other 2 were doing.
The singer plugged in her mic, and started to sing. She was rather talented. Mind you, she wasnt as good as DeAnna at singing (honestly) but it also has to do with the styles of music being sung. I like DeAnna's singing a lot more because of the style and her technique. She sounds more compassionate and there is more love in her voice. The singer in the group was more, I dont know how to explain it without becoming stereotypical.
There I was, impressed by everyone when they said something I dreaded... "We'll just start playing and when you feel the groove just join in". Enter the music of incredibly hard. At first I just panicked. I was lost, there were chord changes going by, passing tones out the window, and some augmented diminished 5th flat 9th just cut me off. I suddenly remembered the great thing about guitar work in this type of music... It usually holds one chord or two and does like a disco strumming pattern. I was right. SO then as the song went on I just started to lightly solo along with the vocalist, trying to emulate my dad the best I could. For some unexplainable reason, it worked.
Next up in the first song was another thing I dread. They told me to take a solo. Now, Being the only guitar player in the band, I usually dread solos because the main chords get lost. However that isnt the case when you have the ultimate piano and bass player. So I just started doing a few santana riffs, and a few of my own, and before I knew it, people were smiling at me nodding with delight. Somehow, someway, I had made it through the first song.
The songs continued with much the same pattern. I was thrown a solo in almost every song, and played light solo work over the vocalist. I felt like an exotic seasoning or pepper being added lightly to an incredibly expensive meal. We took a short break and they asked me to play them some of my music. At first I was going to just play guitar and sing, but I remembered I had brought a CD of my work with me, so I put that in and we listened.
They knew almost every song, and the songs they didnt know, they wanted to. Even (by mistake it being on there) the theme to "Pinky and the Brain". After that was finished I took out my new acoustic guitar, Danica, and played a few songs for them. After finishing "Classical Gas" (on request!) I received applause. I was stunned. So we started playing again.
I felt a little bit better at this point. I knew that they didnt really want me, for I couldnt compare to them, but they did like the effort that I made. Someone who was young and displayed talent in all instruments and all types of music, even types I have never played before. Thats when they decided to stop and talk to me for a moment. I knew at this time the fun was going to end, and they were going to tell me that they needed someone that was better.
Mike started talking to me about the kind of person they were looking for, the types of music that they wanted that person to bring into the mix. How they wanted to get into classic rock, country/western and pop but needed someone to help lead them. What they were trying to get accomplished in working in the studio and things like that. And then they basically asked me if it was okay, would I mind being in the band.
I was completly shocked. They asked me if I would play with them, with the overtones of they were afraid I was going to tell them no. I told them that I would be honored to play with such talented people as them, and they again told me that I was talented. That I played fantastically and could just pick up a song ive never heard and play along with it. Add into that they said I had a wonderful singing voice and loved how I could go from smooth voice like in "Rocket Man" to gruff jerry reed voice like in "Amos Moses" or "Alabama Wildman" (the latter which after playing it I was told would now instantly be in the lineup).
So we played for a little longer, and they started to ask for requests again. This is another time and place where I was completly amazed. They asked me for song after song, but they were all songs that I knew! So then it was time to try the ultimate trial by fire. They had a great sense of humor so I just had to try one song and see what happened. It was do or die. This experiment could have gotten me kicked out, or atleast shunned, instead it made them love me even more.
You first have to understand that the Piano player, bass player and drummer are huge african american men. Im not being racist, Im just explaining things. The singer too is a smaller african american woman. I am a tiny white boy. So what song do I try to see if it goes over well?
"Play that funky music White boy"
Before I knew it, we were all in the grove and I had a microphone in front of me so I could tell "my story".
And thats about it for the past 2 days. I havent slept in going on 3 days now. Thats bad.
The End.
~Takumi
(Daisuki da yo iinazuke. anata dake, itsu made mo.)
Danica! this is not my exact guitar (the patterns are all naturally different) but I couldnt get a good pic of it yet.
Danica herself on the strap, painted by my wonderful fiancee!
I also picked up a few things to fix up the 12 string, the T-26 and the mandolin, though I still need to work on them (I havent gotten the energy up to do it). We got home and I worked with it for a while with studio application and it performed wonderfully. I could go on for a while about it but its one of those things that words cant justify how nice it is.
That night DeAnna had the fantastic idea of working out some art work to paint on one of my guitar straps. She toiled all night coming up with the perfect picture, and in the end she came up with a beautiful sketch that when she got home, turned into a beautiful painting on my fathers old guitar strap. I'm sure with the quality of the work, and the love it was fashioned with, that he would have been honored to have this artwork on the guitar strap he used for 30 years.
I cant explain in words how much I love DeAnna and the artwork that she has done for me. My work area here around my computer has all sorts of the drawings she has made for me. They make me feel so loved, and so happy. It's wonderful to have someone that shares her gifts with me. She makes every day of my life so wonderful, and full of love and compassion. :-)
Before I spend the rest of 30 years talking about how much I love DeAnna and what she means to me, I'll tell you about today. Today I had an audition with a band from here in ypsi. I was a little worried about it, because I knew that it was with a group of older established musicians that have been playing music for longer then I have been alive. I got there, and we talked for a bit, then we started setting up. While I was getting my guitar set up, the Piano player, Mike, Sat down and started playing, which is when I feared for my life. The only time I have ever seen such piano playing was when I was watching Frank Zappa live in new york on DVD. I mean it sounded like he was 30 different people, playing on 3 different keyboards (he really did have 3 set up).
So I was thinking at that time I was in trouble, because I wasnt going to know these songs, and at this point in time he had begun playing funk/jazz hybrid music OF FAST HARD DOOM. I kept setting up when the bass player plugged in and started playing. Suddenly there was slap bass funk of UTTER DESTRUCTION next to me. This was about the time I was getting ready to wet my pants in fear for the psychotically talented musicians around me. The drummer finished setting up and began to play. He was the only person that didnt scare me more. Dont get me wrong he was a really really good drummer, but he didnt do anything that was supernatural like the other 2 were doing.
The singer plugged in her mic, and started to sing. She was rather talented. Mind you, she wasnt as good as DeAnna at singing (honestly) but it also has to do with the styles of music being sung. I like DeAnna's singing a lot more because of the style and her technique. She sounds more compassionate and there is more love in her voice. The singer in the group was more, I dont know how to explain it without becoming stereotypical.
There I was, impressed by everyone when they said something I dreaded... "We'll just start playing and when you feel the groove just join in". Enter the music of incredibly hard. At first I just panicked. I was lost, there were chord changes going by, passing tones out the window, and some augmented diminished 5th flat 9th just cut me off. I suddenly remembered the great thing about guitar work in this type of music... It usually holds one chord or two and does like a disco strumming pattern. I was right. SO then as the song went on I just started to lightly solo along with the vocalist, trying to emulate my dad the best I could. For some unexplainable reason, it worked.
Next up in the first song was another thing I dread. They told me to take a solo. Now, Being the only guitar player in the band, I usually dread solos because the main chords get lost. However that isnt the case when you have the ultimate piano and bass player. So I just started doing a few santana riffs, and a few of my own, and before I knew it, people were smiling at me nodding with delight. Somehow, someway, I had made it through the first song.
The songs continued with much the same pattern. I was thrown a solo in almost every song, and played light solo work over the vocalist. I felt like an exotic seasoning or pepper being added lightly to an incredibly expensive meal. We took a short break and they asked me to play them some of my music. At first I was going to just play guitar and sing, but I remembered I had brought a CD of my work with me, so I put that in and we listened.
They knew almost every song, and the songs they didnt know, they wanted to. Even (by mistake it being on there) the theme to "Pinky and the Brain". After that was finished I took out my new acoustic guitar, Danica, and played a few songs for them. After finishing "Classical Gas" (on request!) I received applause. I was stunned. So we started playing again.
I felt a little bit better at this point. I knew that they didnt really want me, for I couldnt compare to them, but they did like the effort that I made. Someone who was young and displayed talent in all instruments and all types of music, even types I have never played before. Thats when they decided to stop and talk to me for a moment. I knew at this time the fun was going to end, and they were going to tell me that they needed someone that was better.
Mike started talking to me about the kind of person they were looking for, the types of music that they wanted that person to bring into the mix. How they wanted to get into classic rock, country/western and pop but needed someone to help lead them. What they were trying to get accomplished in working in the studio and things like that. And then they basically asked me if it was okay, would I mind being in the band.
I was completly shocked. They asked me if I would play with them, with the overtones of they were afraid I was going to tell them no. I told them that I would be honored to play with such talented people as them, and they again told me that I was talented. That I played fantastically and could just pick up a song ive never heard and play along with it. Add into that they said I had a wonderful singing voice and loved how I could go from smooth voice like in "Rocket Man" to gruff jerry reed voice like in "Amos Moses" or "Alabama Wildman" (the latter which after playing it I was told would now instantly be in the lineup).
So we played for a little longer, and they started to ask for requests again. This is another time and place where I was completly amazed. They asked me for song after song, but they were all songs that I knew! So then it was time to try the ultimate trial by fire. They had a great sense of humor so I just had to try one song and see what happened. It was do or die. This experiment could have gotten me kicked out, or atleast shunned, instead it made them love me even more.
You first have to understand that the Piano player, bass player and drummer are huge african american men. Im not being racist, Im just explaining things. The singer too is a smaller african american woman. I am a tiny white boy. So what song do I try to see if it goes over well?
"Play that funky music White boy"
Before I knew it, we were all in the grove and I had a microphone in front of me so I could tell "my story".
And thats about it for the past 2 days. I havent slept in going on 3 days now. Thats bad.
The End.
~Takumi
(Daisuki da yo iinazuke. anata dake, itsu made mo.)
Danica! this is not my exact guitar (the patterns are all naturally different) but I couldnt get a good pic of it yet.
Danica herself on the strap, painted by my wonderful fiancee!