It has been a week for me. Let’s just say that 14-16 hour work days. I have not had any time for anything personal and barely any guitar playing this week. Sorry it took so long to respond. I would love to see the show, but had some plans in advance. I am in Carlsbad today for my birthday with my wife and kids. I definitely would like to connect at some point to play a jam session or see a show. Burbank is a reasonable distance away.
For your other comment I would say yeah AC-DC would have been my first choice too and never would have considered Led Zeppelin. Picture Kashmir or stairway to heaven with them. I am glad I am not the only one who experiences that. On 11/12 I am doing a show with my daughter’s music class. She is ten years old and is supposed to play Stand By Me and they want me to improvise a solo in there. I have been learning scales and how to fit them into a song as a solo. I am going to ask if I can throw in another Linkin Park song in there, maybe a ballad to fit the mood. Either way I would need to squeeze in some practice time, maybe write my own song about how awful my job is lol. Hope you stay in touch.
I hear you on the rough week, I’ve put in those hours before and I know the toll they take. Same h
Same on not putting in guitar time, I’m working a graveyard shift and find it almost impossible to get solid sleep while everyone around me is awake. If it’s not leaf blowers, it’s dogs, trash trucks, etc…
Happy (belated) Birthday btw!!!
Ya man, I would love to connect and noodle around on guitar! I’ve actually been looking at rehearsal studios in Burbank, super reasonable hourly rates. Many come with a couple of half stacks or a PA to plug into so all you need (in theory) guitars, cables and picks. Of course figuring out how to use the PA may be a bit of a challenge.
I’m 100% with you on the challenges of playing Zeppelin. Do a youtube search for Jason Land, he’s my guitar teacher. A lot of great videos on playing Zep. I can’t remember the song, but he told me it took him a solid two years to really get it down. Two years working on a song is some serious commitment.
Thats awesome - Stand By Me with your daughter! Man - make sure you record, post and share it with me if you can. Improvising a solo is awesome, it takes you out of your comfort zone and forces you to learn. I love seeing stuff like that.
If you ever find yourself in the market for a great rig to record yourself practicing, check out the Sure Mv88-Video kit. It’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. You install an app on your phone which controls the mic setup, put your phone on the tripod and start recording. I’ve seen and corrected a lot of technique mistakes by using this kit.
Two songs are always better than one and definitely share any home made songs about crappy jobs. Funny, Working in a Coal Mine just popped into my head.
lol.
I will stay in touch and it’s been a pleasure to virtually meet you!
Wow Jim, what a great inspirational story! And so awesome that, despite your thinking you had totally messed up, that everyone was so supportive and encouraging. That is fantastic, thank you for sharing that with us. And welcome to the community!
Thank you for the warm welcome and I’m glad you found a bit of inspiration in my story.
I’ll also tell you that before the gig I went into the studio to rehearse the songs twice a month with these guys. Super great guys, really encouraging and very kind when correcting and giving advice. Even so, every single rehearsal night I was mentally making excuses not to go and literally had to force myself to walk in the door. It was almost like jumping off a cliff because I knew as soon as I walked through the door and they saw me, that was it, we’re playing.
I learned that forcing myself out of my comfort zone can pay some big dividends.
It has been a while since I had a chance to do much of anything but work. I hope your gig went well. My performance with my daughter was not exactly as planned. At the last minute they pulled my solo act and said January instead so I ended up playing my 12 string acoustic with my daughter on the stage with her and others. It felt very basic to me, but at least I was there lol. I was disappointed, but maybe I’ll still post the video. We all played the song in time and it was the first time I really tried a 12 string in public. I bought that thing last summer with the Fender and it sat collecting dust. Anyways, hope to be more involved here again soon, more Justin lessons, and maybe a trip to LA soon. I do love being on stage. For now I just posted a video here in the record yourself playing section. Bon Jovi-Never Say Goodbye. Could be much better but just started learning that one.
Hey Jeff - A performance not going as planned is not the same as a performance not going well. Even though is didn’t go as planned I think it’s awesome you played on stage with your daughter, and with a 12 string no less. Nice.
Uhhh… there is a “record yourself playing” section? Man - I need to dig around this site more.
I have a Gretsch Rat Rod I’ve been using for slide blues in Open G. I got Justin’s Honkey Tonk Woman down, such a fun song to play.
What part of LA do you stay in when you come down here?
When we head out there it will probably be near Burbank area. I will have to check out how to use a rat ride for slide blues. Sounds cool.
The section here is called “Record yourself and your progress- audio and video of you playing.” By now I have a full resume of songs I have posted here, some decent some rotten tomato worthy but I still keep at it lol. From what I remember doing: Never Say Goodbye-Bon Jovi, Love of A Lifetime-Firehhouse, People are Strange- The Doors, School of Rock Song-Jack Black, Shadow of the Day-Linkin Park, Goodbye-Def Leppard, Fallen Angel-Poison, Rock and Roll all Night-Kiss, Como la Flor-Selena, Don’t Know what you’ve got till its gone-Cinderella, Fall to Pieces-Velvet Revolver, Everytime I look at you-Kiss, How’s it gonna be-3rd Eye Blind, and others I can’t remember. The recent ones I am doing is Perfect by Pink and Home Sweet Home by Motley Crue. A friend was over on Thursday and we played Motley Crue together. He is more of a journeyman guitarists but I keep up. I don’t think I have written them all down before, this is a big list of songs and there is still more.
Hi Jim, welcome to JustinGuitar and the community.
What a back story - you really faced and played through some anxiety moments there. Kudos and vibes to you for doing it all.
Ask if you need anything, folk are always helpful and supportive.
Cheers
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide, Approved Teacher & Moderator
Playing guitar while singing is not my thing. Actually, singing while singing is not my thing, you would likely hear better harmony from a machinegun nest.
You have an impressive group of posts, I need to post some videos!
I’m looking forward to seeing more.
Hi Richard,
Thank you for the kudos and welcome. I wanted to share that story because that experience pushed me beyond what I thought I could do, hopefully the story will help someone who reads it push past one of those self doubt moments.
