The memory is going...

Just nailed the solo from 'Runaway Boys'! It's pretty hard to get it right all the way through but the most difficult thing is remembering it all. It's a terrible thing age, the hands are willing but the brain is off down to the shops!
I have a Stray Cats backing CD that has the full songs with the guitar parts taken out but I bet if I try it with the rest of the instruments behind me I'll completely mess it up, the pressure will get to me! I used to gig in various bands as a young man but for the life of me I couldn't do it now, hats off to Pistol Pete and the others who can get up there and do it. It'd scare me to death now!

Hey Riffs is that backing CD something you bought from a legit source, something a guitar player made, or what? Can you link to where someone might be able to purchase such a thing?

Congrats on nailing the solo, I'm still trying to get the opening run.

Here you go Andi:

http://www.licklibrary.com/store/brian-setzer/721/brian-setzer-jamtrax

I bought the tutorial DVD and the Jamtrax together, so I can learn the songs and then try my luck at playing them against the backing. They aren't original Stray Cats backings (would be copyright issues I presume) but they are good enough to make you feel like a band member!

And on the opening run. The guy on the tutorial plays it across the A and E strings which is quite a bit easier than Brian's method which is all on the E string. I prefer Brian's method cos it just looks cooler! (Not that there's anybody watching, I just pretend!)

Riffs_yeah! wrote:

I prefer Brian's method cos it just looks cooler!

Totally agree with you there- playng guitar like a pro is all well and good but if you look cool doing it too, all the better!

Thanks for the link!

.......... hats off to Pistol Pete and the others who can get up there and do it. It'd scare me to death now![/quote]

Hey Riffs, how goes?

Playing live IS scary at times, but I was/am lucky enough to have some great mates that even though can play circles around me, have encouraged and helped me along the way. That's why when anyone asks me for help or advice, I'll give it to them, plus alot of encouragement. I had my share of wankers that tried to discourage and critize me, but these other guys helped me see the way. I can't stand people putting other people down.

And I never play a song the same way twice! If you ever see or hear the stuff I do with my band, you'll see that I make the stuff up as I go along. Infact, I never even know the songs that we play! We're our own worst critics, I'm never happy with my playing! Just ask Rene!

My advice is find some people that wanna jam to have some fun and enjoy it! You'll never know what'll come out of it!

Cheers Pete.

P.S. Hey Andi, I got that cd, great tool to learn from, even as a method of rythem playing.

andi wrote:

Hey Riffs is that backing CD something you bought from a legit source, something a guitar player made, or what? Can you link to where someone might be able to purchase such a thing?

Congrats on nailing the solo, I'm still trying to get the opening run.

Hi Andi,

I have a bunch of Stray Cats / Setzer midi files a few of which were purchased, the rest were written by me - so just have bass and drums on them.

If you have a decent sound card they will sound pretty reasonable as backing tracks.

Alternatively I could put them in my sequencer and burn them as WAV files (this ups the realism of the instruments a lot )

Anyway let me know if want any and I can list out which ones I have got

All very good advice Pete and I envy you, you obviously enjoy it and long may it continue. I agree that people should be encouraged at every turn, learning an instrument or playing in a band (or even just with friends) could well be the most liberating thing a person ever does. If they do it and feel it isn't for them then at least they tried, discourage that earlier on and they will never know.

I admire your confidence to play the songs differently each time, you really have to be thinking on your feet for that! Do you ever get lost in the middle of a song and start to panic!?

When I was 20 I was in a pretty good and very serious band. I was doing my best and could play well but I was never at all comfortable up on stage, some people love it, i didn't!
We managed to get a weekly residency at a big club and things were going well, drawing large crowds and lots of talk of record company interest. Anyway, we had a particular song in which the guitar part consisted of just three very difficult (in both fingering and transition) jazz chords. It was a pretty technical arrangement and I had loads of chorus and delay running so the fingerings had to be very tight to pull it off. One evening my monitor is dead and I'm getting no sound back to me at all, the place is packed and we launch into this song (which many of the regulars now know well). I'm concentrating hard and i notice people in the crowd doing that thing where they tilt there head and frown as if something is not quite right! The sax player is motioning to me and I'm thinking "Christ my fingerings must be sloppy!". So I'm sweating and grimacing and trying even harder but the song is totally bombing. When it was finally over the singer walked across the stage and said "You started on the wrong chord". I'd played an entire 5 minute song one chord out!

You know that was nearly 25 years ago and I still wake up in a cold sweat thinking about it!

Hey Riffs,
Thanks for the kind words, I appreciate them.
Do I ever get lost when I improvise or play? Sure! But the trick is to just sit back and find your place. All my solos start off in an orderly fashion but as I go along, who knows where it will lead! If I hit a bum note, I slide or bend it to the right note! Brian said that when he hits a bum note, he'll hit it 2 or 3 times just so as to make it sound as if he meant to play it! Good trick and shows that anyone make a mistake! I have great band mates as that we all encourage each other. The other bands we play with are good mates as well and we help and encourage each other. And I just enjoy it! I've played along some seriousily scary good players and I've had a blast because we're good mates. Find people like this and you're set!
I think playing live might not be for everyone, but I believe playing with other people makes for more fun and a better learning enviroment. But each to his own.
To give you an example of playing by the seat of your pants, when we played this song, we never had rehearsed it or even played it ever before so we made it up as we went along, just tried to watch each other, but most importantly....have a blast playing it! I can hear all the mistakes, bum notes, played it too slow, but we enjoyed it, so did the other bands and crowd, so I guess we did ok. And to me that's all that matters.
Cheers Pete

Hey-yo, Pete, that was pretty sweet. You're the kinda band I'd like to meet!

Cristo wrote:

Hey-yo, Pete, that was pretty sweet. You're the kinda band I'd like to meet!

Thanks Cristo! You're the kinda person that we get out our gigs.... DRINKERS!!!!!! The Publicans like us cos we bring in drinkers, good way to keep on getting gigs!

Pete, great song! If you blokes are willing to play a song for the first time IN THE MIDDLE OF A GIG! then all I can say is you've got balls!
I think I would need to run through it about a hundred times before I performed it.

I got in from work earlier and had a quick look at your post then I had to go straight out, I drove over to the gym and the whole way there I was tapping the wheel and singing 'Bad reputation - you're the kind of girl I'd like to meet'. Really got into my brain. Good stuff.
Wonderful sound on your guitar mate, even recorded onto that clip it sounds great.

Pity I live about 14,000 miles away, would love to catch your band.

Enjoyed that. Had that song on repeat for an hour yesterday, been playing a lot of RHH lately.

Wow thanks guys! I appreciate the comments!
Being on this forum has given me the oppurtunity to see and hear players of all levels, from all around the world, doing what they love.......playing the guitar.
I'm glad you enjoy my mistakes, and we must be the only band in the world that slows down when we play live, rather than speed up like everyone else!
Now if I could only get Rene to post some of his playing!