Did Some Session Work All Afternoon Yesterday

[toomanycats]

I improvised solos on about five different tunes. The artist didn't want me to rehearse beforehand because he wanted a raw, off the cuff, live Slash type feel on these tunes. On most I listened to one pass to get feel and the key, then we recorded. Not my usual and preferred method of production, but that's what they wanted and had me in there for.

We built an additional song from the ground up with a drummer who was called into the session near the end. It was funny, because he walked in, a short heavyset black kid, we acknowledged each other with a nod, then we just started warming up on "Voodoo Child" without saying a word. We didn't talk, but we were having a deep conversation, in a manner of speaking. We jammed on that for about ten minutes, getting into this really funky Band of Gypsys feel at the end. Incredible drummer this guy. After that the engineer rolled the tape and got the basic track down on the second take. It's my favorite thing I did yesterday. Unfortunately I don't have it on video because everybody was busy playing live in the room. For that tune I took the basic chords as given and "Van Halen'd" them, coming up with an intro that has a distinctly Eddie vibe. Lot's of fun.

[andrewsrea]

Sounded good for a phone recording of the tracking session!

Raw experiences like that will build up your application of theory. Within months of graduating college and returning home, I got many calls for what was known as 'pickup gigs. Which included weddings. Basically coming cold on the material, maybe not even have ever heard the material. I had to survive on: "Ok. G-minor. Starts on the '5'. 1 step key change after the 3rd chorus. Shave and a hair-cut ending."

Hope you get a finished song to share!