Girls Rock!

As usual, it's been a busy couple of weeks.  Went to two concerts, been dealing with this crazy, destructive dog, and learning a bunch of great new stuff on guitar.

Cool stage design at Prince concert
Get it?

 I went with a friend, my nephew and brother-in-law to see Prince and his crew at the North Charleston Coliseum on March 30th.  What a great show!  I had never been that big a Prince fan even though I know some of his music from the radio.  But there's no denying his showmanship.  Lalah Hathaway opened the show with her voice as smooth as silk and after a short intermission the Welcome 2 America tour got underway.  The Post and Courier said there were over 10,000 people there and I believe it.  Not only that, but nearly all of us were on our feet the entire time.  It was an expensive ticket, but well worth it!



Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi

 On April 5, Derek Trucks and his wife, Susan Tedeschi came to the Charleston Music Hall downtown.  Wow!  Another great concert albeit of a totally different type.  Derek works the slide on his Gibson as well as Duane Allman ever did--some say better.  And Susan, proving she has chops of her own on her turquoise Fender Strat, sang with a voice which was rich, rough and raw, whatever the song called for.  I was not expecting the band to consist of so many members, but the stage was full of veteran musicians who were also characters in their own right.  A full horn section really surprised me, as well as two drummers, a keyboard player and two backup singers.  All of them were crazy-good!  If any audience member left disappointed, it was their own fault.  Great show, great venue.

Girls Rock!
On to my own guitar adventures.  I was really excited when John gave me the intro to Boston's "More Than a Feeling."  I figured if I could do the intro to "Bristol Shores," I could do this one too.  And I have.  Thanks to some advice from the nephew.  I was having some trouble transitioning back to the beginning of the phrase and he told me not to move my third finger.  Oh!  Duh!  It made all the difference.

I also got Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion" which includes a "pull-off," a technique I'd never done before.  But it wasn't difficult and I mastered the first part easily.  The concept of the second one confounded me a little but I finally got it.  When I played it for John, though, I was way off on the rhythm.  Hahaha!!  Have I mentioned I have a rhythm problem?  Hahaha!  Yeah. I think I've got it down now.



My practice book

 I reorganized my practice book and made things a little easier to read.  I put a couple of songs on a single page since many of them are no more than a line or two of tab or chord names.  John saw "China Grove" underneath "Sweet Emotion."  He said, "Oh, China Grove . . ." and before he could saw anything more, I played it.  He was like, "Yeah!  That's just what I wanted to see."  Kind of a drill for finger coordination with power chords. 

This week, he was going to give me the intro to "Carry On My Wayward Son" by Kansas. It includes bending which I'm anxious to learn.  But on the phone with my nephew the other night, he mentioned "Funk 49" by Joe Walsh--also one of my favorite riffs.  So I told John that Conner had suggested it.  Now, here's a technique to master.  And it may take me a while.  It's a two fingered "hammer-on."  O-o-kay.  Hahaha!!  And he played me a bunch of songs that use this technique. You may recall I have practiced the hammer-on with the "hip chords" and I've played one for years on Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here," but to do it with two fingers--at the same time?  Well, let's just say, I'd better go practice.  Hahaha!! 

Oh, I'll get it eventually.  I got the power chords and the barre chords (well, just the E-shaped ones so far) and I'll get this too.  It's amazing how many new tricks this old broad can learn.  Having too much fun along the way!

"There's a whole lotta things I never done, I ain't never had too much fun!"   --Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen