Keyed Up

I could have sworn I had a gig last night, I spent most of the week mentally preparing, hassling Jim for acoustic rehearsal time and generally getting keyed up. It was Thursday when Jim put me straight, the gig I was anticipating is next Friday.

This left me with a dilemma, because I had promised myself I would write something and post it after last nights gig… that never happened… I felt foolish enough having not played but to not blog as well seemed wrong wrong WRONG.

So here goes yesterday…

We’ve got an electric gig coming up on Monday, some Bank holiday shin dig in Wapping, we haven’t played an electric gig since Glastonbury and that feels like months ago now. So we booked some local rehearsal space and made some real noise. I love these afternoon rehearsals, you can really focus on details and iron out the uncertainties, then when you take it on stage it flows so naturally. Playing the guitar becomes as thoughtless and instinctive as dancing. We only had a couple of hours but we worked hard and I left the rehearsal room feeling exhilarated by the physical and mental work out. I also left the rehearsal rooms with with my head in the clouds, we loaded the car with everything, amp, pedals, kit, cymbals but forgot my guitars….ouch, the panic was painful. Fortunately they were just where I’d left them , behind the door of the room we rented.

I love my guitars, don’t get me wrong here I don’t have a 3000 pound Gretch from the 60’s I have a cheap cheap single pick up Squire Strat. It makes a straight forward sound, dirty when I distort and clean when I want it, it just responds to what you give it, we have an understanding, I am not a subtle player and it is not a subtle instrument. The other guitar I use is a bit rarer, but no less cheap, the Danelectro Barritone, fundamentally made of paper, but being longer scale than the average guitar it handles down tuning with grace and aplomb. Lovely low tremulous voice. The initial reason I became attached to this motley couple was simply the weight of them, they are as light as a feather. When I’m on stage I’m singing 95% of the time, I’m playing ALL the time, and if you haven’t noticed I’ve got 7 pedals in line so my feet are working pretty hard too. I’m not complaining about this, it is an amazing feeling, but do have a problem doing all those things whilst carrying a guitar that weighs more than a small child.

We are playing on Monday, I know it for a fact, unless it’s absolutely tipping it down… hmmmm X