Band Practice

I was nervous about going to band practice. I hadn't practiced at all, and I don't know the songs on the list. I had that feeling I used to get driving out to John Elliott's studio back in high school.

I've gotten so out of practice it feeds on itself: I restrung a couple of guitars the other night and when I was done, I was too demoralized to practice.

But Melissa said she'd fix dinner, a trick it turns out she learned at Eastman: provide food and musicians will reliably show up.



Worked on Rock this Town and Vertigo. And I wouldn't want to be in the audience, we have a long ways to go, but we made a lot more progress than I'd have believed was possible. Partly because Melissa and Jamie planned things out well.

Melissa professes to be rusty, but as I indicated above, she's an Eastman grad. At a school like that, virtuosity is the new mediocrity. So she's rusty from a considerably higher level of accomplishment than the rest of us.



And bass really is the most important instrument in a rock band. The only rock band I can think of that lacked one was The Doors, and in that case the organist provided the same thing. Bass keeps the time, provides the harmonic foundation. Back in high school, I had the misfortune of playing in some garage bands that didn't have a bassist and it was horrible.

I left with my ears ringing, my forearm aching, my fingertips sore, and absolutely abuzz. Eager to practice again (both alone and with the band). I forgot how much fun it was to play in a group.