I added/adjusted some of my parts this week, so I was looking forward to trying it all out. First up: Steal Away. I had been playing it like this:
but I was talking Dustin Cottrell (one of the keyboardists in the Schooner) about the piano part, and he thought it sounded more like this:
After listening to it about a half dozen times, I started to hear what he was saying--there's so much stuff in the same register (strings, rhodes), I wasn't sure what I was hearing, but I think he's right. Plus, when I reach up to add the synth on the chorus, I can reach up with my right hand (it's easier for me to play it right handed than left). Brilliant! So yay, another part closer to being right.
Another thing I was working on was that sax thing in Reminiscing ("Glenn Miller's band…"). I played it at soundcheck and it sounded the way I wanted it to. Dannells gave it his seal of approval. I have my sax turned down on stage, so I didn't hear it within the context of the song, but I bet it sounded pretty good! My solo was ok. I did something dumb to the string part, but it didn't clash harmonically (played the second half in place of the first).
Next up was another Dustin-aided adventure: Biggest Part of Me. Dustin showed me some of the extra chords that happen on the verse that I've never played. Pretty cool. It took me some time to get it happening in the context of the gig--I think because I can't quite think of the name of the chord as it's going by, so I'm thinking more about where my fingers go (and I'm kind of mesmerized by it! I don't know why). Cool. I like having that part in there--gives my part some movement in the back half of the measure.
Old:
Somewhere in the middle of the song, I felt something wet hit my chest/belly, and realized that I was drooling! I was so focused on adding those extra chords, I had forgotten to close my mouth. I took a quick glance at the band and a quick glance at the crowd, and it appeared that I got away with it. Let's see Scott Sheriff do that!
Speaking of Biggest Part of Me…here's the sax stuff (and the piano and synth stuff I was doing, too). When I played, I didn't feel good about the sax stuff at all, but listening back, it's not too bad (except for that one spot where my fingers got a little tangled up). I mean, I'm not trying to string together ideas like it's a jazz solo as much as I'm trying to ride the wave of the band--keep the momentum surging. Ganesh was really making some noise at the end! Very cool. I dig that for that part of the song. I wish I could hear more organ when I'm playing to provide more of a foundation. The guitar's not doing much to fill it up.
My apologies for the wrong chords backing the organ solo. Oops.
Biggest Part of Me by David B Freeman
Next up was Reelin' in the Years. Here's what that sounded like from my spot.
Reelin' in the Years by David B Freeman
Second set:
After opening with What a Fool Believes, we played Baby Come Back. This might be my favorite song to play right now. There's a lot going on. I play strings, then acoustic piano on the verses, strings and clav on the choruses, and the synth and clav on the bridge. I didn't do a good job of tapering the volume on the big synth bend up in the bridge, but other than that, I did well.
The last of my little mini-projects was on Somebody's Baby. I had been playing this on the verse:
But I was watching a YouTube video of how to play Somebody's Baby (is that legal?), and he did this:
I like that better. Again, it's just some movement for me within the chord. I dig that.
The only other thing for the night was trying to add the little synth with delay thing that happens late in Lowdown. I set the synth at the far left end of my keyboard. It's tough to reach over with my left hand and play it while playing flute with my left hand (and I have to stay on the microphone). Gotta figure that out.
After we finished, a DJ took over and segued into rap. He was playing Regulate at one point and then went into I Keep Forgettin'. I love that song. I heard some stuff I'm not playing in the rhodes part. Something to work on for the next time that song comes around!
All in all, it was a really fun night! We played well and enjoyed each other. More like this!
davidfreemanmusic.net
