I had a friend who had a flat top acoustic guitar and knew a handful of chords. When his parents got him his first electric (it was a black and white Silvertone from Sears) he mostly abandoned the acoustic and he showed me a few chords. I started strumming his acoustic to back him up while he played the Silvertone and just like that, I was in a "group". When my next birthday came up, I hinted to my parents that I wanted a guitar. So off to Sears we went and came home with a Silvertone arched top acoustic guitar with the "F" holes. It was a cheap guitar probably built by Stella, Kay or Harmony but it was sure pretty; sky blue and white. It cost my folks $35.00 which was a lot back then.
Here's a picture of it:
And here's a picture of Dave Grohl holding one:
I played around with it for almost a year and when my 17th birthday was approaching, I strongly hinted that I wanted an electric guitar. So off to Sears we went again and this time came home with (you guessed it) a black and white Silvertone just like my friend had. By this time the Beach Boys were really hot and surf music was the big thing in Southern California. I played along with the records by the Beach Boys, Dick Dale and the Delltones, the Viscounts, the Ventures (yes, they did some surf albums back then) and the Surfari's. I got a little better with each year.
So now here I am, 64 years old and I guess I've been playing almost steadily ever since. I've taken a couple of breaks, sometimes lasting for a few months or even years, but always seem to come back to the guitar. It's the best stress-buster I know of. Throughout the years I've been in dozens of bands, have written dozens of songs and even tried my hand as a solo "lounge" type act in clubs and restaurants. A few times I actually did the street corner thing and let me tell you, it's scary. When you're playing in a club, the people there expect you to be there and play for them. On the street, you're in public territory and people don't expect to see you there, so sometimes you get some pretty antagonistic people getting in your face about territory.
About two years ago, I was just sitting there strumming my guitar and wishing that I could find a group to play with. I love making music with others. I pondered this for a while and started paying attention in ad's for bands in the Recycler and other local papers. It seemed that they were all really young people seeking each other. I couldn't imagine myself contacting some 22 year old asking for an audition. So I looked and looked and then someone turned me on to Craig's List on the Internet. This is the best way for musicians to find each other and I started answering ad's looking for more "mature" people. But something was still wrong. Whenever I would answer an ad and tell them how old I was, they would stop replying. Finally I did get an audition with a group of guys in their mid 30's and went to their studio. They were looking for a rhythm guitar player/backup singer which is my specialty and my favorite thing to do. As soon as I walked through the door and started introducing myself, I knew something was wrong. You could see the shock register on their faces that this old man actually showed up (and was well prepared, no less). We played a set and they were completely indifferent to me not even looking at me or giving me any eye contact. The body language said something like, "please just hurry up, play and sing your parts and get out of here". So I left feeling dejected, and really old. But playing in a group again also re-invigorated me and drove me to keep looking.
I figured that maybe the problem was the way I was going about it. So instead of answering ads on Craig's List, I placed one of my own. It said something like, "64 year old guitarist/singer looking for other players of around the same age group to just jam together and see if anything comes together". I received about six or eight replies and of course some of them turned out to be a little flakey. But some were very interested and three of them agreed on a meeting place and time for our first get together.
It was to be at this guys house about six miles from me. But one of the guys that emailed me had a special need. He was blind and couldn't drive and asked if I could pick him up and take him home. He lived in Irvine about 18 miles from me in the opposite direction of the place we were going to. So I agreed to pick him up. Boy what a mistake that was. From the time I rang his doorbell until the time we showed up at the rehearsal (and all the way home too) all he did was complain. He kvetched about his ex wife (the bitch), his health (he went blind from a stroke two years ago), his money problems, the Goddamn liberals, the crappy music the kids these days are listening to, and on and on. Maybe having to listen to all of this would have been worth it if he was a good musician, but all he did for the whole rehearsal was to sit in his chair, look down at the floor (he wasn't totally blind, just mostly) and every few minutes would strum maybe one or two chords. He didn't have a clue as to how play in a group setting and he didn't have any chops to bring to the table.
Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself here. So we showed up at this guys house and there are four of us including me. I asked them all to bring an acoustic and an electric so we could all fool around with different sounds and styles. The room we were to play in was just awful acoustically. It had a hardwood parquet floor, bare walls and all wooden furniture. It was like playing in a big metal tank. So there's the blind/kvetchy guy, and the owner of the house and another guy who met us there. Turns out the owner guy wasn't very good either (but not as bad as the blind cynical guy) and he later told me that he just wanted to learn from the rest of us. Well that's all well and good, but at this stage of my musical ability, I don't want to give lessons; I want to play with people that are around my ability and have some of the same musical tastes. Look, I'm not that good, but I'm confident in what I do and so far, nobody has thrown tomatoes at me.
And that leaves the final guy. His name is Grant and we hit it off from the moment we heard each other play. I guess we pretty much ignored the other two guys and just kept on jamming with each other. I thought it was really cool that we both had an appreciation of a lot of the old hits of the 60's and 70's and that we both knew a ton of some of these obscure songs most of which were one hit wonders. We also discovered that we sing some pretty good harmony together.
So Grant and I set up a meeting a week or so later to see if we could work out some arrangements of some of the songs we both liked. And it was great. It was like we had been playing together for a while; it just went so smoothly. We met every couple of weeks at first, and then about once each week. After six or eight weeks of this we had come up with a set list of maybe ten songs that we did well together.
All of this started last May(07) and it's now October of 2007. So after rehearsing for about five months now, we have about 25 songs that we have polished up, and many more in the hopper to work on. We've played at a backyard BBQ and a campfire at Leo Carrillo State Beach with five family's involved. Again, no tomatoes. We want to go public and find a gig somewhere where we can play one or two nights per week. Grant wants to add another voice to the mix to do the high notes on the three part harmonies. That's fine with me, but not a necessity. I'm happy with the sound we get from just the two of us.
Finally, I'll end this post by telling you that Grant has become more than just a bandmate to me, he is a good friend. Not just him, but his entire family too. They are the best. They've invited me to numerous events in their social lives and have kind of adopted me. They are truly good people and I respect them very much.
OK, now you know how I got to this point in my musical life and I promise that future posts won't be quite so long. See you next time.
Rockstar in the house.
And that leaves the final guy. His name is Grant and we hit it off from the moment we heard each other play. I guess we pretty much ignored the other two guys and just kept on jamming with each other. I thought it was really cool that we both had an appreciation of a lot of the old hits of the 60's and 70's and that we both knew a ton of some of these obscure songs most of which were one hit wonders. We also discovered that we sing some pretty good harmony together.
So Grant and I set up a meeting a week or so later to see if we could work out some arrangements of some of the songs we both liked. And it was great. It was like we had been playing together for a while; it just went so smoothly. We met every couple of weeks at first, and then about once each week. After six or eight weeks of this we had come up with a set list of maybe ten songs that we did well together.
All of this started last May(07) and it's now October of 2007. So after rehearsing for about five months now, we have about 25 songs that we have polished up, and many more in the hopper to work on. We've played at a backyard BBQ and a campfire at Leo Carrillo State Beach with five family's involved. Again, no tomatoes. We want to go public and find a gig somewhere where we can play one or two nights per week. Grant wants to add another voice to the mix to do the high notes on the three part harmonies. That's fine with me, but not a necessity. I'm happy with the sound we get from just the two of us.
Finally, I'll end this post by telling you that Grant has become more than just a bandmate to me, he is a good friend. Not just him, but his entire family too. They are the best. They've invited me to numerous events in their social lives and have kind of adopted me. They are truly good people and I respect them very much.
OK, now you know how I got to this point in my musical life and I promise that future posts won't be quite so long. See you next time.
Rockstar in the house.
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