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Topic: Great advice from Bruce Bjork |
Jeffrey McFadden
From:
Missouri, USA
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Posted 1 Apr 2018 11:51 am |
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Just noticed Bruce Bjork's sig line:
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| "Use the talents you possess; the woods would be very silent indeed if no birds sang but the best" |
Thanks, Bruce. I've got a gig this afternoon, and I'll never be the best. And so far I'm not even close.
_________________
Well up into mediocrity
I don't play what I'm supposed to.
Home made guitars |
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Earnest Bovine
From:
Los Angeles CA USA
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Posted 1 Apr 2018 11:58 am
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| Silence is golden. |
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Dan Robinson
From:
Colorado, USA
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Posted 1 Apr 2018 2:35 pm Re: Great advice from Bruce Bjork
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| Jeffrey McFadden wrote: |
| I've got a gig this afternoon... |
Fantastic! Word on the street... it was the best performance yet by Jeff McFadden on pedal steel.
In all seriousness, that's a big step, and it gets easier the second time.
Jeff, can you tell us about it? |
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Posted 1 Apr 2018 2:50 pm Re: Great advice from Bruce Bjork
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| Jeffrey McFadden wrote: |
Just noticed Bruce Bjork's sig line:
| Quote: |
| "Use the talents you possess; the woods would be very silent indeed if no birds sang but the best" |
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I endorse his overall point but, y'know, when it comes to nature, there is no "best" or "worst". That's just a human construct.
_________________
www.JimCohen.com
www.RonstadtRevue.com
www.BeatsWalkin.com |
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Jeffrey McFadden
From:
Missouri, USA
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Posted 2 Apr 2018 4:51 am Re: Great advice from Bruce Bjork
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| Dan Robinson wrote: |
| Jeffrey McFadden wrote: |
| I've got a gig this afternoon... |
Fantastic! Word on the street... it was the best performance yet by Jeff McFadden on pedal steel.
In all seriousness, that's a big step, and it gets easier the second time.
Jeff, can you tell us about it? |
Thanks, Dan.
We play the 1st Sunday of every month at the VFW in Lexington, MO, as host band for an open jam / open mic session. It's a new event and public participants are still few, but the bar is open & has customers so there is some audience. Given that it was Easter Sunday with a freak spring snow, we had no singers / jammers last night.
"We" consistents of Sandy, band founder, on elec 12 string & vocals, Shawn on keyboard & vocals, Jim on bass & vocals, and me, formerly on lap steel & vocals, now on PSG & vocals.
We had dancers most of the evening. I always consider it a good sign if we can get folks on the dance floor. An old geezer my age - in fact, in Vietnam the same years I was - came up and told us he'd played rock'n'roll for 15 years and country for 15 years and strongly complimented us on our sound. I believe he was sincere.
So far I struggle fiercely to play "Red River Valley" in the Winnie Winston book, but I can work the A&B pedals, play in the pocket, hit a few picking licks, and make music with the PSG. If I stay within my limitations I can sound competent. 3 chord rock'n'roll and 3 chord country songs don't push me past my limits, and I'm ok with the occasional more complex structure like Tequila Sunrise and Nowhere Man. And a 4 hour gig is better practice than a 4 hour practice session in the living room.
I love this instrument.
| Jim Cohen wrote: |
| I endorse his overall point but, y'know, when it comes to nature, there is no "best" or "worst". That's just a human construct. |
And are we not really part of nature?
_________________
Well up into mediocrity
I don't play what I'm supposed to.
Home made guitars |
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Rich Peterson
From:
Moorhead, MN
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Posted 2 Apr 2018 5:38 am
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| If you can play in tune, you don't have to be a master to sound good on PSG. The sound of the instrument is that good. |
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Allan Haley
From:
British Columbia, Canada
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Posted 2 Apr 2018 8:05 am
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Jeffrey- a four-hour gig is better than 4 hours of practice.
That's an understatement. For me, a couple of hours playing with real people gives me a to-do list as long as my arm of things to work on.
A live gig is where I can see what stuck from all the practicing and what I don't really have under my fingers yet. The stuff that I can conjure up in the practice room mostly goes out the window at a gig.
The solution is more practice and especially more gigs.
Al |
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