Progress

I played my ass off this week, especially Tuesday and Thursday. And I practiced a lot on Saturday too.

Tuesday was the second time of getting together with Joseph the piano player. We played a few tunes from last time, notably ones I’d worked on EIGHTY ONE and RAVEN SPEAKS. (That photo above was working out on RAVEN with the fretless.) I called a couple of ballads that I like to play the melody on GOODBYE PORK PIE HAT and ROUND MIDNIGHT. I enjoyed just doing the groove on TAKE FIVE. I called BLUE BOSSA which I hadn’t played in ages, it’s a simple tune but really fun. And a ton more.

Our first session I went a little over an hour and I was exhausted. This time we went ninety minutes and I had just a little more stamina left. It is really remarkable now how I am making big improvements in strength and technique and intonation and all sorts of fronts everywhere I turn. Sometimes it feels like I’m standing still but I’m really not. I mentioned to Joseph that I’d only had the bass about four months and he seemed surprised.

One funny thing was that Joseph called FEEL LIKE MAKING LOVE and what he meant was Roberta Flack but what popped into my head was Bad Company which was like LOL NO. (Although I do really dig the bass which seems to be one of those funky old Ampeg fretless beasts like Rick Danko played in The Band.) Anyway that’s one to work on because it’s not in my head at all.

Thursday I had my “chaos” session (for lack of a better word) where a couple of friends get together and play ukuleles and pianos and percussion and basses and guitar and all kinds of funny arrangements and train wreck mistakes go down. We actually played pretty well this time. It’s chaos but we also strive to improve, even if a two-ukulele cover of Garbage ONLY HAPPY WHEN IT RAINS is an entirely ridiculous thing to spend time on. I’m still really digging Beatles COME TOGETHER, the potential for good chaos on that tune is high. I’m going to propose doing BEWITCHED on ukulele because I like the study in diminished chords.

I found a great bar band version of Keith Jarrett RAVEN SPEAKS and I am almost that good. I think I’m on track to melt faces in 2025 when the weather gets warm.

Joseph and I are figuring when to meet in the new year and he suggested a tune from the Swedish musician Esbjörn Svensson. I’ve never been that great with a bow but I do own one and this seems possible so I’ll spend some time on it. I love this sound and this groove.

As always the audio is just notebook sketches and reference takes and process takes with almost no rehearsal or warmup. Faces will not be melted in this newsletter.

Don’t make your move too soon…