Return to Acoustic Club

Last night after my guitar lesson I decided I'd go to the Acoustic club that Village Guitar holds. Village Guitar is the guitar lesson place I looked at back in September 09' but didn't work out to well.

The cost of starting up was too high for me. The banks wouldn't give me any money for it and despite the fact that I like the guy who runs the company (franchise), I didn't get a good vibe from the shop I was interested in. I also didn't get a good vibe from the more established shops either.

I guess it's just one of those things.

However, I'm still in contact with Village Guitar even though they are now competition. Hahaha. They say it improves the breed. Truthfully though, I'm not doing any lessons anywhere near the guy. So I doubt there's any competition at all.

But anyway, Acoustic Club is something that Village Guitar runs on the last Wednesday of every month. It's where a bunch of blokes get together, bring their acoustic instruments along and just have a jam, or chat, or do absolutely nothing. We seem to have a tradition where we are all disorganised. The chemistry seems to work, but we don't end up doing much. Disorganised as usual.

It's a fun evening though. Lots of musician jokes and cliché notes and progressions thrown in while we're jamming away.

I left my guitar lesson on a high yesterday and went from passing on my knowledge to a young starter, ending the night having a jam with a bunch of great guys, sitting in a circle and drinking beer. I think the only way to improve this would be a camp fire. Which I did joke about and said we have plenty of wood around. Hahahahaha.

One of the best ways I've found I learn about music is to just jump in there and do it, which is why I've always gone to open mic nights, music clubs like the Acoustic Club and so on. It's where you really learn. A bit like learning a new language. You can learn it properly with tapes and classes. Or you can go to the country and immerse yourself amongst it. I prefer the latter.

Band on board

Tonight, I finally got to play my new bass amp that's been sitting in my music room for the last three months collecting dust.

One of the bands I belong to finally got their act together and played some music at a rehearsal studio. I had bought my new bass amp because my old one was getting one. It was slowly dying. It had to be replaced. So I tried repairing it instead. It's such an old amp, I didn't want to see it just die and end up in landfill. While the repairs made it work again, it's just not the same. It's a bass amp, so it needs a really good bottom end sound. This amp had lost that oomph you get. The dropped note you feel rather than hear.

I originally went to just buy a cabinet with some speakers in it, but my wife insisted I don't do things half way and so I bought the head with the cabinet.

Having it sit in my room all this time has been one of those feelings you get when you're young and you can't wait to open the presents, except this feeling has been there for three months.

Finally, finally. I got to play it at gig volume. It was so silky smooth, low and powerful. Such a nice luscious bass sound. I love that smooth deep throb you feel when you hit a note on the lower register.

I'm playing tomorrow night again, and then I'll be playing every week with another band from here on. Though there's yet another band who wants me to play bass for them though I haven't done so yet. They sacked their other bass player and put me in, without an audition.

So, with all the stuff happening with music, I figured an update of what's happening with some bands I'm playing with should be included.

I'm also looking to buy a banjo and a Ukulele soon. My wife wants me to play banjo and Uke for her. We shall see how that turns out.