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Playing Live with other people


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This has been a very busy time days for me. I had a show Thursday night with Peter Tork (www.petertork.com) and Rod MacDonald (www.rodmacdonald.net)  at Kulak’s Woodshed (www.kulakswoodshed.com) in North Hollywood, CA; one Friday night in Costa Mesa with Batdorf & Rodney (Batdorf (www.johnbatdorfmusic.com) and I did selections from our All Wood and Stones CD—acoustic reinventions of our favorite Rolling Stones songs--shameless plug I know, but it’s my blog.); another show tonight in San Diego – a Batdorf & Stanley and Batdorf & Rodney show; and tomorrow I’ll be over at Laurence Juber’s house for an afternoon and evening of music and suburban mayhem. So there’s not a lot of time to steal from and get you something valuable. I know I said I would talk about one James%20Birthday%20012.jpgguitar arrangements, but playing with people has reminded me of something else we all should know about and remember. When you are playing with other people, you play less. There are more of you making music and so, for it to sound like you all know what you are doing and, for there to be less train wrecks on the songs, play less.

I like to listen to a verse and a chorus of someone else’s tune before I do anything. Try to get some idea of the form of the song, before I begin to contribute. I believe that listening is one of the most important things you can do when you are playing with other people. Listen to what they are doing, what they are trying to do, what the song is saying, what mood is being created and then try to serve that vision.

Now in recording, it is sometimes very effective to start playing some kind of lead against a track that you‘ve never heard before. Because you don’t know where the song is going, you tend to follow your own ideas of progression and composition. When the song goes somewhere you weren’t expecting, sometimes how you get out of the trouble you played yourself in is magic. Most of the time, it is not.

I heard a wonderful story about Wayne Shorter doing the solo for Aja for Steely Dan. It seems that they hired various sax players to come in and do the solo but nothing was taking the song to the place that they wanted. No matter who played, and these were the cream of the New York horn players, what they wanted to have happen wasn’t happening. Finally, they finagle a session out of Wayne Shorter, who doesn’t sit in on people’s records, especially pop records.

Shorter shows up and goes into the studio with his horn. “Come on in and we’ll play you the track and then discuss what we want to have happen.” Shorter says, “Let me just take a pass at it not knowing what’s coming and I’ll try and have a conversation with it”. I don’t actually know what was said, but that was the outcome. They play the track and Wayne Shorter plays one of the most fantastic solos that exists. He’s also one of the greatest horn players living. He is so musical at such a basic level of his being, that he can play his way out of any surprise thrown at him. However, we don’t all have that gift, so I suggest getting some idea of what is happening before you jump in.

Listen to what the other folks are doing and see if you can bring something to the song that makes it better, not just louder.

Another thing to watch when you first are playing with other people on stage and it’s a song you don’t know: avoid the third of any chord. You know, do mi so. Avoid the mi. That’s the note that determines whether the chord is major (happy days) or minor (da da da dom). This is especially true if you can’t quite hear the chord. Avoiding the third goes along way towards not making you the train wreck that showed up.

And if you can’t quite get the chord progression, don’t try to fake it. Answer it. That way, it is played first and you haven’t stepped on it.

The conversation thing is really apt. If everyone is talking at once, you don’t have a conversation, you have cacophony. Listen and respond and respect the other players.     ...and I’ll do the one guitar arrangements tomorrow, I promise.

Posted on Saturday, August 11, 2007 at 09:41AM by Registered Commenterjames lee stanley | Comments17 Comments | References8 References
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Reader Comments (17)

LOVE the Wayne Shorter story ... a metaphor for life: the Art of Listening!!

Really really enjoying this blog! Whenever I have a free minute (printing something out, waiting on the phone) I've been reading backwards day by day. Every new / old post is just so wonderful and full of excellent ideas. What an invaluable resource!

Keep up the good work .. we appreciate it!!

Much love,

Ashley

August 27, 2007 | Unregistered CommenterAshley Maher

ashley, i know you to be a remarkable musician in your own right. when are you gonna put something up here that the rest of us can benefit from ? in case you didn't know, you're invited.
thanks so much for the encouragement and interest. it is vital.
james

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