We played at Central for the second week, and it was absolutely amazing! I kinda sucked the big one a little bit (not totally, but a little), 4 of the 5 songs were completely foreign to me, and we only rand through them once before the service, and the one song I did know I messed up the worst. I'm used to playing with chord sheets. They are simple and to the point. Here they tend to enjoy lead sheets, though there is a smattering of chord sheets. I think I'll be taking the music binder, finding all the stuff on CCLI in chord sheets and printing them off for a binder for me. :)
Playing with these folks will make me a much better player. I didn't play more notes than I usually do, but I played more different notes. I tend to hang out on the root because I'm scared of standing out. It's my normal problem, lack of confidence. I'm shy, and playing bass is no different. But my confidence level is greatly increasing, and today I played some pretty sweet root-fifth lines, as well as some fun walking. It wasn't as solid as I would have liked, but then I like to practice, practice, practice before playing live, so I'm not too disappointed with myself. I'm not sure what Greg thought, but I'm going to ask him. He's a pretty straight up guy, and I'm sure he'll tell me if I messed up or not. I might be shy, and under-confident, but I can take criticism. Though for some reason church people in general aren't very good at that part of things. Constructive criticism is an amazing tool to help someone grow. I can only hear/know so much. If I have someone with a more experienced ear letting me know, and someone with far more musical and theory knowledge than me telling me, how can I lose? Mama Bean is slowly learning this. I know she doesn't want to sound harsh, and we are getting better with our words and tone with talking to each other about criticalish things, so it's good. I appreciate her telling me what sounds good, and if something isn't so good, or if she thinks something else might sound better. I appreciate this from any musician.
So yeah, I'm going to grow as a musician here, and that makes me so happy. I wasn't at Gracewood, though I was at Journey, but not as much as I will here methinks. This makes me really excited, and when I left the church today, the thought of getting better far overshadowed my sub par performance. I'm not sure if I'm being overly harsh about my playing (or maybe not harsh enough?) but I take comfort in the fact that my mind had a really good idea of what to play, my fingers just couldn't always keep up. Even then, for completely new songs I think I did pretty well. :)
We are going for dinner on Tuesday with Pastor's Greg and Brenda, and Rolly (the other bass player) and his wife Jeanette will be there also. I'm excited about this. I like getting connected with other people in the church, and making friends is always good. I've noticed since moving out here that I have always under-rated the value of friendship because I've always kinda had some. Out here there was pretty much nothing in the way of friends, and I quickly realized I was lonely. What I need to be careful of is latching onto potential friends too quick. :) I never thought that is something I would say, but it's true. I've been meeting some pretty awesome people out here, but I have to remember that they have other friends as well, and to ease into it. Just because I'm looking for all these new friends, other people aren't in the same boat. I've been pretty lucky in meeting the number of great people I have though, so it's been alright.
We're going to come up with a schedule this month to rotate me and Rolly through the team. I know he wants to start playing lead guitar, but I'm pretty sure he'll want to keep playing bass as well because he is the bass player in the band they have outside of church.
All in all, it was an awesome Sunday, and I'm so glad we found this place. So here's looking forward to many more great Sunday's of playing with a great worship team. :) God is amazing, and He has a plan for us all. I just try to remember to keep His will first, and He will take us where we need to go.
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Hey: I'll just post my critique here!
We've always looked at the band at Central Baptist as a place to develop musically, both individually and in the experience of playing together. My goal is to find the unique sound we as unique people playing together were meant to create. I've been playing with some of the guys in the band for 14 years. The whole really has become greater than the sum of the parts.
We look at the arrival of new musicians as a chance to experience different manifestations of the whole. My 30 years of teaching guitar has shown me that almost every musician has something to contribute to the mix. When that doesn't happen, it usually has more to do with attitude than aptitude. Even the aptitude deficiencies are usually about attitude deficiencies (won't practice, won't listen to what others are playing, etc.).
What I like about you as a musician, Chris, is the way your passion is driving your playing. My hunch is that you're developing so rapidly as a player because the music is already in you. You've got soul. Your fingers are merely playing catch-up!
They aren't far behind. I thought you played really well on Sunday. It was not an easy session: I deliberately picked songs with vastly different grooves so I could hear how you approach the different tempos and styles ... on sight (no pre-practice). You did great. My only disappointment is that I wanted to hear more of you! But that's a sound tech issue -- it's out of your hands (literally)!
I really look forward to playing more together.
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