On Wednesday the 20th of November 2019 we performed a Christmas warm up to demonstrate our abilities so far during this academic year. The two songs we played are our strongest at the moment, so we all felt more than confident when it came to playing them.
The first song we played was ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’ by Etta James, but we played a version covered by a band called Stan Webbs Chicken Shack. Within this track my part revolves around two chords so there is nothing particularly challenging so it is a relaxing 5 minutes for me. The only bit that requires full focus is when I have to improvise a solo but then it goes back to the chords, this song is especially for the singer.
We have all learnt that most audiences when it comes to listening to music, they mainly focus upon how the singer looks and sounds, as long as we are there to support and fill in the blank space behind her. What I need to improve on within this song is looking more engaged with my part which is something I can do in my spare time and just trying to smile more especially at the crowd.
Thee next song we played is called ‘Love Rears Its Ugly Head’ by Living Colour, this was a particularly tricky one for us all to get our heads around in such a short amount of time but the best songs for us always turn out to be the most challenging and time consuming!
Our drummer learnt her part for this song by reading sheet then memorising it that way, I did the majority of the song by ear as you can’t trust what is online for music for the most part so I had to be very precise and make sure I wasn’t half asking it. After two weeks or so I had gotten my bit down including the solos, it was then up to me building my confidence up playing within a band then in front of an audience and you can see the outcome in the video.
For this admittedly as a band we definitely need to get tighter for this song to sound crisp rather than a sloppy mess in certain areas, to do this we will make the most of our rehearsal sessions and go through the song in greater detail rather than going through our entire set and avoiding the task at hand.
On my hand I need to perform and show off to the audience when I go for a solo because that is its soul purpose in all so there is no reason as to why I shouldn’t be sucking up the spotlight for once instead of the singer…
A final issue to mention is looking down upon my fretboard, I know I can play the songs without intensely observing it as it is just a coping mechanism for me as sometimes my inner shy guy comes out and I try to focus more upon myself rather than the audience so I feel more confident but from now on this will change and I will try to leap out of my comfort zone like an adult.
Ellie Thornton Music 