Band Practice

This morning, listening to the radio, there sounded like a bit of strange music in the background. I thought it was just filler music but it just didn’t match the program.

I turned off the radio and lo and behold, there was a live band playing in my neighborhood. They were playing loud enough for the whole block to hear, but it is Saturday and I got my chores to do, so off to the store and back again and they are still playing.

It is a band rehearsal.

I’ve done my stent in garage bands so I appreciate what they are trying to work out. They are not playing complete songs but going over a riff or a lead in again and again and again.

Didn’t recognize any of the tunes but when the drum started it drowned out all the other instruments.

I remember gathering a motley crew of semi-talented players and trying to figure out tune that was popular on the radio. Playing a sequence of chords trying to find a key we could all sing, then the drums kick in and we are off.

Never to get it right the first time, we’d divide up our mistakes and repeat again and again until we all settled on a pattern we could all play.

Next week we have another band practice and forget all that we had worked on last week.

It was as much about comradery as it was technique and style. A couple of quarts of beer (listen to Frank Zappa’s ‘Joe’s Garage’) and all the wrong notes started sounding good to our ears.

What we didn’t think about was what the neighbors were hearing until the police showed up.

It has gotten quiet now as the sunsets, but it might be an interesting summer. Might need to get my axe and go over and show them how it is done?