|
Richard Jernigan -> RE: my journey into the blues #11 - guitar rescue (Jun. 15 2015 22:52:52)
|
Backing tracks--reminds me of an anecdote even further off topic.
My ex-wife went to college on a classical piano scholarship. I have been obsessed with music since childhood, but my son showed outstanding talent by age four, outclassing us both. With no instruction, he would sit at the piano and accurately reproduce whatever he heard.
By age 16 he was a proficient blues and rock guitarist--but he could play just about anything. I was out of the country on business when a couple, among my oldest and best friends visited Austin. They stayed at our house. When I got back my wife told me our son and Pat had been jamming quite a bit.
Pat is a talented guitarist and song writer. He composed and recorded the sound tracks for a couple of National Geographic specials that won awards.
Pat is a very accomplished improvisor. After I got back in town we went to hear a local singer-songwriter. Pat had taught him to play guitar. At the break the singer-songwriter came to our table and insisted we go home (nearby) and get our guitars.
During the few years after Pat left Austin the the singer-songwriter's harmonic vocabulary had expanded quite considerably. He brought Pat and me up on stage and introduced Pat as his guitar teacher. He said Pat had never heard any of the songs in the next set. I wondered how it was going to go. The singer-songwriter turned away so we couldn't see what chords he was playing. Pat correctly anticipated every harmonic nuance, and played really good licks between verses. I watched what Pat was doing and kept carefully in the background. I had never seen anything like what Pat did that evening.
My son was too young to go to the club to hear the performance. He had never heard Pat before they jammed at the house. I asked him what he thought of Pat's guitar playing.
My son paused, then said, "He's a pretty good blues rhythm player..."
I broke out laughing. My son asked, "What's so funny?" I dug out the tape of one of the TV shows. "That's Pat's composition--an hour's worth--and that's him playing, multi-tracked guitar and bass."
"Wow! He's really great! All he ever did when he was here at the house was blues rhythm..."
"He just wanted to hear you play."
RNJ
|
|
|
|
