Fri Sep 05 2014

Had the SCGS skype meeting first thing in the morning. A little time to do some warmup exercises before my 11am student. Then it really was too beautiful out not to take advantage of, so I hopped on my bike and headed out – errands as well as leisure – until around 2:30. Home to a little lunch, out back with the cat and a bit of a read, in to a much needed shower. Then, finally down to work about 3:30.

Not a lot of energy, and a bit of Day Two-itis, where I’m having difficulty remembering why I’m doing this. But I knew what I wanted to do. Played through the “Current” and “Current, needs re-arrangement” pieces. Lyrics mostly intact, except of course Wang Dang Doodle which is always an effort and needs constant reinforcement. Hating my guitar playing as do the comping, fills and solos. Not very fond of my voice either, but that is partly due to the fact that I can’t really belt things out in my apartment, and that effects my range. For some reason The Real Thing is the only song I do that is right there in the vocal sweet spot at any volume.

Not much inspiration on the re-arrangement front. Can’t imagine what I’m going to do with Walking Blues other than just play it straight, and I’m not sure how interesting that is going to be. What Bill and Igor put me through on that piece is just insane. May have to wait until I’m with other players to see what might work. I have an ear for what I have in mind for Built for Comfort, but my hands haven’t found the notes yet.

Wang Dang Doodle is the real mystery. It is the quirkiest thing in the UBB book (“Howlin’ Wolf meets Captain Beefheart” was Bob’s description. Or was it Dean?), and I have no interest in trying to recreate that without both Bill and Igor. One option is to take the Koko Taylor/Savoy Brown approach, which irons out all of the Wolf’s timing quirks, and gives the whole thing a jump feel. That would be pretty straightforward, but kind of boring. I’m leaning to something a little more Wolf-ish. Played around with singing it over the Smokestack Lightning lick today, which isn’t actually that far off, at least in a familial way, and has a certain appeal. It was at least fun, but I’m not quite convinced. Plus I wasn’t quite feeling what to do with the rhythmic inversion in the chorus. Think I’ll just play along with Wolf for a while and see what comes up.

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Thought I was done practicing, but then I put on Wolf and had to pick up my guitar and figure out what the hell was going on. An hour later I’m pretty sure I’ve got my plan worked out. No attempt to duplicate that, as if anyone could. But in the style, and including a pretty cool (possibly bright?) idea for a little surprise. We’ll see, but at the moment it is tickling me.