Misfits Jam: Another Point of View

Here’s another report from Saturday’s Misfit Jam. This is from Bob the bass player/guitar player/singer. Bob has already been immortalized (?) in at least one of my Banjo Newsletter columns. He’s been taking lessons off and on (mostly on) for ten or fifteen years. And in spite of his grousing below, he has developed his own really nice style of flatpicking. (Of course, he doesn’t think so.) I always enjoy his lessons because we just sit there and flatpick a bunch of tunes. Everything from “Down Yonder” to “When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder.” My absolute favorite is “Step Off On That Beautiful Shore.” I love to pick that! Last week, we worked on splitting the break, with one of us taking the first half and the other coming in for the second half. Really fun! Sometimes we even sing!

To get the flavor of Bob’s sparkling personality, I’m leaving in his introductory remarks. I had accused him, in a previous email, of being grouchy….

Grouchy my [hind toenail]. By the time this week is over I’ll make Scrooge look like Shirley Temple. 61 years old + work = sucks. Too old to work, too young to retire (not to mention the economic issues/losses over the past year). Our generation will have to work till we die just to keep medical insurance coverage.

Jam was fun, but not as gracious as the rest of the group apparently saw it (or they are just plain BS’ers). They did pretty good considering they didn’t have a dedicated leader to guide and direct the process from the technical side of the house.

Re Bass Bob, responses should have read more like: Bass player couldn’t figure out chord progression for “Banjo in the Hollow” the first two times through. Completely forgot the second verse to “Circle,” only [barely] remembered the last verse on the same. Only [barely] played through the lead to “Amazing Grace” (both times).

Sang the same verse two out of three times on “I’ll Fly Away.” Bass player had to sing “Wreck of the Old 97” in wrong key so the group could vamp to it in G. (Forgot the second verse of that also.) Several bass notes back-ass-wards on the guitar probably. You know the routine, you’ve seem me in action. But fun was had by all, so time was well spent.

Trying to start granddaughter on ukulele with your video, we’ll see how long that lasts.

Have a safe trip home, give our regards to all.
BV

Closing comment by me: Musicians, even the professionals, are always their own worst critics. Remember: you can almost guarantee that no one is paying any attention to your mistakes. They don’t hear them! They are too busy worrying about the mistakes they are making that they think you are hearing! Which you are not because you’re worrying about your own mistakes! (I do this too, all the time!) Reminds me of the Buck Owens song, “I was looking back to see if she was looking back to see if I was looking back to see if she was looking back at me!” Try to let go of all this and just play! Nobody cares if you make a mistake. Just keep going, don’t ever quit, and plow to the end of the row!