Mediocre church band practice

Well, had the church ''band'' practice last night. Went somewhat poorly, but not horribly. As mentioned in an earlier post, I played electric bass, since my suck-age (relative to an excellent player) is less on that instrument than other other; and also because I've had the most experience playing bass in the bands I've been in.

I hadn't been given the sheet music earlier, so had to figure it out on the spot. And I was clearly the least-experienced there: the keyboard player sight-reads, plus was the one who chose the music; and the pastor has a Bachelor's in music (brought his electric guitar).

I don't sight-read sheet music, so when I play, I either (1) go by the chord changes (e.g. ''A#'') written along the top; (2) sketch it out in tabulature (i.e. lines representing the strings of the instrument, with numbers representing which fret to use on that string); or (3) just figure it out by ear, and play that pattern. No time for #3 or #2 (arrived a little late, didn't want to keep them waiting any longer). Went with the chord changes, but it was difficult because two of the four songs were in flatted keys, so the chord names were written as ''Bb'', ''Eb'', etc. -- whereas I tend to write things as sharps -- so I had to do a lot of ''Eb? Ahhh -- D#!!!'' on the fly.

But: only four songs, and I'm familiar with tunes already. Will practice my part over the next few days; next practice on Tuesday.

Some glimmers of groove-ness, though, so looking forwards to it. And, I was able to make some sugestions re: the arrangement. On two of the songs, I suggested slowing the tempo, to help compensate for the power and energy of using electrified instruments during a church service (i.e. fast music, played with electric guitar, electric bass, and pre-programmed drum rhythms, might just be too much). And for one of them, I thought slowing it down made it more ''flow-y'' -- which better fit the intended vibe.

And, for the communion hymn, I suggested that the bass (i.e. me) just drop out. Having a bass instrument weights down the music and gives it grounding -- whereas I felt that this song needed more of a airy, floaty, etherial feel. Thus, just the keyboards plus some light, lead guitar. The other two guys agreed with my suggestions, which made me feel better, like I wasn't a total musical fraud.

I'll practice up the songs, and add in some runs and flourishes (as appropriate), and actually manage to get into a groove for next time. This coming Tuesday; looking forward to it! :)


--GG