FunkyE9th Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 So I went on an audition last night. I wasn't really as ready as I would liked. I'm not a country player, so I kept wondering if I should have even gone though with it. But I do like rock/pop with country influences. And after playing with them last night, I think they are more pop/country. Think Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Sheryl Crow. I really like their song selections. They started the audition with songs that I didn't even work on. I guess they were trying to see how I would pick up on stuff. They had the chord charts though, so that helped. Anyway, I fumbled my way through the songs. Well, they offered me the position today. So I got myself a new band! Now I gotta do some woodshedding. Any suggestion for country lessons (DVD's, CD-ROM books etc..)? Gotta learn some country licks. Bending up to 3rd while holding down the 5th will get really old quick. Same thing with playing 3rds and 6ths....Need to expand my vocabulary... -FunkyE9th (Maybe this should change to TwangyE9th) Edited to add... Ever see an Asian guy playing guitar in a country band? You will now...
Thundernotes Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 -FunkyE9th (Maybe this should change to TwangyE9th) Edited to add... Ever see an Asian guy playing guitar in a country band? You will now... I actually worked with a Korean-American in a blues/soul band a few years ago. He kicks ass and is one of the nicest people I've ever worked with. Last I knew, he was doing some country too. http://home.comcast.net/~bckellett/Mov01024.mpg He's playing a PRS McCarty. Some Hamer content - I'm playing a Cruise5 with a 2-tek bridge. The song was recorded with a digital camera that had an mpeg function on it - so you get this tiny little picture. The sound didn't come out too bad, all considered.
Feynman Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 I have one very accomplished guitarist friend who plays in all kinds of bands. His advice to me: join a country band.He told me that not only are the guitar parts generally more interesting than in his other (rock) bands, but that the tailsupply was much more abundant.Anyway - congrats! Have fun!
tomteriffic Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 I've played in several "old-school to crossover" country bands over the years and have enjoyed it a lot. That includes playing piano in one that gigged all over the north side of Chicago.For the hotrod stuff, look into the videos by Albert Lee. He's pretty much the granddaddy of the blazing Tele style. I don't know but maybe Vince Gill has got some instructional stuff out as well. Most of the cool licks in Linda Ronstadt's stuff was done by Andrew Gold, Don Henley or Waddy Wachtel, I believe. Check out those records as well as anything by the Eagles up to and including "Hotel California". Joe Walsh is all over that one, with a million cool little fills that are a bit outside the typical country/pop idiom.Working out of a major scale type idiom and getting to a b3 or b7 is always good, but, as you said, can get repetitive. 6th's and 9ths are your friend in the more Western Swing feeling stuff, here again, getting to the b3 or b7 for accents. Flat and augmented fives are tasty accents in the right places too.You've got the chops and I think just some listening to the idiom will get you where you need to go without a whole lot of radical redesign.
jerseydrew Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 Congrats, it sounds like fun! I do like a lot of today's Country music.
santellavision Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 Don't forget to buy a Tom Anderson Tele. All the Country guys play 'em.
zorrow Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 Congrats! That's great news! BTW, I'm everything but a Country player, so I wouldn't dare to go to an audition for a Country band, no matter how pop they are...
hardheartedbill Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 I've filled in w/ a modern country band 3 or 4 times, I love it, I could see our current group morhing into a Keith Urban style thing, tons of cool youtube lessons on licks, I'd try that first, your a great player so you can run w/ a few new ideas, have fun and stay mellow ( sorry, just using the parlance of our times )
robbie Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 There are a ton of great "country" guitar players of course but specifically in the "country rock" area here are some of my favorite twangy off the beaten path examples: The Jayhawks - Hollywood Town Hall (Gary Louris has exceptional skills at this format). Lucina Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road (Gurf Morlix = WOW!!). Wilco - AM (their first record featuring Brian Henneman - great twangy guitar stuff in there).
FunkyE9th Posted January 22, 2009 Author Posted January 22, 2009 Thanks guys. One of the main reasons I went into this is the need to get out of my comfort zone. I've been mainly a key center type player when it comes to my soloing. Tell me the key and I can usually solo over it without knowing the chords that's going by. It works for most pop/rock songs. I wanna get into more of the follow the chord type soloist. I think playing country will help me get there. Plus, I wanna work on my slide playing too, and maybe get my mandolin out of the case and learn how play it. Oh I have a lot work to do....
harry65 Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 i'm an old shredder/jazz/fusion guy and i joined a country band a liitle over a year ago, i've done at least 150 gigs in that time and have never had more fun in any other band, just an absolute blast, we do originals, old stuff(merle,hank,cash) and new(paisley,aldean,keith), it was a big learning curve for me but after a year i finally feel like a country player, alot of the fusion stuff i used to play fits right in, music is music after all, congrats you will have a blast and the fans are the most passionate and fun, any questions feel free to pm me anytime for anything.................
MCChris Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 When you get offered a gig the morning after your first audition, you've done well. Good on ya, Ferdie. Let me know when and where you're playing.
DavidE Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 So I went on an audition last night. I wasn't really as ready as I would liked. I'm not a country player, so I kept wondering if I should have even gone though with it. But I do like rock/pop with country influences. And after playing with them last night, I think they are more pop/country. Think Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Sheryl Crow. I really like their song selections. They started the audition with songs that I didn't even work on. I guess they were trying to see how I would pick up on stuff. They had the chord charts though, so that helped. Anyway, I fumbled my way through the songs. Well, they offered me the position today. So I got myself a new band! Now I gotta do some woodshedding. Any suggestion for country lessons (DVD's, CD-ROM books etc..)? Gotta learn some country licks. Bending up to 3rd while holding down the 5th will get really old quick. Same thing with playing 3rds and 6ths....Need to expand my vocabulary... -FunkyE9th (Maybe this should change to TwangyE9th) Edited to add... Ever see an Asian guy playing guitar in a country band? You will now... The Asian fiddle player in Shania Twain's band comes to mind! ;-) Check out Arlen Roth instructional DVDs. I'm sure there are tons of options out there. But today's country is as much Les Paul into a Marshall as it is Tele into a Twin... or Dr. Z.
geoff_hartwell Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 Congrats! Redd Volkaert is the man and I recommend his dvds, but you can do a search for suitable country, "hot country", "pedal steel for guitar" instructional stuff. There's a ton out there. My best advice is in two parts: 1) make sure to know all the arpeggios for each chord progression (so you're not just noodling in a given scale) so you can choose approaches like encirclement, approach tones, chromatic connection etc. and 2) learn the vocal melody (as well as any instrumental counter-melodies) on guitar for every song you're going to solo over. This will give you the chance to quote it and/or play it verbatim, and it adds a ton to the "melodic" approach. A great example of this approach is Willie Nelson's solo to "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain". Knock 'em dead! Geoff
Frank Posted January 23, 2009 Posted January 23, 2009 Around here the country guys get the most gigs. Les Paul started out playing country and he said once that he played country to make a living and jazz to have fun. There was a recent issue of GP magazine that featured a lesson on Tele licks that might help. When I get home from work I'll get you the issue. You can probably find the lesson online.Good luck!
LordOfTheThighs Posted January 23, 2009 Posted January 23, 2009 Now that ya landed the gig, you gotta pick up a pair of shit-kickers, and a 10 gallon lid.
Ethan Posted January 23, 2009 Posted January 23, 2009 congratulations on your new band! i have been really looking into country style guitar playing lately quite a bit, for guitar as well as lap steel, and also culling licks from several of the local amazing bluegrass players around here. here is that tele lesson someone mentioned before:http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/hot-te...in/jul-08/86073I think you can find audio/video examples of the stuff on their guitarplayertv.com site too
FunkyE9th Posted January 24, 2009 Author Posted January 24, 2009 Thanks again everyone. I should have the GP article somewhere. I would have to be really drunk before I wear a 10 gallon hat. No big belt buckles either. OK, maybe the boots.
tomteriffic Posted January 24, 2009 Posted January 24, 2009 Ferdie, the mere thought of you in cockroach killers and a Riders In The Sky Stetson cracks me up! Oh, BTW, if there's any Waylon on the set list, you'll need to scare up a phase shifter.....
lesterpaul Posted January 24, 2009 Posted January 24, 2009 I play cuntree as well.... Steve Trovato-great place to pick some licks....check out youtube and truefire.com...can find a lot of trovato columns for free-do the Mixolydian twang, my man....a lot of cool licks with that flat 7th- open string licks work wonderfully well in a cuntree setting,but watch out...you might start hybrid picken and chicken picken'!we play a lot of songs in G for those cool open string moments(remember-those cool e minor rock licks will sound country cool over a G major chord prog.)....just keep that rocknroll attitude, and dont let that tone get too damn clean!!
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