From jake92028@yahoo.com Thu Oct 23 19:10:01 2003
Subject:Re: Organ feature tunes in bar-band

Some Alternative thoughts: Try playing some of the songs mentioned
without copying them note for note, and at tempos you like. Put your
own touches and arrangements on them, while making them still very
recognizable - possibly even more enjoyable to a bar crowd that loves
your version.

A couple of minor examples: Our band plays Johnny B. Goode medium-
tempo organ 'pump' reggae style, blues harp solo before the guitar
trades riffs with piano/organ, including stops. We do Girl From The
North Country with repeating 1, 6m, 4, 1 chords, organ and guitar
chugging along about 140 straight 8th's (almost a Lou Reed feel),
choruses of 'True love of mine, True love of mine' repeating after
the 2nd and later verses, organ and guitar solos - and a false ending
with held chords on, 'She was ONCE...a TRUE...love of MINE...1-2-3-4'
and the band comes back in full tilt for a chorus, modulates up a
halfstep for another, then ritard's down the last 'True-Love-Of-
Mine,' 4-3m-2m-1 chords, holding the end chord for a moment, then
chopping it.

I cringe at the thought of a possible future when 'good' musicians
will be playing THE list of Standards (Classic Rock) note-for-note
from charts as the essence of popular music. The former no-good
Standards will go in the dustbin, along with Les Paul and Mary Ford,
Tex Beneke and the Glen Miller Orchestra, The Andrews Sisters, Nat
King Cole, Tony Bennet, Frank Sinatra, et al, etc. I can almost see
parents trying to force their kids to play Classic Rock, music
teachers and high school instructors insisting it must be played
correctly from the score as transcribed from the original music. Or
maybe not...

Even Echo and the Bunnymen break out of sounding exactly like the
Doors so you know it's them on the radio #:-)

Walter