Growing Up Bass Player (The
duo)
Bob and I spent a lot of time together in his
home recording studio. From that we formed a 2 piece band
and played a number of jobs when Sundown was not playing.
Unlike Bob and I the two Kenny’s got more grief than
support from their spouses. This meant that occasionally
Sundown had to take time off so they could do things on
the weekend with there families. It was those occasional
weekends that Bob and I did our Duo thing.
Of course Bob played guitar and I played
bass. We worked with an electronic drummer. He was good
to work with because he kept time perfectly, never
complained and at the end of the night we didn’t have to
pay him.
With that said, I must add that I did not
really enjoy the electronic drummer. I feel that in some
ways it helped my bass playing. It did improve my timing,
but a drum machine, no matter how perfect it can be, it
cannot provide the feeling, the groove, a live drummer.
It always made me feel like the music was too structured,
there was no emotion to the music. For me that is what
music is about. The song writer and the musician come
together to create an emotional response from the
listeners.
We did have fun though; we played
everything from old country song, to Lynyrd Skynyrd and
even our own version of the Eagles’ Hotel California.
Playing in a duo you can have more interaction with the
audience. We play one job in a small town where there was
only about 20 people. Those 20 people were there when we
arrived and they stay until we left, 5 hours later. They
thought we were super stars. A great time was had by all.
What emotion the drum machine missed, a few shots of Jack
Daniels took care of. We were about 80 miles from home
and had just a "wee" bit of
trouble driving home. The trip took a little longer than
usual to get home (had to stop several time and walk
around the van a few time (just checking the tires you
know)) but we made it safe and sound.
Yes I did say van, remember this was the
70’s. I owned a 74 Chevy van, white with a red strip down
the side and murals on both sides. The interior was red
shag carpet. It was brand new and pretty cool for the
time.
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