Calvin's got a nice voice - but his 'chops' are miles and years behind even Matts. His passion and enthusiasm makes up for it, but it's not easy when he can't play a simple 12-bar blues!
A comparison... it'd be like becoming a racing car driver driving Formula-Ones... but upon your arrival, telling them you don't know how to drive a manual car...
We're gonna keep "giving him a go" - he's got a lot of material to learn, that's true. He's been too busy trying to play guitar and sing at the same time, but he simply can't do that yet. I'm finding that pretty damn frustrating - and I told him, straight-up. Matt has, too, independent of me, which is a good thing. So Calvin must appreciate it's not "just me".
I mean, Matt, Calvin and myself have jammed, played and sung together about 5 times together already (in loungerooms etc) - and he still has not got himself a bloody guitar strap! What the hell...?!?
I think he was thinking we were joking what was expected of him at first, but we've told him flatly what we're after as we work together.
When he just concentrates on his vocals without his guitar, he's pretty good.
He keeps suggesting new songs to try - which in itself is a good thing. However, he needs to 'nail' the 15+ other new songs he's already suggested first! Let alone the rest of the old stuff we already play together. He's got copies of lyrics, and copies of the actual songs are available as well. We haven't given him an impossible task, really. He says he wants to do it.
Matt and I have got the new songs down and together... yes, even Matt has done his homework and can play all the new songs that have been thrown at us. Matt continues to amaze me with his ever-expanding self-confidence and determination to get stuck-in and work hard.
Doing all this is the hard work... once this is done, then we can all relax and actually enjoy the experience of performing together. It won't be so much 'fun' taking Calvin thru material we've been playing together for a year, but once he gets it together, then the real fun begins.
So yeah, Matt and I are in like-mind that we'll continue to "give him a go" until Xmas, then we'll re-assess how he's going and fitting in. Julian (our drummer) comes back this weekend, so Calvin'll have a few weeks of working with all of us. That'll tell us for sure if he'll be able to do what we want him to do. What makes it so hard is that Calvin is such a nice down-to-earth guy.
What excites me is that Julian will be able to basically play these 15+ new songs practically straight away. He won't be a problem in that regards, thank fark for that!!!
I'm still feeling 'bloated', which is just darn annoying rather than uncomfortable. This week I'm going to cut out both bread and milk/dairy products, and consume a lot of fruit and veggies (which I've been doing anyways). I'm not talking about some crazy crash-diet or anything like that... but this bloating is making me feel, well... uncomfortable!
Peas be with ewe
Cyalayta,
Mal :)
Cyalayta,
Mal :)
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I'm sure he will give it his best try...it seems he really wants to give it his best shot.
ReplyDeleteI hope your feeling better soon :)
Is he open to the idea of not playing guitar for the first few gigs?
ReplyDeleteYou might need a diuretic.
Thanks for your comments.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure he'll do the best he can do, and that's all we can ask of a bloke. And yes, he won't be playing much guitar for a little bit. That'll give him a good chance to just concentrate on his vocals. I'm sure it'll be fine... it's just hard (frustrating? dis-heartening?) after more than a year of doing all this stuff to kinda start from scratch again, that's all.
I'm feeling a bit better this morning. I'll go for a swim, as that always seems to help.
Cyalayta
Mal :)
Mal Hope the change of diet is effective.
ReplyDeleteAlso hope it works out with Calvin!
Cut out wheat...btu at coles you can get Mountain bread in thin slices like lavash - they have corn, rice, barley, Rye and oat as wel as wheat...you can make amazing wraps out of these but needs two together as they are thin...helps with bloating etc...
ReplyDeletesauces, gravy etc all have gluten/wheat
- don't cut out dairy till you know its a culprit...most times its the pocessing...Norco have an organic full cream milk which helps as its not so over processed. Full cream is best as the shot they do to our products to make them low fat is a crime.
You have just got to think and read lables...its easy after a whiole. I learned because the bastard doctors etc nearly killed my lovely youngest daughter by ignoring much of this.