The Blueberry Jam last night was fun, and while it was not as eye opening as the first one, I did discover new things to work on. I perceived that I am at the point where confidence in my play is becoming visible. When I was setting up I was not shy to work with the amp settings to find a good balance between sustain and distortion, but Joseph's amp appeared limited and I had the impression it was a bass amp because the low notes were strong and vibrant while the higher ones were one sided and bland. The fact that I was able to discern this exhibited that my technical knowledge is expanding bit by bit.
The first 15 minutes it was Joseph on drums and me with guitar. The sound was not decent because of the sparseness of instrumentation and me not knowing how to work the amp to my advantage. Jeff Z from 901 showed up and he turns out to be a master drummer, so Joseph played bass and we blasted through a short, powerful set. After Jeff left Mike H from the indoor pool appeared and Joseph went back to drums and Mike and I played guitar. Mike's specialty is rhythm so I got to play a lot of lead. We were able to find a few good reggae/funk beats (at one point I asked Joseph what kind of music we were playing and answered my own question by guessing "it's like a fusion blues/jazz/funk", which amused Joseph, because he teasingly referred to it later in the session) and we had a sweet jam. After finishing one set Mike said "dude, you play better lead than me, and I've been playing since high school." I did not know how to reply, but I knew I was playing better than the springtime jam and I felt more at ease.
Things which I improved on since the first jam in the spring :
- faster finger movements and better coordination, agility, and stretch
- stronger memory and knowledge of the pentatonic scale
- smoother chord transitions and strumming
- improved endurance
The thing which surprised me most was my ability to play for two hours without break. I was disappointed that Joseph and Mike currently do not have the stamina to play for long stretches of time. Joseph took a number of breaks, and Mike at one point said "I gotta work on my chops, I can't keep up". This tells me that although both are good musicians, they don't practice very often, and there is a chance if I continue to practice daily that my skills will eventually reach their level, and perhaps beyond.
Another thing I noticed is that while I am uncomfortable standing around with nothing to do but listen and talk, I find a beautiful groove once the music begins, communicating with the others through the sounds of guitar and drums. During breaks I therefore choose to continue playing guitar while the others leave the room to drink or smoke. When Joseph returned from one break he commented that my hands must be glued to the guitar. This inability to feel at ease with others when there is no activity to share means I won't become close friends with any of these people, but if they can tolerate my lack of social grace I hope to still play music with them on occasion.
Lastly, it all comes down to practice, desire, and concentration, three things which I have been working on for many years in various activities. The progress I am now making is startling and lucky, but the luck was made possible through all the work put in during the past 18 months - carpe diem!
