No Cover Songs, and Good Cocaine, Part 2

The original post: http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2011/04/no-cover-songs-and-good-cocaine.html

It has been one year, and three weeks since I thought about covering Dick Justice's ole time rag, "Good Cocaine."  Yesterday I finally performed it at Sacred Grounds Coffee House.  It's not that I've been lazy, I've just had other things to do.  Like work and stuff.

But a few things actually held me back.  First, the song was recorded in a tuning other than standard E, and then on top of that a kapo was used.  So, the first thing I had to do was find the correct chords, and put them in E standard.  Then, I had to change them around to fit my voice.  Let's be honest, I don't have the best vocal range.

I also had to update the lyrics a bit.  It's a bit of a blues tradition that every player will change the song up a bit. Like I had said earlier in my previous post, I wanted to change up the part that refers to certain groups as "monkeys."

Like any performer will tell you, generally the first time you play a song live it doesn't go that well.  Well, it couldn't have gone any better.  I played it as the first song right off the bat, and it just killed.  I wished I had of recorded it.  I was also very thankful I had a friend Josh playing percussion for me that night.  All in all it was a great night.

And I think I would be remiss if I didn't post Dick Justice's version here.  It is a funny video.

My Four Strats

I have way too many guitars.  I know there are a lot of hungry kids in China who don't have any guitars, and I have too many.  In fact, I have four Stratocasters.  However, they are quite different.  Many people wonder why I have so many guitars, so I'm writing this blog to explain why.

Here's the rundown.

Up first is my Squire Strat, made in China, and it cost me a whole $79.  Here's the funny thing.  It's probably my best playing Strat.

The fun part about this guitar is that, I didn't mind messing around with the electronics and such since it is a Squire.  I put in a push/pull overdrive pot so I can get an overdrive without a pedal.  It will engage at the touch of my finger. 

I also switched out the pickups to some pretty cool pickups.  I like trying some of the new guys on the block, so I put in a blade pickup in the neck, and a Belcat bladed humbucker in bridge.  I added my favorite Dimarzio Blue Velvet in the middle.  It's a very versatile guitar.

Next up is my 1993 Fender Mexican Strat named Smokey.  I call him that since whoever owned him before me smoked like a chimney.  It put this strange smokey patina on the body.  You know how cigarette smoke will put a tarnished yellow color on things?  Well this has that tarnish all over the body, but it's really heavy in the curves of the cutaway.

I traded out the original pickguard for a black one.  This has a Fender Alnico 3 neck pickup, a Dimarzio Blue Velvet middle pickup, and an old Dimario PAF pickup in the neck.  It has a really neat vibe to it.  I got this guitar in a trade from a good friend.  It needed some cleaning up when I got it, but once I got it up and running, my friend questioned whether he should have traded it to begin with.

Next up is my 2006 Fender Mexican Strat. 

I got this at a pawn shop in 2007.  Since this was a 2006 Strat, that should have tipped me off.  Unfortunately, the neck on this one is kinda wacky, and I have to set the action up a little higher to make all notes playable.  I would have sold or traded it, but it's hard to sell or trade a Strat that doesn't play so well.

However, I went ahead and replaced the pickguard to a tortoiseshell colored one.  I changed the pickups to all Dimarzio pickups.  True Velvet neck/ FS-1 middle RW/RP/ Heavy Blues 2 bridge.  It's not as versatile as some Strats, but it sounds great in all positions.

Next up is the Strat I put together years ago.  In fact, it was back in 2000 when I started putting this guitar together.  It took me 9 months to get the parts.  Actually, I slowly got them as I got the money to do so.  I also got some good deals that way.

I guess you can see from the awesome paint job that this is no ordinary guitar.  In fact, back in 2000 it run me $1080 to put it all together.  That includes $300 for the wicked paint job.  But it has everything on it I could want. 

However, I ran into one problem that I did not expect.  The guitar is made of all maple.  That makes it insanely bright sounding.  Then, on top of that it has a Floyd Rose tremolo, and that makes it even brighter.  I have had trouble finding the right pickup combination to put in this guitar.  I actually like a bright sounding pickup, but everything I put in this guitar was just too bright. 

I have just changed the pickups in it.  Right now it has an Artec bladed pickup in the neck/ a custom wound Texas Special in the middle/ a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates in the bridge.  The Artec is the first neck pickup that I really like in this guitar.  It is bold, not overly bright, and actually has the bass come through.  Along with the strong single coil and Pearly Gates, that makes this guitar an extremely versatile guitar. 

Generally, only the bridge pickup was worth playing.  Despite me putting all this money into this guitar, I never really played it.  So now with a change in pickups, I think I will be playing it more. 

So that's my story of the Strats I own at this moment.  They are like children.  I love them all, and don't really have a favorite.  They are all a little different, but fun to play.  I also suspect that more will find their way to me.  I know I shouldn't.  There are children in China with no gutiars after all.

I'm Gonna Have To Step Up My Musicial Game

I had a "Dewey Cox" moment earlier this evening.  For those who don't know, I'm referring to the movie "Walk Hard, the Dewey Cox Story."  Early on in Dewey's career, he was on a tour that had a lot of musicians.  Think of it as a modern day mini Ozzfest.  Back then, they had the same format as they do today.  You would have the lesser known musicians open up, and the bigger stars would be the headliners.  And of course, the headliners go on last.  But in one weird night, Dewey Cox had something kind of strange happen to him.

Here's the youtube link.  Note: Go to the 50 second mark to see what I'm talking about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llGzo9fGcdk

Due to Elvis wanting to get out of there early, the line-up order changes from The Big Bopper, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, and then Dewey Cox.  Dewey then becomes the headliner, and it puts him in a very bad prediciment.  It's called getting upstaged, and it isn't a good thing for the headliner.

Here's an example.  Motley Crue were kicked off multiple tours because they upstaged the headliners early in their career.  Now, I should point out that the official reason they were kicked off tours was that The Crue were making too much trouble and being too rowdy.  However, they were putting on a better show than the headliners, and the headliners didn't like that.

So how does this relate to Dewey Cox you ask?  Well, tonight I went to open mic night at Sacred Grounds Coffee House.  I got there a little later than most, so the sign up sheet was mostly filled up.  The earlier you show up, the earlier you can sign up, and you get to choose when you play.  I showed up later than a lot of the musicians, so I signed up at the best available spot.  In this case, every spot from 9:00 PM to 11:30 was taken.  So I signed up at 11:45. 

This is where it got weird.  At 11:00, one of the most talented musicians at Sacred Grounds, James M. (I will protect his identity here on the Internet) when on.  Then at 11:15, a wonderful songstress named Jenna when on.  Then to top it off, one of the most popular (and talented) musicians, Jonny J. went on.  Jonny does make his profile public on Reverbnation.  Here is his band:

http://www.reverbnation.com/algorhythmsky

So here I am.  It's 11:45.  I am going on after three incredible musicians.  I am Dewey Cox in this moment.  But I did the only thing I could do.  I rocked.  When I played last week, I didn't perform that well.  While the songs I performed were my own and good for a coffee shop, they were tough on my limited vocal range.  So I decided to do three of my more rocking songs that are also easier on my vocal range. 

So I cranked up my amp, and cut loose.  I'm not bragging, but I think I held my own.  In fact, I still think out of the four of us that went on that hour, I came in fourth.  But, I can at least say not by much.  Again, I think I held my own.  But I will say, I really don't want to have that kind of Dewey Cox moment for a while.