Friday, September 19, 2008

Musician for hire, no talent, will work for tri-tip

I take a mandolin to the Glendessary Jam in the park once a week. There I play along to tunes I do not know on an instrument I do not know how to play. By the time they've played the tune through a few times I've got a basic skeleton of the tune and can fake my way through well enough. When I can't fake my way, I just play the bass note of whatever chord they are playing, unless I'm clever enough to play the actual chord, which isn't often since I only know 3 chords. How do I even know what chord they are playing? I don't. I just guess by listening. If I make a noise that matches, it must be right.

Tonight, thanks to being on the email list and having some friends now at the jam, I was encouraged to attend a gig where we would be providing the evening's musical entertainment in exchange for a tri-tip barbecue dinner and wine. That makes it my first paying gig.

So, with no experience and no skills I managed to become a musician. Pretty amazing achievement, I think.

The trick to having an adventurous life is trying things you think you will enjoy even if you don't know how to do them.

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