My First Pluck
2025-Jun-14, Saturday 23:51![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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musicianshipsWaaaayyyy back around the turn of the century when people were fretting about Y2k, I was told that we were moving and he was going to start jamming with his friend, Garrett. I was handed a 90's Fender* Jazz bass (made in Mexico) and a book or two and shown some basic technique. All within a 2min period.
A few weeks after we did, I was told to go downstairs and play along. I was shown a few riffs and tried to keep up using this pathetic 50watt practice amp. The drummer was always very loud and the guitarist had a proper 2x 4x12 set up with a 100+ watt Crate amp head. Which has since fried and replaced with something that I forget but, it also sounded good with the band during our final practice.
Fast forward a year or so and we've got an album's worth of songs. Those two alternated between vocals and people I went to school with, along with their older siblings, regularly attended practice. After trying out this one pipsqueek we got someone who could handle the position of primary vokillist.
It only took a few months before he learned all the songs and we began recording the first album, entitled Step Down. Oh, the name of the band, after much brain storming and lame ideas -- none of which I remember, was Curb Jaw.
More and more people were coming to band practice every Saturday. They'd bring money, whoever could afford to, and we'd order pizza for everyone. We also practiced Tuesday nights for a long time. Our first show was in somebody else's basement with a bunch of other bands. We scared them because we were actually good and heavy thus, our set got cut short. lol.
We were the first local band to draw a huge crowd at Looney Tunes in West Babylon, NY. We played open mic night at The Downtown in Farmingdale (RIP). That's where we met Mike with El Diablo Productions who gave us some good shows. Eventually In The Pit Productions was born.
Circling back.
I really only wrote a few songs, musically or lyrically. My mother wrote most of the first album and contributed to some degree on the other(s). However, over time everything I played changed from what the guitarist played and naturally found it's own, proper place, between the guitar(s) and drums.
I don't have any idea what my first amp was. After we started playing out, I was given -- I think I went to the store to check out a few, an Ampeg BA115. 100watts. Which, still wasn't enough. lol. We tweaked the settings a bit and found some decent sounding stuff. Usually, it was just set to whatever sounded the loudest. Oh, sorry, I should use the buzz phrase "cut through the mix".
Later on I bought a 5-string Ibanez Soundgear 305x from one of my buddies. I didn't know what to do other than have an extra string on top that I didn't use but, it was silver and looked cool.
Another guy, years later, sold me a 1983-ish Peavy Mark IV, I believe it was. A huge solid state amp + speaker cabinet. The thing weighed more than I did and usually took two people to bring it up and down the stairs.
Neither of these were ever used on any albums. You can find more information on CJ over at my Listography or buy some tracks or simply tip me to support my current and future endeavors such as re-visioning and re-recording all the old stuff!
What's really neat is a long time ago someone put me on the Encyclopaedia Metallum
P.S. My icon is my signature and yes, it has signed cleavage.
Feel free to ask me questions here. I will probably use them to create new posts. You guys should write your intros as your own new posts!
A few weeks after we did, I was told to go downstairs and play along. I was shown a few riffs and tried to keep up using this pathetic 50watt practice amp. The drummer was always very loud and the guitarist had a proper 2x 4x12 set up with a 100+ watt Crate amp head. Which has since fried and replaced with something that I forget but, it also sounded good with the band during our final practice.
Fast forward a year or so and we've got an album's worth of songs. Those two alternated between vocals and people I went to school with, along with their older siblings, regularly attended practice. After trying out this one pipsqueek we got someone who could handle the position of primary vokillist.
It only took a few months before he learned all the songs and we began recording the first album, entitled Step Down. Oh, the name of the band, after much brain storming and lame ideas -- none of which I remember, was Curb Jaw.
More and more people were coming to band practice every Saturday. They'd bring money, whoever could afford to, and we'd order pizza for everyone. We also practiced Tuesday nights for a long time. Our first show was in somebody else's basement with a bunch of other bands. We scared them because we were actually good and heavy thus, our set got cut short. lol.
We were the first local band to draw a huge crowd at Looney Tunes in West Babylon, NY. We played open mic night at The Downtown in Farmingdale (RIP). That's where we met Mike with El Diablo Productions who gave us some good shows. Eventually In The Pit Productions was born.
Circling back.
I really only wrote a few songs, musically or lyrically. My mother wrote most of the first album and contributed to some degree on the other(s). However, over time everything I played changed from what the guitarist played and naturally found it's own, proper place, between the guitar(s) and drums.
I don't have any idea what my first amp was. After we started playing out, I was given -- I think I went to the store to check out a few, an Ampeg BA115. 100watts. Which, still wasn't enough. lol. We tweaked the settings a bit and found some decent sounding stuff. Usually, it was just set to whatever sounded the loudest. Oh, sorry, I should use the buzz phrase "cut through the mix".
Later on I bought a 5-string Ibanez Soundgear 305x from one of my buddies. I didn't know what to do other than have an extra string on top that I didn't use but, it was silver and looked cool.
Another guy, years later, sold me a 1983-ish Peavy Mark IV, I believe it was. A huge solid state amp + speaker cabinet. The thing weighed more than I did and usually took two people to bring it up and down the stairs.
Neither of these were ever used on any albums. You can find more information on CJ over at my Listography or buy some tracks or simply tip me to support my current and future endeavors such as re-visioning and re-recording all the old stuff!
What's really neat is a long time ago someone put me on the Encyclopaedia Metallum
P.S. My icon is my signature and yes, it has signed cleavage.
Feel free to ask me questions here. I will probably use them to create new posts. You guys should write your intros as your own new posts!
