Wednesday, January 25, 2017

A day to remember

I've been in a bit of a creative rut lately. As we sat sipping coffee and reading the Sunday paper, I flipped through the Lifestyle section and came upon the local musicians playing in town this week. Pulling out my iPad, I looked up the names that appeared in the paper. One of the groups had a slide guitar player.

Turning to Jilda, I said, "I'd really like to learn how to play slide guitar." Jilda is an innovator, a networker, and a connector. "Why don't we call Max." Max is our friend from Muscle Shoals, Alabama who is a slide player extraordinaire. 

She sent him a message, and he said he was free on Wednesday morning – today. We headed out early and drove up to the Shoals to his home.

I knew within minutes that this was a good move. Max has played mucic with some of the best musicians on the planet. He is a great player, knowledgeable, and easy going. The hands-on session helped me understand how to make a guitar weep. Now it will take a lot of practice before I can make it sound like that.

After the lesson, Jilda and I took him to lunch. We'd just ordered when Jerry Phillips walked in. He's the son of the legendary Sam Phillips who did the first recordings of Elvis. Sam owned Sun Record Company and Studios which is considered the birthplace of Rock and Roll.

Max is friends with Jerry, so he waved him over to join us for lunch. We spent a delightful hour talking about musician friends, the music business, and good places to eat.

It was a day I will remember for a long time to come.


12 comments:

  1. How fun is that! Talk about being in the right place at the right time. I'm glad you had a wonderful day and a memory to last forever! (plus learning a new skill..never to old for that!)

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  2. Oh wow! Just when you feel you are in some rut, something amazing like this happens. This is great! You may have received some more creativity for your writing.

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  3. Sounds like an exceptionally fine time.

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  4. Learning is fun, by the time i'm 85 I'll be a decent player. The hard part of guitar and I assume any instrument is when you think your getting OK, you hear someone who can REALLY play. Still fun.

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  5. That sounds truly amazing. No wonder you love Jilda.

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  6. Great stuff. I have loved hearing a slide guitar since hearing a mountaineer as a kid. He probably wasn;t great, but to a kid WOW.

    It must be great to sit and chat with legends. That Jilda done good, huh?. This is a good read.

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  7. It was serendipity that you saw the article. Then it was the intelligence you showed when you married your wife.

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  8. What a momentous day! And the picture of the two of you is a great one too!

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  9. What's a slide guitar?
    Lisa

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    Replies
    1. Slide guitar is a technique of playing with a small metal bar on one finger that slides up and down the strings making a unique sound. Dwayne Allman played slide guitar on the Eric Clapton song Layla. Blues music and some old timey music also use the slide technique.

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  10. Yes a day to remember indeed

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  11. Anonymous6:58 PM

    The smartest thing you ever did was to marry Jilda!!

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