High Thoughts

Unlike most musicians I know, I didn’t start playing guitar until I was almost 21 years old. I was in the Air Force, stationed at Charleston AFB, SC. I was lucky enough to work in the computer operations department with a great musician, Paul Farrell, and like myself, Paul was from northwest Arkansas. Paul played guitar and violin and practiced all the time. One time when I was visiting him, he handed me his guitar and showed me some chords. I took to it immediately and he told me I had to buy a guitar and he would teach me how to play it. So, I did. 

Another musician, Ted Mosher, would drop by to see Paul and talk music. Paul knew music theory and jazz stuff. Ted was a straight up blues player from Rochester, New York. So, I started learning from both of them. I had told Paul that if I could just learn one James Taylor song, I would be happy. I had no desire or intent to play in public as I get extremely nervous speaking in front of a crowd. I just wanted to learn a few songs for myself and to play with friends. But after I had been playing for about 9 months, Ted calls me up and says he has a gig for us. I told him, no way! But then he told me how much it would pay. Besides, it was for a wedding at a country club about an hour away from Charleston so there wouldn’t be anyone there that we knew. With much apprehension, I agreed to do the gig. 

But there’s more to this story. I’ll back up a little bit before this wedding gig. I had played on stage once before this gig. It was on a horse farm outside of Charleston. Ted was well known for his guitar playing and was invited to play at this party with a bunch of other players from other bands. He drug me along to back him up. I stood at the back of the stage and played rhythm for Ted. There were two drummers and a lot of guitar players so I didn’t feel too much stage fright as I was just one of a crowd of guitar players. I believe it was one of the drummers that was in a band that had a lot of contracted gigs booked. The contract was for a four-piece band. It turns out that one of their guitar players had broken a leg and could no longer play the gigs. They didn’t like the other guitar player so they fired him. That’s when they called up Ted and offered him the gig. But they had to have two guitar players and that’s where I came in. I think Ted called me on a Tuesday when I was at work. I said that I’d do it but when do we practice and when’s the gig. He said the gigs this weekend so there won’t be any practice. I said I can’t do that! Ted said, look, it’ll be just like we play in my living room. I’ll strum the chords so you can see my hands and learn the song but you can have your volume down. You’ll just need to turn it up before I take my solo. Gee, no pressure! 

The gig: So, I’m shakin’ like a long tail cat in a room full of rockers as we hop into Ted’s ’67 corvette convertible with our guitars. Yes, it was a great ride! We were able to take the ‘Vette as one of the cool things about this gig was that the drummer and bass player had all the equipment, including guitar amps, so they set everything up and we took a smaller cut of the money. We get to the gig and the place is hauling in lots of huge bottles of liquor. I felt better as Ted said they’ll be so drunk by the end of the first set, nobody will remember what we played. I went to the bar to get a drink and that’s when things got really interesting. I saw a couple of guys from my barracks and I said, “What are you guys doing here”? They said that another guy they knew in the Air Force just got married and this was the reception so what was I doing there? Again with much apprehension, I told them I was in the band. They said they didn’t know I was in a band. I didn’t tell them that this was my first gig and I had never met the drummer or bassist before! As more people come in, there’s more people that know me and come up to talk. I’m hiding the fact that I’m freaking out on the inside. Finally, it was time to play. The bass player was the singer and I stood so that I could see his hands and Ted’s hands so I could follow the chords and figure out the song as we played. But then the bass player seemed confused as to what to play but I kept following Ted and I had my guitar volume down. I was even more freaked that the bass player was messing up but he recovered, we got through the song and no one seemed to notice. After that, the rest of the gig went pretty smooth. I was able to figure out the chord progressions of the songs by the time for Ted’s solo. And everybody got really drunk and thought the band was great. Wow! I couldn’t believe we made it through it but we did. 

Me and Ted got our money and guitars and headed for the ‘Vette. What a great ride home. Cruising with the top down through the back roads of the Low Country. I believe we had some really great “high” thoughts on the way home! 

I’m still not comfortable playing in front of people but I love playing so much that I have continued playing gigs through the years. I played a lot of solo gigs but I much prefer playing with other people. That’s why I played bass for so many bands as that way I can play but be more in the background. 

But now that I have finished recording these original songs of mine, the time has come for me to get back in the game. I hope you like the songs and will come out to see me playing sometime.