"Playing in the Band" - B. Weir

I'm finally playing guitar in a band, 'the Telepaths,' and I must admit, it's something I've always wanted to do. I think there's more going on than just getting together, playing old rock standards. It seems to me to be essential, important work, eventhough, it's not hard, it does not feel like 'work,' it feels easy, natural and good. There's something about sublimating yourself to notes, scales, chords, timing and rhythm. What is amazing, and sort of mystical, is that these same notes and chords have been played millions of times before, by countless players, over many years, but each player, brings something new, something essentially different than any other player. How to explain it? It is not about virtuosity, not about technical facility, the beauty of rock and roll (like jazz, like the blues) is that ultimately what you are trying to capture is a unique moment of feeling, of soul, of pure rocking exhilaration. Put five people in a room (the essential ensemble: a singer, a bass player, a drummer, two guitarists) play these notes, sing these words, make these galloping, walloping sounds. Vibrations resonate, float into the atmosphere, then disappear. Amazing. I love the 'roughness' of the enterprise, containing moments of beauty, harmony, dissonance, and chaos. I guess ultimately it's another human activity that distills everything into wild, untamed moments where life and death reflect back at us. To capture a moment; this time, this place, and to see it fade away before our eyes, our hearts, our heads and our madly ringing ears!