We played last night for the private party of an aerodrome club in nearby France. It was fun even if I still drag along a feeling of not playing well enough for the rest of the band. Uselessly stressful and probably somewhat the cause of my not playing as well as I can in a relaxed setting. Something to work on in any case.
Since I would like to do some street playing with Dave, I have been practicing a lot with just my washboard – no bass drum or hi-hat. It’s nice and in a way more satisfying, however it makes a difference in the way a song is played and last night I found myself confused at times: my brain going for both the newly practiced and the “bass drum, hi-hat” way of playing; often in contradiction with each other. Fortunately towards the end of the evening I loosened up and just played with a small English made washboard of Dave’s, that is completely devoid of bells and whistles. I really like this washboard, it is double sided and has both a heavy duty (2 ribs/inch) and a delicate wash profile (3 ribs/inch) which is a true pleasure to play. I suspect I will be using it a lot in the near future just by itself.
Another factor that made it an exciting evening was my having spent some time gluing elastic bands to my thimbles so they wouldn’t slip off anymore. Interested? Check out this page. Last night was the first time using them and it’s amazing how much it helps playing!