The Guess Who on getting their name back: 'Finally it’s over'

BROCKSTAR said:
I won a randy bachman contest few years back :D Won a guitar and amp and was supposed to go jam with him but my anxiety got the best of me and never went.

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That's too bad, but i get it.

If you're feeling like it'd work for you now -- which, damn, you're such an excellent and musical player -- maybe reach out to them, tell them the story. I bet they have record of what went down from their side, and would welcome you back. It's a cool tale for their people to tell.
 
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Dave Merrill said:
That's too bad, but i get it.

If you're feeling like it'd work for you now -- which, damn, you're such an excellent and musical player -- maybe reach out to them, tell them the story. I bet they have record of what went down from their side, and would welcome you back. It's a cool tale for their people to tell.
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Uh, apologies if i overstepped there in my enthusiasm. You do you, however you feel it.
 
BROCKSTAR said:
I won a randy bachman contest few years back :D Won a guitar and amp and was supposed to go jam with him but my anxiety got the best of me and never went.

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I get it man. I’ve never had stage fright or really been star struck. One day though when I was a senior at Berklee i was working on a symphony i was writing to be played all on synthesizers. This was 1983. So I’m in the synth lab getting composition tips from my professor Gary Burton. In walks Chick Corea. He wants to hear what i was working on. So here I am a kid from Hicksville Utah alone in a room with these two legends.
Hell, im not even a keyboard player. I wanted to tell him im a guitarist but then it occurred to me that a guitarist to him is Al DiMeola.
He told me to never be nervous about music. Use it to communicate how you feel to anyone who listens.

I said, that makes so much sense, and then I walked out of the room and threw up in a garbage can.
 
Growing up, I had no idea there was a difference between The Who and The Guess Who.

It makes me wonder: if they’d chosen a different name, would The Guess Who have been even more successful? Or maybe the similarity in name was part of their success.
 
ruso said:
Growing up, I had no idea there was a difference between The Who and The Guess Who.

It makes me wonder: if they’d chosen a different name, would The Guess Who have been even more successful? Or maybe the similarity in name was part of their success.
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Possibly- Probably! But imho it's really hard to beat American Woman...............................The who could never have done that. Don't get me wrong, one of the first albums (yeah vinyl) I bought when I got back from the jungle was Live at Leeds-Killer album.
Although Pinball wizard was right up there.
 
BROCKSTAR said:
I won a randy bachman contest few years back :D Won a guitar and amp and was supposed to go jam with him but my anxiety got the best of me and never went.

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I've been able to jam with Steve Vai and his band 3 times at different Vai Academy events.

It's incredibly intimidating so I totally get it! The first time I wasn't sure I could do it at all, but I did and had a blast.

At least you got an amp and guitar :)
 
unix-guy said:
I've been able to jam with Steve Vai and his band 3 times at different Vai Academy events.
It's incredibly intimidating so I totally get it! The first time I wasn't sure I could do it at all, but I did and had a blast.
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That indeed would be intimidating. I'd like to know more about this:
What did you guys jam on? A well-known Vai song? A common/popular song by another artist?
When Vai looked at you and said, "Ok man, it's your turn" --- what/how did you play?
Did you shame him and make him throw down his guitar in despair like what was done in the movie, "Crossroads?"
 
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AtomicJeff said:
That indeed would be intimidating. I'd like to know more about this:
What did you guys jam on? A well-known Vai song? A common/popular song by another artist?
When Vai looked at you and said, "Ok man, it's your turn" --- what/how did you play?
Did you shame him and make him throw down his guitar in despair like what was done in the movie, "Crossroads?"
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Every "camper" at each event gets assigned a "night" that they get to do the jam with Steve.

Each night they set up a queue of folks on the left and the right of the stage and the jammers round-robin onto the stage one at a time.

That's where the next layer of nerves kick in! Not only are you panicking but now you're waiting in that line! :)

Typically each person is expected to bring something - a riff or chord progression, etc - and after a quick "hello" with Steve you just start in.

Steve and the band will be on it typically within a few seconds!

Steve will usually play with/over that and then give you the nod to take the lead. After a bit he'll jump back in and try to get you and him engaged at the same time either call and response or complimentary parts.

And then it's done before you know it - 5-7 minutes.

The first time I did it, I followed a series of guys who were increasingly heavier and heavier... I had decided I was going to play part of a chord progression for a song I was working on. It was a bouncy, jazzy clean thing.

As soon as I started playing it, I could see in his eyes and facial expression "ok, this is a nice change of pace!".

He started hitting some Hendrix-y octave lines and it was magic!

Mostly a blur after that ;)

People told me it was great - I wish I had a recording!
 
ruso said:
Growing up, I had no idea there was a difference between The Who and The Guess Who.

It makes me wonder: if they’d chosen a different name, would The Guess Who have been even more successful? Or maybe the similarity in name was part of their success.
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Up here in those days, lots knew TGW far more than TW. Canadian content rules meant that we heard much more Canadian music on the Radio than music from other countries with bigger followings. Despite the name similarity, the two are so dissimilar, they didn't tend to get confused (no more than one could confuse Rush with Mahogany Rush).

Not sure if CanCon still applies as much these days, but regardless, many GW songs are, imo, timeless, and still resonate.

Always got some GW on play rotation here in the great white north these days.

 
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ruso said:
Growing up, I had no idea there was a difference between The Who and The Guess Who.

It makes me wonder: if they’d chosen a different name, would The Guess Who have been even more successful? Or maybe the similarity in name was part of their success.
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The easiest way to tell them apart is one is the The ‘Ooo and the other is The Eh.
 
Frodebro said:
The easiest way to tell them apart is one is the The ‘Ooo and the other is The Eh.
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Ya eh, like, dere's de Who, yaknow from England over dere eh, a nen dere's de Guess Who from over ere - not de same deal eh - but eider one can give'r pretti good imo
 
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