Last week I was playing a show with a band that does cover songs. We play pretty much anything from ZZ top to U2.

The gig was a fund raiser for a charity choir and during one of our sets it was sprung on the band that a few people wanted to come up and jam out some songs. These were songs that we didn’t know and that our skills would be put on the spot and tested. It was pretty funny because our  bass player is pretty much a rock n roller and hadn’t really played anything but hard rock, so the look of horror on his face was pretty funny when the guest singer jumps up on stage and yells “Blues in A” and starts counting us off. Basically we had four counts to see if we would sink or swim.

Well the bass player fumbled his way through and it turned out fine. The rest of us band members have the experience of playing different styles and grooves so we played great, but the lesson here is this.

If you take the time to learn a few country music time feels, some Blues grooves and some convincing jazz riffs you not only open your mind and body to new ideas and skills but it prepares you for some intense musical situations that depending on what you have together musically and stylistically will allow you to swim rather than sink.