Listen to the Music
I’ve been learning some 70’s Tom Johnston era Doobie Brothers songs. One song that I always liked, going back to my preteen years, was China Grove. The guitar was just so hot in that song it was one of my favorite air-guitar songs. One of the first things I learned on guitar was the opening riff for China Grove.
While I was in Austin last week, I made it my mission to learn Long Train Runnin’ by the Doobie Bros. I first heard this song on a 45RPM record when my sister bought it back in ‘73 or ‘74. Both China Grove and Long Train Runnin were off the album “The Captain and Me”, which is an all-timer for me simply for those two songs.
Anyway, I used a guitar tab and worked on sections of the song, trying to memorize each different section before moving on. There are basically 4 different parts to this song, and they just repeat through the whole thing, so it was actually pretty easy. Last night I played the whole song along with the actual recording of Long Train Runnin’ and I have to admit, I did pretty well. My timing was a bit off in spots (too slow here, too fast there…) and I missed a chord change in the middle, but I liked the end result. Maybe I’ll youtube a video of me rocking out to some Doobs.
Next up is Listen to the Music and maybe some AC/DC so Jake and I can jam. He’s learning drums now (birthday present) and I think he’s a natural.
Rock on.