well after seeing dweezil and the zappa play's zappa gang i got to thinking , in all the bands i've been in throughout the years , i've only ever managed to get one of them to play a zappa song / composition which was the mothers version (original ) of more trouble every day , a nice bluesy feeling song , now that was a long time ago . so the other week i posted an add for like minded people to get in touch , one person did , a drummer from glasgow who thought it was a wind up so i mentioned to my daughter about playing bass and she was up for that . today we met up for the first time and went to the rehersal rooms i like to use , and after a wee warm up we got down to it , we started off with camarilo brillo , (me on vocals as well) , then onto apostrophe ! which sounded excellent and we jammed on that for a good ten minutes (just one of those songs ) and then some zoot allures , a tricky little bugger thats going to need some work and rehersal , messed about with a few others that all of us werent very familiar with , but all in all a great way to spend a sunday afternoon and the room is booked for next weekend and we might have a keyboard player to add to the mix as well . looking to add another couple of songs next week , bamboozled by love , baby snakes and pick me i'm clean and as i said to Alana and Malcolm , it was one of the best first sessions i've been involved with and with only three musicians playing franks material all agreed it sounded excellent .
i took my 40th anni std strat and my epi sg (with gibson gubbings) and Alana took her mim fender jazz fretless bass , i had a great time as you might guess cheers
Alan

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Cool, there does'nt seem to be a very large number of us Zappa fans(atleast that admit to it) out there playing the music. Frank will always be my personal favorite guitarist.
I was lucky enough to see him in concert several times. Good one to play is Watermelon in Easter Hay. Love to hear ya playing some FZ

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Cool story Alan. I always get a thrill listening Frank et al. Keep us apprised of the project and how the set-list is coming together.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

hi , thanks newwt , and SBLS , you're so right mate , just not enough of us fans giving it a go , i only saw frank the once , in 88 on the broadway the hardway tour , best gig of my life and as you recomended watermellon in easter hay will be getting a good going over at some point soon my friend , i'm also thinking of a few old mothers classics , let's make the water turn black (instumental) , oh no , orange county lumber truck and some brown shoes don't make it . i'll try and get a recording of one of the forthcoming sessions in the near future for you to listen to / comment on , and i'll keep you up to date on whats happening , thanks again guys , cheers
Alan

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Yeah I really love the Zappa Plays Zappa DVD. It focused on the music from his best years as an artist! It's amazing that Zappa was able to even stay in the public eye as long as he did. People like him just don't get record contracts these days. It's no wonder that the music business (particularly rock n' roll) is in so much trouble these days. There are plenty of good artists out there but you gotta dig pretty deep to find em.

It would be cool to hear what you are doing...even if the recording is less than stellar. I am starting to adopt a lo-fi aesthetic myself. I slogged away for years at home in front of my computer and completely burned myself out. The performance is what counts....it'll overcome whatever limitations there might be capturing it.

hi mortalengines , i think the reasons he stayed reasonably popular throughout his career were that
1 he was way ahead of his time (probably why he was never hugely popular )
2 he was very astute and knew his "product" and how to play things to his favour (media ect)
3 the above was the reason he got his early masters back from verve/ warner bros , they didn't do enough of anything for him
4 start his own label and build his own studio
5 and just remain so different to most performers of any time (60's -90's) that people sat up and took notice (or just dismissed him )
the above are all just my thoughts and ymmv

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Can't wait to hear some recordings, there are so many great Zappa songs that you could do a 3 day show and not play any one song twice. I personally have I belive all but maybe 2 of his albums. Keep us posted.

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+1! He was ALL THAT and a bag of chips!

sitting watching the torture never stops just now , on the anniversery of his death , a sad day for all in 1993 , the jam /rehersal was set up over a week ago , it was Alana who mentioned it this morning , then the guy who runs the studio we were in mentioned it as well , and asked if it was meant , no i told him , but it might be auspisiouce (or however the hell you spell it) the way things went today it might be a good omen

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Good for you Alan I'm glad that you've had luck rounding up like minded Zappa fans. It takes a brave and talented musician to attempt Zappa and it goes to show that you are an accomplished and competant musician to pull it off.I hope that in the near future you can find a full compliment of Zappaphiles so you can get a full fledged Zappa tribute band going.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

thank you very much guitslinger , that means a lot mate , i'll tell you a story . when i was young and very impressionable i took to franks guitar playing style in a big way , so big i couldn't play the bloody blues anymore so i forsook the delights of the dorian and phrygian modes and many others to become at least competant again at playing normal music . i used to get some wierd looks and people stopping playing when launching into a frank Z inspirerd solo , and seeing as i couldn't get any bands i was in to play anything by frank i stupidly dumbed down a bit and went to playing what was the norm for rock/blues (which i do adore, in it's early manisfestations ) today opened up my mind again , i had a great time , my fingers were doing that wierd stuff from a long time ago , Alana said i looked like i was having a fit it's been a while since such notes flowed from my fingertips , may there be many more and with more zappa freaks , cheers
Alan

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Thats great, I love zappas music and I think there are alot more zappa fans than you think they just don,t admit it.

I think there are a lot of people who haven't really heard any Zappa in a long time and would be pleasantly surprised to remember how good it is. Then again I tried to play the Zappa Plays Zappa DVD for a couple of my younger friends and I was apparently the only one who enjoyed it. It's not exactly flavor of the month kind of stuff....and what kids are listening to these days, well....don't even get me started! LOL!

Dirty Love and Apostrophe are two I would try if I were at such a jam. I always liked Black Napkins, as well.

Billy The Mountain is a real toe tapper!
Just kidding, but it is one of my favorite album sides.
Call any Vegetable would be my suggestion for a good song to cover.
Sounds like you're having some fun, that's one of the best reasons to play Frank's music.

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'10 American Deluxe HSS Sunset Metallic
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