Need to learn Sick of Myself by Mathew Sweet in a hurry.

Re: Need to learn Sick of Myself by Mathew Sweet in a hurry.

Years back i was in between bands and a friend gave this band my phone number..I meet with the other guitar and bass player for lunch just to get acquainted..While there they basically told me that they would love to have me fall in with them but the singer and drummer where huge pain's in the rump.They kept sticking out because they both had limited experience and did not have many connections..

I show up at rehearsal it was either a Wednesday or Thursday i really can't remember which.Things went semi well but the writing could be seen on the wall by the way the singer spoke to the other guitar an bass player..
It was easy to see the singer had over evaluated his skill level as well as many other things.lets just say he loved himself a little too much.I also believe the drummer may have loved him a bit much also.In fact worshiped him would be a more reasonable way of describing it..

One of the last songs of the night they wanted to do was Matthew Sweets girlfriend. I was not at all familiar with Mathew Sweet at all in fact i don't think at that time i even knew who he was..When i made this known to him he threw what i would call a temper tantrum.I can never forget what he said and tell this story often..
He puts one hand on his hip and starts waving around some papers.Then he screeches like a 5 year old girl and i quote " I'm tired of always having to be the star and carrying everyone". As he was pointing the papers in his hand towards the bass player and other guitar .Then he goes on " Thats why i agreed to higher you.I was told you are a professional,But i guess thats debatable,You need to this learn this note for note by Saturday no excuses" He looks at his puppy i mean drummer and says "You believe this s**t" The drummer guy starts grinning like a stoned Cheshire cat and moving his head around like a dash board bobble head toy...

The whole thing was to much for me .I guess you had to be there to see all the expression's on each members face but it struck my funny bone and i started laughing which did not help..
The singer then starts shaking his head and rolling his eyes like a twin to the drummer .I guess this was what started the bass player and other guitar player laughing ..the singer starts screaming then " let's just move on.He screeches this about ten times and we started into some other song..he was so flustered he couldn't sing ..So he called it a night and stormed out..

Well if you know the song girlfriend you know there is a ton of lead guitar work .It also is a great song and Mathew Sweet shows his skill's as a guitar player doing that lead work..I knew right off that i was never going to be able to memorize the lead work note for note..So i got his signature down improvised the rest..

Saturday night came and things went pretty well..Then we did girlfriend and i hit the signatures and did my own thing on the rest.The singer was just staring daggers at me clenching his teeth so hard i thought he would break his teeth..

Of course he and his pal the drummer guy are in charge of the money also.so after everything is loaded up he comes up ad tells me " I thought i told you to learn that song note for note" I guess he was waiting for a reply but i didn't think he had the capability of understanding anything i said so i figured why bother waisting my breath..So after us standing for a few minutes looking at each other he finally figured i had nothing to say he pipes up with"well i decided to dock a third of your pay for not learning that song maybe next time you'll does as your told..He hands me the money then walks away..
he walked over to the other two guys and starts *****ing at them about something..so i walked up and handed the bass player the cash he had given me and told them the deserved it for put up with his **** and walked off..

I know this has nothing to do with the song you are learning and my post was long winded .. I just can't help but to share this story when ever i see someone posting about a Mathew Sweet song..The best thing about this whole adventure with this band was them turning me onto Mathew Sweet...

Hope things go better for you then they did for me...
 
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Re: Need to learn Sick of Myself by Mathew Sweet in a hurry.

Pretty sure they're just in various positions. When playing along, some parts I hear in G# Aeolian (minor) and others hit C# Dorian, etc. They're essentially all the same notes. Keep at it. You'll get there!

My point is the first solo and intro I play in one position and I literally just shift everything up a half step for the bridge solo...different key.
 
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