Your favorite albums to play to? Recommendations welcomed.

[equipmentdork]

Hey, looks like I might actually have A GIG this month! Haven't played a full one since September, and I'll admit I have let the grass grow around my basement practice kit(I know, bad!!)

Yesterday, as I drilled the entire set I'll be playing, I felt it. Bigtime. It was 90 minutes of playing, but still, when I was gigging several times a month, 90 minutes was the first set! I even began cramping later.

So, wondering what you guys use to stay limber(when full band rehearsals are not happening). I'm looking for something straight-ahead that's fun to play rather than, say, an endurance challenge with Mahavishnu CDs.

Thanks!

Dan

 

[RogersLudwig]

Willie Dixon, I Am the Blues

 

[CC Cirillo]

For me, and this would be if your thread were actually titled “your favorite album to attempt to play to”, my choice would be Steely Dan’s The Royal Scam.

 

[mtarrani]

This: I love how he plays in tempos outside of my comfort zone; there is no drummer, so I alternate playing with sticks, then brushes depending on what I played at my last practice session. If you play brushes you can get real creative. Back to tempos. They are nothing wild - he is a few to a dozen bpm off from what I normally expect for those songs.

 

[TheMattJones88]

The Weakerthans - "Reconstruction Site"
Wilco - "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot", "A Ghost is Born"
Ted Leo + The Pharmacists - "Hearts of Oak"
Ben Folds Five - "Live at West 54th"
Superchunk - "Here's Where The Strings Come In"
Teenage Fanclub - "Shadows"

 

[bpaluzzi]

Zero 7 - "Simple Things"

 

[NobleCooleyNut]

Any of the first 4 or 5 Chicago albums
Rumours by Fleetwood Mac
Sinatra at the Sands with the Count Basie band
Any Beatles album

 

[Matched Gripper]

Hey, looks like I might actually have A GIG this month! Haven't played a full one since September, and I'll admit I have let the grass grow around my basement practice kit(I know, bad!!)

Yesterday, as I drilled the entire set I'll be playing, I felt it. Bigtime. It was 90 minutes of playing, but still, when I was gigging several times a month, 90 minutes was the first set! I even began cramping later.

So, wondering what you guys use to stay limber(when full band rehearsals are not happening). I'm looking for something straight-ahead that's fun to play rather than, say, an endurance challenge with Mahavishnu CDs.

Thanks!

Dan

Congrats on the gig! Straight ahead implies swing time jazz. Is that what you're talking about?

 

[equipmentdork]

Congrats on the gig! Straight ahead implies swing time jazz. Is that what you're talking about?

I'm implying pop or rock, which I should have specified, but I'll play along with different things just to keep myself limber.

I've spent enough time with jazz cats infinitely better than I and probably co-opted a few terms by accident.


Dan

 

[Matched Gripper]

I'm implying pop or rock, which I should have specified, but I'll play along with different things just to keep myself limber.

I've spent enough time with jazz cats infinitely better than I and probably co-opted a few terms by accident.


Dan

In that case, my favorite play along albums are by Steely Dan: "Katy Lied," "Royal Scam," and "Aja." There are so many great drummers and styles to learn from on those albums: Jeff Porcaro, Bernard Purdie, Rick Marotta, Paul Humphries, Steve Gadd, Ed Green, Jim Keltner. And the guitar playing is supreme! Inspiring! I'm dating myself.

 

[Houndog]

If I just want to have fun . I’ve probably played along to these three more than any others in my life ...

 

[Ludwigboy]

I usually don't play to just one album....mostly "Greatest hits" or a particular group or or decade....gives me a variety of different kind of music to practice to...

 

[Wxmaggot]

For fun and grooving I like these (but too many to list!):
Kings X - Out of the Silent Planet or Self Titled
Eric Johnson - Ah Via Musicom
Joe Satriani - Crystal Planet
Clutch - Earth Rocker

 

[m_anderson]

With everything streaming audio these says, I put together a practice playlist. Mine is more for exercise and different styles, but would be practical in practicing for a gig having more of a selection like you would have a set list.

 

[dyland]

For me, and this would be if your thread were actually titled “your favorite album to attempt to play to”, my choice would be Steely Dan’s The Royal Scam.

100% this. My favorite album to play to.

Some others:
Dirty Mind - Prince
Mercury Falling - Sting
Aretha Now - Aretha Franklin
The Band's self titled

 

[equipmentdork]

How could I forget about Katy Lied? Gonna spin through that one tomorrow, Your Gold Teeth II and all.


Dan

 

[piccupstix]

Today I played along to the "See" album by the Rascals. Man, Danelli was a great drummer!

 

[Angelo Zollo]

Quadrophenia

and I am not really a crazy WHO fan

 

[Jay_M]

I always played to Booker T & The MGs albums and got grooving pretty easily. Early Kool and the Gang, The Meters and James Brown as well.

 

[Topsy Turvy]

The Weakerthans - "Reconstruction Site"
Wilco - "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot", "A Ghost is Born"
Ted Leo + The Pharmacists - "Hearts of Oak"
Ben Folds Five - "Live at West 54th"
Superchunk - "Here's Where The Strings Come In"
Teenage Fanclub - "Shadows"

Holy crap! This is an incredible list! Superchunk never gets mentioned here.