First "gig" with my 255

Ian Rossiter · February 2009

My wife's uncle passed away recently,and I was asked to play at the funeral along with some of his musician friends. It was a trio consisting of a champion Metis' fiddler, a Bluegrass Bass player, and myself. We were asked to play for 45min or so as people filed into the church. We rehearsed the night before and it was 5 hrs of pure musical joy, (which was a relief since the three of us had never met before!!!). The Fiddler played Metis' tunes from his repitoire calling out keys and the name before he started each tune. Mostly good "two steppin" Reel's, Jig's and Waltzes. It was great how Metis',Bluegrass Bass ,and Pompe' all blended together. It actually worked really,really well. We had tons of compliments on the sound and more than a few folks comming up after the service to ask about that "wierd guitar" I was playing!!! ( the funeral was held in a small ,rural ,Menonite Church, with great acoustics btw!!)
I strung up the 255 with a set of JP Nuages ( the Daddarrio's were just too metallic and stiff, the JP's just sound better to me.) and tried out one of those Dunlop Primetone 5mm picks. The improved tone of the Nuages coupled with the added "wallop" of the Primetone really made the 255 come alive. Tuning was super stable ( even with the doors of the church wide open as the tempature climed to an unusually warm +6c) and had no trouble keepin up with the miked fiddle & bass.
As sad as I was to see Roy pass, I was honored to play at his funeral, especially with two very talented players ,all of us from different musical backgrounds, but comming together to play for a man we all loved.

djangology · February 2009

Congrats on the first gig. I still remember mine, thanks to a generous local musician that let me sit in on 2 gigs. You don't realize how easy it is until you finally play live.

Ian Rossiter · February 2009

Oh, I meant it was first time playing out with the 255, I've been gigging for years, sorry for the confusion!!!
I was saying to the Mrs. last night, the worst thing about playing funerals is how silent it is while you play!!! Nobody makes a peep and every squeak is magnified.