Playing in the Band: Natural Talent. What does that term mean? Can a person be actually born with certain abilities? The great debate down through the decades has been “Natural Talent” verses “Hard Work Ethic”. Of course the analogy here being, a person can excel at one thing and be average or even mediocre at others. Although I wasn’t born with any special talents or abilities, I did know someone who was. An example of the natural talent principle could be tennis great Roger Federer. Federer has been cited as an athlete with an abundance of natural talent. Over the years experts have attributed his success on the tennis court to his finely honed eye/hand coordination; a gift they say he was born with. So citing those learned observations can we now say that Federer was born to be a tennis player? Is anybody born to do something extraordinary? Playing the guitar although not solely dependent on the physics of hand/eye coordination like tennis does require the utilization of both the right and left side of the brain for independent functions. Depending on a person’s left hand/right hand orientation, one hand would press the note(s) on the fret board and the other would pick or strum the strings. The two actions would have to be performed simultaneously to achieve the desired effect. The guitar and the people who play the instrument have been a fascination to me since my 12th birthday. This was about the time that the guitar caught my interest. I was mystified that plucking the strings and moving your fingers could create such a pleasing sound. There were very few guitar players in my neighborhood and when I was able to start playing and understood the mechanics of making the sounds I heard on the radio, the instrument became an obsession. And I made it a point to go and watch every band in the area, learning string bends and the like. I would play the 8 notes in the theme song for the TV show, “Peter Gunn” over and over until I heard the broom handle hit the down stairs ceiling signaling that someone had hit their endurance point. And as I progressed and built up my personal repertoire of chord progressions, lead bits, and strum styles, I was also able to assess other player’s skills. The musicians that impressed me in the early going were: Billy Lewis, Sonny Slade, Sonny Cheverie, and Ike Keating. All had a unique style that can only come from people who had a full grasp of their instrument. But I was about to meet a guitar impresario that totally brought the instrument to another level. And this guy lived around the corner from Jimmy Hiscott in North Sydney: his name Billy Drake. The Saints were going through a bit of a drama in the late 60’s. Long time Saints’ mainstay, Ike Keating enrolled in college in Halifax and had to leave the band. No one in the band wanted Ike to go but he was wise enough to know that his future would not hinge on playing guitar on the weekend with the Saints. It was a great decision, even though I knew I would miss his presence not only musically but on a personal level. But we had to soldier on and searched for a replacement. It just so happened that the Sydney band, The Darnelles were taking a rest so Jimmy suggested that we check out their lead guitarist, Billy Drake. And Billy still lived home in North Sydney. Jimmy and I went to a Darnelles’ gig at the Northside Forum to get a feel for Billy’s playing. The first guitar break he played that night was to the Kinks’ hit, “You Really Got Me”; it made me weak in the knees. The power and speed, the combination of high and low voicings was magical. Jimmy was smiling, the lights reflecting off the gold tooth in his mouth. He yelled in my ear, “What do you think?” I was dumbfounded. I never heard guitar playing like that in my life. We waited for intermission and Jimmy and I told Billy that there was a spot in the band if he wanted it. He was happy to accept. Billy fit into the band quickly but with his addition and Roy’s leaning towards a harder sound, a harder edge, I felt that the patented band sound that I loved was buried under the new harder edged arrangements. Now don’t get me wrong, the band was heavy and tight but its direction was being pulled by two separate forces. It was the start of a difficult era for the Rockin’ Saints, who by the way chose this time to change the name to “The Saints. But all these years later, I still stand by my first impression of Billy Drake’s musicianship. He is the greatest naturally talented guitar player I’ve ever heard up to then and to this day.
Posted on: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 04:32:00 +0000
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