Back in my teens, I was into hard rock and heavy metal, playing guitar in bands. Last September, an old friend – the drummer from those days – invited me to a cover session event. It was a full Sunday afternoon of music: roughly 50 songs, with participants rotating in and out across different tracks.
I ended up playing guitar on seven songs:
- Official HIGE DANdism: White Noise
- Official HIGE DANdism: No Doubt
- Official HIGE DANdism: Cry Baby
- Official HIGE DANdism: Pretender
- Led Zeppelin: Black Dog
- YOASOBI: Gunjou
- PERSONZ: DEAR FRIENDS
The way it works is that you request songs you want to play, and if enough people sign up for the other parts, the song makes the setlist. Having played almost nothing but hard rock and metal in my youth, I wanted to try something different. I requested "Pretender" by Official HIGE DANdism – the arpeggiated guitar phrases caught my ear – along with their "White Noise", whose intro reminds me of Slayer's "Raining Blood", and YOASOBI's "Gunjou", because I love the way their guitarist plays in live performances. All three found enough players and made it onto the list.
The rest came from the host asking "can you do this one too?" – I said yes without thinking too hard, and ended up with seven songs. The result was a mess: wrong chords, mixed-up song structures, and one guitar solo I completely butchered. But it was an absolute blast.
The event runs twice a year, spring and fall. The next one is scheduled for next month, and I plan to join again with fewer songs this time. I need to prepare so I can do a little better than last time. Looking forward to it.