As we’ve said before, Fran can’t play the guitar right now. This means relying on the kindness of rhythm guitarists to come over and play with us, which isn’t happening super often these days. Means we don’t play any Carter songs just the two of us. We tried Fran singing and me playing the bass, but that’s just weird.
So we’ve hit on this plan: I learn to play the guitar and Fran plays the bass, which is less painful for him than the guitar. This is obviously going to take some time. But, well, that seems to be where we are now. The other night I tried to play along with Steve Kaufman, but merely getting a guitar out of the office—Fran has 93 guitars and 91 are unplayable for one reason or another, missing strings or painfully high actions or weird Hawaiian setups. So I dug through piles of guitars, lids slamming on fingers, a toddler doggedly tugging down my pants, until I found the 0-18 and tuned it. Then the boy needed dinner, so that was workout enough for that night.
Tonight I tried to play a song along with Ricky Skaggs. Fran joined me on the bass, but Ben stopped the recording with one swipe of his finger, grabbed at the headstock, and screamed. Then the tea kettle whistled and Fran stepped in something wet, who knows what, so that ended that practice session.
This could be slow.
Leigh
