Did you ever get to jam with any famous musicians?

I haven't. I've gotten to play with some great players like Clyde Stubblefield but I have friends like Tom Morello and Scott Bennett who have gotten to play with the BIG names. How irritating.

The reason I thought of this is..I saw the thread about the Jimi Hendrix Miami Pop festival CD and DVD and it made me recall a story:

Jerry Smith the bass player from the Flock is a friend of mine and one day we were talking and Jimi Hendrix came up and Jerry casually mentioned he got to jam with Hendrix one time. Oh my. Oh crap. Game over.
Fortunately we weren't comparing war stories or I would have been toast.
I can't think of too many people it would be cooler to jam with than that Hendrix fellow, but maybe you have a classic story.

P.S. I though Jerry might have said he jammed with Jimi at the Miami Pop Festival but a little research indicates that it was probably was at a pop festival in Denver or somewhere else. It doesn't matter.
I can never be as cool as Jerry now.

 

Err...why not jam with Tom?!

 

Playing with Clyde Stubblefield seems pretty great to me.

 

Because I've known Tom since he was about twelve years old and he was a customer at my store, pre his first band..The Electric Sheep.
Since he's grown up and gotten famous, we've tipped a few back at a bar when he's back in his hometown area but far be it from me on his down time to try to suggest we get together and play guitar.
BTW, what a down to earth guy. Even when he was in Rage if Tom was coming back to town for a visit his mom would come in and RENT a guitar and amp for him to play at her house and it was usually a Mexi Strat and a small amp, nothing rock star worthy.

 

It certainly was an honor, but Scott is in Brian Wilson's band so besides playing and working with Brian, he's played with Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and probably Paul McCartney even though that was just that lousy duet on Gettin' In Over My Head.

 

More details please. Sitting in for a song or more live ? Playing around in the studio ?

 

Well sort of once.

I was jamming with the Seals & Crofts band one day in either 1976 or 77. It was Marty Walsh, Bill Cuomo, Ralph Humphrey and Mike Porcaro or Bobby Lichtig on bass.

This was during a sound check and Jimmy and Dash were not there yet. I picked up Jimmy's 335 and just couldn't help myself. At least I didn't play very loudly, but I was on for some reason.

I was with Yes once in 1974 and Steve Howe offered to let me play one of his guitars, but I didn't have the nerve. I picked it up and strummed a few chords and promptly put it back.

 

Having no improvisational ability, I don't "jam," but I was onstage playing trumpet with Big Fish Ensemble when The Indigo Girls walked into the club.

 

Wow, from recent things I've seen I would have guessed that Steve Howe would have been the LAST guy to offer up his guitar to you, so maybe he's not such a grouch after all.

 

You're very honest. Most people who jam don't have improvisational abilities as well!

 

To expound on that, what I mean is that I was never taught any music theory, so am only able to play from a score. I took a few jazz lessons several years back, but our instructor moved on, and I've since developed other interests that take most of my time.

 

Me, no. But I had an uncle (died before I was born) who played with Les Paul a couple times.

 

Well it was April 74. He wasn't the least bit grouchy. My friend Jeff Hefner and I had dinner with them and partied quite a bit prior to the show.

Btw, besides all of that, I got a once used set of Rotosounds from one of Chris Squire's basses. He changed strings every day on each of his basses on that tour. Gosh, I don't think James Jamerson ever changed his strings, but they had totally different sounds.

I had previously convinced the bass player in my band to get a Ricky 4003 with a nice Ampeg V4B/SVT rig. He immediately put those strings on, and I have plenty of cool recordings with that rig.

 

Just once - in 1989 with Klaus Dinger and his post La D band Die Engel Des Herrn.

 

I auditioned as the drummer for Bob Kuban and the In Men guitarist Ray Schulte's hipper side project. I got the gig but Ray left after two rehearsals because of his Kuban commitments.

 

That's a name unknown to me. What kind of music and what were the circumstances of you playing with him/them ?

 

Klaus was in several German banks such as Kraftwerk, Neu! and La Dusseldorf. I had been corresponding with him for a few years and after he heard a few of my home tapes he invited over to Dusseldorf to hang out for a couple weeks. I had a blast, hanging and jamming with someone whose records I'd been buying for years.

 

I've posted this a few times but I got to play a show with Peter Noone in Vegas. He was looking to revamp the band, make it more in line with the 60's lineup: 2 guitarists, bass, drums, Noone. I worked with the drummer's (who was the MD) then-wife and she recommended me to him.
I had a great time, but due to inter-band politics and intimidation- and the fact that Peter really needed a keyboardist/guitarist in order to have the songs sound somewhat close to the records- I didn't make the grade. I have no regrets!
Noone is a genuine good guy with great stories and is very level-headed.

 

Four years ago at the Cape Breton Drum Fest open jam, I got up and played with the house band for one song. Jerry Mercer of April Wine fame sang some harmony. I handed the the sticks over to Jerry after the song and complimented me on my playing.

 

Jammed with cult figure Kip Anderson who made a CD with Nappy Brown. Also played in a band with Tony Cook, the (at the time) lead singer with the Coasters, played in a duo with John English (former member of the Swingin' Medallions (not an original member), and played live on the radio with Tony Heatherly who was at the time playing bass with the Marshall Tucker Band. That's about it.

 

He's probably known to many here, but not too many outside of Nashville: I used to play guitar in a praise band with Wayne Moss of Barefoot Jerry. One of the nicest, humblest men you could ever meet. Now HE'S played with the greats!!

 

Thanks for filling in the details.

 

Never jammed with anyone known at all. But I've played guitars that belonged to Keith Richards, and Pete Towshend, as well as a Melletron owned by Robert Fripp and used on the first Crimson album.

All of those experiences felt right to me, like I was in the right company with my (underdeveloped) skills and unknown talent.