Spurred on partly by a request I received several months ago and then delivered upon last weekend (more on that in a minute), I’ve made progress on the new album of music I’m working on. Solo acoustic guitar pieces are the theme this time, with the codename of “Stringing You Along” (until I can think of something less lame), and I’ve gotten about 60% of them recorded. It’s felt really good to just play the guitar a lot, and my confidence as a player is boosted considerably.

One new piece that got added to the mix was an acoustic version of Dan Fogelberg’s “Longer”. Apparently, this is a popular wedding song to play, but I had never heard of it. I’m adding it to the album because I was contacted in early May by someone having a wedding in late July not far from where I live. My name and contact information are on a list maintained by my alma mater and over the past decade I’ve gotten a handful of requests to play this or that, but none of them ever panned out.

Well, it finally did! And I got paid!

This person found me on the list and checked to see if I was available to play at the ceremony. We talked about what they wanted in terms of type of music, and I deemed it possible. I then made a contract that was completely over-the-top for what was probably needed, but it made me feel professional. It was signed and I began practicing for the next few months, which included learning some new things (including the Fogelberg song), as well as re-learning and honing some old things.

Once the day approached I felt pretty confident about my ability to play for 30 minutes before the ceremony, 3 minutes during the procession, and 5 minutes after it. My trip there started late, I had to get gas, and there was traffic, but I still got there with time to spare. The couple was a little late in starting and asked me to start early, so I played more than I originally intended, but it was all good. It was a nice wedding and they seem great together. We all got churros, too! And I got a tip from a random guy!

All in all, it went really well. I would totally do it again. Also, the album is coming along swimmingly and this gig really inspires me to make a new piece to put on it, so I’ll do that.

Woo!