When they were open, I've stopped in as well. They are often closed, or locked I should say. They have a password-protected room and are only open to the public on occasion. I guess it's like a club in that sense.

I'm like Dave in that I really enjoy songs and singing as well as playing. I guess that's a round about way of saying that I haven't concentrated enough on my guitar playing to consider myself as strong a soloist as I hope to, someday, become. After first visiting and listening to the folks there, it made me more determined to focus my energy on that portion of what I do, pickin'. I'm still nowhere near the level of ability displayed in that room by some of their members, but, as Mike Myers' character Middle Aged Man would say, "I'm workin' on it".

There seems to be a specific stylistic approach that these folks appreciate. It's a style that Merle Travis began to explore early on in his career. It also reminds me of Chet's playing. I have some early Merle on LP so I dug it out to give a closer listen. I was surprised to hear stuff similar enough to where I am presently exploring to give me hope that I was on the right track.

I also tried a tune or two while I was there. Playing instrumentals is not something I often do. My stuff was rather raggedy by comparison.

Some of the players there seem to live every note. I guess I'd compare them to other studio musicians I've heard, where precision is the name of the game. They seem to study the form like a science. At least one of the guys has a whole band in a box that he plays with. It allows him to just concentrate on his part, soloing. It was almost like hearing karaoke for guitar players, or one of those band minus one recordings. I've heard others, in various PalTalk rooms, use this technique of playing along with a band in a box. They pump the whole works through a PA with some nice results. I'm still just trying to figure out how to get an acceptable sound from my particular mic and computer settings, so that I don't sound, to those listening, like I'm singing and playing while sitting at the bottom of swimming pool full of water. While there may be the occasional whale or school of fish that might find that kind of sound technique entertaining, I don't get those kind of gigs often enough to make it a worthwhile use of my time to perfect. I'm still having difficulty trying to catch the ears of them two legged listeners.