Getting my playing back

woody Bridges — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:34:55 +0000

Well it’s been a while but I’m back here writing some. I’ve been playing a lot of gigs around Texas. I think I’m getting my playing back up to par. Still got a little to go to get back into playing automatic. (playing without thinking). But I’m getting there.
Thank everyone for the comments on the blog.
I’ll be back soon.
Woody

My blog format

woody Bridges — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 19:07:20 +0000

Many have asked what I am using for my blog.
I use WordPress Ofcoure. But the Theme is Celestial Aura. It’s free.
Just type it in your search engine. When you get to your admen page it will have setting on the lower left side after you install it.

I’m back playing again

woody Bridges — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 21:28:24 +0000

Well I’ve start back playing out again. I played for the steel guitar show in Tyler Texas on Sunday afternoon. 6-26-10. We had a great time. Junior Knight was there playing the steel guitar. Junior is one of the top player in the country. He played with LeAnn Rymes band. Also Charley Tilley was playing part of the show. Charles is the president of the ETSG assoc. of east Texas.
Great Show.

My wife has passed away

woody Bridges — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 21:07:02 +0000

My wife, “Grace” passed away on the 15th of June. We had her funeral on Friday the 18th.
I just wanted my friends to know. We were married for 54 years.
Thanks for the blessing and cards.
Woody

Learning how to fill-in with guitar

woody Bridges — Fri, 21 May 2010 20:14:35 +0000

This information is for playing good country music.
I’ve been teaching country guitar lessons for several years now and one of the most asked questions is,” how do you play behind a singer?”
Most people don’t know how to do this. They just play notes all the time while the singer is singing. This is wrong!!!!
If you are the lead guitar player you only want to put your runs and fill-ins where there are spaces between the lyrics. You can play chords while the singer is singing, but not loud enough to cover the singer up.
Now the next question is “what do I play in those spaces?” Very important question. One way is, use your imigination and create some notes that create the feelin’ of the mood of the song. You may try bending the strings for effects. Another way is, play little runs that create the mood. (like Grady Martin did on El Paso).
Most important don’t cover the singer up if you want to keep a job.
Can you imagine having a jam session with 4 lead player all trying to play at the same time. It just does not work.
Listen to the country recordings and pay attention to the fill-ins.
While the guitar is playing you don’t hear the steel. While the steel is playing you don’t hear the lead guitar.
I hope this information helps in your playing.
Woody Bridges
guitarlessonsonvideo.com

This was one of the best pickers around

woody Bridges — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:32:02 +0000

Troy Passmore was one of the Best Picker around. Troy Passmore and I were like brothers. Grace and I had been knowing Troy for several years. To say a little about Troy’s talent. Troy had the fastest picking hand of anyone in the USA and probably the world. Anyone that knew him will tell you that. He was a musical Genius, He was playing on the road with a band when he was 12. When he was 16 he was playing Guitar for the best dance band in the USA. He had played in 50 states and 5 countries. Troy and Chet Atkins jammed together. And you could ask any musician in all parts of the country if they knew Tory, and most of them did.
Here’s a little funny story about Troy.
Troy showed up one day at out house and we had a long visit, he had been out playing in and around Austin with Johnny Gimble. He had tried to get a day job out there. He was telling Grace and I about applying for this job to change the money out of the washer and dryer place around Austin. Troy said they gave him a lie detector test and he answered everything truthfully. He said they didn’t hire him and he didn’t know why. Grace asked him what they had asked him. Troy said ” they asked my name, then several other things, have you ever smoked pot,” Troy said about this room full. I nearly fell out of my chair laughing. Of course Troy didn’t think it was that funny. Troy passed away in 1979. I’m proud to say he had turned his life over to Jesus a year before he died. I have a lot more memories of Troy I’ll share later.

How a country star was born

woody Bridges — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:50:53 +0000

Back in the 60′s, Grace and I had our own band. We were playing 6 nights a week all over the gulf coast of Texas. We had three girls in the band. Grace, Billie Jo Spears and Betty Spears. This was a very good bank. Betty Love played guitar, Ora Oubre on steel, Curly Deloache on Drums, Grace on bass and I played the lead guitar.

This was in the same time frame when we were writing songs with Jack Rhodes.(song writer of Silver Threads and golden needles). Grace and I were going up to Jack’s place every chance we had. One day Billie Jo asked if she could go with us. So we took her up to see Jack.( He was living in Miniola), Jack had a motel with a studio built in one section of the building. Billie Jo audition for Jack and he liked what he heard. After a few months of working on songs, Jack took her to Nashville and introduced her to Ken Nelson.(the head of Capitol Records in Nashville) This is the same time Jack took Peggy Little to Nashville. Both of them got contracts.

Billie Jo has more or less retired and is living back in Vidor, Texas. The last I heard of Peggy was she had started doing gospel songs according to Barbra (whose late husband wrote “please Release me”. Barbra is now married to my friend Bob McCormmick. Bob and Barbra live in Nashville now. But we still get together and have a good time playing music together every time Bob comes down to Tyler Texas. Bob is a very good steel guitar player.

I saw Billie Jo and Betty about two years ago at Huey Buxton’s yearly get together. They are both doing fine.

The Lawnmower Story

woody Bridges — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:53:04 +0000

THE REAL STORY OF GEORGE JONE’S LAWN MOWER STORY
by Woody Bridges

The story that has been circulated about George Jones and his riding lawn mower is completely wrong. I don’t know who told this story, but it is incorrect. I saw George that day and he told me what he had done. We were not anywhere close to Nashville as the story was told. He was not going to get a bottle as the story goes. Let me tell you what happened.
On that day we had a benifit dance to play in Beaumont at Yvonne’s club. I was at my home in Beaumont and I received a telephone call from Mickey Kelley. He told me that he and George were down at the Hillbilly Inn playing pool, and wanted me to come join them. So I drove a few blocks and there they were, just the two of them and a bartender. The place was empty. To early in the day for a crowd. (about 3:00 P. M.) They were playing each other for a case of beer per game. Mickey said George owed him about 20 cases. (It was really just for fun.) The place was Quiet no jukebox playing, then we heard a car door slam outside and someone was talking. George said, “there comes that loud mouth sister of mine”. Sure enough It was Doris. She came in and was suprised to see George. Doris said, “what are you doing here?”. George said, “fooled you didn’t I.” Then he told Mickey and I what had happened. Doris had taken George out to his Ranch in Vidor, Texas, and while he was in the shower, they left him and took the keys to all the cars. They wanted him sober for the night. So he got on his lawn mower and drove up to hiway 105 and hitched a ride to Beaumont. We played that night and thats another story.

Woody Bridges
guitar lessons