3.5 Hours of Sheer Terror: Playing Guitar for the 1976 Rock Awards

#jaygraydon #guitar #musicproduction #recording #musicmastery #jaketherake #allthingsmusic #education They say studio work is 95% boredom and 5% sheer terror—and this gig was 100% sheer terror! Back in 1976, I got called to play first guitar for the Second Annual Rock Music Awards, hosted by Diana Ross. Normally, a full horn section plays the walks-and-talks melody when a winner is announced. But that year, they decided to be "more rock and roll" and put the entire melody squarely on the first guitar chair—me! Everything went smoothly until the ultimate award show disaster happened: the arranger completely forgot how to count off the tunes live on television! He’d just hold up two fingers, stare blankly, and freeze. No tempo, no downbeat, nothing. In this video, I talk about how the legendary Ed Greene on drums saved the night, how I had to instantly catch the tempo while sight-reading live on the air, and the one tune where I completely lost my place and just had to start faking it! After three and a half hours of that kind of pressure, I could barely move when I got home. Have you ever had a gig turn into an absolute free-for-all? Let me know your horror stories in the comments!