"Muse" - ings on Rock & Life

Skyped with B. tonight.  She started it all by asking me about one of the chord progressions on the list of things we will need to sort through later in the week.  I was going to explain it to her in writing, but figured it'd be easier to just show her how to play the chord in question.  That started a 3 hour video chat that covered some music stuff, and a lot of other chatter. One of the first things she asked me was what my goals were for the time we have.  I laid it out very simply.  The goals (from my point of view) are as follows: 1)  Finish off the songs that we are considering for the record. 2)  Square away the tempos of said songs. 3)  Make sure we're confident about the arrangements 4)  Start figuring out track order. She immediately jumped to a combination of the first item on the list and the last one on the list, and we went through everything.  What was I thinking would make the record, aside from the obvious 5 or 6 that we know for a fact will be there? 

So, I had an interesting music-snob conversation today.  One of the girls in cafe posed it to me.  "So, I have a question," she says.  "We're both music snobs, right?" I answered in the affirmative, for me at least.  I'll admit my own music snobbery, but accusing someone else is just wrong.  She tells me she's been going through a Monkees phase lately, and wonders aloud whether that's okay for a music snob to do. Honestly, I think it's okay.  I mean, sure, they were a pop band.  A pop band created for TV.  And yet, they had great songs.  "Daydream Believer" was written by Neil Diamond.  A lot of the rest of the early music was written by Boyce & Hart.  The first single "Last Train To Clarksville," was a great tune.  "Stepping Stone," "Pleasant Valley Sunday," etc.  Not that they deserve inclusion in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (although some think they do), but they had decent songs. Chatted wi

I'll be honest, 95% of what happened musically in my life today revolved around Corey Taylor's book signing at work.  I went in at noon today. The signing started at 7.  The second I walked in, I heard about the guy who had showed up before 7 in the morning, chair in hand, intending to be the first person in line.  The store manager basically told him to go away and come back later when she showed up at 7.  Then there was the sixteen year old kid whose parents drove him up from Texas for the event.  I never did get to meet him... at least I don't think I did.  It got crazy for a while there.  We had people from Illinois and Missouri among the 400 or so people that showed up as well. The coolest part of the whole thing, you ask?  That's easy.  The event started at 7, and we snuck Corey in the back door around 6:30 or so.  Those of us employees who wanted to get stuff signed in advance were allowed to drift to the back, hang out for that half an hour, and get our stuff

J. uploaded the files with the quicker tempo tonight.  We got one with the tracks we just recorded (slightly sped up, due to the tempo change), and then one with just the drums and bass for recording over.  Just in listening to it a couple of times, I'm already happy with the pace.  It's just enough of a bump up from the original tempo that it feels like there's a bit more drive to the song, but not so fast that the feel goes away.  At least so far.  Haven't tried recording the guitar parts yet.  He wants 3 of them.  A rhythm acoustic part, a rhythm electric part (this is new), and an electric part with the lead lines in it.  My only worry at this point is that there is a 29 second time difference between the new demo version and the drum & bass track.  If he pulled a few bars in the middle with the idea of shortening the solo, I'm already happy.  As much as B. loves it, the solo was entirely too long in the original demo. I'm starting to think about what

Skyped with B. tonight, and I needed it.  I had managed to get myself bummed out about J. wanting to re-record the song we've been focusing on.  She's coming at it from the perspective that, at least we're working.  At least progress is being made.  And she's right.  We're getting somewhere.  It's not like there's a deadline hanging over us.  As long as we make the right decisions for the songs, what difference does it make if it takes us a considerable amount of time to finish the record?  If J. wants to try a tempo change on a song, and it makes it better in the end, I say let's go for it.  If he starts suggesting it for every song, though, I'm going to have to wrest control back to our side of the table. I've been thinking about trying to flesh out some song ideas for the last couple of days.  Nothing on paper yet, just trying to sort out the idea behind it in my head first.  I'm hoping they will turn into something useable by the band,

Strange day today.  Lots of small bursts of activity that didn't feel as though they added up to much that was productive.  I played for a bit this morning, but wasn't terribly focused on things for the band. B. uploaded three different vocal tracks to the dropbox, so I spent some time checking those out.  That was the only time today that I felt like I was truly productive.  I burned the 3rd one to CD, and dropped it into the recording I was doing yesterday, but the whole thing felt just a bit off. J. said he liked the tracks, but then spent 5 minutes asking me whether or not I thought we should increase the tempo.  To a certain extent, I agree with him, but maybe not by the 8 BPM that he is suggesting.  With a song like the one we're working on, if you add too much to the tempo, it kills the feel of the tune.  Currently, it's running at 77.  I think 82 seems more feasible than the 85 he's pushing for right now. And, oh yeah, it would involve re-recording eve

So, I couldn't sleep this morning until I went in studio and knocked out the acoustic track and the electric riff that goes over the top of it for the first song we have seriously been working on this summer.  It only took me three and a half weeks to just go in and do that.  Now that I've started, I wonder why it took me so long in the first place.  I felt like the intro riff turned out great, but the acoustic part didn't quite have the shimmer that the original demo part had.  The acoustic does need a new set of strings, but that couldn't possibly solve everything , could it? It was fun, also, to get home from work tonight, and witness the firestorm of activity that my posting to the dropbox caused in the hours I was away.  By the time I got home, there was already chatter between J. and B., and they had both already left commentary for me.  I found it interesting that the part I was truly satisfied with (the intro riff) was the part that J. seemed to want to rip ap

So, my initial plan for tonight's post was to go sifting back through the first few weeks of last year, and see what I had laid out to be accomplished, and then compare it to where things sit a year later.  A crazy evening later, that may well have to wait until tomorrow, or perhaps my couple of days off after that.  Here's what I do recall:  1)  I admitted that I had become a critic, and wrestled with the issues of being a critic without adding anything to the canon. 2)  I didn't want to be a rock n' roll never was... I hoped instead to be a rock n' roll hasn't yet . 3)  I wanted to practice every day, keep a record of it, and use the blog to hold myself accountable. 4)  I wanted to improve my lead playing, specifically, and my overall musicianship on the instrument. 5)  The end goal was to apply to Berklee School of Music in Boston. I haven't accomplished all of the list, by any stretch, but I do feel like I've made some strides in the last 36

Today is the last day of year one of the blog.  Wow.  That hardly seems possible, and yet, I know it is.  More to come on that topic in tomorrow's posting. As for today/tonight, I actually laid down tracks tonight.  I got something I'm at least somewhat happy with.  Happy enough, at least, to mix it down and post it to the dropbox folder.  Haven't gotten to that step yet, but it'll happen either tonight before bed, or tomorrow morning before work.  I cheated the system a bit, and laid down the tracks with the acoustic simulator included in my home studio, but doing it on the electric and getting at least an acoustic-ish sound out of it helped tonight. I still think I'm putting too much pressure on myself when I'm "in studio."  When it's acoustic tracks only, they never come out as clearly as I'd like them to.  Secretly, this kills me inside, because I really want this record to sound amazing with just acoustic guitar, bass, drums, and vocal

I should have recorded tonight.  I'm well aware of this fact.  Instead, tonight was a night for checking into something that had bothered me for quite some time, and determining if something B. said the other night might possibly be true.   First, the something that has bothered me:  Tomorrow (July 24th) is the one year anniversary of the blog.  And yet, the numbered days don't match up.  I've known they wouldn't essentially since the beginning of the month, when it slowly dawned on me that something didn't add up right.  Last night, I figured out that there was a ten day stretch in March, right before I came back full time, that had been miscalculated.  This accounts for the error, so for a bit last night and a bit tonight, I have been going back and changing the numbering on the blog, in the hopes that tomorrow's numbers will be right.  I'm up through the end of April so far.  Hopefully by the end of the day tomorrow, I'll have it all sorted out. A

I laid down some acoustic tracks tonight.  Not sure what I think of them just yet, but I got in there and did it, which after such a long break from actual recording, feels like a lurch in the right direction.  I'm going to hold off on sending them to the others for now, because I know I'm not happy with the way they came out.  Then again, I'm never really happy with the way I sound when I record.  I think it's something to do with a lack of comfort in my playing.  Or perhaps a lack of practice.  More likely it's both.  Also, it has way more to do with my acoustic playing than it does with the electric side of things.  It's entirely possible that I feel better about the electric playing because it allows me to hide behind distortion, but I don't think that's really it. I think what I really need to do is just go on a giant acoustic jag.  Get my fingers completely calloused again. That, and I need to relax when it comes to recording.  It makes me stre

As it turned out, today was the day to ponder/figure out the Double Drop D progression.  I headed out into the sweltering heat this afternoon to run a few errands on a day off, and in the process I stumbled upon a recording of the older demos amongst the pile of CDs that was in the car.  I was intending to listen to the whole thing, but after the first couple of songs, it dawned on me that this might be a good time to check out that progression.  It was all I listened to while I was out and about, and I came to at least one solid conclusion about the progression as a whole: it's too long. My other immediate thought was that certain parts of the song play through more times than I remembered, while others (namely, what we had considered to be the chorus five years ago) don't necessarily play through enough times to merit their distinction.  Whether or not this confirms J.'s original theory that the song was perhaps in need of splitting in two remains to be seen.  What it m

So, I've gone over the recording that I've got to sort out for tomorrow/Thursday three times now.  I'm fairly certain that I've got it counted out correctly.  This means that, if all goes according to plan, I ought to have a guide track to send to J. as well as a potential finished acoustic track for the other tune we've been focusing on.  If I can get the official recording down, that would mean that B. cana start dropping in vocals by the end of the week, which would be really exciting.  Were that to happen, we'd have a basic track done, that I could then go in and lay some electric over. Not that we don't have other songs to work on as well.  There's plenty (including the double drop d progression) that need a lot of going over before recording can begin in earnest.  Hopefully I'll get around to giving that a solid look in the next two days as well. Also, I really need to just spend some time playing .  I talked about needing to do that, like,

Late dinner with R. tonight.  We traded things we had stashed away for each other.  She got her copy of the Trio record from me, and in return I was handed a copy of Out Of The Vinyl Deeps .  A book of rock & roll essays and criticism by Ellen Willis.  Not only was she the first rock critic to write for the New Yorker, she was also an editor and columnist at the Village Voice.  Can't wait to read this book.  During dinner, talk turned (as it always does with us) to music.  She posed a few interesting questions, all of which center around the same general subject.  The biggest one is this: 1) Which musician, living or dead, would you like to sit and have a cup of coffee with? This one is tough for me.  It makes me feel better that it was tough for both of us.  It's very tempting to list off the idols (Adam Duritz, Jeff Tweedy, Matt Skiba, Any of the Fab Four, etc.), but it's hard to discern whether meeting someone you truly admire, especially one who has been aroun

Talked to both J. and B. today. J. and I finally had in month-in-the-making guide track discussion, and now it all makes sense to me.  The initial guide tracks need a strum on each of the changes, in time with the song, so that we make sure the drums and bass are falling in the right places.  A secondary guide track (should one be needed) would simply be another bed of sound that could potentially be used to fill in holes.  I hooked him up with the chords for the first song we've been working on, because all of his bass notes were wrong.  He dropped in the first guide track, just to give me an idea of what he's looking for, and then turned the volume way down on it, and pronounced the track ready for actual recording.  My job this week is to knock out the guide(s) for the next song.  I told him of the plan to have all of the songs finished & arrangements done by the time I get back from vacation.  He agrees with the plan, because if that happens, then as soon as I get bac

I've spent what little music time I had today sitting with the G minor riff and the outline of the chords that B. got to me last night.  It seems that the chords she sent my way are an outline to something that is missing the transitional chords in between them.  They feel like the guideposts to something great, if only I can write the parts that belong in between.  What I probably need is the bits of lyric she said she has.  It might make finding the changes a little bit easier. About the only other news of note is that I've only got 30 or so pages left in the Keith Richards bio.  It's been a really enjoyable read.  Makes me want to go back and read Stephen Davis' marvelous book on the Stones, Old Gods Almost Dead, if only to see if the respective stories corroborate each other. Also, despite opening tomorrow, I'm going to try and get up super early so I can get some recording done in the morning.  Got to have something for J. to mess about with tomorrow, even

Skyped with B. for about an hour and a half tonight.  It wasn't in the evening's plans until about halfway through my shift tonight, and it happened a bit later in the evening than I had hoped it would because I got home late, but hey, it happened, so no complaints.  She asked early on if I had specific things I wanted to talk about tonight, and the only two things I really wanted to get out of the conversation were the full lyrics for the song that I think may lead off the record (because we did have the lyric completed), and the chord progression for another one of the old demos that I need to lay down a track for this weekend, and I wanted to make sure I got it right.  We got that stuff out of the way rather late in the conversation, however, because apparently I felt the need to share my epiphany regarding the song that I suspect will open the record.  As I expected, she initially looked at me as if I were completely insane.  The more she thought about it, the more she ca

A few things to discuss tonight... first of all, I spent the evening focused on, and taking notes about, what I hope will be the opening cut from the record.  I jotted down everything I know about what we currently have recorded on it, and then moved into a series of questions and thoughts regarding where the song goes from here.  What I wouldn't give to have all three of us in the same place at moments like this, or at the very least two out of the three of us.  I really want to hear the piano part with drums behind it... which means that the piano part likely needs to be re-cut with a click track, because it's far from perfect where the notes are concerned, and it seems to speed up a bit as the song progresses.  Still, I'm hearing things that feel like they belong in the finished product, so this is a good thing. Sometimes I wish someone else was here, if only because the music tends to keep me awake at night, now that we are involved again to a point where I can see it

Still no Trio setlist... That aside, I had an interestingly productive day musically... I sat with the electric for a good portion of the afternoon and evening, and just tried to work my way through one of the ideas on the list. As it turned out, I wound up working on two things, but such is life, I guess. The odd thing was, it seems that the two ideas fit together, which I never would have expected if I hadn't stumbled across it myself. This is good news, because it potentially takes the number of songs we'll have for definite (or at least as close to definite as I'm willing to go right now) use on the record down from 12 to 11, which is to me a better number for an album. Strange, I know, but true. Started to hear the music in my head for both the opening of the album, and the song I was working on today as well. That's always an exhilarating experience, and a scary one too, because it brings back the old fears about not being able to reproduce what I hear i

Today was a hodgepodge of musical stuff. Here's a list of the stuff it included... 1) I uncovered two more songs to add to my ongoing list of "supremely catchy pop music." One of the songs is the first song on the latest record by the Smoking Popes, who I saw the other day. It's called "Wish We Were," and it's a glorious pop-punk distillation of unannounced love.  The second song is by a band called the Vaccines. It's called "Norgaard," and it comes off as a mix of 60's California pop, punk energy, and surf rock. 2) Found a poster frame for my Alkaline Trio poster. 3) Heard from B. via text tonight. Apparently she has rediscovered her knack for "creepy, cool lyric writing again." I couldn't be more excited about this. When she hits that kind of stride, B. usually comes up with some pretty great stuff. She tells me she got an entire lyric tonight. Some rough ideas about melody, but nothing concrete yet. As for me,

Okay, so, no setlist posted yet. At least not anywhere I can find. It'll be posted here at some point, though, you can believe that. First of all, The Slowdown in Omaha is a great little club! I'd see another show there in a heartbeat. The stage area is surrounded by a ring where most of the patrons can stand, and the bar is back behind that. They've got a balcony up above the ring, and barstools around the edge of the ring. Great little venue. Nice & LOUD for a punk show! The Smoking Popes opened for 'Trio, and while I had heard of them before, I had never actually heard any of their songs. I came away impressed. Same sort of punk as Alkaline, but done in a happier context, I think. The lyrics were a bit hard to find in the mix for the opening band, but what I heard, I liked. I will definitely be picking up some of their records. Trio opened with "In Vein," and then announced that they were going to play a lot of old stuff. Which they did. "Sna

Just got home from the Trio show in Omaha with R. Amazing gig! More tomorrow, when I am awake and what not.

Rare Saturday off. After spending the bulk of the day outside, I spent the late part of the evening with the guitar, running through the remaining ideas on the list, seeing if anything struck my fancy. I ran through a couple of the ones that intrigue me the most, and came to a few decisions. One of the biggest had to do with the sound of particular songs, more specifically as it relates to guitar tunings. I've always been one to drop my guitars a half step. Not out of any specific desire for an alt. rock membership card, mind you, but more-so because it has always fit my voice better. Considering that I'm not the primary vocalist in the band, however, it frees me up to worry less about the vocals and more about the music itself. In particular, the way the chords come across. Never did I think that standard tuning would end up the way to go, but it strikes me that, in at least a few instances, it serves to tighten up the sound a little bit, adding tension to the music. Besides

So, I listened again to last night's demo before I headed off to work today, and it still gave me chills... this, I am taking as a really good sign that we are indeed onto something. Still feeling confident that this particular song is the one from which all the others radiate out. I set aside the really old demo today as well, not for good, but just for now. Wanted to take a crack at one of the other songs on the list this morning before I had to go in. Now that there's a deadline and a goal, I really need to get cracking on the rest of the ideas, so that I have the time to get them all played through, figured out, and recorded before I head home for a week. Something else dawned on me today: If we're going to be running these tunes in the week that I'm home, I really need to take the next month, and work not only on songs, but also concentrate really hard on getting my playing and my scales and everything into some sort of shape. It's going to be a busy mont

Chatted with B. tonight. I sent her the file of the one I had finished off earlier in the week, now with the chrous added on to the recording, and she said she likes it, so it looks like that one can be added to the pile of songs that need finishing. She, apparently, has been working on stuff too. She sent me a new one that she recorded a bit of the other day. Not sure whether or not it will work for the band or not, but I liked it. And since she's already promised me that I'll get to produce the demos should she want to make a solo record at some point, the producer side of me is excited about that. I'm still digging the one she sent me last week, though. Although, I hear it on piano, I think. And speaking of piano, we had this really cool song in the original run of demos that ended up with a very prominent piano riff. Considering neither of us play piano, this seemed impressive at the time. Well, tonight she tells me she found something awesome that she hasn't go

So, I started in on the verses for that old song today. It didn't take me all that long to come up with something that used some of the same sounds as the original, but was better constructed and catchier. That I liked it better than what we had used originally was the important part, though. My only fear right now is that the new verses are too close to the progression that made up the original chorus. But seeing as I'm having trouble deciphering the original chords from the chorus, that seems like a perfectly reasonable reaction. It was the only song we didn't have an acoustic part on, and I'm kicking myself for making that decision now that I have to go back and figure out what we did. I remember us talking about that at the time, should we add an acoustic part to serve as an underbelly. All I can say is that it would have made the current process a whole lot easier. Wrote back and forth with B. tonight on Skype. Bigger conversation tomorrow, still. She is workin

Figured out why I didn't teach yesterday... I had it written down as the 4th, they had it written down as the 5th. Hopefully we can get back on the same page next week, because apparently the kid I'm teaching couldn't stop talking about it afterwards... which in my book makes it a success. So, in yesterday's post I had mentioned that I wanted to take a second look at a really old song that B. and I had written in the first glut of material we worked on 5 years ago. I pulled up the demo tonight, and tried to listen with fresh ears. I uncovered some interesting things. First off, I understand completely why we crossed it off 5 years ago. The chord progression is entirely too simplistic, and the verse lyrics don't really work for me. That being said, I still like the intro riff, and the chorus lyric actually holds up fairly well. The progression in the chorus, for what it's worth, isn't perfect, but isn't nearly as rudimentary as the verses. I can rem

First of all, last night's setlist from Grace Potter goes something like this: 1. Ah Mary 2. Hot Summer Night 3. Goodbye Kiss 4. Oasis 5. Apologies 6. Stop The Bus 7. White Rabbit 8. Nothing But The Water I 9. Nothing But The Water II 10. Medicine 11. Sugar 12. Paris (Ooh La La) She played a few more than 9 songs, it turns out, but I wasn't complaining in the slightest. Now, as for today's activities... I chatted with J. over Skype for a bit this morning. We talked guide tracks and drum tracks. I expressed my frustration over not having finished off the guide tracks yet, and he essentially let me off the hook by telling me he was exploring alternative drum sounds. Apparently, he's got some cool electronic stuff he wants to try out, and has been working with that. He also provided more clarification on the guide tracks, and reassured me in the process that his changes shouldn't affect what I'm working on laying down guitar-wise. According to hi

80/35 with R. after work today. Got there just in time for the start of Grace Potter's set. Or half-set, if you want to be more specific. Each band on the main stage got about 9 songs. She was... AMAZING live! Boundless energy, and a spectacular voice. Some people have it in studio because they can mess around until they get it right, and some people just have it. Miss Potter is definitely the latter of the two. After her set (I will try and find the setlist tomorrow, so I can post it), we stayed for about half of Of Montreal's set before the weather threatened/we took off to see who was on the free stages. They (Of Montreal) were very quirky, and kind of fun, but I'm not entirely sure either one of us knew quite what to make of them. I will have to listen to some of their recirds and make up my mind. Got to be up early tomorrow... allegedly I'm teaching again. After that, I'm looking forward to coming home and settling in for some studio work. I'm finishing t

Okay, so just when I had thrown in the towel... I was waking up this morning when it dawned on me that, if I wanted to keep the progression moving forward, all I really needed to do was find the common notes that ran through the existing chords, and then see what else contained those notes... pretty basic, I know, but when you're as out of practice as I am with this, the easy lessons are the ones you forget first. That pushed me forward into what will hopefully end up as a chorus progression. Gotta dash off to work now, but there will be further updates later on, I can promise you that. Okay, so, further updates are here right before the deadline hits for the day. Thanks to that fact, the updates won't be all that extensive, but suffice it to say that a bit more progress has been made this evening. I don't quite have the whole song finished, but I am getting closer. Still on track to meet my goal of having it completed by the end of the weekend! Headed down to 80/35 t

I kept plugging away at the progression that has haunted me all week tonight. Honestly, I'm getting close to walking away from it for a while. I figure that, if nothing is working after a week, it probably isn't ready to happen yet, and I probably shouldn't force it. After all, there are plenty of other song ideas on that list that need attention. After all, both B. and I want to have the songs for the record at least figured out in theory by the time my week at home in August ends. Something tells me that is a bit of an over-zealous goal, but for now, I'm going to agree with the idea, if only on the idea that I have no idea when else we'd be able to get together. Yes, perhaps it's time to move forward... might be good for me, who knows. Very short tonight, not much else going on. I did, however, have a pretty cool conversation with G. at work today about just how ungodly difficult it would be to compose a symphony... let alone more than one.