"Muse" - ings on Rock & Life

Long day today.  Finished up the house in NW Iowa.  Now we can actually claim to live in Dubuque. Can't wait to get home and keep working in the studio. We didn't have room in the car for me to bring a guitar along with me this trip, and I'm definitely going through some withdrawl.  I had high hopes that someone else in the family would have one along, but no such luck.  Did find a guitar mag at the house, though, so I got a bit of a fix in that way.  Back to the playing and organizing tomorrow!

Early post today.  We're leaving shortly to head back to Northwest Iowa for a weekend-long 85th birthday bash, affectionately known as "Grandmapalooza," so I thought I'd post before we left. Spent another hour and a half or so in the studio today.  Still working on getting music put away.  Got through "N," though, so that's progress.  "M" is about 1/4 alphabetized as well, but won't be shelved until it's done.  Starting from "Z" and working my way backward has been a good idea. Finally took a moment to set up the double guitar stand that I picked up in Wisconsin earlier in the week. Got a few more things moved into the studio today, as well.  Included in that was a crate full of all of the music I've either recorded, or produced.  There's lots of demos in there from years back, so that will be fun to go back through and listen to eventually.  See if there are any ideas in there that might need updating or wh

After getting a bunch of other stuff done during the rest of the day, I finally had a chance to sneak into the studio tonight for about an hour and a half.  Still working on getting the CDs put away, but I'm getting closer. The floor space is opening up.  Which is good, because once the music is done, I get to start organizing all of the magazines and books that are currently boxed up in the closet. Getting to the resources will get me back into the binder for the last week of the #START Experiment, and it will be a good way to get back to what's really important (and has gotten a bit lost in the shuffle, what with the move and all)... the playing! One of the things I really want to focus on while we're living in a bigger city, with what I hope will be more music opportunities, is getting some acoustic stuff worked into shape and playing some coffeehouse gigs. Maybe some solo electric stuff, if the right venue is out there.   That notion has been a bug in my ear for

Well, I promised a better day and a longer post today, so here goes: The vinyl is finally here, and in the studio.  Although, in a twisted bit of irony, the turntable is one of the few things that is still back at the old house in Northwest Iowa.  That little problem will be remedied this coming weekend, though, so that will be cool. Moved everything from the WI trip into the studio today, too.  A small step toward having everything organized, but a step just the same. Also of note: I found the first two people that might want to take lessons in Dubuque today.  Ironic, considering that I had been looking forward to doing my own thing for a bit before diving back into teaching. Still, I have no doubt that I'll take them up on it. Got some of the CDs put away in the studio today.  Starting at the end of the alphabet and working my way backward.  I'm in the middle of alphabetizing "S," and tomorrow's a mostly open day for me, which will translate into getting

Made the Exclusive Trip today.  Found the "holy grail" that I've been searching for since 2011.  The Smashing Pumpkins box set for Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness .  I couldn't believe they actually had it in the store. Other stops today included Guitar Center (for a double guitar stand and the last two of those Goldmine books), and the local Barnes & Noble for a couple of guitar magazines. It's been an incredibly long day, and so as short as the last couple of posts have been, I promise that tomorrow will involve more music stuff and a much, much longer post.

Funeral up in Wisconsin today. Didn't have much time to get anything too productive done from a musical perspective. Got to listen to a lot on the way up here, though, so that was cool. Other than that, nothing in my day has really gone well at all.   Too much stress has finally boiled over into family fights and drama. I wish I had stayed in Dubuque and just hidden out in the studio today. Oh well, at least there will be an Exclusive trip tomorrow before I leave.

Okay, so second full day here, and I spent a lot of it working in the studio.  Here's what got done: 1) The stereo is set up and operational. 2) The recording desk is set up and operational. 3) All instruments are easily accessible, and are either set out on stands or close by in cases. 4) The Marshall is plugged in and in its place. 5) All (and I do mean all ) of the CDs are unpacked and set out in alphabetical piles on the studio floor. Really, all that remains to be done is the putting away of CDs, and the organizing of the magazines and resources.  Granted, those two things are going to take a considerable chunk of time, but I really feel like a ton of work got done in there in a pretty short period of time.  Here's a bit of photographic proof: recording desk...   Huge piles of CDs to put away (This isn't quite everything, either!) In a perfect world, I'd get back in there tonight to work a bit longer, but in reality I'm pretty exhausted, so I

We got here!  Spent most of the day getting the living room and the library/study organized, but I finally had a little bit of time tonight to steal into the music room for a bit! Here's a picture of the studio before the boxes got moved in: And here's a picture of roughly the same space after the boxes got moved in: The empty space in the front there is a bit deceiving, the door has to swing open somewhere . Things have moved around slightly since then, but I've only really spent about a half an hour in there.  I was in there long enough to have at least some sort of vision of how it will all look when things are done (or at least functional), though, so that's cool.  It gives me a place to work from anyway.  I'm thinking that tomorrow morning will be the time for the first big chunk of studio time.  Priority #1 will be getting the recording desk where I want it, and getting the stereo set up on the shelf underneath it. Things feel like t

Well, today's the day.  The truck is as packed as it's going to be.  All that remains is to pack the guitars, stereo equipment and whatnot in my car, and then we can be off. Tired and overwhelmed is the name of the game today, but by tonight all of the boxes will be in place to assemble the studio!  In fact, depending on how much happens tonight, there might be a second post, with pictures of the space, first empty, and then with the boxes in it.  Otherwise, that will be tomorrow's post. We shall see. Short post, I know, but it's almost time to roll out.  I'm kinda pumped to have 5 hours to listen to music on the long, straight trek across Highway 20.  Wish us luck!

Things are starting to get stressful around here.  Last minute packing is definitely taking its toll on both me and the Mrs.  I just keep reminding myself that my musical sanctuary is coming soon.  Like, tomorrow , soon.  Assuming we get everything packed, that is. Speaking of my musical sanctuary, I packed up the studio stuff today.  And the stereo.  And the turntable.  Having an entire room to devote to nothing but the pursuit of rock and roll is so incredibly exciting, and yet it still feels like it's so far away. Even so, I packed up the four magazine files that hold the beginnings of what will end up in the binder today, too.  That felt like it wrapped up the first step of this round of #START.  The second step is short, and is the trip from here to the eastern side of the state.  The third step will be unpacking everything, and the fourth and final step will be setting up the studio and arranging the binder when I can spread out everything in a space that will be undistur

Taught my last lesson tonight.  Spent a couple hours this afternoon getting ready for it, most of which was spent transcribing a version of "Amazing Grace" my student had brought in to her last lesson.  It was great to spend that time playing acoustic.  My fingers are sore tonight, but my calluses are coming out of hiding, which is good.  It just goes to show how much more acoustic I need to play. Got all of the CDs packed tonight, too, in preparation for the move.  Crazy to think that 48 hours from now I will have boxes of CDs and guitar resources littered on the floor of my new studio space!  Then, tonight, in my email, is a guide offer (both print and PDF) from CD Baby.  The guide?  The Ultimate Guide To Home Studio Recording .  It's as if the powers that be know what the second part of my risk is for the Start Experiment, or something. Haven't packed up the studio stuff yet.  That will happen tomorrow at some point, likely after some of the boxes are moved o

Sort of started the switch between lesson binder and studio prep today.  I got around to the very beginnings of packing up my music collection.  I had found a really cool crate the other day that just happens to fit all of my vinyl, so that got officially packed today, and I started the process of packing CDs.  Just barely, mind you, but I started it. Taught the last lesson for one of my students today.  I'm really proud of the progress she made in a year!  Tomorrow I've got a bit of transcribing to do for my other last lesson of the week.  It has been an amazing experience teaching for the past year, and I'm sure that during the three years in Dubuque I will do more of it, but at the same time, I'm really looking forward to setting up the studio, keeping on with the lesson binder, and working on some stuff for me.  Of course, I say that, and then someone will ask me to teach immediately after we get to Dubuque, and I won't be able to say no. I'm kicking mys

We've hit the point in this round of the Start Experiment where things are about to get very interesting.  I feel like the first week has been a productive one, although not as productive as it maybe could have been.  That being said, I'm happy with the progress that has been made thus far, and can't wait to see where I am two weeks from now.  Here's why stuff is getting interesting: We move to Dubuque on Friday.  Packing is really starting to ramp up now.  As that happens, the time available to spend on music stuff is going to decrease for a bit (for obvious reasons).  That being said, I still stumbled across a couple of books today that had avoided my previous packing but will definitely have a place in the practice regimen once all is said and done.  They were: 100 Licks & Chops For Rock Guitar 100 Licks & Chops For Blues Guitar I had found them at a Half Price Books a couple of years back, and they seem pretty great, so they go into the list of resour

So, today was supposed to be a day of rest for the Start Experiment, and I tried... no really, I did.  But in the end, I couldn't quite make it the whole day without doing at least something to advance the cause of the binder.  In my head it was something about having waited as long as I have to actually do this, why on earth would I take a day off willingly? So, yeah, for years now I've talked about having the lesson binder be based, at least somewhat, around a list of songs that I have found influential or important to me in my quest to improve as a musician.  Whether it's the stuff that inspired me to pick up a guitar in the first place, something I just flat out love, or the first solo that made me go, "oh man, I've GOT to learn that," there has always been a song that has helped me on my way.  Here's what I've got so far.  This list will definitely be added to as the next few weeks go along. "Johnny B. Goode" & "Roll Over Be

One of my favorite parts of putting together this lesson binder has been the chance to start thinking about areas of study.  Some of it is obvious: - Scales - Chords - Rhythm Guitar - Lead Guitar - Theory - Songwriting & Recording - Influential Songs Some of it will be genre based: - Blues - Jazz & Swing - Rock - Country And some of it will be the age old divide of Acoustic vs. Electric. I've got to say, as fun as it's going to be to dive into the Blues unit (I've had people tell me that, if I just focused my attention on being an electric blues guitarist, I could be incredible), the one I'm the most pumped about right now is the acoustic one. Here's one reason why: In the storage unit at my mom's place is a crate or two filled with music magazines that never made it to Iowa.  A great number of those are Guitar Worlds , but there are also probably about 25 that are Guitar World Acoustics , their now long out of print sister publica

So, they're all packed now, but there definitely needs to be an "instructional videos" section as a part of my lesson binder.  In it will be: 1) The 8-10 Guitar World DVDs I've picked up in the last few years 2) The Electric Blues & Slide Guitar DVD by Warren Haynes 3) The 2 Alchemical Guitarist DVDs 4) An Eric Johnson video recording that I have on VHS There will also definitely be a spot for concert films and music movies in my studio space. Started a third notebook for inclusion in the lesson binder, too.  This one for songs I figure out from (as the cover of the notebook says) "Radio & CDs." I feel like the last couple of days have been a rather random hodgepodge of events for me, music-wise.  That will change this weekend and next week.  With work being done, all that remains is packing boxes and rock & roll. All for now.  More tomorrow.  And better.

Got the second of those Richard Lloyd PDFs printed off today.  The Mrs. had me email it to her, and she printed it off at work.  So yeah, that's going into the binder tonight. You know what, though?  Some of the greatest lessons that #START has taught me had less to do with the binder tonight than they did about music in general.  Here's what I mean.  I taught tonight, one of my last lessons with my first ever student up here in Northwest Iowa.  In her last lesson, she finally conquered a song she has wanted to learn since she began taking lessons last fall.  So, knowing that we were running out of lessons (there's maybe one more), I asked her what she wanted to work on for the last couple of lessons.  "Jason Mraz," she says.  So we did.  She really likes "I'm Yours," off of We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things.   The original version is in B.  We capoed at 4, which made the chords G,D,Em, and C.  I had to egg her on a little bit, but the chords we

Only three weeks into year four of the blog, and I already feel like I've made more progress this year than I did for most of last year.  Granted, the #STARTexp has helped with that, but still. Today I managed to get the printer fixed, and get one of the two Richard Lloyd PDFs printed out.  Made it halfway through the second one before the ink ran out in my printer.  This is the point where, in the past, I'd say that I'm "just not meant to do this," and fold.  That's NOT happening this time.  I'll go to KMart tomorrow and get some printer cartridges, and then keep going. In other news... I put together an Amazon wish list last night that has that Fretboard Freedom I mentioned last night, plus the two Goldmine books, and what comes up as a "you might also like this..." suggestion?  A book put out by Guitar World that has both the original 10 hour workout by Steve Vai AND the 30 hour workout from 9 years ago!  So yeah, that went on the list as

After yesterday's survey of the binder, today it made sense to me to go through the four magazine files that I've accumulated in the last year that have resources for this project. I emailed myself today a list of 6 things that I felt were logical "next steps" for the binder.  They were: 1) Figure out dates, and find PDF files of all of the Richard Lloyd Guitar World columns. 2) Find a PDF of Zakk Wylde's Guitar Boot Camp lesson from GW . 3) Print another PDF copy of Vai's 30 Hour Guitar Workout. 4) Go through the magazines I've already set aside and copy the articles I want to use. 5) Make a list of the books I want to incorporate (and the reasons why) 6) Start looking into genre breakdowns & special units. With that list as a touchstone, here's what I got done tonight: - I figured out that the Richard Lloyd columns ran from August of 2007 to sometime in 2009.  Best I could do without tearing apart the boxes I've already packed.

So, Round 2 of the #STARTexp began today, and the good people of the Start Experiment have charged us with being Audacious in the second round.  I looked that up today.  According to Webster, to be audacious means being: intrepidly daring, recklessly bold, contemptuous of law, religion, or decorum, and marked by originality and verve. That's quite a list of attributes to measure up to.  Given my challenge (and the fact that I've tried to complete it before, and failed), attempting to get a handle on a lesson binder seems, at the very least, to be recklessly bold.  And, while it may not be the most daring place to begin, it made sense to me on Day 1 to go back through my prior attempt to see what it was that actually made it into the binder when I tried to do this in years past.  It didn't end up being all that much, but what did make it in will prove to be helpful in establishing the base of what is to come.  Here's what I found tonight that's already in the bind

So, yeah... after last night's post, I promised myself that I'd find some way back to "normal" today.  That wasn't really possible (I still feel hollowed out, and my motivation comes and goes in waves), but that said, here's what I got done today. 1) I finished packing all of the non-essential music books and resources today!  Eleven boxes in total.  I'll post a picture of my giant tower of boxes in tomorrow's post.  All that is left out are the things I want to make use of in the next two weeks. 2) I found the binder that I had started to use way back when the first time I wanted to create a lesson binder.  It's got a few things in it that will help serve as a solid jumping off point for whatever else needs to be there in the next 24 days. I feel like Round 2 beginning tomorrow is exactly what I need right now.  If only because it will take my mind off of things.  All I know is that, 24 days from now I'll have done some more awesome musi

Today was supposed to be a great day filled with music, and packing, and general awesomeness.  Worked this morning, and it went by so fast that I was excited to have extra energy to devote to music this afternoon.  On the schedule was: 1) Starting to transcribe a song for one of my students. 2) Packing a few random music books and resources that can be readied for the move. 3) Working on the lesson binder. 4) Playing/Writing/etc. It was going to be great.  It was going to be a day where a lot of things were set into motion.  It was going to sit as a huge building block day leading into Round 2 of the Start Experiment. Then I checked my voicemail.  Message from my Dad asking me to call him.  So I did.  My Grandma passed away this morning. And just like that, all of the energy went out of my day.  Being nine hours away really sucks right now.  Nobody should have to adjust to being an orphan at 64 by themselves.  Least of all, somebody's Dad. I'm down, but I'll

So, the email for the second round of START went around today.  We got to pick our groups, and share at least one of our risks.  It begins on Monday.  What I'm risking is two-fold, and perhaps a bit tougher to measure as the weeks progress, but whether or not I am successful will be painfully obvious at the end of the 24 days: 1) The Lesson Binder.   People who have been following me for a while know my struggles with the creation of a lesson binder.  I'm tired of having it sit unfinished (and at least somewhat unSTARTed).  This 24 days is just the kickstart I need to really get it done.  As an added bonus, I think moving in the middle of this will almost help the process, because it will force me to go through everything as I put it all away in Dubuque. this leads perfectly into my second risk, which is... 2) Setting up the new Studio Space!   I've ranted here over the last few months about how excited I am to finally get my recording gear out of one corner of the li

Felt very stuck between START's for most of the day.  It's a weird feeling, finishing something awesome, and then having to wait for the next thing.  Part of the point of this whole thing, I know, is that you aren't supposed to wait for the next thing, you're supposed to make the next thing happen, or at least START to.  So I did.  I: 1) Hashed out the beginnings of another song.  I realized the other day that I was missing the typical, three chord rock song that sometimes becomes the centerpiece (or the single) of a power pop record, so I started throwing ideas around for that.  Not sure anything has really stuck, but I've got a few ideas. 2) Started in on the listening from the three CDs I bought on Tuesday.  Took the new Hugh Laurie in the car with me this morning.  His first record was so incredible, that I was a little bit afraid of the new disc.  I needn't have worried. 3) Spent a lot of my day running through the 3rd song from the last 24 days in my

Last day of the Start Experiment today. So, I listened back to last night's guitar track, and it wasn't quite as bad as I expected it to be.  It was far from perfect (which I expected), but it was a place to assess from.  To re-capture a moment from earlier in the month, it was my musical equivalent of Anne Lamott's "shitty first drafts" from Bird By Bird .  I'm really proud of the progress I've made in the last 24 days, and... I'm PUMPED UP for Round 2, which begins on the 12th of August!  Moving in the middle of Round 2 is going to make it a bit more of an adventure, but that's okay.  I'm still working on the exact ideas behind my "risk," but I know it will be musical in nature. Started packing some music stuff today for the move.  Made some good progress with that, too.  I'm really looking forward to having a studio in a couple of weeks (but if you've been following along at all, you already knew that). I now have two

Today was a looooooong day. Left for Sioux City around 1.  Got home around twenty minutes to midnight. Really glad we went in when we did, though, because none of the CDs I had called and put on hold at B&N were actually on hold.  Picked up all three of them (Hugh Laurie, Civil Wars, KT Tunstall) and the latest issue of Acoustic Guitar .  Listened to absolutely none of it on the way home.  Tomorrow will be a listening and playing (and probably packing) sort of day, I imagine. Even with being gone for eleven hours today, I still managed to power through and get a guitar track laid down for song #3 of the Start Experiment.  Not sure it will end up a keeper, if only because it was a listen for a bit, then give it a go type run through when I was completely exhausted at the end of the day.  That being said, I still got it recorded, which means that, heading into the last day of the Experiment, all three songs are in the same place, music-wise.  And with one more day to crush it,

And so it was, that today happened to be my birthday.  That being the case, I did a small bit of what we all do on our birthdays.  I paused, and I took stock of where things sat.  Here's what I discovered: My third song is, with two full days still to go, where my first and second songs were at the end of their respective runs.  In need of a single guitar part to complete the music.  Knowing that, and also knowing that I've got tomorrow afternoon and all day Wednesday off from work, I did something unheard of in the last three weeks: I took tonight off from recording. I did that with the following in mind: 1) I'm getting back on the horse tomorrow, and I'm finishing off the electric part for song #3. 2) I'm killing it on Wednesday.  I'm going to try and get the guitar parts for the other two songs finished off, and I'm going to do a lot of work on "That'll Be The Day." In other news, we're headed into Sioux City tomorrow, and I

Another busy day filled with awesome family stuff, and then an evening filled with music. I recorded the bass part tonight, but it took a lot of work.  I basically had to track each section individually, and then piece everything together into a single track.  I'm pretty sure it's not perfect, but I'm hoping that it will be enough to at least drop an electric part over tomorrow night. Initially, I thought I might have to lay down the electric part first, and then fit the bass part in after doing that.  Then I got picky and just decided to blast through, regardless of how long it took me to get it done.  Spaced out with a few breaks in there, it wound up taking longer than the drums did, but as long as it ended up getting done, that's really all that matters. In other news, it looks like the two music books I ordered will actually get here tomorrow!  UPS has updated their arrival to "Monday, 08/05/2013 by 4:30 PM."  Hooray for ordering a couple of my own

Today was busy, but awesome. At the end of the night last night, I had all of the drum patterns figured out for song #3, I just hadn't taken the time to figure out how many measures were in the various sections.  In my head, I found myself thinking that the rest of the drums shouldn't take very long... man, oh man, was I mistaken. Figuring out the measures and the fills took me two hours.  I got home from a bit of awesome family stuff around 7:30, thinking that would be plenty early to get the drums down and get the bass recorded.  Solving those issues and getting the four minutes and eleven seconds recorded was so intensive (and gave me such a headache) that I'm taking some Advil and leaving the bass part to be recorded tomorrow.  My only saving grace is that I'm not feeling an acoustic part for this song at all, so I should gain a day there. and i love my wife and (someone wandered past my keyboard while I was saving the recording of the drums, I think... she

So, yeah, today was a surprise!  My Dad showed up tonight, and hour before I got off work... that's a 9 hour drive!  And on top of that, he stayed for dinner and about 3 hours of sitting in our living room and talking, and he's leaving at the crack of dawn tomorrow to go back to Wisconsin.  He just does that stuff, it's really cool. That said, most of my night was occupied with family and not with music, BUT... I still managed to finalize the tempo on song #3 (a lot slower than I had initially planned on, but it works better that way) and figure out what the drum patterns are going to be for it.  I haven't programmed the drums for the demo yet, that takes more energy than I have right now, but I know that I can get to that tomorrow along with laying down the bass part. All told, I'm happy with the tempo, I'm happy with the drums, I'm happy with the bass part I've written.  That should lead to a killer groove, and (hopefully) an easy time tracking the

In the prior two weeks, tonight's assignment has been fairly easy.  Although my bass playing skills aren't as up to par as they could be, my ability to sit down with my electric and write a bass line is pretty good.  They've come quickly for the first two songs, so I was confident for tonight's effort based on past successes.  Tonight was tougher than the others, in that there were more sections to this song, and therefore more links needed between the sections.  All told, I think it took me about an hour to get the bass part sorted out.  I'm feeling pretty good about where I'm standing right now, though.  On pace heading into the day of recording drums.  Also, for the first time, that day happens on a Friday, so even though I work Saturday morning, I'm still feeling like I can stay up late enough to not only get the drums blocked out, but also get them tracked. Sat down with the Buddy Holly for the first time in what felt like forever tonight, too.  In