"Muse" - ings on Rock & Life

Tonight was good.  Just the start to the weekend that I needed.  I: 1) Busted out the uke for the first time in a few weeks.  Felt good to wind down from the work day with a little bit of Elvis on the ukulele. 2) Played a bit of electric.  I'm really excited to have a longer amount of time in the studio tomorrow so that I can take a bigger look at where I sit in regards to everything I've been working on, but with the electric stuff I got done tonight, I have a feeling that the weekend is going to be pretty great. 3) Other cool news tonight: I talked with one of the neighbors tonight, who has made noise for at least a year now that he wants his son to take guitar lessons from me.  Apparently they are wanting to get started on that sometime soon.  I had completely given up on that possibility, so this is awesome news.  In and amongst all of my other work in the studio this weekend, I'll start getting something put together for him just in case. Yes, at this point it

Another short-ish day in the studio today.  Those are wearing on me quite a bit, and I am very much looking forward to a Saturday where there will be an expanse of time to get in there and get some serious work done. Tonight's focus was, again, on the Vai workouts.  I'm getting more comfortable with some of the different scale exercises that Vai puts forth. What I need to get back to over the weekend, I think, is the GW columns.  I've stayed away from them for the last couple days as a change of pace.  Or maybe I should try to bring everything I've spent time with in the last month together, just to see if it all locks in place. Either way, it should be a good weekend.

Today was another good day. As usual the last few weeks, I got into the studio on the late side.  Even still, I was determined to pick up the electric and at the very least take a quick look at some small portion of the Vai workout.  Tonight that small portion involved running the G Major Scale in 3rds.  It was a fun little exercise.  What I'm coming to fully understand is that all of these exercises I'm looking at and working on all fall within the scale patterns that I learned straightaway.  I understood that fact on a basic level, but getting deeper into everything the last few weeks has really opened my eyes to easier ways to fret certain things. One by one, all the pieces are slowly falling into place.  What I really need this weekend is an extended stretch of time to get in the studio and take a long look at everything I've been working with.  I know today is only Wednesday, so I'll continue to take the time I can get until Friday night or Saturday, when I can

Today was good.  I got into the studio early, got a few things cleaned up that had started to clutter the place up a bit, and then got to work. Most of the playing today was acoustic in nature, which really surprised me, considering that most of what I've done of late has been focused on the electric.  It was good to get the acoustic back in my hands, though.  I played along with some Springsteen ("Racing In The Streets"), and played around with a few chord progressions that have been cropping up of late. It was also nice to get in some time for listening today (new Zeppelin reissues, and the latest Better Than Ezra disc), and get the iPod charged up again.  I have yet to get any of the newest stuff uploaded into iTunes, but that ought to happen by the end of the week. It may not have been the epic day of progress I was hoping for, but it was definitely a steady day that I really needed, especially after having things feel so very rushed the last couple of weeks.  S

Another strange one today. Got to work to find out that a co-worker needed to swap days off with me, so I now have tomorrow off instead of Wednesday!  Somehow this is better, because it let me sit with the electric for a bit tonight, going through some of the things I played around with yesterday, content in the knowledge that, come tomorrow morning, I can get up and be productive and in the studio for a nice chunk of the day. Also, I picked up the new T. Swift today, because with all of the hype of her going "pop" on this record (didn't she already do that on her last record?), I was curious about the sound and the production and all that jazz.  Only through a few tracks, but if they are any indication, there is way more pop influence in this record than there was on the last one. Tomorrow just feels like it's going to be a huge day.

Today was just... strange. I had a guitar within arm's reach almost all day long.  Had it in my hands on and off for most of the day.  I feel like I helped myself in terms of the general desire to finally here that giant clicking sound as everything slots into place. And yet, at the same time, I just said out loud "today is one of those days I wish I could just start over." I'm not sure if it was because I did all of my playing today in the middle of the house, where noise in any manner could serve as a distraction, if it was something as simple as missing the genuine calm that stepping into the studio and closing the door brings, or what it was.  Somehow at the end of the day, I feel good that I played for a lot of the day, but still feel like there was more that should have gotten accomplished. Just a weird feeling at the end of a weird day.  Hopefully the week ends up feeling more productive.

I started in on the Led Zeppelin today on the way to and from work.  The sound is amazing.  There's such a clarity to the recordings.  It just feels like I'm hearing a whole lot more than was there in the earlier remasters.  I suppose the only way to know for sure is to go back and listen to both one right after the other.  Anyway... I got into the studio for a bit tonight, but instead of trying to push on forward, I took a night just to sit and play.  I wanted to put the guitar in my hands to see how much of what I've been working on I've actually managed to assimilate, and I'm not doing as badly as I expected I might, what with available  time being the way it has lately. Tomorrow should be a big day for seeing where things sit, too.  Aside from church in the morning, there's not a whole lot on the schedule until the Packer game at 7:30, so hopefully I'll be able to get myself a better chunk of studio time than I've been able to manage the last few

It's not every day that I get a random musical surprise, but today was one of those days. I had ordered the next two Zep re-issues (and had written about it last night).  They were scheduled to come in early next week, for sure by Tuesday.  Miracle of miracles, I got a call tonight after work that they had come in early, so I went to pick them up before the record store closed tonight.  I haven't listened to them yet, but the way I see it, that's what I've got tomorrow afternoon for. It was another night with a bit of studying and a bit of playing before the week caught up with me.  So, no, there wasn't as much playing as I had hoped for today, but there are some days when exhaustion simply wins out over the desire to burn the candle at both ends. I'll have tomorrow afternoon/evening, when I'm better rested, and I will definitely make the most of it.

Today was a quieter day than normal, which I wasn't expecting going into the day, but I'm learning to take what I can get the last few weeks. I did a bit of studying with the GW columns I've been working with.  Not as much as I had hoped, of course, but it worked.  I'm really starting to see how all of these ideas are coming together to form a complete picture. Other small things that I'm excited about this week: I ordered the next two Led Zeppelin re-releases that are due out next week. And last, but certainly not least: when we got our "new" car from my mother in law, she neglected to tell us that it came with a CD player and a cassette player.  So now we have two fairly large boxes of tapes to crank up in the car, which will be both awesome and slightly hilarious at the same time.  I might post a picture of it all tomorrow.  We shall see. Admittedly, not a whole lot of serious progress today, but I'm hoping that the weekend will offer me a b

Parts of the day managed to get away from me again, and yet I am still left with the feeling that I made more progress. I had wanted to work on three things when the day started, and I got to all three, even if I didn't spend as much time with each as I had hoped to when the day began. I spent a bit of time with the record, mostly nailing down the chord progression for what I hope will be the opening track of the EP.  What I really need to do next is carve out some time to do some recording.  If I can at least get the potential opener demoed to the level of the other four songs I hope to include, then I can see if the track order holds water, and can start to focus more on the lyrical side of things. The GW columns were also a priority for today, and I worked through some of the over-arching themes that permeate the first three columns, and things are getting better in that regard as well.  I should have spent more time with things, but I can still see the improvement. I fe

Today was a long day.  I got a bit of listening in tonight as a way to wind down, and played a little bit of guitar, but other than that, I took things fairly easy (and was fairly exhausted). So, so glad to have tomorrow off, because there's a lot of music stuff that I want to get to.  That said, I've bit off more than I could chew the last few times I've had the day off, and wound up disappointed with myself (and my progress) at the end of the day.  I'm bound and determined to not let that happen tomorrow.  I've got my list whittled down to three main things that I want to work on tomorrow: 1) The record/lyrics 2) The Vai workout(s) 3) The GW columns I've been focused on of late Anything that happens above and beyond that will be awesome, but will also be just icing on the cake, so to speak. The other cool thing that happened tonight was that my brother's senior recital (oboe) was live-streamed through his college website, so in spite of not havin

Today was better than yesterday, which was a good thing. I didn't necessarily get into the studio all that much earlier today, but I was able to spend a bit more time playing, which was awesome.  I'm still working on the very early stages of using both the 10 and (eventually) 30 hour workouts by Steve Vai as a supplement to the rest of my playing.  I started with his scale exercises, because it made for a smooth transition point from some of the other things I've been working on.  I did better tonight with the exercises he lays out than I did last night, which I will take as a win.  I'll continue to work through them on my own time, and at my own pace.  One of the things that drives me nuts (and has me jealous, yet again, of the fact that most of my brother's homework is practicing) is this: there are a lot of days where I feel like I just start to get warmed up, just get to the point where I'm really ready to dive in and make some serious progress, only to

Today was... okay. I found a little bit of time tonight to get into the studio after Mom headed home, and once I got in there, I felt like I made a bit of progress in what turned out to be a relatively short period of time. With the time I had available to me, I made it a point to go through some of the scale exercises from the Vai workouts.  They were patterns that I didn't work with enough the other day to really get a feel for how they are supposed to fall underneath my fingers.  Tonight I wanted to take the extra few minutes necessary to really understand where they were coming from.  I feel like I made at least some progress in that regard. Musically, it was kind of a lost weekend, but then again, I should have expected that, considering family was in town.  And lost weekend or not, we definitely had a lot of fun the last couple of days. I need to do better this week.

Today was a great day, it just didn't have a lot of music in it. My Mom is here from Wisconsin, and so we spent the day getting caught up, and running around town. We had a ton of fun, and did a lot of walking, but there was not a whole lot of time for guitar in there. I did manage to swing by the record store and pick up Rose Ave. by You & Me, that record I had ordered the other day, however, so I can call that a win at least. More tomorrow, and much, much better.

Another long day at work (with family coming into town after I got done) meant another somewhat quiet day where the music is concerned. Still, I got a bit done tonight, mostly because I committed the sin of looking ahead to see what comes next in the Guitar World column series I've been working from.  The next lesson will get into blending scales in order to form more interesting sounding riffs and solos.  I know I'll have a bit of time tomorrow to finish off some work on the third column in order to get to the one I looked ahead to, and I can't wait to have a look at the both of them. The only other thing of note today is the CD that I didn't have a chance to pick up after work tonight.  The new disc from Pink and Dallas Green came in for me at the local record store.  I'll find a moment to stop by tomorrow and grab it, I'm sure. Nothing else major to report.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a more productive day.

So, today was essentially a thirteen hour work day.  I left the house at 7:30 this morning, and got home at quarter after 8 tonight.  I'm completely exhausted, but I didn't view that as an excuse for getting nothing done today when it comes to music. That said, I did something I had been meaning to get done yesterday, but ran out of time for.  I went back and re-watched the videos that correspond to the Guitar World columns I've been working with.  The videos were great, and they help with focusing on how the smaller parts identify the bigger picture. I know it's not much today, but still, I'm really enjoying the way the process is going lately, and I think I'm making pretty good progress, especially considering the limited time frame I've had to work with for the last couple of weeks.  Bring on the weekend, I say.

Today was a good day. I hit up the bookstore to stock up on the latest guitar magazines on my way to lunch with a friend, and then came home to get some work done in the studio. I had a few goals when the day started, and I think that I did pretty well in that regard. I got some good work in with the Vai workout, starting with the 10 hour workout. There are some great scale exercises in there that tie in really well with the columns I've been working with. I worked for a bit on the songs from the burned CDS, and enjoyed time with a bit of Hendrix. About the only thing I didn't get around to today was the songwriting side of things.  Still a good day, though.

Today was a short day in the studio, but for a great reason.  The Mrs. and I celebrated our two year anniversary today. That said, when I got into the studio, I was in the mood to play a bit of ukulele, and plan out what I'd like tomorrow to look like.  So I learned "Walk The Line," and then sat down to think about tomorrow.  It looks like this: 1) Vai Workout 2) GW columns + watch associated videos 3) Songwriting & work on the record 4) Work on learning some of the songs on the CDs I burned in the last few weeks And, while I could go on, I'm feeling like if I make it through all of that, I'll be doing pretty well indeed.  Wish me luck!

I got into the studio for a short session tonight, but I feel like I made some progress, even in a brief period of time. I printed off the third column in the series that I've been working with, and started taking a look at that this evening.  I've picked up enough (if not quite everything) from the first two columns that I was able to get started with it.  Not that I'm moving on completely, of course.  I'm really looking forward to both tomorrow night and Wednesday, as they will give me a chance to really give both the columns and the Vai workout an extended look. I fit in a bit of listening as well, and made a few more notes about the songwriting stuff I worked on yesterday.  All told, a decently productive night considering how much time I didn't have at my disposal.

I knew heading into the day last night's post didn't have all that much bite to it, and so I really tried to make up for that, at least somewhat. I got into the studio for two sessions today.  The first one, early this morning, wound up being more focused on sprucing up the music for one of the songs that will make the EP I'm still hoping to get finished by the end of the year.  I had been frustrated with the sound of the song for a while, even though I liked the basic idea of it.  A bit of thought, and a few minutes with a capo changed everything, though, as the issue turned out to have more to do with the key I was playing it in than anything else.  What I really need to do next in order for finishing that to be realistic by the end of the year is make sure that I've got recordings that are passable, and then just drive around with the music in my car for a while, and see what lyric ideas start to pop up. Tonight's session was more focused on the scales &

Tonight was a good night in the studio. I worked on the lead guitar and scale studies that I have been focusing on of late. The progress has been going well. I can feel my fingers getting quicker, and the studying I've been doing has paid off. The other thing I got done tonight was sitting down with the acoustic and working out the chords to "Happy" by John Fulbright. It was a quick figure, and is a great song to sit and play.

So, I as fully expecting to write tonight's post about our night out to see The McCartney Years at the Heritage Center here in DBQ.  Unfortunately for us, the vocalist portraying McCartney cancelled the gig due to strep Fortunately for us, they found a replacement band to fill in for the evening.  The Cavern Beat, out of Illinois, was a pretty good Beatles tribute band.  Their harmonies were tight, they had solid musicianship, and their stage presence was excellent. Unfortunately for us, they were coming from different directions for the show, and so "George" didn't get there until after intermission. Fortunately for us, it was cool to see the Fab Four as a somewhat stripped down power trio for the first part of the gig. Also fortunately for us, George got there for the second half of the show, and the harmonies and solos both took off. It was a fun gig, and a good excuse to go see some live music.

Tonight was fun.  It was another short studio session, but it was relaxed and productive and I'll take it. I sat with the ukulele as a warm-up tonight.  Learned "Chapel Of Love" by The Dixie Cups.  Good song with some cool harmonic changes.  A few things I had ingrained in years of hearing the song, but never thought about from a harmonic perspective.  Most of it due to unexpected repeats on chord changes.  The brain expects certain things to happen when it hears specific chords, and this song plays around with that in a subtle, yet refreshing way. After that, I picked up the electric and worked a little bit on the things I've spent most of the week focused on, except that I augmented the current resources with the Guitar One lesson book I had worked with for a bit earlier in the summer.  Going back over some of those lessons for at least a few minutes helped confirm some of the things I've worked with this week. Still so far to go, but things are definitely

As I had hoped, tonight gave me the chance to really get down to business where the new and hopefully improved practice notebook/binder idea is concerned.  Having spent a bit of time between calls today starting to sort out where it needs to begin, I was better equipped tonight to start diving in and getting a few things put in there.  I started with a few basics (a good fretboard diagram, the major and minor pentatonic patterns, etc.) before taking a look through some of the notebooks I've been collecting the bits and pieces of my plan in.  Needless to say, I have a lot of good material to work with, and I'm hoping that, with a bigger chunk of time available in the next few days, that I'll have something that starts to look like what I've been hoping for all along. I started listening to the new Sister Hazel record today on the way to work.  They're one of those bands that I forget how much I love until I sit down and listen again.  They really felt like a brea

Today seemed to fly by, as days off frequently do. Not as much time in the studio as I had hoped for, but then again, I have a feeling that spending 12 hours in there wouldn't have felt like enough. When I did get in there, however, I felt like I was productive, I: 1) Worked on both the first and second lessons in the run of things I've spent most of the last week focused in on.  The second lesson came a lot easier than the first, but with one building on the next, that makes at least some sense to me.  Of the two, I'm going to keep paying more attention to the first one than the second, as that's where the few small hang-ups continue to be.  Mostly they have to do with memorization, though, and that's just a case of needing to spend longer stretches working on things than I have... the last week has had more brief, intense studio sessions, as opposed to having a chance to get in there for a couple of hours at a time. 2) I kept working, at least a little bit

Today felt like a behind the scenes sort of day.  I didn't get a whole lot done, but what I did manage to cross off of my list will be important, not only for tomorrow, but for the rest of the week and beyond. 1) I got a CD full of acoustic stuff that I'd like to learn burned and put into the studio.  It corresponds directly with the electric disc that I had burned a couple of weeks ago.  This sets up the "songs" portion of my learning. 2) I started to set up a slightly less gigantic and unwieldy practice binder (that's really more of a practice notebook at the moment).  I finally found something in a style I liked that was spiral bound, and therefore easier to have open on a desk or music stand. 3) I did the usual bit of listening, as a way to wind down from today and get myself ready for tomorrow. 4) I picked up the electric just long enough tonight to make sure that what I've been working on for the last few days was still fresh underneath my finger

So, yesterday's post felt all over the place (because it was), and my basic goal heading into today was to make sure that didn't happen again today. I looked at the first in that series of columns I found on Guitar World's website again tonight.  I'm legitimately close enough to having everything in it down well enough that I'm hoping I can move to the second one on Tuesday when I've got the day off.  The concepts and patterns in the lesson are familiar enough now that a bit of continuing work on them doesn't undertake a lot of time, and much like the last few days, things are getting easier, and the playing smoother, the longer I go. I managed to fit in a bit of listening today, as well, in the spare moments in between. I'm really looking forward to Tuesday this week.  Ever since I started getting a bit of time off during the week, I keep meaning to spend the bulk of that time in the studio, and as yet that hasn't really happened.  I'm opt

So, a lot of today was complete and utter downtime recovering from yesterday/this morning's crazy adventures.  I ran on fumes for a lot of the day. That said, I spent some time in the studio tonight, trying to finish wrapping my brain around this lesson that I've been working with.  I'd say, I'm at least 2/3 to 3/4 there. There are still a few things that need a bit of polish.  More than I could truly give them, as worn out as I was today, but the things I've worked on consistently this week feel stronger than they ever have.  Granted, having had exposure to some of the ideas being put forth has helped.  There are some parts of this that have been contained, in some form, in other resources I've used in the last year, I just feel like the current stuff is being laid out most clearly of all. I can tell I'm tired, because I know the way I want this to come across, and I can tell that I'm jumbling my thoughts.  I think it may be time for sleep, and I&

So, today was supposed to be the kickstart to the weekend, the day  (or evening, rather) that set the stage for the next few days of work. Instead of having the night to myself while the Mrs. ran to the DSM to pick up a vehicle, I ended up tagging along with her when she didn't end up leaving until after I got done with work. That said, I am well aware that we won't get home until late tonight/early tomorrow morning. Good thing I did a bit of studying during the day. I spent some of the time in between calls today going over the information from the columns I've been working from this week. It may not have been the start I was expecting, but it is better than not having anything to write about today. Tomorrow will be the big day of the weekend.

Tonight was a quiet night. I got into the studio late (surprise, surprise), but when I did, I worked on a little bit of the lesson stuff that has occupied a good portion of the week.  I'm feeling better and better about the progress I've made in that regard during the last few days, and I'm pretty confident that the weekend is going to be a productive one in regards to the playing. The other thing I did tonight was relax a bit with the ukulele.  I hadn't done that in a while, and it was nice to work through a few songs at the end of the day.  Definitely a good way to wind down. Other than that, tonight was a pretty quiet night.  Tomorrow and the weekend will be much busier.  That I know for a fact.

So, I went back to the lessons again tonight, at about the same time of night, and for about the same amount of time.  This week things are just seeming to run late almost constantly when it comes to time in the studio. That said, the quick-ish glances I had given the lesson the last two nights really paved the way for tonight, when I took the time to sit down and start looking at things in more detail.  It's set up to take a look at scale patterns and repeating phrases, and I don't know if it's the way this lesson (and hopefully set of lessons) is laid out, or the way it's explained, but a lot of the things that I started to grasp earlier in the year are clicking a bit louder this time around. I feel really good about the way my time in the studio went tonight, and I'll be back at it again tomorrow with at least some of the same stuff.  If I'm feeling adventurous, I might try and push forward from here.  We shall see.  I'm closer to the weekend, at an