"Muse" - ings on Rock & Life

So, last night I posted about how I felt like I fell off the wagon in November.  Tonight, I took my time in the studio and looked ahead to December and what I want to get done to feel like I'm back on track as the new calendar year starts in January.  It looks something like this: - Vai Workouts - GW Columns - Scales & Fretboard work - Progress in Songs & Solos - Read some sort of music biography... feels like it has been too long on this.  Maybe Tom Waits or Alex Chilton. - Listening (both the newer stuff I've picked up and Counting Crows to focus on the two concerts I'm seeing in the middle of the month). - Finish up work on "I'm Tore Down," because I really slacked off the last part of the month. - 100 Riffs - Ukulele It seems like a lot, I know, but I'll have so much more time now that I'm not working on a novel every day.  Bring on December!

I really wanted to get through the initial chapter of Songs & Solos today, and I am happy to say that, during my short time in the studio tonight, I was able to get that done.  It effectively sets the stage for what I am hoping will be a busy, but productive Sunday followed by a good Monday afternoon off. What I know about November is this: I bit off a lot more than I could chew this month, and it has had an impact on everything, but the studio time especially.  I'll be glad when NaNoWriMo ends tomorrow night, and I can get back to a more normal schedule that will have more time in it for music making and listening and the like. Where November has been lacking, however, I am hoping that December will be a month of great progress.  I know there will be a few live shows around the middle of the month that will help to keep my inspiration level high. Still, it feels like I fell off the path a bit this month, and that disappoints me.

I really wanted to get at least a little bit of progress made in Songs & Solos tonight, as I hadn't gotten around to that yesterday. Didn't get into the studio until quite late tonight, and so when I finally did make it in there, I sat down with the book right off the bat and made it through a few pages. Having crossed that off of the list for today, I did a bit of listening, and then picked up the electric for a quick dash through some of the Clapton. Not as much time, or quite as much focus as I would have liked tonight, but it was a busy one in so many other areas that I am happy I got to spend the time in the studio that I did.  Hoping that the weekend will be more productive.

Tonight was a good night. I got into the studio earlier than I have the last few nights, which in and of itself felt good. There was more listening tonight.  I kept working my way through the Wilco rarities, and got farther tonight than I have the last couple nights. After that, I sat with the acoustic for a bit and, while I hadn't been expecting to work on songs, that was what happened.  I stumbled upon a really cool descending chord progression that I proceeded to capo up the neck to bring out the sweetness in it. Then there was a bit of electric, with a quick look at the Clapton. Early post tonight, because we're out to do a bit of shopping as soon as the Mrs. gets home from work.  Good day though.

Tonight's studio time reminded me a whole lot of yesterday. I got a little bit farther into the first chapter of Songs & Solos .  I think tomorrow will be a day of better progress in that. I did a little bit of work with the electric tonight.  I'm hoping to focus in on the Clapton a lot tomorrow, and really start putting all of the pieces together on that. And then there was a bit of listening.  Most of it was the two disc Wilco best of in the car on the way to and from work, mind you, but it was still great.  It's still weird to me to own all of their music and still feel the need to pick up the best of, but it really is perfect for the car.  Tomorrow I really need to get back to the rarities box, and make some more progress in listening to that. If everything breaks the right way, I might even get the iPod updated on the holiday, we shall see.

Another quick one today. I got in the studio late (again).  Some part of me will be glad when November ends, and the novel part of things disappears and I can get back to more time for music. I worked on a bit of the Clapton tonight.  Considering the time I haven't spent with it of late, I'm feeling pretty optimistic that a late month push can get me where I want to be on it. I also did a bit more reading in Songs & Solos tonight.  Still stuck in the early part of the book, but I'm definitely looking forward to tomorrow as an excuse to change that, when staying up late is more of a possibility because of having Thursday off. Not much time for listening today, sadly.  Another thing that needs to change tomorrow.  It's funny, today felt like it was a better day than yesterday, but I got about the same amount done.  Tomorrow and Thursday will be big days for sure.  Or they ought to be anyway.  Wish me luck.

Just a quick post tonight. I got into the studio a bit later than I had intended to today.  It was okay, but not as amazing as I had hoped going into the day. Kept reading the beginning parts of Songs & Solos .  A lot of it is background right now, but I'm hoping to have a bit more time to devote to it as the week goes along, so that I can really get into the heart of the book. I did a little bit more listening tonight, too, but didn't get as far into that as I had hoped I would. Tomorrow needs to be a better day.

Today was a good day.  In many ways, it was the day I was hoping for yesterday.  I finally got into the studio long enough to do some serious listening.  That translates perfectly into this: I started my journey into the Wilco box set today.  I made it ten tracks into the first disc, and so far, it is everything I hoped it would be.  Between the demos and the live cuts and the couple of studio tracks I've heard, this may well be my best music purchase of the year.  Time, and the other three and a half discs, will tell, but I'm loving what I've heard so far. I did a bit of reading tonight as well, starting to make my way through the Songs & Solos book.  I'm looking forward to getting a bit further into the meat of the book, but even the bit that I started has been cool so far. As for the playing side of things, I worked on a bit of the Clapton, but didn't do as much as I could have, on account of getting caught up in the listening side of things today.  I n

Today was okay, but wasn't at all what I expected it to be. I spent a lot of the evening talking with my brother.  We spent a lot of time on music related topics, and I worked through some of the Clapton I've been working on, talking through a few of the issues I've been having.  I also did some reading today, from the Songs & Solos book that I got in the mail yesterday. There was some listening today, but not the listening I wanted to get to.  It's looking like tomorrow will be another day at home, but in between Packer and Bronco games, I really, really need to get into the studio for some quality time.

I got the books today that I had ordered in the middle of the week. Songwriters On Songwriting by Paul Zollo Songs & Solos by Rikky Rooksby Now I've got the American side of the songwriting discussion (Zollo's book), and the British side with The Art of Noise that I had picked up the other day. Songs & Solos looks like the real find, though.  It covers the history of the solo, and then goes on from there to talk theory, placement in the song, and about ten other factors.  I'm pumped to have tomorrow free to do some reading and a lot of listening.

Tonight was good. I got into the studio on the late side, but the listening I got to tonight really served to set the table for the coming weekend.  I went with a lot of Wilco tonight, as a way to get my mind right for what will be an all out binge on the rarities box set over the weekend.  The Mrs. works 3-11 on Saturday, so I'll have the night to spend in the studio with limited interruption. Everything I did guitar-wise tonight was acoustic in nature.  I'm hoping that Saturday night will also allow me a bit of time to crank up the electric a bit.  I know it hasn't been all that long since I've done that, but it feels like it has. There's definitely a lot to try and get done this weekend, but it was nice to have a good couple of days leading up to it.

Today went just as I expected it would. I got up later than I had hoped to, but found enough time this morning to get into the studio and get some things sorted out.  I went through the stack of CDs I had set aside for listening, and weeded out some of the older titles in the pile.  It's much more manageable now.  Plus, with teaching at 3, I wanted to make sure that the studio wasn't a complete disaster. I got out of the house for a bit around 1, going to the record store and then grabbing a bite to eat.  I picked up the 2 disc companion to the Wilco rarities box set.  It essentially functions as a "Best Of," and while I own all of the albums, this seemed like something perfect to have in the car at all times.  Plus, I'm a completest when it comes to certain bands, so there's that.  I also snagged the Deluxe Edition of the Old 97's debut record, Hitchhike To Rhome . I also ordered Songwriters On Songwriting by Paul Zollo and Songs And Solos by Rikky

Today was an odd combination of interesting things.  I: 1) Found out that I get to start teaching again tomorrow afternoon.  We had a dinner get together tonight with a lot of people, and one of them happened to be the father who has been trying to find time to schedule guitar lessons for his son since last fall.  When we had talked on Halloween, they had said that they wanted to start sometime soon, and it hadn't really gone much farther than that.  Until tonight.  It's an awesome development, but it also means that some time tomorrow morning will be spent getting the studio to a point where it's less about me studying and making a mess in there and more about having the room whipped into shape enough for me to teach. 2) Finally connected with someone I've been meaning to talk with for more than a year.  There's another musician with a studio living in the village, and for whatever reason, our paths had never really crossed until tonight at this dinner.  Each o

So, the above picture was the musical highlight of my day.  When I got home from work tonight, my Amazon package with the new Wilco Rarities box set was waiting for me.  It's 4 discs worth of demos, live cuts, and B-sides, and I can't wait to sit down and really dive into it tomorrow night and Wednesday.  Tonight all I managed to get around to was getting it unwrapped and reading through most of the liner notes.  Tomorrow night and Wednesday need to be all about the listening, and then getting it into iTunes, so I can get everything synced and carry it with me everywhere.  It's always a good day when new Wilco arrives.

I'm a little bit more than halfway through the month.  It's possible I'll only get to one of the two Clapton songs, but as long as I finish one of them completely, I'll be okay with it.  In that spirit, I started looking at the solo for "I'm Tore Down" today.  Dad was in town for a lot of the day, so I didn't have a whole lot of time to spend hiding in the studio, but I felt like I did well with the time I did have. I know I didn't do as well overall this past week as I had hoped to where the music is concerned, but I am hoping to make smarter use of my time, and thereby make more progress. All told, it was a really good weekend with not quite enough music in it.

Dad's in town today.  That equates to not a ton of time in the studio.  It also means a trip to the bookstore, where I found something cool. I picked up a book called The Art Of Noise by a Brit named Daniel Rachel.  He interviews 27 British songwriters from 1962 up until the present day on the way they go about their craft.  It looked too fascinating not to get, so I did.  And then I got it home, and the introduction referenced Paul Zollo's book Songwriters On Songwriting , which looks at things from the American perspective.  Now, I could have sworn that I had a copy of Zollo's book somewhere in my collection, although at present it is nowhere to be found.  Might have to order a copy and read them one after the other.  Because I can never get enough good books on music. Either way, it seems as if things lately have been trying to get me fired up about songwriting. So, it goes without saying that the playing I did tonight was acoustic in nature, and was done with a be

Tonight was a quiet one, but I did make a bit of progress. I went back and looked at the GW columns that I've been using the last few months.  It had been a little while since I'd gotten them out and worked on them, but tonight made good sense for a bit of an overview, so I read through everything I've worked on up until now, and looked ahead a little bit to see what 's coming up next. Tomorrow I need to find a bit of time to do some listening, and I need to spend more time in the studio than I did today. We passed on a chance to see Carrie Newcomer tonight.  I'm not normally one to pass on seeing live music, but at the end of a week where both the Mrs. and I were exhausted beyond the point of repair, it made the most sense to us both.  It also got me a bit of a time to do some studying tonight before getting some good work done tomorrow.

Tonight was okay. I got into the studio on the late side, and focused all of my attention on the spiky little riffs in between vocal passages on "I'm Tore Down."  I've played up to the solo a couple of times now, and the riffs are getting easier.  Slowing things down, only for a night, has helped me to see where things fall as the track goes by at full speed.  I know I need to spend more time with the GT-1, especially when I hit the solo (which needs to be soon if I'm going to get this done by the end of the month).  I'm hoping that the weekend will offer a chance to get into the studio, although we found out tonight that my Dad will be in town.  It will be good to see him, but I know that I'll still need to hide myself away in the evenings for a bit in order to maintain my progress. The Clapton is really all I had time for tonight.  I know I need to do better over the weekend.

Tonight was kind of awesome. I finally had a chance to sit down with the Clapton and run it through the GT-1.  It was cool to be able to slow it down some and make sure that I'm getting the tone and inflection right on the notes.  There were a few instances where my phrasing was just slightly off, and the session tonight went a long way toward correcting that. The one thing I didn't get to today that I had been expecting to was some listening.  I got all of the new stuff cracked open, but never found time today to sit down with my headphones and the new Damien Rice. So, that was the downside today.  On the plus side, along with the cool Clapton work, I'm starting to hear sounds in my head for the EP.  Right now I'm feeling in a much better place when it comes to being able to reproduce what I'm hearing in my head, thanks to the work I've been doing recently.  I'm not sure that the EP will get worked on extensively in the next couple of weeks, but it wi

So, I may have picked up a little bit more music today than I was expecting... in addition to the new Damien Rice and the new Foo Fighters, I also came home with: Stranger's Almanac - Whiskeytown The Endless River - Pink Floyd Don't Kill The Magic - Magic! Blood Oranges In The Snow - Over The Rhine Tomorrow looks like it will be a day filled with listening as well as playing. I did a little scale work tonight, took a quick look at a bit of the Clapton, and brought back something I haven't made mention of in a while: the Brief History of Rock & Roll in 100 Riffs.  I had set out to learn them all earlier in the year, and didn't make it all the way through.  That's something that I need to go back to every so often, because it was informative, challenging, and fun. I need to work on the record tomorrow, too. The cool thing is that I got all of my running out of the way today, just to ensure that I don't have to leave the house tomorrow.  That shou

Today was a good day.  It was a lot of random things that all seemed to add up to an interesting lead-in to two days off.  I, 1) Got the record store called tonight, and had them hold the new Foo Fighters and the new Damien Rice for me.  I'll pick them both up tomorrow.  Can't believe it has been eight years since the last studio record from Damien.  Eight Years .  At least a few things have happened since then. 2) Got some listening in tonight as well.  Nothing specific.  A bit of Springsteen, and a focus on the Clapton I'm working on this month.  More of that tomorrow, definitely. 3) As for the playing, I know that tomorrow needs to be focused in on the EC tunes, and that there needs to be a good chunk of time spent in the studio.  I would also like to get to: - GW Columns - Vai Waorkouts 4) I need to spend at least a little bit of time tomorrow working on songwriting and the record.  I feel like one really big push on that project would go a long way toward fi

Today was quieter than yesterday, which on some level, I was not expecting. When I did get into the studio, however, I sat down and worked on a bit of the Clapton that has gotten only slightly ignored the last couple of days.  It's feeling okay, but I really need a good chunk of time to sit down with those songs and the guitar trainer, just to make sure that I've got the notes and the feel right. I've got Tuesday and Wednesday off this week, so once 5 o'clock tomorrow night hits, I'll have 48 hours to get to a lot of things, much of it musical in nature.  The first nine days of November have been ridiculously busy, and I'm hoping that this stretch of time will let me get a good handle on everything. Today was another day that didn't have enough music in it, but I shall make up for that the next few days.

Tonight's work in the studio took a direction I honestly wasn't expecting (even though it was on my list of things i was hoping to work on over the course of the weekend). I got into the studio tonight, picked up the electric, and the first thing that ran through my head was "I really need to be working on songs."  So I played through a few of the more recent song ideas that I've been kicking around.  I really do want to finish that EP up by the end of the year.  It will be a lot  of work, and while I have a lot on my plate as the end of the year approaches, I know that if I'm smart with my time, I should be able to at least make a good run at it.  If nothing else, I want to finish it by the time the RPM & FAWM challenges come around again in February. Tomorrow I'm hoping to have more time in the studio than I did today, but we shall see.  All told, today didn't have quite enough music in it for my taste, but the music that it did have in it w

Today was a long day.  At the end of a long week.  And I've got a four hour shift tomorrow, too.  I'm more tired right now, as I type this, than I have been in a long time.  That said, I feel like a "what I'd like to get done this weekend" post might be in order.  The list looks something like this: 1.  Vai Workout/ GW Columns 2.  Work on the record/lyrics 3.  Clapton (with the GT-1) 4.  Listening & Reading That seems to be a fair start.  If I make it through that, I'll add some things.  There's plenty to add, believe me.

Tonight's post will be exceedingly short in nature.  Not because there isn't much to tell today (I feel like there is), but instead because the hour grows quite late where I am, and I'm exhausted. Got into the studio late in the evening tonight, but instead of running through the same things I've been working on of late, I thought I would change it up a bit.  With that in mind, I worked on a two part lesson from the latest issues of Guitar Techniques .  Most of it dealt with using legato style phrasing to navigate the pentatonic scale.  I didn't spend a ton of time with it tonight, but there were definitely some fun licks that were presented.  I'm sure I'll spend more time with it over the weekend. Time for a bit of sleep.  So glad tomorrow is Friday!

Another good day today. I really feel like I'm starting to see things clearer.  The way riffs and solos fall on the fretboard is starting to make more sense, based on the theory and pattern studying I've been doing.  I'm also noticing better that choices are happening on the fly when it comes to fretting notes with different fingers. All of that has really helped with the Clapton I'm trying to learn in the month of November, as well.  Today was another day where I focused in on "I'm Tore Down."  I had a bit more time tonight than I did yesterday, and for that I was grateful, because I'm starting to get to the nuance and the timing on some of these passages.  I haven't taken a serious pass at the solo yet, but that will be happening in the next couple of days for sure. Otherwise, I picked up new issues of Guitar Techniques and Acoustic Guitar today, as well as the new Ani DiFranco record, Allergic To Water . All in all, a pretty good day.

Today was a good day. Tonight's time in the studio was focused on "I'm Tore Down." Specifically, I worked on the riffs and licks from the intro up to the start of the guitar solo So much of the heart and soul of this song is the rhythm and the feel of it, and only working a few minutes last night and tonight, I'm remembering that from my other aborted runs at this song.  Having tomorrow off, if will offer me a great chance to get into the studio, pop a CD into the GT-1, which slows down the tempo without changing the pitch, and really get into the way those passages are supposed to feel and sound. All told, today was good (if short), but it's tomorrow that I'm really excited about.

So, I'm not sure how well this is going to work out in the end, but I started in on both Clapton tunes tonight. I worked on the intros for both songs, and I thought it went okay.  Better on "I'm Tore Down" than on "Have You Ever Loved A Woman," but I expected that going in. I'm just going to take this section by section for both songs, and see where I come out at the end of the month. I don't feel like I had enough time in the studio tonight (not that this is anything new), but that's only because nothing else all day happened the way I expected it to.  It wasn't a bad day, by any means, but it was a day where the things I thought would go quickly took forever.  It didn't help matters any that my work day seemed to stretch out forever.  And still, some of the things I thought I could get to during slow times at work never happened, because it was busy all day long. Tomorrow I'm done at 5, and I'm off Wednesday, so I'm

I had one goal heading into today: I needed to figure out what my classic rock song for the month was going to be, and sort out how November was going to go. Instead of classic rock, I went classic blues, but even then I couldn't decide between two songs, so I went with one I've tried to learn a few times but never put in quite enough work to get to the bottom of (Clapton's version of "I'm Tore Down"), and one that I've always had on my list but never quite gotten around to giving a legitimate shot ("Have You Ever Loved A Woman" by Derek & The Dominos).  So either way you slice it, November is going to be a very Clapton-y month. I'm really thinking that all the work I've put in (in admittedly short sessions) will really help speed things up for me, learning-wise.  I'm not saying I'll get to both songs or anything, more that when one of the two steps forward, I'll be better suited to take on the challenges it brings.

Oh, look... it's November. Every year for the past (now) five years, I've written a similar post on, or around, the first of November.  Typically, it says something referencing National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo), and remarks on how I'm avoiding it again this year, but in its place I'm putting something cool and musical.  Each November since the start of the blog, I've tried (and somewhat succeeded) at learning a classic rock song. Two of the years have involved "Stairway To Heaven," one has been a (mostly failed) effort at "Classical Gas," although that was more due to lack of effort on my part than anything else, and I'm pretty sure the other year involved learning bits and pieces of "Red House" by Jimi Hendrix before falling short of that goal as well. I've spent the last few days torn over how to handle this November.  I'm making slow, but nonetheless steady progress with the theory and fretboard studying