"Muse" - ings on Rock & Life

Talked to my brother today.  First time in a month.  It's understandable, though, he's been zooming around the country, auditioning for graduate school(s).  From the sounds of it, they all went pretty well, and so for him, the waiting game begins.  It also sounds like the whole "preparing to audition" part of things really got inside his head a bit.  That means we both had strange starts to the year.  Things seem to be rolling for both of us now though... I had a good day in the studio.  It was another hodgepodge sort of day, though.  I bounced around between 100 Riffs, and theory studying and just playing for the sake of playing.  My confidence is still high.  I'm paying more attention to the nuances in my playing, although I could stand to be a bit more deliberate and a bit more intently focused on things.  Less jumpy is really what that comes down to. Tomorrow feels like it will be a bigger, better day than today.  Wish me luck.

Quiet night in the studio tonight. I didn't have a whole lot of time available to me tonight, but I made good use of the time I did have by taking a quick look at some theory, and then working on the 100 Riffs project for a few minutes. Friday nights seem to be my night to take stock of what I want to get done during the upcoming weekend.  That list goes something like this: 1.  Update the practice journal 2.  Make sure I'm through the first 16 of the 100 Riffs 3.  Listening (Zeppelin, Dylan, Airborne) 4.  Theory (new book, GW columns, Vai) 5.  Record & Lyrics I'm sure there's more I'd like to get done, but that will serve as a starting point, at least.

Another really good day in the studio.  I jumped around a bit tonight, but it really feels like I'm finally getting into some sort of rhythm almost two months into the year.  Tonight, I: 1) Took a look at a bit of Hendrix.  A small amount of "Little Wing," and a bit of "Red House" got looked at and worked on tonight.  It has been a while since I've looked at those two songs, but with my confidence growing, I figured I'd have a bit of a go at them. 2) I did a bit of work on theory stuff, working out of the book I've been using all week.  It's a really cool resource, and I'm very much enjoying it. 3) I got back to a little bit of the GW columns I've been printing off and working through.  That felt good too.  A bit rusty, from not having looked at them consistently, but they are something I need to re-incorporate into my daily routine, as I was getting a lot out of them late last year/early this year. Not much listening today, other

I got in some good work in the studio today. Most of it was related to the theory studying that I've been doing the last few days, but it was good to just be able to get in there and do some playing.  I'm starting to notice the improvement in confidence and accuracy that comes with regular studying and playing every day.  Small things, certain licks and passages, are getting easier and sounding more fluid.  It's not the total understanding and ease of expression I'm reaching for, at least not yet, but things are improving.  The next part is the hard part for me: keeping on top of everything, so that those small improvements continue to build.  I need to be better in 2015, to focus more and work harder, for my own sanity as much as anything. I'm really trying to make the most out of all the opportunities I can carve out of any day, and there's another one that is coming my way in a couple of weeks.  The Mrs. is going to a conference in Chicago, and I was able

I ran out tonight to pick up four things, all music related, then came home and discovered that I needed just one thing more... I hit up Best Buy tonight, and picked up the Physical Graffiti re-release, along with Dope Machines by The Airborne Toxic Event, and then the Blu-Ray of Whiplash .  After that, I stopped by the bookstore to see if the latest issue of Guitar Techniques was in.  It was, so I picked that up as well. When I got home, I checked out Airborne's website, just to see if there were any articles on the new record, and discovered that, if you ordered the record through their website, you got a free download of a SECOND record, called Songs Of God And Whiskey .  Having already picked up the CD, I bought the vinyl release of Dope Machines in order to get the digital only release of SOG&W. I did a bit of listening to Dope Machines tonight, but didn't get all the way through it, so I will withhold a review until I can finish the record. There was some play

Tonight was another good night that (by and large) built on the successes of yesterday. I played around  a bit with the EP, but didn't make a whole lot of progress, so I turned back to the theory studies I was working on yesterday.  I finished making my way through the "review" section of the book, and now I'm up to the point where the real lessons start to kick in.  That should be fun to get started on tomorrow night and Wednesday (I'm off). I did a bit of work with the whole 100 Riffs thing, but not as much as I did yesterday.  That I will pick up in earnest again tomorrow night. And speaking of picking things up tomorrow, there's a Zeppelin re-release and the new Airborne Toxic Event record that come out tomorrow.  I'll definitely be picking those up on my way home from work.  Not to mention a copy of Whiplash on Blu-Ray/DVD. Today wasn't as full of music as yesterday was, but it was still a good day.

Finally!  A really good day.  And one that I really needed after the frustration with the rest of the weekend. I took a step back from a few things today, and got what I hope will be a bit of clarity in the process.  Instead of worrying about the progress I really haven't been making on the EP, I told myself that I needed to be happy with the few bits of lyric I stumbled across today, and that maybe I needed to focus my attention elsewhere, at least for today. I had picked up a really cool book on music theory as it applies to guitar last Tuesday when I was out and about, and having spent a little bit of time paging through it over the last few days, I focused in on it tonight and started reading, taking notes, and reinforcing some things.  It felt like progress.  It was great. When I had worked through some of that, I moved on to the whole "100 Riffs" thing, and got myself moving on that again.  It's astounding how much I can get inside my own head and grind to

So much for being optimistic heading into today.  It was 99.5% a disaster, perhaps salvaged by 35 minutes of studio time that gave me a chance to string a few lines of lyric together.  And while I'm happy with the small bit of writing I got done, I can't help but look at the day as more of a frustration than anything else. I didn't even get around to much listening today. I'm discouraged, so instead of belaboring the point, I'm just going to pack it in for the night and hope that tomorrow is a better day.

Tonight was a quiet one. I got a bit of listening done, mostly focusing on the new Trigger Hippy record.  The more time I spend with it, the more it walks the line between sounding classic and trying to sound classic.  I need to spend some more time with it this weekend. Guitar-wise tonight, I didn't get to a whole lot, but I did work on 100 Riffs for a bit.  I'm making progress on that front, feeling better.  I'll definitely make the needed 16 by the end of the month.  Tonight was a quiet night, but I'm feeling really good heading into tomorrow.

Today was another good day. I got in some listening, focused tonight on the rather large amount of Dylan that I've acquired recently, and then worked on learning "I Shall Be Released," because a friend in the village has indicated an interest to learn guitar and cited that as his favorite Dylan tune.  People keep talking to me about teaching in a way that has me believing that fate is pushing me more in that direction.  Considering the rather slow start to the year, I'll follow wherever it takes me. Worked on the "100 Riffs" thing tonight as well.  Finally pushing myself to get past "Purple Haze." Spent a bit of time with the EP tonight as well.  Still no real progress on lyrics.  Sometime in the next ten days that will happen.  I just need to focus on that aspect of things more closely. More tomorrow, and better.

Tonight was a fun night in the studio. I found myself jumping around from topic to topic on a fairly regular basis, but instead of feeling like I wasn't getting anywhere with anything, I felt like I made good progress in short bursts. I spent time with: 1) The music for the EP.  I'm at four songs right now, and the more I play around with what I have, the more I feel I need a fifth song to balance everything out.  It's a bit late in the game for that (especially if I want to finish it by the 28th), but we shall see.  If nothing else, I'll keep going with the four that I have, and leave that potential fifth song for last. 2) 100 Riffs.  It had been a while on that, so I wanted to make sure I was still playing them well.  I was.  I know I've said it before here, but working through those songs is a great way to get loosened up for a practice session. 3) "Pancho and Lefty."  Again, it wasn't for long, but I went back through with pen tonight and

I probably shouldn't have, but I took the night off from working on the EP. What I really needed tonight was just to sit down with the acoustic and work on learning something that already exists out in the world.  One of my recent magazines has a transcription of Townes Van Zant's classic, "Pancho & Lefty," so I sat down to learn (or re-learn, as the case may be) that.  Almost as soon as I picked up the guitar, however, it dawned on me that I'd rather learn a version of the song that Jason Isbell recorded at a live show in the last couple of years.  I've got that performance on my iPod, and so I worked on that, and (using the transcription of the original version as a guide) was able to figure out capo placement and chords.  I played through it quickly at the end of the night, and while I don't have it down perfectly, I've got the basics down pretty well, and am now free to dress it up however I see fit. Tonight was a good night, and a night wh

Today was indeed a better day! First of all, the new Clarks record, and the record by Trigger Hippy (which includes Jackie Greene, Joan Osborne, and Steve Bowman) came today, so I got a bit of listening in, which was a great thing.  I did my listening while I got a few things cleaned up and organized in the studio, so that too, was good. Perhaps more importantly, however, is that I'm mostly certain I have found the missing music for that song that will go on my EP.  That is the exciting news of the day.  While I didn't quite have enough time today to get that done and get a decent start on the lyric writing process, I've got a few ideas kicking around in my head for that as well.  It's definitely shaping up to be an interesting start to the week. Found a cool book on theory as it relates to guitar today, too, so all told it was a pretty good day.

Ultimately, today ended up looking a lot like yesterday did.  I read some more of that book on lyric writing, and did a little playing.  My big downfall today was getting into the studio later than I had wanted to.  Sometimes I can get away with that, but today was not one of those days. When push came to shove today, I looked around the studio, checked the mental list in my head of all the things I want to get done (finishing music, time spent writing lyrics, some listening, a decent practice session, a bit of cleaning up), and my immediate thought was that I'll be much better served to try and accomplish all of that on a good night's sleep.  That's directly counter intuitive to the way I usually approach things, but today it feels like the only option. So yes, a small bit of progress, but less than I wanted to report tonight.  Tomorrow desperately needs to be a better day. 

I didn't end up with a lot of time for music today, but I took advantage of a small window of time late in the day. Once I finally got into the studio, I did a bit of reading from the book I (re)started the other day on lyric writing, and then sat for a bit and tried to get into that frame of mind.  I didn't end up with all that much, but a small start is better than no start at all. After that, I worked on the music side of the project for a few minutes.  I'm still trying to nail down the music for one of the songs on the EP, and I'm still coming up a bit short on that front. Today wasn't exactly what I wanted it to be, but I suspected that might be the case when I realized just how much had to get done before family got here.  The real challenge is to find the time to accomplish what I need to the next couple of days while they are here.  Wish me luck on that front.

So, I can tell that life has been a little bit on the crazy side of late, and that I haven't had time to be up to date on all of my normal levels of musical research.  Two things this week proved that to me: 1) A new record by The Clarks came out last year, and I somehow missed that fact entirely. and 2) I just discovered that a new record by The Airborne Toxic Event, Dope Machines, comes out on the 24th of February. The Clarks disc has been ordered, however, and I'll definitely pick up the new TATE a couple of Tuesdays from now. That taken care of, there wasn't a whole lot to report today when it comes to my own musical adventures.  Fridays of late have been crazy long, crazy busy days that haven't offered much in the way of studio time.  Such was the case again tonight.  The long weekend is here, though, and much will get done between tomorrow morning and Tuesday at noon when I go back to work.  That I know for sure.

I at least scratched the surface on starting lyrics tonight. I got a few phrases jotted down that have been rattling around in my head the last couple of days, and I re-started that Rikky Rooksby book on Lyrics that I had picked up last fall.  I got farther into it tonight than I had when I started reading it originally. I'm still playing with a few ideas for the verse progression from last night.  Things with the EP feel like they are coming together a whole lot more than they did the first ten days of the month.  I'm still really looking forward to the weekend as a big chance to make a push on this whole project. Today was what felt like a building block day.  We'll see what the weekend brings, but something tells me it will be good.

Eleven days into the month, and I finally feel like I might have a bit of traction on the EP project.  I had so many things written down in different places, and one of the things that I took the time to do today that really helped was to start condensing things into one notebook.  I started (obviously) with the ideas that I'm using for the EP, but I already know that the power pop ideas will come next. The biggest hang-up for me right now (other than lyrics) is that I'm missing a verse progression for one of the now 4 ideas that will make up the EP.  I have a few ideas, but nothing has stepped to the front of the line. That said, I've got a 3 day weekend coming up, and even with family in town, what I really need to get accomplished during those three days is a start on lyrics.  That should help to guide the music some, and might just push me over the top to finishing songs so I can start worrying about recording in the second half of the month. Today was a good day

Tonight was a short night in the studio, mostly because I'm looking at tomorrow as the big day, what with being off and all. That said, I followed up on some of the work I did last night during tonight's session.  I'm feeling more comfortable getting what I hear in my head out into the world, but I know I'm not where I'd like to be yet.  What I really need to do is spend some of my practice time every day working on those things, as opposed to hitting them here and there.  The generally sporadic feel of my fretboard study doesn't do me any favors. Coming off of last weekend's lack of progress in the studio, I'm really looking at tomorrow as a golden opportunity to get a lot of good work in.  With that in mind, I'm exhausted, and need to sleep if tomorrow is going to turn out like I hope it will.

I needed today to be a better day, and in the end, today was a better day. I hadn't looked at scales and fretboard knowledge in a while, so I did a bit of studying in that arena tonight.  It was good. Tonight actually felt like one of those nights that I could have stayed in the studio all night, just focusing in and getting things done.  I only hope that tomorrow night and Wednesday (when I'm off) have the same feel to them.  It was really good to have a positive session tonight.  I know not every day is going to be brilliant, but the weekend really had me bummed out. Did a little bit of listening tonight as well. All told, it was a pretty decent day, and a good start to the week.

I feel like I was lacking in motivation for pretty much the whole weekend.  Yesterday I didn't get as much done as I probably should have, and today was a frustrating day for about the first 90% of it. I managed to salvage the day, at least a little bit, by making some progress on the whole "100 Riffs" project. The EP has been more of a source of frustration during the first week of the month than it has anything else.  I can only hope that the coming week brings some clarity (and some focus) to that project. For that matter, the year hasn't exactly started off gangbusters for me where the music is concerned, and I really need that to change soon. All in all, it was a frustrating 48 hours.  I can only hope that the start of a new week brings with it a better run of luck.

Tonight feels like one of those nights where I'll try to go to bed, and won't be able to sleep. I felt like I was really close to something in the studio tonight.  I'm pretty sure it was related to the EP project.  I haven't had something really nagging at the back of my mind when it comes to songwriting in a good long while now. I had some fun with the "100 Riffs" challenge, too.  I'm good with the fact that I'm up to #13.  Tomorrow I'd like to do some work on advancing past that point. The one thing I didn't do well enough on today was time management.  I could have (and should have) spent more time working on music than I did.  Tomorrow I need to be smarter with the way that I use my time. Picked up the latest GW issue today, and the Hozier record.

I found myself with a bit of time in the studio at the very end of the day, and in a somewhat different spot than I had been pretty much all week long.  The electric was back in the studio (having lived the week in the living room, so I could pick it up if I needed to while I was out there), and I was drawn to it immediately.  I tested out one of the song ideas I need to finish off this month, just to make sure it held up on both instruments (it does), and then I dove into "100 Riffs" for a bit and discovered something cool... For the most part, meaning aside from a few small issues that won't take too long to clean up, I'm up to riff #13 (Purple Haze) already.  Having filled in a few spots at the end of last month, I already knew a few of the riffs between the end of the first eight and where I am now.  Granted, I'll spend some of tomorrow going over the couple of rough patches, as well as cranking them up on the amp, but all told, I'm feeling pretty good

I got into the studio later tonight than I had hoped to, but I still was able to get to a bit of work on the EP project. For some reason, I have it in my head that this thing needs to be longer than three or four songs. I guess in my head, an EP falls somewhere in the 5-7 song range. I think that mine will end up being more on the 5 song end of the spectrum, though. That number just feels right to me. So, yes, a little bit of progress, mixed in with a little bit of playing worked somewhat. Truth be told, however, it's the weekend that I am looking forward to the most, as it will provide the most time for me to get some good work in on the project.

So, most of the way through the day I wasn't all that sure I'd have a lot to write about tonight.  Things had been mostly sluggish for me music-wise, my grand scheme of getting a lot accomplished thwarted somewhat by other things and somewhat by my own inactivity.  That being said... When I finally got into the studio for an extended period of time tonight, I made the conscious choice to avoid the whole "100 Riffs" project for tonight and instead headed straight for the acoustic and the pile of notebooks that contains all of the song ideas that I've been kicking around the last couple of years. I opened up everything, and spread it all out in front of me, and at least a little bit to my surprise, two different ideas jumped out at me.  One is the progression that I keep thinking I've finally figured out the last week or two, and the other was something I jotted down more than a year ago and then (at least somewhat) forgot about.  They were just close enough

Not a whole lot to report today. I was flat out exhausted when I got home tonight, so I took the night off from working on the record (not great, so early in the month, but it will be the only time all month that it happens, so there's that), and instead chose to look at a little bit of the "100 Riffs" project.  I got my eight riffs learned in January, and along with time working on the record tomorrow, I want to spend at least a little bit of time looking at what the next eight riffs will bring. I'd also like to do some listening tomorrow, and get the iPod updated with the recordings of the Counting Crows shows we saw in December. As I sit here, that doesn't seem like a whole lot for tomorrow, but if I can get all of that done and still have time to get to more, I'll consider that a win on all levels.

I need to figure out who I know in town that plays drums.  I've got the chord progressions down for the three songs that are definitely going on the EP.  Tonight, though, I got a bit hung up in deciding on tempo.  I'm giving myself until the end of my day off this week (Wednesday) to settle on official tempos for these songs, and then I'm either going to spend the entire day meticulously programming the drums with the resources that I have at my disposal, or I'm going to reach out and see if I can't set up a time to get together with a friend that plays drums. Getting started on lyrics would also give me a pretty good shove along the way to having tempos squared away as well. Either way, it was a good day in the studio.  I feel like some progress was made. Picked up the new Butch Walker record tonight, thanks to iTunes.  Listening to the first track as I write this. Admittedly, today was a day where I didn't come flying out of the gate, but I feel good a

So, I used today as a day to circle the wagons and assess where I am. If I look at this as finishing an EP, which is the mindset going into it, then I think I'm in fairly decent shape.  I've got music that I really like for three songs, with (possibly) a fourth and fifth in the mix.  There is also part of me that sees those last two ideas as a jumping off point for a power pop project, and sees the three that I'm definitely sold on as a cool little acoustic project.  That may be getting a bit ahead of myself, however, so I'm going to try and reign myself in and focus, at least at first, on getting everything right about the three that I know, without a doubt, belong on this first EP. The biggest thing I need to focus on in the coming days is bits of lyric that occur to me as I work to get the recordings of the music exactly the way that I want them.  Those moments when a phrase or a line dashes across my mind may well be the difference between having a finished pr