"Muse" - ings on Rock & Life

Today was awesome. I got into the studio a good two hours earlier than I have been (and in all honesty, it probably should have been earlier than that), and I feel like I made a good start on what I hope December and all of next year is going to be. I finally got myself started on the playing aspects of Songs & Solos .  It was great.  This section goes back over things that I know, but also presents them in more than one form at a time.  It makes for easy comparisons, and at the same time, gets you to see the melodic ideas that are there in different sections of the neck.  I could easily have spent another hour or so in there tonight.  I need to do a little bit of brush-up memorization to feel really good about it, but I can start in on that tomorrow. Today was nothing short of the day that I needed it to be.

Today was okay. I started paging through the book that the Mrs. had picked up for me on Friday.  It's going to be a really good resource for me, I think.  From what I can tell, it fills in a few of the gaps in the things I already have on my shelf, and I'm excited to have some time to really dive into it both tomorrow morning before work, and then in December.  Now that I've won NaNoWriMo, my time will open up again.  Side note: the next few weeks are going to be fun !  The extra hours I'm going to have to spend in the studio are really going to push me into the end of the year.  It will allow me to be rolling by the time the new year hits, which will hopefully be enough to carry me through and make 2016 my most consistent, most productive year ever. Today was all right, but the real fun is yet to come.

So, today was equal parts quiet and awesome.  Very late last night, after I had blogged, I talked with my brother for a little bit.  I ran down the list of instruments from yesterday, and only part jokingly told my brother that, knowing my wife and surprises, I'd know by noon today what the instrument was.  In the end, I wasn't far off. I'm not sure if she will be wrapping it up in the next day or so and making me wait until Christmas, but I am/will be the proud owner of a mandolin!  First order of business: learning "Losing My Religion... well, okay, at least the intro riff. I got to play around with it for a bit this afternoon/evening, and I'm loving the sound of it.  Then (naturally) I watched a bunch of Chris Thile videos on YouTube. Of a less important note, we were out and about for Small Business Saturday today, and I managed to snag a biography of Tom Petty that looks like it will be pretty awesome. That was pretty much my day.  More tomorrow.  Ma

Talking to my brother last night still has me really jacked up.  I think it's going to be a pretty awesome weekend. Related to that, The Mrs. went out and did a bit of Black Friday shopping today.  She hit up one of the musical instrument stores in town, and managed to come out with a washboard, some drum sticks, a small drum, a ukulele tuner, a guitar book for me, and a keychain that holds guitar picks (also for me). She also tells me that she picked up one of five instruments as a Christmas Present.  Here's the list: 1.  Acoustic Guitar (with 4 lessons) 2. Keyboard/Piano 3. Mandoolin 4. Drum Kit 5. Banjo So, one of those should be an interesting Christmas surprise. As for this weekend, I'd like to look through this new book, and get myself in the studio for a good chunk of time.

Happy Thanksgiving, all! There wasn't a lot of  time today to get into the studio, but my brother is here for the holiday, so we have been talking about music and practicing some tonight.  With him being in school for music, and me trying to fit things in wherever I can, I always try and pick his brain for tips and hints on how to get better. Every time we hang out, I always find myself wishing that we had a full weekend to just spend some time, but it seems like anymore, we have to find these small bits of time and then cram in as much as we can... typing that sentence makes me see parallels to my practicing lately. All things considered, I can't believe that tomorrow is actually Friday, and that I get a weekend to attempt to catch up on some things.  Hopefully I will have a bit of luck at that.  It was a great day with family, and I may have needed that more than anything.

Once again, I find myself up late, burning the midnight oil, sitting down to blog as I'm ready to fall asleep. Another night where I didn't get into the studio until late, but tonight I managed to get to the bit of reading I have wanted to get to all week.  I made enough progress in Songs & Solos to get to the chapter on Scales, Harmony, & Solos. This is where the really fun stuff starts.  The solo examples, the suggestions, the scales.  In short: this is where I switch from reading to actual practicing and applying some of the things I've read.  Of course, I'm only slightly bummed out by the fact that I get to this point right before the holiday. when there won't be a whole lot of free time to dive into it, but the weekend is coming, and I'm feeling good about where I sit right now.

Another late night before I got into the studio.  Actually, a lot of tonight was very similar to last night. I once again managed to get caught up in Songs & Solos .  Still not quite at the next chapter, but I'm a whole lot closer to being there tonight than I was last night at this point.  I know I've said this the last couple of nights, but I'm fairly certain that tomorrow night will be the night I hit that point. I listened to some things tonight, and did a bit of playing as well, but it wasn't a whole lot tonight.  I go in late tomorrow, so I'm hoping to be able to spend at least a few minutes in the studio before I go to work. The last couple of nights have been quiet, so it would be great to have a big day tomorrow, as I head into the holiday.

Today was pretty quiet. I, again, got into the studio on the late side, and wasn't really in there very long tonight. The time I did have, I spent focused on Songs & Solos , getting myself started on the next chapter.  I'm twenty pages away from the sections I can't wait to start, and am hoping to get there tomorrow night. I played for a couple of minutes tonight, too, but didn't have long enough to make substantial progress.  Tomorrow will be a much better day than today was.

Today was an okay day. I finished off another chapter in Songs & Solos .  While I'm closer to the pages where the examples and scales and the like are tabbed out, I didn't quite get there today.  In the end, I'm okay with that, only because I got through at least one chapter, and with the holiday in the middle of the week to slow things up, I needed a couple of holdover goals from this weekend to get me up to that point. On some level, there's something that has been nagging at the back of my mind all month, and I guess now is as good of a time as any to make mention of it.  For the first time in a few years, I'm not trying to learn a classic rock song in the month of November.  Part of that is that I'm actually writing a novel in November instead, and the other part of it is that, by the time I realized I hadn't picked anything yet, the month was so far along that I knew there was a likelihood I wouldn't finish in time, or be able to give it the

I spent a good portion of the day being bothered and/or stressed out that I wasn't in the studio, wasn't getting enough done, etc. I had made myself a pretty aggressive list last night, and I knew that if I didn't get at least a few of those things crossed off today, I'd feel terrible heading into Sunday, so... When I finally got into the studio (late, again), I managed to get at least a few things crossed off of my list.  I: 1. Did a bit of listening.  That giant amount of Dylan is still on my list, as is the new Keith Richards, which I managed to pick up, but haven't quite found the time for in November.  And after the Mrs. picked up the new Adele record yesterday, I have to admit I was curious about that .  So, of course, it was Adele that got listened to today. 2.  I made some progress in Songs & Solos today as well.  I'm a full 70 pages into that.  Tomorrow, I'd like to be around page 105 if all goes well.  That's where the scales and so

I'm fast falling into a routine on Friday nights.  That routine has, for the last few weeks at least, involved getting at least one thing done in the studio after work at the end of the week.  It's always the same, and it always sets me up for what I'd like the rest of the weekend to be. Once again, my goal tonight was to work out a list of the things I'd like to get done this weekend, and maybe do some listening while I'm working on it.  Then I throw in a bit of playing at the end and call it a night. Tonight the list got more specific than it has in a while, and while I don't have it in front of me to add to tonight's post, I will definitely be posting about my progress tomorrow night.  Having that list out there helps me to see the path, and hopefully it will help me to stay on it as well.

Tonight was a quiet night.  The quietest night of the week, really. I got into the studio for only a few minutes, but I did a bit of playing in that time, and also read through a few pages of Songs & Solos .  I'm feeling good about what I've been able to glean from picking up that book again. I've got to say... I'm really glad that tomorrow is Friday, because I have a really good feeling about what the next few days will bring. So, yes, tonight may not have had a lot of work in it, but the weekend is going to be great.

Another short session tonight, but another one where I felt like I made progress. I spent a good chunk of time with the acoustic tonight, working out the chord changes to "Elephant" by Jason Isbell.  That song has just been crushing me lately, and I decided that I really ought to learn it.  The chords are all a short distance part (in most cases, it's just a finger movement here and there), and it was fairly simple to work through it.  It still needs a bit of work on my end, but I've at least gotten it underneath my fingers.  It all gets easier from there. There were a few minutes spent with Songs & Solos tonight as well, although not as much as last night.  A few pages of progress, and a few things to mull over are always good, though. I fit in a bit of listening, also, but that was pretty much it for the night. Hopefully more will get done tomorrow, but as long as things are moving forward, I'm feeling good.

I'm really trying to build off of yesterday. I followed up on a few things I had looked at last night, the biggest of which was the Songs & Solos book.  I read back a little bit to try and pick up where I had left off with that, and then just kept going and ended up finishing off a whole chapter. After that, I picked up the electric and spent a bit more time trying to work out a few of the songs that have been a good listen of late. I also started a list of songs to work through in my notebook, and also went back to my gigantic excel spreadsheet of songs.  Like I said last night, so many things started, and not followed up on. It was a shorter session tonight, but it still felt like a move forward.  And considering how things had gone for the few weeks before last night, to feel like I made progress a couple nights in a row feels awesome.

Sometimes I think I learn more about myself on the days I'm not really expecting to, than on any day when I actually sit down and try to. In the process of sorting things and putting them away the last couple of days (in between nursing the Mrs. back to health), what I've found most interesting of all are the things that have floated from the bottom of the pile to the top.  In the last twenty four hours alone, I've found: 1.  The journal I bought, and started, in January, to track my playing.  2.  A book about by Rikky Rooksby about Songs & Solos that I had started and never finished (that, on looking at it tonight, has more info in it that can help me than I even suspected when I bought it. 3.  The good start I had made on my practice binder at the start of the year, still unfinished. And those are just the first three things that come to mind.  There's more, there's always more. We're fast approaching the end of another calendar year.  A year t

I wish I could say that today has been a better day, but I'm just not there right now. The time I did spend in the studio tonight may not have been insanely productive, but it was far and away the most peaceful and calm part of my day. I started off with the acoustic in my hands tonight, but it just wasn't clicking, so I swapped it out for the Stratocaster, and then things started to flow a bit easier.  The electric really is my security blanket, I think.  It's something I can hide behind when nothing else seems to be working out for me. What I should have done tonight was try and focus in on the EP, but that didn't happen.  Instead, after a bit of a workout with the electric, I put down the guitar and made a bit more progress in the Jerry Lee Lewis bio I've been reading. Not the greatest of days.  I really need tomorrow to be a good one.  I've got to get into the studio earlier than I did today, and I've got to make good progress at something while

Today was not the day I was expecting at all. The Mrs. woke up decidedly under the weather, and I spent a goodly portion of the day running back and forth from the grocery store to the drug store and back again, with the time in between spent making sure she was okay. Therefore, when she finally fell asleep for the night, I ducked into the studio for a few minutes, but all I really managed to get done was figuring out what needed to be stored in the table I moved in there last week (music biographies, of which I have a lot), and then getting those books moved over.  I'm not sure how much space it really freed up, but it feels like a lot. Tomorrow and Monday need to be better days, for sure, but considering the way today went, I'll take what I got done and be happy with it.

Today was the strange mid point between my couple of days off mid-week, and my three day weekend, and after a long day at work, I needed a night to clear my head a bit. As such, I used it to take a look at where I am this week, figure out at least some of my goals for the weekend, and dive into the new issue of Guitar World . Tonight was good.  There may not have been any great leaps forward, but I'm feeling better about where the weekend is headed as I sit here tonight than I did at the start of the day.

Today was good. I got in the studio a bit on the late side again, but no matter.  Once I got in there, I was pretty productive with the time that I had. I got everything else cleared out of that table/cupboard/lamp stand that I had moved in there the other day, so it's now empty and waiting for whatever it is I decide needs to go in there.  I'm very much hoping to be more organized than "oh, this was on the floor, so it ended up here," but I have yet to figure out what makes the most sense storage wise. I also started working through the Blues Shuffle lesson in one of the two issues of Guitar Techniques that have made their way into the house in the last few days.  That lesson is going to be a lot of fun, and will be even more fun than it was for a bit tonight once tomorrow hits and I break out the CD player. I made a bit of progress in the Jerry Lee Lewis bio tonight as well.  That's still coming along rather nicely, although I'm not as far into it as

I'll get the silly stuff out of the way first tonight. 1. The Mrs. swung by Target tonight, and picked me up the new issue of Guitar World with Keith Richards on the cover.  It's been a pretty busy week for guitar magazines. 2.  I passed on the jam session on campus tonight, when we had a rash of bad storms roll through town right as I was getting ready to head over there. Those things included, it was a pretty good day.  The rest of it went something like this... I got to a bit more of my listening tonight, which was a good way to kick off my time in the studio.  After that, I spent a bit of time getting things re-organized.  I'm not quite where I'd like it to be just yet, but a small bit of time tomorrow ought to get me there. Once that was done, I picked up the electric, and started trying to figure out "Six Ways To Sunday" by Blackberry Smoke.  I know the song is in A, and I got to play around with it a little bit tonight, but not as much time a

Tonight was a good start on what I'm hoping to get done in the next few days. I got into the studio on the late side tonight, but I got to the things that I had hoped to get to yesterday.  I: 1.  Started cleaning out that new table that I brought in last weekend.  I've got it mostly taken care of, there are just a couple of things still left inside it that I need to find places for in the rest of the house, and then I can figure out what its best purpose is in my studio. 2.  I'm up over page 100 in the Jerry Lee Lewis bio.  That continues to be a very cool read. 3.  In an odd quirk of timing, the Mrs. wanted to go to the bookstore tonight.  While we were there, I discovered that yesterday had been the last day for the old issue of Guitar Techniques , and that there was a new issue there today.  So I picked it up, and now have even more awesomeness to go through during my playing the next few days. 4.  Got an invite to a jam session on campus tomorrow night.  This

Tonight was okay.   Not a whole lot in the way of playing, but there was a bit of reading and studying thrown in for good measure, which I will take. When I was out tonight after work, I swung by the bookstore and picked up the new issues of Acoustic Guitar and Guitar Techniques.  For the most part, it was GT that I started reading through tonight. No real progress in the Jerry Lee Lewis bio tonight, and I didn't get around to looking at the organizational side of things in the studio either.  That bums me out, but the way the night went, finding time was a bit of a struggle. Tomorrow really starts my need to be at the top of my game, though, so it is off to sleep for me, to (hopefully) ensure that I can do just that.

So, the weekend didn't go anywhere near the way that I hoped it would on Friday night, but I find myself in an interesting spot as I head back into the work week.  Here's why: I finally got back into the studio tonight, after the floors dried out enough on the main floor of the house to let me back in.  In all of the shifting of furniture, we freed up an end table that was no longer needed in the living room.  Not that I needed another piece of furniture in my studio, but that's where it got moved to for carpet cleaning, and that's where it stayed after I found a spot for it against the wall by the window.  That let me get a few things up off of the floor, and as soon as I get it emptied out, the end table will offer more room for storage in the studio, which is great, because on some level, I need it.  There will need to be a bit of shifting things around, but that can happen tomorrow night after work, when the Mrs. is at a meeting. I did a bit of playing tonight,

Today was an interesting change of pace. I had intended to spend a good portion of time working in the studio, but it ended up off limits, due to the fact that we also needed to have the carpets cleaned today, and my studio was in the line of fire. I grabbed a guitar out of the studio before we started in on the carpets, and I have spent the evening on the couch, just playing through whatever came to mind. I dragged out "Yellow Ledbetter," which I hadn't done in a while. I'm thinking that the solo is going to be a point of focus this month. While today wasn't the day I had expected, it was still a good day with a lot more playing than there has been of late.

Tonight was a bit of a slow night, but most of my time in the studio was spent planning out what I hope to get done this weekend.  Such is usually the case for my Friday nights. The list is pretty extensive, and it includes: 1. Listening (Keith Richards, Dylan) 2. Work on the EP (both music and lyrics) 3. Time with the Vai workout 4. Progress in the Jerry Lee Lewis bio and a host of other things on top of that. Also, speaking of the Jerry Lee bio, I made a bit of progress on that tonight as well.  Tomorrow needs to be more about playing than tonight was.  That I know for sure.

This week has fallen into something approaching routine.  Whether it has really been enough of one is still up for debate, but nonetheless... tonight looked an awful lot like last night, and the night before. There was more slow, but steady progress in the Jerry Lee Lewis bio, which has been entertaining enough so far that I keep wishing I had a bigger chunk of time to spend with it.  The weekend is coming, though, and may well offer that. There was a bit of work on the EP.  Something I'm hoping the weekend offers a LOT more time to focus on. And there was a bit of practicing, which happens to be something else I need to spend more time with in the next few days. So, in a nutshell, tonight set up what the next 72 hours needs to be all about.

Things are starting to pick up again.  Tonight was a pretty good night, considering I didn't have a ton of time to work in the studio.  Still, I: 1. Got a bit of work in on the EP project.  Felt really good to get back to that a bit.  Hopefully more work can get done tomorrow. 2. Started getting caught up on some of the listening that has piled up of late. 3. Made a bit more progress in the Jerry Lee Lewis bio. 4. Sat down and did a bit of playing.  Not the mammoth practice session I could probably use, but it was still more time than I've had of late. All things considered, it was a pretty good day.

I know we got home yesterday, but today really felt like we were home. Tonight was two-fold for me.  I felt like I had to do two things: 1) Get moved back in to the studio... not that I took a lot with me, by any stretch of the imagination, but it still felt good to really get back in there and see where the night took me.  I wound up playing a bit of electric, and looking over the EP, but not really pushing all that hard to move forward with it.  That, hopefully, will come tomorrow. and 2) I wanted to get at least far enough into the Jerry Lee Lewis bio that I felt like I was actually reading it.  Yes, I had started it while we were out in Colorado, but I wanted to get more of it underneath me.  I got to both of those things today, so I'll call it good and see what tomorrow brings me.  Hopefully that will be more playing, some work on the EP, and a decent practice session.

Today was another long travel day, with a car battery that needed to be jumped somewhere in the middle of it.  Can't tell you how glad I am to be home. That said, there wasn't a whole lot in the way of time to get much of anything done today.  Still, I read a bit more of the Jerry Lee Lewis bio, and had plenty of time to think about where things stand with the EP. Yes, today was a lot like yesterday.  Now that we are home, I'm looking forward to getting back to some sort of routine.  Hopefully tomorrow.

I knew going into the day today that it was going to be one of the quieter days of the year, and I was right. I found a few minutes to sit down and think through things with the EP today, and I was grateful for those. About the only other thing I got time for today was starting in on the Jerry Lee Lewis biography that I brought along with me. Like I said, it was a pretty quiet day.