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Showing posts from July, 2016

Day Eight (Year Seven)

Today was another day that was long on thought regarding the EP project, and at least a little bit short on action.  That's the way the weekends seem to have gone since the move, an odd change from before.  I'm not sure it will continue that way, but I'll keep rolling with it. I'm convinced now that the EP needs a fifth song on it.  I'm not entirely sure of the details about it yet, I just know it needs to be there.  Maybe sitting down and writing something fresh, but doing so with the possibility of strings in mind, will open up a few doors and make the project seem a little bit more complete. We had some running to do today, but while we were out, I stumbled onto (and picked up) a book that will end up in the Beatles unit that has stories behind the writing of their songs, pictures of lyric sheets, and a whole bunch of other really cool stuff.  Always good to add something fun to my collection of stuff on the Fab Four. I've got the upcoming week blocked

Day Seven (Year Seven)

So, there's a big festival in town this weekend.  That meant that I ended up helping out with a few different things, which didn't leave me the whole day to do with what I wanted, but it did leave me with a little bit of time at the end of the day to get down into the studio and get some work in. What I did when I got down there was to sit and take a listen to the 4 tracks that I've highlighted as definite EP tracks, just to see if they would work for this added orchestration I've been kicking around for the last few days.  At least a couple of them seem like they could work out for that.  Others would work if I made a few changes to some things.  (On a side note, I'm still going back and forth in my head about needing a 5th track for that project, and if so, what it would be.  Right now, I'm leaning towards thinking that another song would be a good idea). In a perfect world, I'd love to have something a bit more nailed down for my brother and his girlf

Day Six (Year Seven)

Today was a long day, mostly spent out and about in the Cities.  As such, we didn't get home until late, which meant little to no time in the studio. That said, I had thoughts whirling around my head all day long, most of which were related to my conversation last night with my brother's girlfriend that concerned orchestration and working up some string quartet? or maybe just cello and viola? arrangements to go along with some of the songs I'm working on.  I'm fairly certain that I want to give that a try with the EP project that has been so long in taking shape.  I'll have to listen to the tracks again, as rough as they are right now, and try to make some further determinations.  If it works, and I can get some rhythm from the acoustic guitars and the cajon drum, add in the strings, toss a bit of ukulele and mandolin over the top, and find some lyrics inside of me, I think this could be a cool little project. One five minute conversation, and it's like ever

Day Five (Year Seven)

So, tonight the Mrs. and I are up in the Cities, just having been to a concert that my brother was playing in. Not much time for the studio  (for obvious reasons) but I did get to have a great conversation about an idea for one of my recording projects, so that counts for something. All together, it was a great day, and a great show.

Day Four (Year Seven)

It seems I'm hung up on the bluesy side of things right now.  I got to some of that area of focus today, and chose to look at some pretty cool lessons I found on YouTube.  They focused on the rhythm side of playing, and there are, from the looks of it, quite a number of them.  Sometimes it's handy to have a computer with internet access in the studio.  This was definitely one of those times. I then took what I had worked on, and applied it to a song called "Cigarette" by The Clarks.  There was a bit of similarity in the chord progression, and what didn't match up, I worked out on the fly.  It was good to be down there in the studio, feeling like I was working on something that was really going to improve where I sit with my playing. After the electric stuff, I did pick up the acoustic for a few minutes.  I didn't write anything, though I thought about trying to start something.  Instead, I just put on my iPod and played along with a few things. Tonight,

Day Three (Year Seven)

Today was good.  I did some work on two of the areas of focus for the foreseeable future (the blues one, and the acoustic one), and I still felt like I didn't get in the amount of playing that I wanted to.  Having these four different areas of study is helping me, though, I can already tell.  Those four things, along with anything else that might come up for me will help to give me a more rounded scope of study, as opposed to getting stuck in the same spots over and over. The first three days have all built on one another, even in small, seemingly insignificant ways, but all of it has been helpful, and all of it has been positive.  Tomorrow, I really need to crush it with the playing.

Day Two (Year Seven)

Today was an okay day.  Didn't get to as much as I was hoping to, but for a follow up on yesterday, it went all right. Tonight, what I wanted to make absolutely certain of was that I had everything jotted down and set aside resource-wise for each of the 4 units that I've spent the last couple of days getting ready.  I went back through each one, just to make sure that everything was in order, and it seems to be set up well.  The only thing I haven't done that I would like to is set up some playlists for the Acoustic focus and the Blues focus.  Songs that I want to focus on and/or finally learn.  I had put together a few different lists at one point last year, so I may well start with those and go from there.  That can be a tomorrow project, though. The other thing that didn't happen today was a good chunk of playing.  That's priority number one heading into tomorrow... to get in a good bit of playing, and to make at least some progress in each of the 4 units.  I

Day One (Year Seven)

Today feels huge.  It feels like the first, somewhat tentative steps on a long journey.  I'm in a good place, with a great room, and a long year stretching out ahead of me.  I've got a few touchstones laid out already, and I'm really excited to see what happens in the next 365 days. I know I mentioned it last night, but the touchstones for the year are as follows: 1.  Songwriting 2.  Electric Blues 3.  Acoustic Playing 4.  The Beatles Admittedly, the Beatles & Songwriting focuses will merge a lot, because the big thing I want to accomplish is getting through (and studying) The Complete Scores.   Here's a sample page of "Hey Jude" that I took from the internet, but it's a straight copy out of the book, so it will give some idea about how it all breaks down. I'm sure the acoustic playing will bleed through into the songwriting as well, but I'm mostly focusing on acoustic stuff because I don't feel like I do enough of t

Day Three Hundred Sixty Five (Year Six)

Today was a pretty good day.  I didn't get into the studio until late, but I used the time I had down there to the best of my abilities, and I came out feeling pretty good about tomorrow, and the start of year 7 of the blog. I spent some time getting things truly squared away with each of the 4 units that I'm wanting to focus on.  I picked myself up two, two-subject notebooks.  One is going to have a combination Beatles & Songwriting focus, and the other will have a combination Electric Blues & Acoustic Playing focus. Oh, and speaking of the songwriting side of things, here are a couple of shots that encompass small bits of what I'm going to use: and then, the quote that has inspired this whole focus, and as such, is taped directly onto the songwriting notebook: As good as today felt, I'm really excited for tomorrow.

Day Three Hundred Sixty Four (Year Six)

So, I didn't get a picture taken tonight, but I've got a shelf set up with all of my songwriting resources, in much the same way that the Beatles shelf from last night's post was.  I'll have to get down there and get a shot of it to post in tomorrow's blog.  The acoustic stuff is going to be a bit harder to photograph, as that's spread out a bit more evenly in the studio, but I can get some highlights. As I approach the start of blog year 7, I feel more organized, more ready, and more on the cusp of some really great things than I ever have before.  And yes, I'm aware that, if I were to look back over the last five years, something similar to that previous sentence would appear at about this same time in the year.  All I can say in my defense is that it feels more true this year than it ever has before.  Things are lining up right now, and they're good things. We had family in town today, so there wasn't a whole lot of time to spend in the studio

Day Three Hundred Sixty Three (Year Six)

So, I had intended to get some work done on the power pop project today, but instead I got caught up working on a few other things.  By the very end of the day, I just didn't have the energy to devote to the power pop record, and so I made the decision to put that off until the weekend. I kept going with some of the blues stuff today.  I used the Blues Goldmine book, a book from Hal Leonard, and a Dummies book, cherry picking things from each one as I went along.  I need to be a bit more focused heading into the weekend, to not jump around quite as much as I did today.  All things considered, though, today went pretty decently. I also wanted to make sure that the Beatles unit was in pretty good shape.  Here's 90% of that, all squared away, and all in one place. There are a couple of other magazines that will play a role, but they are collected in different areas.  They'll be there as I need them, though.

Day Three Hundred Sixty Two (Year Six)

I got into the basement today and got started on some of the blues stuff. It was good to get down there and just get started on some of the things that I've been putting together.  This is going to be a whole lot of fun.  I did a little bit of rhythm and a bit of lead practice.  Didn't work on anything in particular where songs are concerned today, but I'm hoping to maybe get to that part of things either tomorrow or Friday. The other thing I wanted to do today was make sure that the Beatles unit was in some sort of shape.  It looks to be, but I'd like another chance to look at that tomorrow, so I'll make sure all is well with that in time for tomorrow's post. It was good to get started today, but I need to do more playing tomorrow than I did today.

Day Three Hundred Sixty One (Year Six)

I spent some time tonight sorting out some of the particulars of the electric blues unit that I want to play around with.  It was good to sit down and take stock of some of the things that I want to work on, some of the songs I want to learn, etc.  I knew I had some interesting books and other resources to base things off of, but in looking through everything again, I'm even more excited to get started on things. That said, what I may end up doing for the next few days (leading into the start of the 7th! year of the blog) is get the other three individual focuses squared away in much the same way that I did tonight.  That way, I should be able to have everything ready to go as the new blog year kicks off. Today was good.  Tomorrow the Mrs. will be in Waterloo all day for meetings, which means I'll have open license to be as loud as I'd like to be all day long down in the studio.  The week finally feels like it's kicking into some sort of gear.

Day Three Hundred Sixty (Year Six)

I worked a lot in my head today, which wasn't the plan when I got up today by any stretch of the imagination. Still, I'm finding myself doing a lot of back of the mind sort of thinking about the things that I'd like to focus on while doing other things, and for the most part, that thinking has been productive.  Right now, I've got three or four things that I'm kicking around: 1.  A focus on electric blues 2.  A focus on songwriting 3.  A focus on improving my acoustic playing 4.  A Beatles Focus Ideas 2 & 4 will have a lot of overlap, as one of the things I want to do is a serious study of the "Complete Scores" that I've had for a few years now, but have never really dove into as fully as I would like. I'm sure the songwriting focus will also come to include recording and finishing some projects as well. The acoustic playing and the songwriting will also overlap a lot, I imagine.  That one was driven home to me over the weekend whe

Day Three Hundred Fifty Nine (Year Six)

So, today was interesting.  I had all of these grand plans for spending the afternoon down in the studio, getting a lot of practicing done, and trying to keep working on the couple of recording projects that have jumped back to the forefront of my mind in the last week or so.  That was all well and good, until the storm that rolled through town late last night/early this morning knocked out the power not only here, but in a few of the surrounding communities as well.  They told us we might not get it back until midnight.  We ended up having power before then, but by that point we were more concerned with other things than I was with getting down into the studio. To combat the lack of time for playing today, I did some reading and studying away from the instrument, but I can guarantee that by tomorrow morning, I'm going to be extremely antsy to get downstairs and get some work in. This week was a weird one.  It fluctuated wildly between really big days and days that weren't

Day Three Hundred Fifty Eight (Year Six)

Today was an all right day. I got some time in the studio this afternoon, but I wasn't as focused as I would have liked to be, so instead of trying to get a whole lot done, I just enjoyed playing and doing a bit of listening. When I got back to things tonight, it was with a bit more seriousness and focus.  One of the cool things in the latest issue of Guitar Techniques is a lesson on the Derek & The Dominos version of "Key To The Highway."  That's one of those that I have always wanted to sit down and learn, and I think this lesson, plus the other transcription I have of the tune, will be the thing that finally pushes me into that.  In fact, the way I'm feeling right now is that an intense focus on the blues might be fun for a while.  I might just have to look into that a little bit more tomorrow. Today could probably have been a bit more productive, but there was good stuff in it, so I'll take that, and look forward to tomorrow.

Day Three Hundred Fifty Seven (Year Six)

Kind of a quiet day today.  We weren't home all that much, which didn't leave a whole lot of time for much in the studio.  Lacking that today, I tried to pick up some new magazines and new music today, and also tried to do some thinking over things while I was out. New music included the Clapton Crossroads 3 disc set, and an album by John Fullbright that I didn't think I'd find at a Best Buy, but did. I also managed to pick up the new Guitar Techniques and a Ukulele magazine that had some fun looking stuff in it. The other cool thing that happened today was stumbling across a really cool little guitar shop in Mason City.  If I'd had enough cash with me today, I would have walked out of there with a new Telecaster, but no such luck. Still a good day, even if there wasn't a whole lot of it spent in the studio.  Tomorrow will be a great day for that, though, as the Mrs. has some work stuff to do that will take up a lot of the day.  With that being the case,

Day Three Hundred Fifty Six (Year Six)

So, today was fun.  To explain my day the right way involves two quick stories; the first of which happened two days ago, and the second of which happened five months ago, right before life started to get really crazy. Two days ago, I wrote in this space about how things finally felt like they were moving forward.  I had sorted through tracks for an EP that I desperately need to finish by the end of the year, and I had mentioned the idea that, at some point this week, I'd like to go through the songs/ideas for the power pop record I've been harboring for far too long. It's the power pop record that takes me back to February, when I attempted (and somewhat successfully completed) the February Album Writing Month project.  Basically, you write an albums worth of songs in 28 or 29 days, because why the hell not?  I had told myself that this was going to be the time that I finally put down the ideas that had been amassing in my head for that record.  And, at least somewhat,

Day Three Hundred Fifty Five (Year Six)

I did something small and silly today, but it was something that very much feels like it was piggy-backing on yesterday. During my studio time yesterday, while I was burning the rough edits of the EP tracks (that I promptly forgot to bring along with me in the car for listening purposes while I did my running), it dawned on me that I was, ostensibly, out of both blank CDs and CD cases.  A few months ago, or even a few weeks ago to be honest, I would have filed that fact away, and maybe remembered to pick up some new ones the next time we were out and about.  This time, I didn't wait.  Something about the prospect of writing and recording has me psyched up right now.  Enough to feel like having the media to burn onto was an immediate need. Truth be told, I've been getting that itch for about a week now, and have been trying to ignore it to test if it's a real feeling, or just something I'm imagining.  Every so often, the songs I hear that are already written and rele

Day Three Hundred Fifty Four (Year Six)

Today was the first day that I've felt like I could really relax into the house since we moved.  There is still work to be done (and a looping pedal to find), but for the most part, all of the rooms are at least set up and organized enough that I can walk into them without feeling like I have to do something related to organizing or sorting. That being the case, I feel like today was the first real day of my time to focus on music (and writing and grad school).  With that in mind, I went back to the list of goals for the rest of the year that I had started on or around the 1st of July.  Right at the top of the list was the following: Finish Writing & Recording:  EP, Power Pop Record, Double Album In the spirit of honesty, the "Double Album" one had a question mark next to it, mostly because I wasn't sure, on the 1st, what I would be able to get done by the end of December. It made sense to me to start with the shortest project, and just start by seeing wha

Day Three Hundred Fifty Three (Year Six)

Still no looping pedal, but I got some of the extra stuff that has remained on the first floor down to the studio today.   With family in town, I didn't have as much time as I wanted to today, but I fit in a few minutes of playing, and I've got at least a little bit of a plan heading into tomorrow.  I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens with the rest of the week, because I think it's going to be a great start on the rest of the year. Short post today, but there will be more tomorrow.

Day Three Hundred Fifty Two (Year Six)

So, there was progress made today, on a couple of different fronts, and both of them were cool. 1.  I got CDs put away through "Z."  That still leaves a few odds and ends to put away, but it's really not much.  The lion's share of the work on that project is done.  Mind you, I still need to sit down and figure out exactly what I want to pull to take down to the studio, but in all honesty, that won't end up being all that much at a time.  So those things ought to be quite simple to knock out tomorrow. 2.  The time that I got to spend in the studio tonight, I mostly spent with an acoustic in my hands, moving a capo around the neck, and playing a cool little melody line and chord progression, just seeing where it sounded the best.  I didn't come to a consensus on that, but I think I may have started writing something.  It's been a really long time since I've had anything resembling a steady stream of time to work on songs.  Maybe, hopefully, this is t

Day Three Hundred Fifty One (Year Six)

Today was another odd day.  It started off with a bang, and then just got progressively weirder. I woke up this morning to find that the amp foot I had ordered from eBay had arrived.  It ended up getting carried around in my pocket for most of the day, because despite thinking that today would be spent around the house, and that I would be able to spend a good chunk of it in the studio, we instead spent most of the day out and about.  With that being the case, the surgery to repair the amp didn't happen until late tonight, and with that now taken care of, it truly is only the looping pedal (which I still can't find) that prevents the studio from being completely whole. While I was down there, I spent at least a few minutes with the guitar in my hands, and even spending as little time in there as I have this week, things are improving.  As I know I said earlier in the week, I'm really looking forward to next week, when things will be (for the most part) put away in the h

Day Three Hundred Fifty (Year Six)

Today was an odd sort of day.  We had some running to do, but were also waiting on a service call for something at the house.  This let me spend the morning getting the rest of the music alphabetized , but not put away, thanks to the timing of the service call.  So, I've got CDs to put away at some point tomorrow, and perhaps go through to cherry pick a few things that will end up downstairs in the studio for closer listening and study. Also, getting back home when we did only allowed me a fairly short period of time tonight in which I could get down to the studio and try to fit in some playing.  I spent that time running some scales and wishing for a day when there wasn't so much to do.  Those days are coming next week, because sooner rather than later now, the house will be set up to the point where every time I walk into a room I'm not fighting the urge to find a place for something. Indeed, tonight may not have had all of the time I was hoping for, but after the las

Day Three Hundred Forty Nine (Year Six)

In the end, these things always seem to take one day more than I think they will. The CD organizing is not done, as I sit here tonight, but I'm up to "S," so it will be done tomorrow, no matter what.  With eight letters to go, and "S" being the biggest of them, after that it should (I hope) be all downhill from there. That said, I was able to steal at least a couple of minutes in the studio today.  I didn't manage to get a whole lot of work done in that time, but the way the week has gone for me, I'll take whatever time I can get. Tomorrow and the weekend will be a lot better, I'm sure.  I knew this project was still out on the horizon, so it's better to get it done early, and then have more time to devote to playing, than to ignore it straightaway and have it hanging over my head until I get around to it.

Day Three Hundred Forty Eight (Year Six)

So, I know I said that I needed to get down into the studio today and get some work in, and then I made the mistake of starting to sort and organize and put away CDs.  With the collection I have, that has ended up occupying enough of my day that I wasn't really able to focus on much else.  I've got everything sorted except for a single box, and I've got a good chunk of that shelved.  The CD project will be finished off tomorrow, for sure. I'll spend whatever time I have left in my day tomorrow down in the studio (I hope). It was a good day, for sure, even if it wasn't spent in quite the way I had been expecting.

Day Three Hundred Forty Seven (Year Six)

I got a little bit of work in today, but mostly I got distracted by finally getting around to figuring out where most of the music collection is going to go, and exactly how that is going to look once it's done.  That process involved moved a gigantic shelf that we just picked up at an auction from one part of the house to another, but now that it's mixed in with the CD racks I have used previously, I'm really liking the look of it.  There will likely be some time spent putting away CDs tomorrow, but there will also be more time spent in the studio tomorrow than there was today. I really, really need to get down there tomorrow and get a good bit of work done.

Day Three Hundred Forty Six (Year Six)

Man, oh man, was I right about today. There was about the same amount of time I have had the last few days, on account of us getting back to town rather late from a family get together for the 4th. Essentially, what I had time for tonight was trying to set myself up for the week ahead.  Making sure that I had all (or at least most) of my ducks in a row in terms of what I'm hoping to work on/get done in the next seven days.  This week, more than last week, feels ripe for a whole lot of playing, and I'm ready to get into the studio and really get started on the second half of the year.

Day Three Hundred Forty Five (Year Six)

Well, I had written last night that I was really hoping to have more time to spend in the studio today than I did yesterday.  More time didn't really materialize today, but about the same amount of time did .  And so, I took it for what it was worth and used it to about the same effect that I did yesterday, which is to say that I feel like I made a little bit of progress, but not the kind I was hoping for. I got a chance to at least get started in on putting together the couple of things I had wanted to add to the lessons that I was working with yesterday, but I didn't get nearly enough time to finish them.  I'm hoping that can happen tomorrow, but realistically, tomorrow will probably look a whole lot like the last few days have looked, and therefore pushing the serious work off until Tuesday.  Still, as long as I feel like I'm moving forward, it's okay.

Day Three Hundred Forty Four (Year Six)

I'll be the first one to admit that I didn't get as much time in the studio today as I was hoping to. That being said, I feel like I've found the thread again, at least a little bit.  I went back to a couple of the Guitar Techniques lessons that I had been taking a look at a couple of months ago, and after knocking a bit of rust off in regards to those, by the end of my time in  the studio tonight, I was remembering where I was at before. Taking those lessons, and then putting a few things together on my own (which I hope to start in on tomorrow afternoon sometime) feels like the right move out of the gate.  Just getting a little bit of work in today felt like a good step.  I'm excited for tomorrow, and I'm hoping to have more time than I did today.

Day Three Hundred Forty Three (Year Six)

As I had expected yesterday, today involved spending a bit more time figuring out exactly where I was before the move, and how it is I want to try and pick up from that upheaval. Most of my time in the studio today, however, was spent dialing in the amp for the room that I'm in now, and just doing some playing for the first time in what felt like forever (at least somewhat because it has been).  The rust is falling away.  Indeed, the longer I played today, the easier things got for me.  I'm hoping that tomorrow I can find enough time down there to really dive into the nitty gritty about exactly where it is that I want to dive back in.  I've got some definite thoughts on that, but it will take another day or so to make sure that I'm falling back in at the right spot.