"Muse" - ings on Rock & Life

So I'm a week in. My thoughts on what I was going to write about this morning had something to do with not having put in a marathon session with the guitar yet. Thus far, it's been short bursts and other helpful projects. That was the plan, anyway. And as the saying goes, "the best laid plans of mice and men..." I took a phone call at work this afternoon from a guy who lives and works in Boston, Mass. He works in distribution, helping artists find radio play, promotion, etc. His reason for calling was to check on customer response for a single that was #1 on a local station. Long story short, we got to chatting, and eventually he asked if I was "an artist." I told him I was, and he gave me his contact info and told him to look me up after my album was out. The world is a funny place sometimes. That being said, I need to rock more this next week.

Nothing much tonight. Not as much as I had hoped for at the start of the day anyway. I did, however, manage to get started deciphering "Fine" off of my list from yesterday. I was worried that my ear would've deserted me after roughly a year of disuse, but I was wrong. I've always been able to listen to something and figure it out. Maybe not right away, but over the years I have gotten better at it. Like anything else, it gets easier the more you do it. Good to know it's at least a little bit like riding a bike. "Fine" is in the key of A, and the basic progression for the intro and the verse uses the relative minor and the 4th in the key of A (A-F#m-D). The bridge section (the part that begins with the line you see a storm knocked out my superpowers, now I sleep thundershowers, wake me when you learn to be cool) goes in two sections, both of which use the same chords. It starts on the 5th in the key of A. E-D-A-E makes up the first section, and...

To further honor "High Fidelity," every five days, I'm going to do a Top 5 list of some sort. Today's list, The Top 5 Songs I Want To Learn . Here Goes, in no particular order: 1) Red House - Jimi Hendrix 2) Little Wing - Stevie Ray Vaughan 3) Girlfriend - Matthew Sweet 4) Fine - Alkaline Trio 5) Classical Gas - Mason Williams and a bonus song, 6) Preacher's Daughter - The Refreshments So there's a place to start, at least. There's a bit of electric, a bit of acoustic, 2 instrumentals, 2 rockers, and a pop-punk masterpiece by 'Trio. Best of all, there's 3 songs on that list that I've always wanted to learn, and 2 that are just plain fun! And as for "Preacher's Daughter," well, that's just a great song. Plus, it's in the same key (and may use some of the same solo ideas as "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns N' Roses, so that "bonus" could well lead into something else awesome. What's odd ab...

Got started on a binder with acoustic-type songs tonight. Seemed like a good idea if I'm going to be getting out and playing live at some point. I know the city has TONS of open mic opportunities, so it's only a matter of finding tunes I want to learn, doing so, and then getting out there and playing. Awhile back I had started an iTunes playlist of some songs I might want to learn on acoustic, so I started there, printed off tabs, and got going. Apparently you can print a playlist directly out of iTunes. That's kinda helpful, now that I know about it. Along with the tabs (which I 3-hole punched), I tossed a notebook in the binder as well, just in case I think of more songs I want to add. I'm already adding some. Not quite sure on how I want to organize it yet, though. Everything's just sort of thrown in haphazardly at the moment. Eventually, it may well be sorted alphabetically by artist, with the songs in order of which album they were on, just like my CD...

Short one today. I've got a bunch of the DVDs that Guitar World has put out. Waded through those to see what I had, worked off of the lead guitar one. Just basic scales , but still a light place to begin. It was nice to just start loosening up my fingers again. Off from work tomorrow, so hopefully I'll get a lot of playing done. Said I'd mention the other project I'm hoping to finish this year. Back when I was living in WI, I started a hard rock band with a friend of mine. She was heavily influenced by Evanescence, and so, with her as vocalist, we started writing songs. We had written and demoed almost a full album's worth of music by the time I moved to IA, and had even purchased a P.A. in preparation for eventual gigs. We never did find a permanent drummer or bassist, so our demos sound very rough (and not nearly loud enough). I'd like to finish those songs, and make an EP of the 4 or 5 strongest, just as a way to put a cap on that project. More tom...

Tonight's goal was a sitmple one: go through all of the stuff I've collected over the years that I thought would help me tap into the music. It seems like each time I move, I both acquire more stuff AND weed some of it out of the final plan. This time around, I'd managed to put most of it in a single place. So, I essentially sat in a corner for a long time tonight, going through stuff, taking some things out, and re-sorting what remained into piles. Essentially, here's what I discovered. 1) Lots of Articles on Practicing, Technique, & various Styles of music. 2) Transcriptions of specific Songs , some of which I wanted to learn, some of which I didn't. 3) Books on specific topics (mostly Chords & Scales ). 4) Lots and lots of blank forms, most of which were either filled with Chord Diagrams or The Notes on the Fretboard. 5) Lots and lots of half written Songs (Both Chord Progressions & Lyrics ). All in all, not the biggest of steps, but defini...

As it sits, today is the 24th of July, 2010. I'll be thirty in twelve days. Not sure how I feel about that. What I can say with certainty is that I've devoted my entire adult life to Rock & Roll, in some way, shape, or form. All of my teenage years too, for that matter. In my fifteen years of playing guitar, I've written some decent songs, been a part of some amazing musical experiences, and left far too much unfinished. in the next 377 days, I'd like to start changing that. I'm happy to say that I don't feel like a Rock & Roll "has been," but saddened to admit that I very much DO feel like a Rock & Roll "never was." What I'd like to be is a Rock & Roll "haven't yet." I've also become something else along the way. A critic. Maybe it's because of where I work. Maybe it's because of how much I listen to. But I'm tired of being the critic who hasn't added anything of substance to t...