Skip to main content

Day Twenty

Has it really been another five days? Wow, the time is really flying by. Lots to write about tonight, or so I think going in. Finished up going through all of the keys with sharps in them today, now only the flats remain. Also, I ran an internet search for songs in specific keys, and turned up a pretty cool site that gives you the scale for whatever key you pick (in at least one position), lets you hear it, and gives you a list of songs in that key. So that should be fun to investigate further.

Scared a manager at work tonight. He wandered back into my department and asked me what Fastball's big hit was (Fastball is going to be at the State Fair this week). I told him that it was "The Way," and he said that wasn't the song he was thinking of. He then gives me a piece of lyric ("I am still living with your ghost."), and I told him the following things:

1) The song is "Santa Monica."
2) The band is Everclear.
3) It was on Sparkle & Fade, their major label debut.
4) It was track #4.

Then he called me a freak.

Then I told him that 5) the song is in the key of G.

Believe it or not, that ISN'T my top 5 for the day, although it would make a good one. Nope, I had promised a Top 5 Music Documentary List. Now, let me preface this by saying that the list is based only on the ones I own at the moment. As usual, in no particular order...

1) It Might Get Loud
2) I Am Trying To Break Your Heart: A Film About Wilco
3) Stones In Exile
4) No Direction Home
5) The Beatles Mythol... er, Anthology.

and as a bonus...

6) Rattle And Hum.

I know, I know, this means I don't own The Last Waltz. It's a sin I'll remedy as soon as possible, trust me.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Day Two Hundred Six (Year Four)

Today was the first official day of the second half of my "album-in-a-month" challenge. As for today's goals, I wanted to see what I could get done in regards to track order, and get at least a little bit of a start on the lyric writing process. I spent more time working on the track order question than I did on the lyrics today, but as a result of that, I ended up with something that I think will work in terms of order. I did sit with the notebook for a few minutes at the very end of the day, and got a solid starting line of lyric and some other ideas that I hope will be jumping off points for lyrics. What I'm thinking I might do, however, is switch my focus from the lyric writing part of the process directly to the recording part of the process.  That way, if I can get the music recorded and burned onto a CD, I can take the music with me in the car, and listen and try to see what images and thoughts the music brings up.  It's a tactic that has worked for...

Day Three Hundred Fifty Nine (Year Three)

Finished up last night's project for the Start Experiment tonight.  It feels awesome to have the drums laid down for this first song.  It's amazing to me just how much more like music this progression sounds with a drum track behind it. Tonight's project is recording the bass line, which should go pretty smoothly, considering that it's already written... I just haven't gotten around to it yet.  Granted, it took me about an hour to get the drums set up so the patterns were recorded in the right order.  Even with notes, these things take a lot of time, I guess. Two things dawned on me today that need sharing: 1) I haven't done much listening at all this week, except for what has happened in the car.  It's still Drive-By Truckers right now, but that needs to change tomorrow. and 2) There hasn't been a whole lot of work on the Buddy Holly tune in the last couple of days.  That needs to change tomorrow and Saturday if I'm going to feel good abou...

Day Three Hundred Forty Two (Year Four)

Tonight was a slightly unfocused night in the studio. It was a night of acoustic stuff, but most of what I got accomplished involved tinkering with different songs by Jackie Greene and Johnny Cash.  If nothing else, I set up the next list of songs I want to figure out. Tomorrow night I need to start getting back to the Acoustic Goldmine book, as well.  Every time I sit down with the acoustic for an extended period of time, I reconnect with the emotional side of that instrument.  There's so much to learn still in that book, so much information designed to improve my playing.  I need to take better advantage of it. I know it's crazy, but I'm already looking forward to Friday.  I really need to spend a lot of the day in the studio.  Getting a weekday off of work is such a rare commodity.  I need to do a good job of using my time wisely.