"Muse" - ings on Rock & Life

Yesterday's post has been picking away at the back of my mind all day.  I've turned it over so many times in the last 24 hours or so that I've lost count.  Here's what I've come to, conclusion-wise: 1) Still incredibly disappointed in the way that November went down.  That being said, I'm going to keep with the theme, and focus my work outside of the band on a specific thing during the month of December.  I'm going to move away from focusing in on a song, however, and instead turn my attention to whipping the much ballyhooed practice binder into some sort of existence.  I've clung to it as this mystical beacon of hope for far too long now, and still, not many of the pieces are in the places they need to be.  My new goal will be to have the binder in basic working order by the first of the year, so that I can begin next year with something more structured on which to base my study of the instrument. 2) I'm hoping that focusing in on the binder wil...

I did it.  I recorded a couple of songs today.  I got versions of "Miami" and "All I Have To Do Is Dream" down on tape.  I really liked the way the solo electric guitar stuff turned out, and really hated the way my voice sounded on the recordings.  I'm starting to remember why I found someone else to sing the songs I work on.  I've never really been satisfied with my voice all that much.  Or maybe I've just never tapped into using it the way it needs to be used.  Maybe I need to take singing lessons.  Maybe I should just refine my guitar chops and be a hired gun in that regard.  Production is probably the place for me if the band stuff doesn't work out well. I'm all over the place today, I can tell.  I'm not quite willing to call November an unmitigated disaster when it comes to the music, but it sure seems like it was close.  I didn't even get close to accomplishing as much as I set out to.  I'm disappointed with myself....

Played through "Miami" today.  I'm feeling pretty good about that one.  It'll definitely make the final cut for the EP. Dropped J. a line today, in an effort to re-open lines of communication/figure out where he's gotten to.  He got back to me tonight.  Apparently, the studio is down.  He's having mixer issues.  Hopefully, he says, it's just a power supply problem, and we will be back up and running soon.  This record would be done so much quicker if we were all in the same place.  Or if I had ProTools and could do what he does.  Makes me think that, with some of my Christmas money this year, I might just get myself ProTools and refurbish one of my old laptops exclusively for music usage.  Seems like a solid idea. Skyped a bit with B. tonight as well.  She's working on another song for the band.  I updated her on what's going on with J. and presented the notion that we ought to be figuring out tempo on the other songs we ha...

So, a co-worker told me about a song that her son had written and submitted to a songwriting contest.  She was excited about it, and wanted me to check it out.  It took her a while to get me the info, but yesterday, she handed me a sheet of paper and told me to check out that song.  Tonight I did.  Turns out that it's a contest sponsored by Guitar Center, and the grand prize is a 3 song demo to be recorded with John Shanks, $10,000 in cash, and free gear from a bunch of companies.  It looks really cool.  I wish I had known about it back in October, or whenever it was that the contest started.  I'd have written something and submitted it.  There were also some cool, short, videos by Mr. Shanks on the process of writing and recording.  Then again, I'm a sucker for that sort of thing. Still hoping to get a lot (EP & Song) done on my two day break from work.  One of the things that I struggle with, both when it comes to the music side ...

Had an interesting conversation with SL today before I headed off to work and she headed home.  "How's your November song coming?" she asked.  "Not so great," I said, "I probably won't get there." In that moment, I felt guilty.  I'm not surprised to have felt this way, but it spurred me on to make up for what hasn't gotten done thus far in November.  I've been thinking about that moment all day.  I'm working Sunday, but have both Monday and Tuesday off.  And it dawns on me in my crazy way that maybe, just maybe, I could go on some sort of run, get some recording done, and manage to throw "Classical Gas" together at the last minute, thereby skating out of November with a completed EP and a song learned (or mostly learned), thereby calling it an admittedly under the gun success. I started playing around with both the acoustic and the electric this morning.  Started with "Miami," and played a bit of "Goodni...

Went to see the new Muppet movie tonight with SL.  After working all day, it was a nice respite from the craziness that goes along with retail on Black Friday.  Wasn't sure what to write about today until it was almost too late, but then SL suggested I write about how a classic song is always a classic song.  In light of the Muppets, she's right.  Songs can be associated with so many things in our lives.  Periods of time, certain people, struggles, and successes.  And it doesn't take much to bring us back to those moments, does it?  The first few bars of "Rainbow Connection" just find a way to put a smile on your face, and take you back to being 9 again.  There's something magical about that. Granted, it works the other way as well.  Certain songs make us sad, certain songs make us remember conversations, old loves, and new beginnings.  It's the same reason it's hard not to re-use songs on mixtapes.  We want to create that sense o...

Nothing to report today... it's a holiday, so I took a day off.  Back to work on stuff tomorrow, though, I promise.  Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Started trying to work through one of the songs for the EP tonight.  I picked "Miami" by Counting Crows.  I'm trying to figure out how to make my solo electric version of this song come out something like this: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLMLbzH2JAM Not sure that's entirely possible, but I'm definitely willing to try.  As I write this, I'm trying to figure out whether I can figure out a way to Stevie Ray Vaughan the section where the solo is supposed to be, so that maybe I can have the illusion of a rhythm part behind me as I solo.  If that fails (and I suspect it might), I know I can always overdub a solo in there somewhere, but it would still be cool to be able to pull everything off myself in one take.  If only I had a looping pedal... something tells me that having one of those babies at my disposal would be rather handy for this type of a project. One of those, or money toward one, will no doubt end up on my Christmas list this year.

I started going through songs today, in an effort to figure out exactly what was going to make the cut.  As usual, I found more than enough tunes to accommodate  my needs.  There's some fun stuff in there, though, including an awesome song I have by Elvis Costello called "Deep Dark Truthful Mirror."  Also included in my list was one of my favorite Counting Crows songs off of their record Hard Candy .  The song's called "Miami," and it has always been a tune I connect with strongly.  We'll see what happens in the next 7 days or so, but I'm feeling some good things coming with this. Also of note, and cool, today was the fact that Sonia Leigh's manager called and talked to the music manager today (wish it was me) to set up another potential visit and leave his contact information. Further proof that solo electric can be really cool is found here, with Bob Mould at the A.V. Club http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgjCphGETnU This is going to wor...

So, I've spent the last three weeks going back and forth in my head between recording an EP and learning "Classical Gas."  As a result of the back and forth, I've hardly gotten anything accomplished on either front, and now I've got a week, and I'm kind of disappointed with myself. That being said, I had a bit of an epiphany tonight.  I was sitting with the song binder and the unplugged electric, just paging through and running a few things to see if they'd work with my voice.  I really do want to have at least something to show for November, even if it's only a couple of songs.  As I was sitting with the electric, I flashed back to a musical moment where the world around me just stopped, and I was frozen completely in awe of the event I was watching. Don't quote me on the date, but I think it was 2002 sometime, I just happened to catch Paul Westerberg on Jay Leno one night.  He was promoting Stereo/Mono , which had just been released.  He came...

After all the excitement of the Sonia Leigh in-store yesterday, today was understandably quieter. Still haven't heard from J.  It's going on three weeks now, and I'm thinking that one of the things that needs to happen in the next couple of days is me reaching out just to see what's going on in J.'s corner of the world.  Having talked to B. quite a bit in the last week or so, it's been on my mind a lot of late. That said, I sat down for a bit tonight after work, and started to gather the articles and other assorted things I had mentioned the other day for inclusion in the binder.  Not entirely sure how I'm going to transfer everything to the binder yet, whether it'll be through copies of the articles I want to include, or how this will work, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.  Some of the shorter things will be easier to duplicate, and the song transcriptions will be simple, but the longer guitar workouts and their corresponding diagrams might ...

Went to the Sonia Leigh in-store performance at work today before my shift.  I was expecting it to just be her and an acoustic guitar, but to our amazement, we got a 5 piece band!  It was Sonia and her acoustic guitar, her drummer, her bass player (with an acoustic bass), her lead guitarist (on acoustic), and an accordion player.  This is the second time I've watched accordion take lead phrases with an acoustic as the backup instrument (the other was at last year's Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash gig), and it was equally as amazing today as it was then. The other cool thing to watch was the way that Sonia and her guitarist interacted & structured their acoustic arrangements.  Her guitar was almost always capoed up the neck, while his was almost never altered.  It was a mini-crash course in part layering, and a really cool way to make more noise with less instruments (something I can definitely use in recording). As an added bonus, they played at least half o...

Picked up the Sonia Leigh record tonight at work, in advance of the in-store appearance tomorrow.  Going in slightly before noon just to make sure I don't miss anything.  It'll be fun to be close enough to watch her play, and know that she's already been signed.  I know there's a chance to learn from what she does in an intimate, acoustic setting, and I can't wait to see what I can pick up from her. Another crazy day today at work.  Made for a good night to come home and sit for a little while and just focus on the musical things that need to get done. So many things that need to be included in the early stages of the binder. 1) The Berklee study criteria 2) Vai's 30 Hour Workout 3) Zakk Wylde's Guitar Bootcamp article, and the other tips from GIT & Berklee that are also included in that issue of Guitar World. 4) Some song transcriptions ("Little Wing," "Red House," "Have You Ever Loved A Woman") that I really want...

Very long day at work today.  Perfect chance to come home and sit with the acoustic as a way to de-stress after my shift.  Did just that and discovered that "Friend Of The Devil" may well end up in the running for the list of songs that makes the EP.  More likely the slower, Counting Crows version than the more sprightly original version by the Grateful Dead, but that's just the way it happens in my world. Found out something cool at work today that's music related as well.  We're going to have Sonia Leigh in the store at noon on Saturday.  She's the opening act for The Zac Brown Band that night at Wells Fargo Arena here in town.  There's a rumor that she'll be playing an acoustic set in the store.  I work at 2 that day, but I'll totally be going in early for the gig around noon.  We've got her record as an in-store play this month, and for me, its been one of those slow-burners that the more I hear, the more I like.  It's only ten bucks ...

Had the day off today, but the musical highlight didn't happen until tonight.  I had a good, long (2 hours) chat with B.  First time in a few weeks.  We're both puzzled as to J.'s lack of communication, especially considering he has tracks to play around with.  I'm thinking I'll actually have to reach out to him and see what the deal is. Apparently, B. has been doing a lot of playing the last few weeks.  Our conversation started with her being stuck while trying to shore up one of the songs we worked out most of when I was home in August.  We worked our way through that, and then she dropped something new on me that she had been working on.  It's faster than our usual stuff, which is good.  We've got a lot of cool stuff, but not a lot of faster rock numbers.  This has the potential to be one of those.  It's just a chorus, mind you, but there's definitely something there. After that, I dragged out a chord progression that I swear I'd ...

Listening to a live stream of R.E.M.'s new career spanning best of on NPR.com as I write this. In any process that is as long and drawn out as the one that is being chronicled by this blog, there are going to be high points and low points.  Ordinary days and watershed days.  Today felt like a watershed day. I compared the two Berklee applications.  I was right, the first one had more to it.  There was a second sheet in the earlier app that had more musical characteristics and questions on it.  It gives me more of a chance to lay out the areas that I will need to focus on in order to put my best foot forward when I apply. Other things that happened today: 1) I found the binder that I had intended to use to make the centerpiece of the project.  There's a skeleton of something there, but it's really thin right now.  It's something that I can definitely flesh out from there, and the exciting part of that is that I don't think it would take all that...

I finally got Florence + The Machine's Ceremonials imported into itunes today (finally).  Still can't find my copy of Lungs , and it disturbs me.  I'm better organized than that, or at least when it comes to music I am. Tomorrow is the 15th of the month.  Mid-way through, and the progress I've made on both "Classical Gas" and the EP idea has admittedly been pathetic.  I've got to start recording stuff soon (like, maybe starting tomorrow) if I plan on having anything to show for November. I pulled out the song binder that had been a very early part of the blog process in an attempt to find some songs for the EP.  It's getting to the point where I'm just going to start picking stuff and laying it down, if only for fun.  "Gas" needs to get some attention as well. I know full well that this is a time for me to get my ducks in a row, so to speak.  A time when recent events in my life have combined to bring me to a point where I'm r...

I got caught up on a lot of the excess reading today.  There were a lot more magazines built up than I thought there were.  I didn't get through everything, but it did feel good to at least start the process.  I read a really cool article on the creation of "Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs."  What I didn't get to was all of the Beatles stuff.  That surprised me somewhat, honestly.  I paged through the Berklee App. a little bit, but not as thoroughly as I need to.  I've got the ability to burn the midnight oil tonight, though, so I'm fully expecting a lot to happen late tonight. I still need to dig for the first Florence + The Machine record.  That, too, will happen before work tomorrow. Also, I stumbled across a pile of tabs that might be considered for the EP.  One of these days I need to start recording stuff for that. Another week gone by with no word from J.

It must be Beatles month for some of the big publications.  I'm not sure whether it has to do with the 10th Anniversary of George Harrison's death being this year, or what the story is, but I stumbled across the last copy of a magazine that Rolling Stone put out today, on The Beatles, album by album.  In my head, it will go hand in hand with the Guitar World article that I mentioned yesterday. I've been listening to the new Florence + The Machine record in the car going back and forth to work for the last couple of days.  It's really good.  It makes me want to dig for the burned copy of the deluxe edition that JP from work hooked me up with earlier this year.  I'd like to give that a fair listen again, if only to see if the new record is as much of a leap forward as I think it is. I'm off tomorrow.  I know on the surface that it's just one of my two days off this week, but the fact that it's a Sunday makes it feel like I will get more done.  I know...

I had a series of revelations today.  They were all good revelations, too, so I count that as a good thing.  The list, if you can quantify it as such, went like this: 1) I should be able to both work on "Classical Gas" and pull off the EP in the same month. 2) If I'm going to be serious about the original goal (Berklee), I ought to start my plan for improvement with their acceptance requirements.  That said, I printed off a fresh copy of their application.  I intend to compare it to the one I've carried with me for a decade now, just to see if things have changed at all in 10 years, and then start devising my plan of attack/practice from there. 3) I got an email from my brother today while I was at work that related to yesterday's post.  At the risk of being completely nerdy, here's what he wrote: I just read your blog from last night and wished to insert my opinion and say that I think the cover EP sounds like a great idea for a November project. P...

Today was an unexpected hodgepodge of awesome.  I got the new record by Florence + The Machine for free.  Deluxe edition and everything.  Haven't cracked into it yet, but I will in the next day or so.  The other random act of music happened as I was walking out the door for the day.  I ran into a co-worker who then proceeded to loan me She & Him's holiday record for listening/burning purposes. I've also received a request tonight that's of a decidedly musical nature.  It has been suggested to me that I should really focus in on my EP of covers that has gotten mention in this space over the last couple of weeks.  That being said, I'm starting to ponder if I ought to make my project for November the EP instead of "Classical Gas." More on this thought tomorrow.

After looking through the transcription for "Classical Gas" yesterday, today I sat down with the acoustic and tried to start making sense of it musically.  I know full well that I'm roughly 9 days behind schedule in doing this, but I'm getting there.  It'll mean really stepping up my game, playing-wise, if I'm actually going to accomplish my goal, but that can definitely happen. It was really a lot of fun to start analyzing the chord progression.  I made it through the intro and the first section of the song today.  Getting up to the main theme felt like big progress, considering the slowness with which I've gotten started this month.  What I enjoyed the most was hearing the melody inside the chord progression.  There are so many nuances to this song, and I can't wait to figure out the way that the melody lines intertwine their way through these chords. I imported Cold Roses by Ryan Adams today, as well as Soul Coughing's Irresistible Bliss . ...

So, I gave myself a list of three things yesterday that I wanted to get done today, and I'm happy with the fact that I got two of them taken care of completely, and made a bit of progress on the third. What did I get done, you ask?  1) I got in touch with B. to see whether she got anything done writing-wise this last weekend.  She didn't.  Looks like I'm going to have to start taking over that part again.  In a related story, I did sit down with the acoustic for a little bit this afternoon, but I wasn't planning on working on anything in particular, so I didn't get much writing done. 2) I answered my Tom Waits question.  Here's what I have.  It's easier that way, because it makes for a shorter list than what I'm missing. - Closing Time - Small Change - Swordfishtrombones - Blood Money - Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards - Asylum Years - Beautiful Maladies: The Island Years I need more Tom Waits and the rest of Son Volt. 3)  As...

There really wasn't all that much happening today, sadly.  I worked late, so I got a chance to sit with the acoustic for a few minutes before I dashed off to work, but the way my work day went, I needed more time with the guitar than I got.  I'm just thankful that the next two days (both off) will give me that time.  Here's what I'd like to get done with said time: 1) get a serious start on "Classical Gas." 2) find B. to see how her writing went this past weekend. 3) figure out exactly what I have by Tom Waits, and thereby, what I still need. One other thing of note:  I made a muppet for muppet trade with a co-worker today... he got me a copy of the new holiday record, and I got him a copy of the tribute record from earlier in the year. That's really all for today.  Tomorrow will be much better.

So, what I really want to write about tonight is Christmas music in the retail environment, but since doing that may well violate my employer's blogging and social networking policy, I'm going to pass on that rant. Never did hear from J. today.  I was really hoping that we would at least have something to work with by the end of the weekend.  In a related story, I wonder how B.'s weekend of deciding our songs needed bridges went.  Last I heard, she was going to try and add some in here and there.  Not entirely sure how that's going to work, but then again, that isn't a big surprise to me, having lived with the songs in their current state for as long as I have. I did however, manage to find the official transcription I have for "Classical Gas" tonight.  It's from a 2009 issue of Guitar Techniques .  I figure, if I'm going to follow through with this, I really ought to do so from a professional transcription.  One that has a recording...

Another slowish day today.  Caved again and picked up something I maybe shouldn't have.  I bought the deluxe edition of one of my favorite records from the last few years, Mumford & Sons, Sigh No More .  The deluxe edition comes with a disc full of live stuff, and a 4 part documentary on the early years of the band.  Secretly, I've wanted this for quite some time, work has just never carried it until recently.  What I'd really like, though, is the Guitar Recorded Versions TAB book of that album.  Not sure if it's actually available or not, but if it is, I need it. Still no word from J.  Usually he gets stuff done on Sundays, though, so I'm still holding out hope for a drop of files tomorrow. Didn't have a lot of time to play today.  I feel bad about it, but the way the day fell just didn't afford more than a couple of minutes.  I really need to focus in on "Classical Gas" this week, and try to make some serious pro...

Not all that much to report today.  I went in to work at noon, so I had the morning to mess about a bit with the guitar.  Printed off a couple of tabs that I'm thinking of using for this EP I've been debating. 1) Dancing In The Dark - Bruce Springsteen 2) Next Best Western - Richard Shindell/Lucy Wainwright Roche Whether or not they get used depends on how my vocals end up sounding/whether or not I can find a tuning or capo placement that works for my voice.  Both songs are simple, chord-wise, and both fall close enough to the C-Am-F-G progression that I could use them and get away with it for the purposes of the idea that's in my head. No word from J. yet on the tracks, although I did talk to B. for a bit last night, and she's thinking she'll spend the weekend working on some things for the band, so hopefully that will be productive.  Can't wait to see what the end of the weekend brings.  There's an outside chance that we might be able to move on to ...

So, I worked a split shift today.  Oddly enough, it gave me time to do music stuff at three different times during the day.  This morning before 7, I put my uncle's CDs into the car stereo.  It was sad and fascinating at the same time, hearing his voice, listening to his guitar playing.  I had hoped I'd be a bit more ready for that emotionally.  I wasn't. This afternoon I got a chance to work on the Everlys tune and a bit of "Classical Gas" before heading back to work tonight.  "All I Have To Do Is Dream" is really starting to come together.  Moreso than the Mason Williams.  Granted, I've worked on that more, so I can't honestly say I'm surprised.  As for tonight, I'm hoping to pick through a few things on the electric.  It feels like things with the band are going to start winding up again here pretty quick.  J. has had tracks for about a week now, so I'm expecting work soonish here.  And while I know I've said it bef...

Knowing full well that I'm supposed to be working on "Classical Gas," I was feeling decidedly 60's rock & roll this morning.  I went with a classic by the Everly Brothers.  "All I Have To Do Is Dream."  I found a couple of versions of it, but the one that feels right to me is capoed at 3 and in the key of C.  Most of the song is the classic C-Am-F-G progression that makes up a great number of early rock & roll songs.  There's a key change to F in the middle, but other than that, it's really quite simple. I've been pondering dashing off a quick EP the last couple of days.  Something with 3 or 4 cover songs and an original or two.  Maybe make it something where all of the songs use the same chords, in the spirit of "The Greatest Song Ever Written."  I've already got a name for the EP.  Maybe that will help in the process. The last two things I'm ordering for myself until after Christmas came in today. 1) Divine Provi...

So, apparently I've decided on "Classical Gas" this year.  Which isn't to say that I won't toy with other songs as the month goes along, depending on my level of progress.  What's cool about "Classical Gas," at least from a learning perspective is this: the tab that I have of it breaks down very nicely into sections that seem to make for easy learning.  In the end, that may have been the thing that pushed me to it.  Either that, or listening to my brother rip through it when we were in Door County this summer. It presents different challenges than "Stairway" did last year, and that appeals to me as well.  Although there IS a part of me that thinks I'll go back and revisit "Stairway" as well, if only for the solo, which was the only part I didn't nail down last year. Got a bit of a musical shock to the system today.  Stopped by the mailbox to grab the days ads and bills and whatnot only to find a package from my Mom.  K...