"Muse" - ings on Rock & Life

New Airborne Toxic Event came out today, and while I got to read all of the (rave) reviews on Twitter, there was no place in town that had the album in stock.  I always miss Barnes & Noble more on Tuesdays than any other day of the week.  If I didn't love the band so much, I'd just cave and buy the record on itunes, but for some reason I need to have an actual, physical copy of their records. Looked into a tab stamp online today, turns out they actually have such things.  I've just run into more situations lately where I don't need a whole sheet of tab paper, but having a small chunk of it would be nice, and I'm growing weary of writing out the lines and such, so I'm definitely ordering one of those at some point in the near future. In light of no Airborne (yet), I took the new Son Volt record with me in the car.  Haven't found a ton of time to listen to it otherwise, so I figured I'd start with me being in a confined space.  I'm enjoying it....

So, I've finally made up my mind when it comes down to what my next musical purchase is going to be.  Initially it was between three things: 1) A Ukelele 2) A Banjo and 3) A ProTools setup, an interface to connect my Boss 1180BR-CD to a computer, and a refurbished laptop on which to run ProTools. And while I bought a few resources related to both the uke and the banjo, I think at the end of the day, for now, what I'm going to do is refurbish my old laptop, drop ProTools onto it, and hook everything together.  The other thing I'm going to add in is Finale Songwriter.  It's pretty inexpensive (around $50), and among other things, will allow me to print my own sheet music. Feels good to have finally made that decision.  There's more reasoning behind it, but I'll put that off for another day or so before I reveal everything.

Ten years ago today, Apple Inc. changed the music world forever by launching a tiny little thing called the itunes store. Had to get that in there somewhere, now on to my revelation of the day.  All through church this morning, I was visualizing scales on the fretboard.  I started with something easy... E minor pentatonic, and kept working my way through various scales.  Somewhere in the middle, it dawned on me: in my efforts on learning both scales and fretboard organization, I have always separated the two things by at least a small margin.  It never really occurred to me until today that learning the way that the notes are laid out, and learning the scales should be as connected as possible.  When I write that out, it looks incredibly stupid and seems so amazingly obvious, I mean the notes make up the scales, so it's not implausible that the two be inter-related. Here, I think, is what I'm really trying to get at.  When I learn a scale, I learn the p...

So, Jon Acuff's new book Start came in the mail today.  Haven't cracked it open yet, but it is definitely on my to do list soon.  I've never really had much trouble starting things, it's following through and finishing them that seems to be a tougher proposition for me.  The blog is (kind of) evidence of this.  It seems like I've taken stock of my progress at the start of each new year of the blog, vowed to do better, and then (largely) stayed on the same path as before.  I went through things again tonight, and here's what I discovered that's kind of cool: each time I take stock and vow to do better, I get a little bit farther.  So, what started out as a series of small steps has had a few more added to it each year, until now, when the way forward seems clearer than it ever has before.  The little, tiny steps are finally turning into something resembling a base, which is really exciting. Tonight I did some practicing, and some songwriting, like I h...

I called MidBell today about that poster that I had ordered a couple of weeks ago.  They had indicated that it would take 7-10 business days to arrive.  Apparently it's still not in yet.  I'm hoping it's in by next Tuesday, because the Mrs. is driving through Sioux City on her way to Omaha to pick up a friend at the airport, and she said she'd stop and grab it for  me. I'm really hoping that tomorrow afternoon grants me the chance to really dig into some music stuff.  Feels like I've had to wait all week for that opportunity to present itself, and now that it's almost here, I don't intend to waste it.  Serious practice time and songwriting are both on my to-do list for tomorrow after work. Also, the music world lost another legend today, as George Jones passed away at the age of 81. I know it isn't much for today, but that's really all I've got.  Tomorrow will be amazing, though.

Had a chance to sit for a while tonight with a guitar in my lap.  In the process, I managed to stumble across a cool little chord progression that has definite potential to be something cool moving forward.  I haven't done too well writing this month, but I really like this little set of chords.  Maybe between now and next Tuesday night something will come from it that will end up being a song (or something like it). Did a little bit of listening today, but I'm at the point where I'm really glad that the Airborne record comes out next week.  I'm really hankering for something new in that regard. There was a bit of other playing as well, some scales were run, and there was a bit of an attempt to find a melody line for nothing in particular. Not the most productive of days, but I really do like the chord progression I stumbled onto.

A stressful end to my day at work allowed the music to do what it has never failed to do for me: calm me down and relax me enough so that I can go on and tackle whatever is next on my list.  I needed it tonight, and it came through. The other thing I'm enjoying this week?  Finding one little thing per day that moves my musical journey forward.  Yesterday it was that capo transposition sheet, today it was finding a column in the latest issue of Guitar Techniques that delved into scale choices and playing over chord progressions.  Every little bit helps push me farther in the direction of where I need to be. Also of note tonight: I'm reading a fantastic music novel right now by Cynthia Voight.  It's called Orfe .  Technically, I think it's a teen novel, but I'm really enjoying it.  A really nice change from the usual spate of rock bios when it comes to music related reading. That's really all for today.  Hopefully tomorrow results in more of a...

Taught today.  I thought it went okay, considering my student's usual level of hyperactivity.  I'm trying to get her to focus long enough to make it all the way through something before she dives into something new.  I think I'm being at least somewhat successful. In trying to help her out, I looked into capo placement as it pertains to switching keys from chords she finds tough to chords that work better for her.  In the process, I stumbled upon a cool chart for capo transposition. It brought me back around to the idea of having two guitar parts in some of the songs I've been working on.  And now, with a definitive resource at hand to sort out the capoed versus non-capoed guitars, I should be able to make some forward progress when it comes to arranging my songs. That being said, there was more listening done this afternoon than playing, as things came up around the house that interfered with the time I had hoped to spend with a guitar in my hands.  ...

Richie Havens died today at age 72.  The man whose 2 hour set opened Woodstock in 1969 is no longer with us. Today was one of those days where a little bit of listening went a long way toward being most of my musical activity for the day.  I fit in some time with the ipod wherever I could today, a lot of it focused on The Decemberists.  I've still got the Alk 3 playing in the car, although I'm almost ready for something different in that regard.  I'll give my review of their disc tomorrow, I promise. It's funny, I spent the whole day thinking about scale patterns and other assorted things relating to guitar, and then I got home and hardly picked up the instrument at all.  I'm hoping tomorrow afternoon will be better when it comes to that. Round 3 of the Battle Rounds aired on The Voice tonight.  We missed some of it, because the satellite was out for a while.  Snow this late in April is insane .  But still a great episode.  I'm finding ...

We ended up in Sioux City today.  I stopped in a MidBell to see if my poster had come in yet... it hasn't.  I was also looking for something that I almost bought last weekend.  Can't remember for the life of me what it was, exactly, and I was hoping that being there would jog my memory.  Didn't work like I had hoped.  In a related story, I still haven't decided which direction to go instrument-wise. Got a chance to do a bit of listening this morning before church.  Finally made it all the way through Alkaline Trio's Broken Wing EP.  The songs definitely fit in with the music on My Shame Is True .  I'm feeling a little more confident about giving a full review now, although I think it will wait until either tomorrow or Tuesday. Stopped off at B&N today, too.  Found that pesky issue of Guitar Techniques that I had missed last weekend.  Someday I'd like to subscribe to all of the guitar magazines I end up buying regularly.  And...

So, today was Record Store Day 2013.  First time I've ever been not working on said holiday, and the Mrs. and I decided to go into Storm Lake to this pizza joint that also happens to double as a record store.  I'm not sure the guy even knew today was record store day.  He seemed more interested in hocking pizzas than LP's (to me anyway), but I found a couple things and learned something very interesting along the way. The finds were as such: 1) Led Zeppelin IV (Zoso) on LP, in near perfect condition, for $15!  Apparently he has "extra copies lying around."  I'm not assuming that this is a release from '71 or anything, but hey, still a really sweet addition to my growing vinyl collection. 2) Who's Next on LP.  Apparently it was a day for records from '71.  It's such a great album, with such a fascinating backstory, and somehow I didn't own it in any form.  While I'd love to pick up a CD copy of it sometime (hopefully the deluxe ed...

Taught tonight.  First lesson, as I mentioned yesterday.  She got her guitar for Christmas, is brand new to the idea of playing an instrument, and wants to learn Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble." For walking in with minimal knowledge at best, she did exceptionally well tonight.  There were a lot of questions asked, and the topics of notes, chords, and the musical alphabet were discussed.  She's taking lessons every other week, so with all the time in between, I gave her what felt like a lot of things to focus on tonight, but my hope is that they will keep her busy until our next lesson. I spent pretty much the whole day thinking about tonight's lesson, so there wasn't a whole lot of time to work on my own stuff today, but tomorrow is my first Saturday off in a month, so I imagine there will be some time devoted to musical pursuits.  And then I've got Tuesday afternoon off, so that will offer more time for rock and roll, which is good. Wish me...

So, the Mrs. turns to me tonight and says, "I just caught up on your blog.  We need to turn off the TV so you can play guitar, because according to your blog, you haven't been playing enough lately." So we did, and I did, and my fingers feel great. I put in maybe 35 minutes tonight.  Not a mammoth session by any means, but not bad for work that started after 10 on a night when I need to get up early in the morning.  Here's what I worked on: - two note and triplet patterns on the E minor pentatonic scale, both up and down the neck (about 10 minutes) - a little bit on the CAGED system from a Guitar Techniques article I have (15 minutes of stydying and playing) - a little bit of messing around with some Hendrix ("Little Wing," "Hey Joe") but nothing so serious that it can be called "work." Also of note today... I start a new student tomorrow night.  Feeling pretty excited about that.  Can't wait to see what direction the less...

Read something today that scared me a little bit: "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was first performed 22 years ago today.  It's even stranger when you realize that Kurt has been gone for 19 of those years. Didn't have a lot of time to do much playing today, but I was able to squirrel away a few minutes at the end of the work day to do a bit of listening.  Got through a few cuts on Son Volt's latest disc, which I hadn't had a ton of time to really delve into as of yet.  They weren't kidding around when they titled it Honky Tonk , the first couple of cuts are very old time country, even for Jay. I'm pretty sure that I've got most of tomorrow night free, and I'm really hoping to be able to fit some playing in.  Feels like it's been a long time since I've had a solid session with a guitar in my hands.  I'm thinking it might be fun to do some recording tomorrow, too.  Whether that will be songs, or just recording myself practicing and jamm...

Taught today.  Went better than last week by a bit, which was nice.  I suppose I should be encouraged by the fact that she wants to learn a lot of different songs, although there is a part of me that wishes we could get her all the way through something before she wants to dash on to the next thing. Looked into C6 tuning a bit as well, apparently it's more prominently used in connection with a pedal steel... which I (of course) have no experience with, but I'd be curious to experiment with the tuning on a regular old six string. Second night of battle rounds on the voice tonight.  So many incredible talents on that show.  It just motivates you to get your ducks in a row from a musical perspective.  It's always a process, though, and what I know is that every day that passes gets me a little bit closer to where I want to be as a musician.

I'll admit that I got a bit distracted with the coverage of the Boston Marathon explosions tonight after work, so less music stuff got accomplished today than I was otherwise planning. That being said, I've got a small list of things that I managed to cross off and/or need to look into. 1) I got another email from a potential student today.  Replied to it, as well.  Hopefully something good comes of that. 2) I need to look into C6 tuning.  A great number of the Mumford & Sons songs from the first record use it, and I've never really played around with it at all. 3) Was encouraged to join the church choir today... of all the things I never thought would happen in my life... 4) Voice Battle Rounds started tonight.  Favorite part of that was watching the amazing progress from the first run throughs to the final performances.  Amazing change in what (I assume) is a very short period of time. All told, a good day, but one that could have been so much ...

So, I forgot to mention the coolest part of yesterday... while we were at Best Buy, I noticed something that had eluded me (apparently for the last couple of weeks), Dave Grohl's Sound City documentary is out!  Snapped that up just as quickly as I spotted it.  Never found time to watch it today, but soon that will be happening, soon . Aside from that, not a whole lot to report today.  Did some listening... but not quite enough.  Heard a little bit of the Son Volt, and tried again to find enough time to get through all of the Broken Wing EP.  Failed again in that respect, as well. There's always tomorrow, right?  More and better then, as always.

No instrument... yet.  But I looked at both banjos and ukeleles, and a 12 string acoustic.  I wasn't feeling the 12 string today, though, so it turned into more of a fact finding mission regarding the other two.  The sales guy described a ukelele as "an acoustic guitar capoed at the 5th fret, with the two lowest strings taken off."  So, yeah.  While I didn't come home with an instrument, here's what I did find at MidBell: 1) new picks (because, hey, every so often you need some new picks) 2) a book of guitar transcription paper 3) the Guitar Recorded Versions for Sigh No More by Mumford & Sons 4) chord charts for both banjo and ukelele Oh, and I ordered a really cool guitar information poster that seems to have everything you could ever want to know about anything on it. I found a copy of the new Son Volt record at F.Y.E. in the mall, and new issues of both Guitar World and Acoustic Guitar in a stop off at B&N.  They hadn't gotten in the ...

Well, tomorrow's probably the big day.  The Mrs. and I are headed into Sioux City after I get off of work.  Going to stop off at a music store (probably MidBell) while we're there to get some sort of a feel on banjos and ukes and the like.  I'm hoping to come home with something, but at the same time, I don't want to rush into anything just because it's there. Fit some listening into small open spaces today.  A bit of Jackie Greene, a bit of Trio.  I need to find more stuff by Jackie Greene.  So catchy and to eclectic.  Next trip to Exclusive up home, he is definitely on the list. I fit in a little bit of playing today, but nothing that really went much of anywhere. Tomorrow, I hope, will be better, between MidBell and B&N, I'll find something musically amazing.  And then I shall come home and play.

When I started this blog, almost four years ago, I never imagined that I'd be starting a post in the way I'm about to.  Also, I was going to write about this yesterday, but my own musical progress sidetracked me from doing so, which was (and always will be) a good thing. So, Rolling Stone tweeted something yesterday that deserves writing about here: 43 years ago today, Paul McCartney announced the Beatles were breaking up: rol.st/10Rg5Fs #longreads — Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) April 10, 2013 Those of us that play, those of us that write, those of us that listen, we all owe our passion for doing what we do, at least on some level, to John, Paul, George, and Ringo.  And they, in turn, owe their lives to Chuck Berry, and the one guy who wrote his own stuff before they did: Buddy Holly. And, in a somewhat related point: somehow it strikes me as odd that The Stones are mounting a 50th Anniversary tour this year, and The Beatles have been gone for 42 of those 50 year...

I got my time tonight. In reality, it only took about half an hour of concentrated effort, but here's what I did (and here's what it got me).  I sat down with the four song ideas I've been working on so far this year and the things I was working on as a part of the Dave Grohl Challenge last fall.  The challenge was based around the following quote: "It's not rocket science. If you're semi-decent at an instrument and grew up with Beatles albums, make a fucking record in your garage. You might get a Grammy nomination. It's not an impossibility." And it set me off on a furious run of music writing, wherein I wound up with many individual snippets of music, but only a few things that actually held together as what I would consider to be "songs."  I wanted to lay out everything and just sort of take stock of what I had, and how, if at all, it fit together.  What I discovered was this... The songs that I have "completed" (or at ...

Taught today.  My student was mostly unfocused, which was mostly frustrating. I purchased (from itunes) the original version of "I Fought The Law" by the Bobby Fuller Four tonight, because that, and Tom Petty's "Runnin' Down A Dream" are her current song obsessions.  I know I've got the Bobby Fuller cut on a CD somewhere in the house, but for ease of being able to toss it on a CD for her in the morning before dashing out the door, itunes worked fine tonight.  I'm about at the point where I need a fresh card, so that's fun too.  I can only hope that these songs won't end up half learned and tossed aside like some of the other things we've attempted. What I really need right now is an hour, maybe a bit more, to sit down with the batch of songs I'm arguing with currently.  Just to take stock of where I sit with all of them.  I want to map everything out, all on a single sheet of paper, and try to make sense of all the bits and pieces...

After the colossal bummer that was yesterday, I was bound and determined to have a more positive music day today, and I did. I found a couple of websites with some pretty cool lessons and learning opportunities that will make for some good studying in the future. Also, I got in a bit more listening than I did yesterday.  Still hung up on the new Trio record.  And yes, I'm well aware that I have yet to post a full review for it.  That will happen sooner rather than later. A couple of things that have either passed me by or gotten finalized of late: 1) Son Volt's new disc , Honky Tonk , came out on the 5th of last month, and somehow I missed it.  Whenever it is I get to a decent music store, it will be coming home with me. 2) The new Airborne Toxic Event record drops on the 29th of April, earlier than the last projected release date I had seen. Today was good.  Not as productive as I had originally wished, but still good. Better tomorrow, as always.

Today was one of those days that I had great hopes for, and then it turned into a day where most everything fell woefully short of those hopes. I did manage to steal a bit of my brother's time tonight.  He sounds excited about this music camp.  As well he should be.  We didn't have too much of a chance to get into it, though, as he was busy when I got ahold of him. The other thing I got out of him: he thinks that a banjo should win out over a ukelele.  In his words, "every wanna-be hipster who thinks they have musical talent, even though they don't, has a ukelele."  My brother can be so... blunt sometimes. Noticed that J. was online tonight, for the first time in a very long time.  His name popped up on Skype, and my first instinct was to send him some songs, just to see what he thinks of them... and then I realized that none of the stuff I've worked on this year is actually finished.  It stinks to end my day depressed on account of the fact that...

So, between work this morning and the annual meeting for work tonight, I didn't have a lot of time to focus in on music stuff today, but in the time I did have, I noticed something interesting: Every time I come up with a new song idea, my brain insists on turning it over and over, switching the order of the chords, that sort of thing.  I'm not sure why it happens, but that's the way it has gone for at least the last few years. The other thing I notice: In almost every case, the progression I get initially is the better idea.  So why does my mind insist on making me try other things?  Is it to have me come back to the original and be happy with it?  Or is it because my subconscious doesn't think that what I had the first time is good enough? And people wonder why the first record takes forever . More progress ahead for tomorrow.  And a call to my brother.  Who was apparently accepted into a prestigious music camp in North Carolina this summer, and...

Just 110 days until the end of the third year of the blog.  Wow.  I've been watching the numbers go up for the last few days and thinking about what has been better this year and what hasn't.  And then I found something cool tonight.  Something I started last year sometime.  It's the notebook I began, I think at the start of year three, where I went through the whole of the blog up to that point, and took detailed notes about what it was I had really wanted to work on throughout the process.  It was good to find that tonight, because it will help me to focus as the stretch run to the start of year four begins.  It was also cool to page through that notebook and see that some of those songs have been learned, some of those techniques have been studied, some of those ideas have been put into practice.  I haven't been perfect, mind you, there are a LOT of areas that require more attention and more focus, but it was still nice to be able to feel a bit...

So, the Mrs. brought up her tax refund purchase today, saying that she had made up her mind as to what sort of computer she was getting, which allowed me to make the statement that I've been wavering on whether or not to go for the ukelele or the banjo. "I think you need both," she says.  "Maybe not right away, but you definitely need both.  Oh, and a mandolin, too." All you people who think you have great spouses, yeah, my wife puts you all to shame. It's been a tough decision, though... ukelele or banjo.  Right now, I'm leaning toward the uke, if only because I picked up a book on learning to play ukelele while we were on our trip to Wisconsin last month. That still leaves the whole ProTools/Interface/CPU refurbish out there in the wind somewhere... although, if the ukelele isn't too much , maybe I can get both it and the ProTools setup.  The CPU refurb might have to wait a bit, but still, I'd have the ability to get started on grand th...

Today was a day that was entirely too similar to a lot of days I've had of late.  Barely any chance to do anything musical.  I think I made it through one of the four tracks on the Alkaline EP.  I really liked the song, mind you, but still, one out of four feels just plain pathetic. I'm really hoping that tomorrow goes better than today did.  There are no formal plans tomorrow night, for the first time in what feels like a long time.  Hopefully I'll have a bit of time to try and work on a chord progression for what will hopefully become my song of the month for April. One other thing to put out there to the world tonight: I'm debating picking up either a ukelele or a banjo with a little bit of the tax refund money we got.  The Mrs. and I talked it over, and we decided that we each get to do something fun with a bit of the money.  It's either that, or maybe get ProTools and refurbish one of my old laptops to just use for music stuff.  Really ...

So, I went into the day expecting to have to buy a third copy of My Shame Is True , but itunes actually surprised me... they let me download the four bonus tracks (i.e. The Broken Wing EP) from the deluxe edition.  Didn't get it synced to the ipod until late tonight, so I haven't checked out the tracks yet. Also, I made it all the way through the regular album today, and as much as I really want to give my review, I'm really exhausted, and I want to be a bit more clear headed when I do that. Taught today, too.  We spent the lesson this week going through my student's songbooks and picking out a pretty good sized list of new songs for her to learn.  They all seem like fun, the trick will be getting her to learn something all the way through. That's really all for today.  I'll do better tomorrow, I promise.

Today's post is going to be a short, but very happy post.  Here's why: Tomorrow is the release date for Alkaline Trio's My Shame Is True , and considering that I have tomorrow afternoon off, I was pumped to have the afternoon to devote to many spins of the new record.  So imagine my surprise when I got home from work today to find an Amazon package sitting on my desk... when the only thing I have ordered from them of late is the new Alk3 disc... Yeah, that's right, IT GOT HERE A DAY EARLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm going to hold off on any sort of review until tomorrow (I've only made it through 10 of the 12 tracks so far), but rest assured that a full review is coming in tomorrow's post. Also, I've got to figure out a way to get the tracks from the Broken Wing EP.  Hopefully without purchasing the deluxe version of the album on itunes.  Truthfully, though, I'd be okay with that, because I'm a huge fan of this band, ...