Skip to main content

Day Three Hundred Thirty Five (Year Three)

Kept on importing music tonight.  Got the live Isbell record, the Dishwalla single, and the Ted Leo disc loaded into itunes tonight.  I'm going to have some serious listening to do in the next few days.  What I know for sure, in that regard, is that the Kurt Vile disc is going to be required stereo listening.  The songs are long-form, which doesn't scream "car record" or "ipod listen" to me at all.

Started in on a list of songs and influences from early in my playing years.  A lot of that stuff (Simon & Garfunkel, Sister Hazel, Buddy Holly, etc.) has gotten pushed to the wayside over the years, and with the new space coming in a few months, I really want to be able to touch on everything that inspires me in the new studio, make it all accessible so that it all gets focused on.

One of the things I forgot to mention over the weekend was the Guitar Center Sessions episode that featured Alkaline Trio!  The performances were awesome, but it was even cooler for me to sit and watch the interview segments.  Oh, and now I'm watching the extra performances on guitarcenter.com.

Long day today, and I teach each of the next two.  Let's hope I can get some of my own stuff done in the next couple of days, too.

Comments

  1. Stumbled across your blog last night. It's pretty awesome. I haven't read all of it, maybe the last year and a half. Curious though. You spend a lot of time just listening to music, but not a lot actually playing (or so it seems). How does that work out? I'm so jealous of how dedicated you are to making sure you always have the latest releases. I'm a college kid so the money is always too tight. I'm guessing a lot of your money comes from gigs. So awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  2. If there's one common thread that runs through the last three years of posts, it is that there needs to be more playing involved. The long-term goal was to be good enough to get into Berklee School of Music, out in Boston. The short-term goal was just to have a guitar in my hands again after a long stretch where life didn't allow me the room to play. I'm not where I'd like to be playing-wise, but how many of us really are? It's a journey, and a process. It's why a lot of posts end with the phrase "more tomorrow, and better." I'm always pushing myself to do more, to improve, to be the best I possibly can. Really, what it comes down to is the idea that, if I can do one thing to improve my playing every day, then at the end of the year, I'll have taken 365 steps toward being the musician I want to be.

    As for keeping up on the new releases, I just have this inordinate fear of turning into someone who gripes about music "being better back in the day." There's so much out there that's good, you've just got to keep your mind and your ears open. And save your pennies in the hopes of finding a record that will change your life.

    Thanks for finding my little corner of the internet, and thanks for commenting! It's reassuring sometimes to know that someone out there is following along on this crazy journey of mine. Keep coming back, for while the journey may be long, the music never stops.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

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 Two Hundred Ninety Two (Year Five)

Today was the last seminary village cookout of the year. While we were all sitting around the picnic tables eating dinner, I got a chance to talk with a few of the Mrs.'s classmates about guitar related stuff. As it turns out, more than one of them wants to be more proficient on guitar. I'm not saying that this will lead to more teaching opportunities, but I told one of them that I would throw a folder together for them. Essentially, anytime I get a chance to talk shop is a great chance for me to reinforce some of the things I have been focusing on. If nothing else, it gets me thinking ahead to tomorrow's day off and a chance to get into the studio for a decent amount of time.

Day Three Hundred Nine (Year Seven)

Well, it happened.  We came, we saw, and we (sort of) conquered.  I'm not sure how great we played all the way through, but there were definite moments that went really well, and all things considered (from my side anyway), it was an absolute blast and I hope we get to play again for something that's not church related. The set list, as it was, went like this: 1.  I'll Fly Away 2.  From This Valley 3.  Crazy 4.  My Church 5.  Jolene 6.  Long December 7.  You & I 8.  Can't Help Falling In Love 9.  Hey Jude It was an interestingly eclectic group of songs, with more bluegrass and country than I would have expected. It definitely took us a little while to get our feet under us, and on some level I felt like we were just getting warmed up by the time "Hey Jude" ended, but it was a start, and I'll take that any day.