Skip to main content

Day Fifty (Year Four)

Today was a day I'm really glad I've got the music room here in Dubuque.  It seems like it's the only place I can find much peace of late, and it's also helping me to get some work done.

But before I delve into all of that, I want to take a moment to comment on some of the listening I've been doing lately.  I'm through the remastered version of Mellon Collie, and into the first disc of demos, rarities, and extras (out of 3).  What strikes me, from a songwriting perspective, and gives me hope at the same time, is just how much material they had that didn't make the final cut of the record.  In many cases, the demos are just as big and elaborately produced as the songs that made the record, and there was one for sure, "Ugly," that I'm shocked didn't make the record.

So, I have everything from yesterday's post laid out on the work table, and before I went crazy adding more things to the pile, I figured I should sort through the contents of the magazine files to finalize in my head what is there.

Here were the piles that got made out of the 5 magazine files I had filled with stuff:

IMAG0327.jpg

and here was the worktable, with the basic stuff I hope to start with on it:

IMAG0328.jpg

It's oh, so nice to have a space wherein I can work on a project, leave it as is, and be able to come back to it later and have it just as I left it!  I think that factor alone will increase the amount of work I get done.

Back at the binder, and the practicing, tomorrow!

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 Two Hundred Ninety Nine (Year Four)

Tonight was one of those nights where absolutely nothing went right, but somehow, some way, I managed to get into the studio for a little bit, and make what felt like good progress, all things considered. I went back through the second half of last night's chapter in The Guitarist's Guide To Scales Over Chords , just to make sure that I had a decent grasp of everything that was covered, and then made the move to the next chapter. After the theory-heavy chapter I had just gotten through, it was a great relief to have the next one be more music (playing) centered.  It was all about putting the scale examples they cited in the early chapters to use in a musical context. I've seen a great number of books try to do this in a successful manner, and end up failing spectacularly, but so far I'm liking what this book is putting forward.  They give you "starter" examples, that don't necessarily make the best use of note choices, etc. and then present you with an...

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.