Skip to main content

Day Eighty One (Year Four)

Today was more productive than yesterday, even if I didn't get into the studio until fairly late in the day.  I got the usual Guitar Aerobics lick of the day done.  It was an easy eighth note strumming pattern today, using the same chords as last Sunday's quarter note pattern.  Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the licks are starting from a certain point, and then just building on that as a way to increase difficulty while building confidence.

Then I had a realization and did something sensible about it.  My realization was this: I haven't been as good this week about writing everything down as I work on it.  I'm a few days behind right now.  So, while I need to make a more concerted effort with that, I also know that I've been working on a lot of different stuff lately.  I feel like I'm making definite progress, but also that said progress is a little bit of a hodgepodge right now.  So... I sat down and wrote out everything that I've been working from in the last few weeks, breaking it down into different categories.  Then I added in the things I wanted to include moving forward.

While I've been having good practice sessions, they haven't been as well structured as they probably ought to be.  Tomorrow's goals are this:

1) To get the practice journal caught up.
2) To finish off my "what I'm working on" page, and find a better way to organize my practice sessions.

Pretty sure I'm going to investigate the uke situation, too.

Another good day that could have been better, another learning experience.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

DayOne Hundred Sixty Nine (Year Eight)

Today was another good day.  I spent all of it with my brother, which I needed a lot, even though I just saw him over Christmas. Tonight we finally got around to some music discussion.  He took a look at my list of goals for the year, and sees it as a really good set of steps to get me where I'd like to be from where I am.  I picked his brain about a few of the nagging questions I still had as I get started, and he was able to put my mind at ease. Having a chance to sit and chat with him is always good for my musical soul, because he constantly drives me to be a better, more well rounded player, and I'm pretty sure that I can never thank him enough for all of the advice, support, and encouragement he offers every time we chat.

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 One Hundred Thirty (Year Five)

I got more time in the studio today than I have in a long time.  It wasn't quite enough for me (as always), but it was a productive re-introduction, I thought, to my life in the studio.  I: 1) Got a bit of reading done in Songs & Solos 2) Dragged out the tab book for Recovering The Satellites in preparation for the Counting Crows shows that are coming this month.  Worked on a bit of "A Long December," and a bit of "Have You Seen Me Lately."  What struck me, in taking a closer look at the tab, were the fills and arpeggios that make up a lot of the non-vocal melody.  It's fun to play, and it comes as a teaching opportunity when it comes to songwriting. 3)  I decided on the Tom Waits Biography, Low Side Of The Road for my music reading this month. 4) I didn't get to as much of the lead guitar & fretboard work as I would have liked to, but that will give me something to focus on as the week goes along. All told, it was a really good day....