Skip to main content

Day One Hundred Four (Year Four)

Today was a good day.  Being off from work meant a lot of time to devote to musical things.  Therefore, I:

1) Got things organized a bit in the studio.  It had gotten slightly out of hand of late, and so it was nice to take some time and have things looking good again.  There are a few more things to do in that regard, but then again, there are always a few more things to do in that regard.

2) Picked up the latest round of guitar magazines.  It was my one moment out of the house today, and I ended up with new issues of Guitar World, Acoustic Guitar, and Guitar Techniques.  Seemed like a victory all the way around.

3) Spent some time with the AC/DC tonight as well.  Feeling pretty good about that right now.

4) Talked to my brother for a couple of hours tonight.  We hand a wide-ranging discussion that involved (among other things) listening to music vs. wading into it in order to understand it on a deeper level.  I've said in this space many times that I'm envious of my brother's opportunity to practice 10+ hours a day, and I'm excited that he has the confidence and the passion to go after his dreams.  Admittedly, he and I are at different points in life, and are going about the pursuit of our dreams in different ways (by necessity), but at the end of the day, we're both out there, going after it.  It's not about how long it takes you to achieve your goals, it's about doing it.

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....