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Day One Hundred Thirty Two (Year Four)

Tonight was the first night in about a week that felt like a "normal" night in the studio for me.  I may have only spent an hour or so in there tonight, but here's what I got done:

1) I got back to starting my practice sessions with the lick of the day from Guitar Aerobics.  Not only does that provide me a bit of continuity at the start of my studio time, but, as I've mentioned before, it also serves as a good way to loosen up my fingers, and get my mind right for practicing.  That done, I

2) Spent some quality time with the new looping pedal.

 

This thing is incredible.  I had said last night that I could see the potential in it, and tonight I started to realize that potential.  I don't have the timing down perfectly yet, but I'm getting closer.  The infinite number of loops means that I can add in as many crazy things as I want, and the one tap undo/redo means that I can dismiss something at the drop of a hat if I don't like it.  The biggest key seems to be making each part stand out against the rest of the music, and I've already got a plan in my head for that: with all of the scale work and pattern stuff that I've been focused on, there are so many different places on the neck to play the same lines. It seems to me that, if I use each spot as a jumping-off point for an idea, that things won't overlap too badly.

This pedal is really going to be beneficial for testing out riffs and solos against song ideas before I go in to do an actual recording of them.

Just using it tonight brought me back to a cool song idea that I've had for years, but had never figured out the theory behind (and therefore the actual chords that go underneath it).  Tonight, between the studying I've done lately, and the way the looping pedal has started to open my ears to how ideas sit against each other, I was able to grasp what was going on in the song idea.

I'm not sure that all of the improvement in my playing has manifested itself yet, but I can feel it there, waiting to jump out.  

Good day today.  

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