Skip to main content

Day Three Hundred Sixty Five (Year Four)

Last day of year four of the blog today.  I figured the place to start in figuring out next year is the list of things I said I wanted to get done in 2014 when I made out my list for the year way back in January.  Here's what I had written down at that point:

1) Finish writing & recording an EP (at least)

I got started on this for sure, wrote and recorded a lot of music in February, and then mostly ignored it for the last few months.  Year five of the blog needs to see at least an EP completed (lyrics included).

2) Build on recent theory studies

This I've done fairly well on, too.  I'm definitely more comfortable theory-wise than I was at the start of the year, and I really feel like a good, strong push at the start of things here will help cement that.  Year five needs to be the year that being able to get what I hear in my head to come out through my fingers finally becomes a reality.

3) Take lessons again

Okay, so I haven't quite found time to fit this one in so far.  If nothing else, I'd like to find some time (maybe this fall) to take a few lessons, if only to help smooth out any of the rough spots in my knowledge.  So yes, Year five needs to have some lesson taking in it.

4) Expand teaching & sort out studio organizing

Instead of expanding my teaching, things have ground to a halt in that regard, although there are always a few people floating at the periphery of my life who claim that they'd like to take a few lessons.  Year Five either needs to see a bit of follow through in that regard, or needs to drop the idea for a little while.  I'll leave which choice entirely up to fate.

As for the studio organizing, I feel like I've done at least a somewhat decent job of that.  There are still some kinks to be worked out in the way that things are organized, however.  Year five needs to be about streamlining things enough to ensure that I know where to find the resources I need when I need them, and about getting file boxes and CDs up off of the floor.

5) Do better with the acoustic vs. electric split

Another thing I've done okay with.  Better, perhaps, at the start of the calendar year than I have been lately, but the first seven months of the year were still a marked improvement over the way things had been previously.  Year five needs to be about establishing better consistency when it comes to working with both instruments on a daily basis, and doing a better job of following through on progress that gets started.

6) More genre studies

Again, I started well in this area, only to taper off.  Year Five needs to keep a consistent pace, and have more follow through.

7) Play live

Haven't really touched this one at all.  Year Five needs to be about me exploring the opportunities that are out there where we live, trying to make some connections, and getting comfortable enough to be putting myself out there at some point.

All told, not a bad place to start things off.  I'm sure that more goals will be added as I go along, so definitely stay tuned.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Day Two Hundred Twenty Seven (Year Two)

So, the new Springsteen disc is amazing.  There's enough of a mixture of his upbeat rockers, his ballads, and his message songs to make this his best record since The Rising .  And speaking of that record... Buying The Boss the day it comes out always takes me back to a specific moment in life.  It was July 30th, 2002, the year after 9/11, the year after someone on the streets of New York told Springsteen "we need you now."  I had driven to Oshkosh, WI to visit some friends, when I remembered that Springsteen's disc was scheduled to come out that day.  I drove downtown to The Exclusive Company, but had to park a few blocks back.  At the time, there wasn't much going on downtown, but when I got out of the car, I could hear this music coming from up the block somewhere.  The closer I got to Exclusive, the more it began to dawn on me, they had set up a giant set of speakers in their upstairs windows, and were blasting the new album out into the streets....

Dat Two Hundred Thirty One (Year Three)

So, apparently the new Airborne EP that came out yesterday is MP3 only!  Downloaded that as soon as I figured it out this morning, but didn't have time to sync the ipod after doing so.  Therefore, I naturally had a ton of time to listen tonight that was away from my computer. On the plus side, though, I was able to spend some of that extra time with a guitar in my hands, working on the chord progression for this month's song.  I've got an opening chord change that I really like, and the flicker of a two guitar approach, with one of the two parts capoed up the neck dancing somewhere in the back of my brain.  If all goes according to plan, it could work out really well. Also, finally over halfway in the Grohl bio.  Considering I was hardly home at all today, I feel like I got a decent chunk of that read. Tomorrow should (hopefully) be another decent day for music, with a chance to play in the evening, and enough time for a few runs through the Airborne EP....

Day One Hundred Forty Two

So, I haven't been sleeping much lately, and I've been staying up late. listening to music, doing a bit of playing, and watching old episodes of Behind The Music on the internet. It's funny, you know, because I never met the rest of my "band," I've become the critic. It's all right, don't get me wrong, but for a decade now I've always hoped that I'd find a way to release something. It'll happen, I know it will, but it's continually happened slower than I expected it to. I've gotten close to getting something released, as I've documented before here before, but with the winter coming and the cold closing in, I'm facing another chance to make something musical of the winter. I'm going to start by finishing up the old things that have gotten pushed to the sides in the last few months. With the buildup of everything since the summer, it should be easier. Even if all I do is spend the winter writing lyrics, trying to g...