"Muse" - ings on Rock & Life

Most of my time in the studio tonight was spent following up on the plan that I had started to hash out last night. All things considered, I feel like I wasable to iron out a few more details about how I hope the next few weeks progress. The more I think this through, the clearer it is becoming. The only thing that I am worried about right now is bringing too much stuff along with me on the vacation part of things, but if I can stay focused and be smart about how I use my time over the next few weeks, that shouldn't be an issue. Today was an okay day, although I could have used a few minutes more tonight. It was a long day, though, so hopefully I can make up for the lost time over the weekend.

Today was a better day than the last few days have been. I got into the studio at a (somewhat) decent hour, and was able to sit down and at least tentatively start to block out what I'd like to get done in the next three or four weeks.  Something about being able to see at least some part of the path forward is calming, making things seem like they fit together a little bit more than I've been able to see in the last few weeks.  The plan needs a bit of fleshing out, of course, but I'm confident that, by the end of the weekend, I'll not only be started in on things, but also have a clearer view of the way forward. I did some reading tonight, as well, both out of the new issue of Guitar World and the music book I've been making my way through.  Feeling pretty good about where I'm sitting with that right now as well.  Tomorrow is an early day for me, but I'm hopeful that tomorrow after work I can continue to build on and refine what I've started tonig...

Tonight was a little bit on the quiet side, although I made a bit of progress in a few areas, which was a good thing for me.  Slowly but surely I can feel myself getting caught up on things that feel like they have been hanging out there for a long time. As far as mundane housekeeping stuff goes, I'm finally getting around to sorting out the last few bugs in the iTunes transfer that I did last year when I got the new computer.  It's not 100% perfect, but it's far better than it has been of late. Made a bit more progress in the book on the history of grunge tonight, too, so that's a small victory right there. Did a little bit of playing tonight, too, but didn't get to the lessons that I really do need to get to this week.  On the plus side, with the minor stuff out of the way tonight, I should have a decent amount of time to get in the studio and play tomorrow night, so that will be great. It was definitely a quieter day than I was hoping for, but with any lu...

Today was... interesting.  It wasn't the huge day I was hoping for, but it wasn't a day where nothing got done, either.  I'm getting a better handle on some of the recent music purchases, both in terms of listening and getting the relevant things uploaded into the iTunes. I'm also keeping up somewhat with the bluesy stuff that I've been working with for the last three or four days.  I didn't get my marathon practice session that I was hoping for today, but I dipped my fingers into the music a few times today, and when I did, I kept coming back to the blues. What I really need to get back to, hopefully this week, is the GT lessons that came out a couple of months back, and then the GW columns that I made an abbreviated run at last year. It's a little early to be writing about this yet, but we're taking a week in the middle of April and getting away, just to get a chance to rest and recharge.  One of the things I'm taking with me on that trip i...

It's been an odd sort of weekend.  There hasn't really been a dedicated chunk of time to get into the studio and get a lot of work done.  Still, there was a bit of time to play tonight, but a lot of it was done while sitting on the couch, at least a little bit distracted by the rest of the world. Tomorrow needs to be a day where I can get into the studio maybe a couple of times.  Things are going well, but it feels like it's time for a big day.  I'd like to: 1.  Get to a bit of work on the practice binder. 2.  Get in a good practice session. 3.  Do a bit of listening. 4.  Work on my recording projects. Anything above and beyond that would be great, but is unexpected, although if I had one more thing on the list, it would be: 5.  Get the last bit of newer music uploaded and sync the iPod.

More blues work today.  Things are coming along nicely.  I'm working on both the lead side of things and the rhythm side of things individually, and will combine them (hopefully) by the end of the weekend.  Either way, the playing is coming along nicely. We stopped off at the bookstore today, too, and I picked up a few things.  First off, the new issue of Guitar Techniques , which, as it so happens, has a feature article on Clapton. I also picked up Traveller by Chris Stapleton.  I've heard too many good things about it, and it was produced by the same guy who did recent Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson albums.  I can't wait to dive into it tomorrow. Even though today was a bit quiet, it was still a good day.

More blues tonight. Friday night is always a hard one for me. I come home tired from work and struggle to get moving on other things. That said, tonight I was able to get a bit of blues worked on. It was a good way to get started on the weekend. The only other thing I got done tonight was to sit down and plan out what I hope to get done over the course of the weekend. It's a pretty good list, but I am definitely confident that I can get it done by the end of the weekend.

I've had some blues on my to-do list for the studio for about a week and a half now, and tonight was the night that I finally started to get to it. It was, for starters, Clapton.  I want to start there and work my way back through Freddie King and so on. It felt good to have the guitar in my hands for a longer period of time tonight than I had in the last few days.  It gives me a lot of confidence heading into the weekend.  There's a lot that I want to get done, and I'm really glad that tomorrow is Friday. It's been a rough week this week, musically, and hopefully the next few days can redeem it a little bit.

Today was okay, but tended (again) toward the quiet side. I did well with both listening and reading today, but again fell short on the playing side of things.  I've hit that point in the week where I think I just need it to be the weekend.  I'll say again tonight what I said last night: I really hope that tomorrow has a lot more playing in it than today did. There was a bit of time to sit and think about the EP that still needs to have some lyrics laid down, but I stopped myself there before I got all the way into the power pop record (which shares the same fate).  I get this feeling that one lightning bolt of a lyric idea could be the spark that lights up both projects, but we shall see. Today was a long day, so even though I didn't get to as much as I had hoped, I need to call it a night or suffer when I have to get up early for work tomorrow.

Today was, what I hope will be the least productive day of the week.  There were other things that needed my attention this evening that conspired to keep me out of the studio, but even in the few minutes I was able to find in there tonight, I managed to get a bit done. I played for a few minutes, but did so mostly to unwind tonight. After the hectic tenor of the evening, to try and get into the studio with an agenda was a bit too much for me. After using the guitar as a way to de-stress, I made my way through a few pages of the book on the history of grunge. That seemed to be a good end to the day. I also got the chance to do a little bit of listening on my way to and from work today, so that was good. Tomorrow should have a lot more playing in it than today did, and that will be a good thing.

Today was a quiet day, which I really hadn't been expecting after the high I was on last night. I got a bit later start than I had hoped to this morning, which threw off a bit of the rhythm of the day, but I finally found a little while to spend in the studio late tonight.  When I did make it in there, I got a couple of small things done, but didn't have the success I had hoped for. I spent another few minutes with the EP project, but didn't have much luck with lyric writing, and then I made my way to the book on the history of grunge and did a few minutes of reading out of that.  I'm quickly closing in on being halfway done with that. What frustrated me the most today was that I didn't make enough time for either a good sized practice session, or a good bit of listening.  Those things will automatically go to the top of the list for tomorrow, but I find myself wishing I had just one more day off. Definitely a frustrating day where the music was concerned.

For those of you who have been following along since at least the beginning of the year, you know that I started 2016 with what looked on paper, to be a fairly aggressive list of goals for the calendar year.  I went back to my post from New Year's Eve 2015 in an effort to find exactly what I had written out, and it looks something like this: 1.  Finish learning the "Stairway" Solo. 2.  "Red House" 3.  "Little Wing" 4.  "I'm Tore Down" 5.  Finish Learning "A History of Rock & Roll in 100 Riffs" 6.  Practice Binder 7. GW Columns 8. Shore up my fretboard knowledge 9. Finish Writing & Recording the EP 9a. Power Pop Record 9b. Double Album? 10. Work my way through the Vai workouts. The year started strong, with progress on both the EP and the Power Pop record, but March has been a bit quiet for me.  Doing a bit of work on both the EP and the other record had been on my list of things I wanted to get to this wee...

So, I was right last night, in that I did actually get together with that friend of mine from the next cul de sac over to play some guitar this afternoon.  He's somewhat of a beginner where guitar is concerned, so getting together usually ends up taking on the form of a lesson, at least for a little while, but that's a good thing.  Today I brought him over a Jerry Garcia lesson from an old issue of Guitar World Acoustic for him to scan, copy, and get back to me. Just spending those couple of hours hanging out and walking him through a few things really has me fired up to get back to work on my own musical journey, and also to get back to the practice binder.  Both things are firmly represented on my list of goals for the year. I also managed to get into the studio tonight, for at least a few minutes.  I played a bit of acoustic, got things put away from my afternoon out, and made it through a couple of chapters in the book I've been reading on the history of gru...

All week, I've said that I'm really looking forward to the weekend.  Now that it's here, I'm almost more excited about it. I've got my list of things I want to get done this weekend all planned out.  One of the things on that list is getting together with a friend that lives in the neighborhood to rock out a bit.  We keep talking about getting together, but this is the first time that it actually feels like it's going to happen. Tonight, as Friday nights usually are, was all about prepping for the next couple of days.  I've got my list of stuff to accomplish pretty well set.  Starting tomorrow morning, it's all in for the next few days.

Another quiet night tonight. At least this time it was mostly of my own making. I won a 4 pack of tickets to the local semi-pro hockey team during my work day, and the Mrs. and I took some good friends along with us to the game. We had a great time, but got back home a little bit on the late side of things. I got into the studio after we got home, and did a little playing, but it was nothing compared to what I had initially  hoped to get done tonight. I can't even begin to tell you how relieved I am that tomorrow is Friday. I'm really looking forward to the weekend, and the chance to finish up a few things that are lingering on my to do list.

Today was another somewhat quiet day for me in the studio.  The groove that I managed to fall into yesterday was still there, it was the time that was (again) lacking. I did some playing, though, and that part of it was good. There was also some time to get a bit of listening in on the way to and from work, and then a few minutes to sneak in a chapter of the book on the history of grunge before I needed to blog and head to bed.  Early morning tomorrow, but hopefully the night will go well.

Today was one of those days where everything was going smoothly, and then all at once, there were a series of other things that needed my attention.  I ended up with far less time in the studio than I had hoped for today, but the time I did get was definitely put to good use, so that was a rescue point for the day. When I finally did get in there, I knew that I needed to focus my attention in order to feel like I got anywhere today, so I looked at getting a few things crossed off the list I had made at the end of the weekend.  I made a bit of progress on a few things, and along the way, I rediscovered the mojo a bit.  Tonight felt better than anything I've done in there in the last week and a half, at least. It ended up being a good day, and I'm really hoping that it bleeds over into tomorrow.

Tonight was a quiet night, after a long day at work.  I didn't have a whole lot of time to settle into the studio and get some work done, but I did have time to look over my goals for the week and try to plan out what needs to get worked on tomorrow .  Somehow, after all of the running and craziness that has happened in the last three weeks, that felt like a big deal. I also fit in another couple of chapters in the book on grunge.  Still an entertaining read.  Not quite halfway done with it. Short post tonight, I know, but I'm really looking forward to tomorrow.  I think it's going to be a very productive day.

So, between losing an hour of sleep and getting back on the late side from our trip to NW Iowa, I knew I wasn't going to have a whole lot of time in the studio tonight.  Being aware of that going into it, I had the presence of mind to know a couple of things about how I wanted to proceed: 1.  First off, I knew that I felt disconnected last week.  Things didn't move the way I had hoped they would, and it felt like I had been away from the studio for a long time.  In fact, things hardly moved at all last week, and I knew that, if nothing else, I needed to do something to try and get myself back on track. 2.  That said, I spent my hard earned time in the studio tonight working up what I hoped to get done this week with my time in the studio.  For once it doesn't feel like an overly aggressive list, although it does manage to cover a wide array of things.  I'm really hoping that just having things blocked out a little bit will help me to focus and be m...

So, we got up and running around 5 this morning, headed to NW Iowa for a meeting  (where the Mrs. got approved to seek a job by her committee). Short of the iPod and a notebook, there wasn't a whole lot of time for me to figure out what to take with me. That said, I made do with some listening today, as well as a bit of thought about the lyrical side of the projectsthat I have been focusing on this year. Not a bad day, considering that most of it was spent on travel and a meeting. Next week really needs to be a much more productive week for me.

There's no way I should even still be awake right now.  We've got to be up at 4 to drive across the state for a meeting that the Mrs. has to go to, but I had to spend at least a few minutes in the studio tonight, or I wouldn't have felt good about the day... Not that I got a whole lot accomplished, but it was good to be in there for a few minutes at least and to try and pick up where I left off last night. I'd write a lot more this evening, but I really need to sleep.  Better updates coming sometime this weekend.

Still struggling to really find a good groove this week.  Not sure if it's a hangover from being sick (and still being on the road to recovery) or what. Either way, I  kept taking a look at things I had started to work on last night.  It went okay tonight, but not as well as I had been hoping for. Aside from the struggle playing-wise tonight, I managed to fit in another couple of chapters in the book on the history of grunge, so at least that feels like it's going well. Tomorrow will be a better day.

I finally started to shake free of the doldrums tonight.  I think the combination of being gone last weekend and having a busy start to the week had me lacking in energy the last couple of nights.  Tonight, though, I actually had a few minutes to pick up the guitar and try to get my bearings back a little bit. I started by looking at some of the songs I've learned bits and pieces of in the last year.  I was a bit rusty, considering I hadn't really picked up a guitar in a few days, but by the end of my time in the studio, I had gotten to the point where it just felt good to play again.  I rounded off a few of the rough edges tonight, and I'm feeling pretty good as I head into the end of the week.  I'm thinking that things are going to start to pick up again pretty quickly.

Finally got to crank up the new Sister Hazel record today.  It was billed as a turn to a country sound for them, but it still feels like the same old Sister Hazel to me.  Then again, they always did have a bit of country in their sound to begin with, so maybe it wasn't that big of a stretch for me. I got back into the studio tonight, too, but I had a bit of trouble picking up the thread.  I looked over the stuff I had sorted out and started to get a grip back on before I left for MN, but nothing really clicked tonight, so I ended up reading some of that bio on grunge and Seattle, and then just picking up the electric for a few minutes before turning in and living to fight another day.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a bit easier for me.

Got home from the MN trip today, by way of WI.  That afforded me the chance to stop off at Exclusive before driving back to IA.  All told, I had a pretty productive weekend where new music was concerned, actually, I: 1.  Got a few leads on a good recording of the Bach that I listened to on Saturday night. 2.  Picked up a bunch of new music. 3.  Got home to find that the new Sister Hazel I had initially ordered to have for the road trip up north had come in. I'll break down the other new stuff at a later date, but it was a good haul nonetheless. The rest of tonight was spent getting things moved back into the studio, and getting my bearings after having been gone for 4 days. There are a lot of things I want to get to this week, but most of that will need to be put off until at least tomorrow, as I've got to be up super early for work in the morning.

I know I'm jumping the gun a good bit by even writing this, but I think that I have, at least subconsciously, started to think my way through the beginning of work on the third and final recording project that is on my list for the year. I know, I know... I have yet to finish up the first two, but in my defense, I have made more progress on both of them since the first of the year than I had in the couple of years before. There are so many other things that I had intended to write about tonight, but somehow getting what I did out tonight feels like the way to go.

Am up in Minneapolis tonight, having just watched my brother play oboe in a performance of Bach's "St. Matthew's Passion." It was an amazing performance. Three hours of classical music that was good for the soul. More tomorrow. For now, though, I am exhausted and in need of some sleep.

Today was a day of driving, in advance of my brother's concert on Saturday night. I had a lot of time in the car, and therefore a lot of time for listening. All things considered, it was a good drive. I also spent a bit of time mulling over lyrics for the power pop project, but didn't get much in the way of content. Fairly quiet day. Tomorrow should be a good one.

Tonight was a quiet night. That said, I still got into the studio and made a bit of progress on some of the stuff I have been dealing with the last couple of nights.  I'm headed off to watch my brother this weekend in a concert up in MN, so I know going into it that there won't be a whole lot of time for pushing forward in the studio.  With that i mind, I tried to take a bit of pressure off myself by adding to what will become the practice binder by making a solid list of the books that I want to use to get things started.  It didn't take that much time, but it still felt like another small piece of this year's plan falling into place. I'm hoping to be able to get up and finish packing quickly enough in the morning that I'll be able to steal a few minutes in the studio before I hit the road.  We shall see.

On paper, today and yesterday look somewhat similar.  The differences lie in the fact that, while I spent last night's studio time just getting reacquainted with the various piles of things that had stacked up over the month I was working on the FAWM project, tonight I actually sat down with my list of goals for the year, and started going back through everything, and pulling out the specific resources that would help me to accomplish the goals on my list.  The only thing I'm hung up on is finding a printable version of 100 Riffs (A Brief History of Rock N' Roll). Either way, progress was made tonight.  I was even able to condense a few things in order to get them ready for inclusion in the practice binder. Gotta be up super early for work tomorrow, otherwise I'd likely still be at work in the studio.

Tonight was interesting.  It basically involved reintroducing myself to everything I had started working on in January.  When FAWM started on the 1st of February, I told myself what I always tell myself, which is that I will make progress on the project while still finding time to work on all of the things I had started in January.  And then reality kicks in, and I find myself working on nothing but the new project, while the rest of it gets put on hold for a month. And so tonight, my only goal was to sit down and get back in touch with the things I had been looking at a month ago.  I got out my list of things I hope to finish this year, and that helped to put me in the right mindset.  Then I started going through a few of the piles that had gathered up in the last month, and that was where I really found the heart of what I had been working on.  Things are uncovered now.  Dusted off, if you will.  And the progress is ready to resume.  I'...