"Muse" - ings on Rock & Life

So, I remembered to get myself downstairs this morning, in time to both do a bit of playing and grab the CD full of rough tracks on it.  Sitting down with the acoustic, even for a few minutes, really helped put me in the mindset to do some listening on the way to work.  Granted, on the way to work, it was mostly Butch Walker that I listened to.  On the way home, I got in a couple of minutes of listening to my demos, but then wound up talking to my Mom on the rest of my drive home.  All that really means is that my truly good listening time in the car will start tomorrow. Also, I was relieved to have gotten a few minutes of playing in this morning, because by the time I got home tonight, there wasn't a whole lot of the time in the evening for a second session. Tomorrow and the weekend, though, will be excellent.

I finally remembered that I had the new Butch Walker record this morning as I was headed out the door for work, so I got to spend both the drive to and from work listening to that all the way through.  It made for a good listen, although I could have used one more slow song to balance out the uptempo rockers, but that's a simple criticism of a record that fits nicely into his canon. What putting in that road time with the stereo cranked up really did for me, though, was bring me back to the four songs that sit, in rough form, on a CD downstairs in the studio.  The music that I promised myself I would give a thorough once over on my drives to and from work now that it has begun.  I've got a mid-shift tomorrow, and one of the things on my list before I hit the road is to make my way downstairs and retrieve that disc of music. I'm hopeful that I can get at least a little bit of playing in before work, as well, but we shall see.  If not, a decent studio session will ...

I got my running done early in the day today, which left me a good chunk of the afternoon and all of the evening to try and cross a few things off of my list from yesterday.  I hadn't done a whole lot yet with either the Beatles area of focus or the songwriting one since I got things up and running.  After spending the last couple of days focused on the theory side of things, I started to take a better look at some of the songwriting stuff, and I finally made a small scratch in the surface of what I hope to accomplish with the Beatles focus. Did I cross everything off of my list? No.  But I took at least a small step toward where I'm hoping to be by the end of the year.  Not the best day, but not the worst either.

The Mrs. left for her retreat this afternoon, and when that happened, the last thing I thought I would be writing about tonight is more theory study like yesterday, but tonight finds me doing just that. I took the lesson that I watched a video of yesterday, and expanded it in the way they implied in the video.  As I expected, it made a whole lot of sense, and once I had done it, I felt as if another piece that had perhaps been either missing or overlooked had clicked into place.  There are times when I can see the whole picture with a few of the pieces missing, and then there are times when, as each piece locks itself into place, things get a little easier, lights go on a little brighter.  Tonight felt like a night when another one of the bulbs flickered to life. I've got a lot that I want to get to tomorrow, on my last day before work starts, but a lot of the things on that list involve the studio.  Some of it is following up on what I lucked into tonight, and s...

Today was a good day, if not quite the one I had expected when I woke up today. Instead of trying to get some work done on the songwriting/acoustic side of things, I opted for some theory work tonight, and I made a bit of good progress.  I suppose that the work I did ties in with the idea of really putting together a practice binder, which has been on my To-Do list for a while, but hasn't really gotten much run.  Even so, it managed to find a spot on my list of things I would like to finish this year, and the longer I wait on that, the less chance I have to get it all done. The Mrs. leaves on retreat for a couple of days tomorrow, and with me starting work on Tuesday, I'm looking at the next couple pf days as a good excuse to fit in as much studio time as I possibly can.  Something tells me that the next few days are going to be pretty epic.

Today was an okay day.  Picked up a couple of new albums for the first time in a while. Stay Gold - Butch Walker It Doesn't Have To Make Sense - Ingrid Michaelson I did more practicing in my head today than I did with an actual instrument in my hands.  The Mrs. and I were out running some errands, which left some room in the back of my mind for some mental practicing and some thinking about the recording projects.  We got out of town today, so that we could have tomorrow to spend at the house, and for me that will mean at least some part of the day downstairs in the basement trying to sort out the things I thought about today. While today was quiet, tomorrow will be filled with action and progress... I hope.

Today was better.  Not spectacular, but better than the last few days for sure. I'm starting to get a little bit of my focus back.  I'm not entirely sure where it has been the last couple of weeks, but it was good to feel it return somewhat.  What's funny is that, I had the right idea a few weeks back, I just didn't do enough with it... I had burned the tracks for the EP onto a CD, with the intention of taking it with me in the car as a way to sort out what I heard melodically and lyrically.  That was the step that never really happened.  The good news is that, starting next week, I'll be working part time at a college about 40 minutes away, which will give me plenty of car time to do some listening (and hopefully force me to better use my off days for good). If I'm really going to get everything done this year that is on my list, I need to start somewhere, and just be methodical about crossing things off of the list.  The shortest recording project i...

Today was another okay day.  It never really got into a serious groove, but I started taking a bit of a look at that book that I picked up the other day.  I should have focused on the songwriting side of the book, and taken an in-depth look at that, but instead I skimmed through the whole thing.  Tomorrow needs to be a day with more focus in it. I really would like to sit down and do some acoustic stuff tomorrow, and fit in some songwriting... for whichever recording project things fit into. Again, I'm just really hoping that tomorrow goes better for studio time than today did.

Today was a day spent out and about.  My Mom was in town visiting, and we road tripped it to Des Moines.  While we were out, I picked up a few things that were cool, and will be helpful in the studio.  Here's what I picked up: 1.  The latest issue of Guitar Techniques . 2.  Midwest Farmer's Daughter , the new record by Margo Price 3.  A book called The Complete Singer-Songwriter: A Troubadour's Guide To Writing, Performing, Recording, & Business by Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers We got home late, so fully diving into all three of those things will have to wait until tomorrow, but that is my plan for Wednesday.  Should make for a good day of things in the studio.

Today was much the same as yesterday.  I had to practically steal the moments that I did have, but I managed to put them to good use. It was back to the acoustic side of things today, for the time that I was able to spend, and most of it was just spent playing.  I thought that going in that direction would segue into an attempt at doing some songwriting (because it usually happens that way), but not so much today, I guess. Still, when all was said and done, it was nice to start my day with a little bit of playing.  We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Today ended up being a better day than I had been expecting, music-wise. I found about forty-five minutes of time to spend in the studio tonight after the rest of the house had gone to bed for the night. Most of that time was spent off-script from the rest of the week. My father-in-law picked me up a best of Brad Paisley CD as a belated birthday present, and so I spent my time in the studio starting to get a feel for some of his playing. For the time that I did have, I felt like it was a pretty good session. I am also convinced that I will keep going back to the BP stuff over and over again.

Today was an okay day. I knew that we had people coming in from out of town in the afternoon, so I tried to get a little bit of time in the studio early in the day. There was a bit of electric work, and then some time spent with the acoustic in my hands. I wasn't super productive on either front, but it wasn't a bad day by any means. We shall see what tomorrow brings.

Today went somewhat like yesterday did, except that my whole day today never really fell into any kind of rhythm.  As such, the moments that I got to page through a new guitar magazine, pick up my Strat, or sit down with some of the acoustic stuff I've been trying to take in the last few days were few and far between.  They were there , but they weren't the block of time I had been looking for. Still, I felt like I got more done today than I did yesterday, and I'll take that sort of progress after the last few weeks. Tonight's post is short, I know, but I'm really hoping to have more to write about tomorrow than I did today.

Today was okay.  Better than yesterday at any rate, and for that I was grateful. The acoustic side of things is finally starting to come together in my head.  I'm not sure why things have taken this long to coalesce, but the time I spent in the studio tonight has definitely helped out in that regard. I pulled out an acoustic DVD that Guitar World had put out, and started looking through the booklet that came with it for inspiration, and I found enough of it there to get me started.  I'm hoping that between the DVD and the Goldmine book (supplemented with songs and interviews from GWA ) I can really get things moving in the next few days. Today was better than yesterday, and I'm really hoping that the trend continues tomorrow. 

Today was definitely a busy day, but I still found a bit of time to spend in the studio.  It seems I'm still figuring out how the acoustic focus is really going to progress.  I know the pieces I'd like to include, but yet again, I didn't quite spend enough time in the studio to really get everything laid out the way I'd like.  I'm really starting to get on my own nerves... and it only took three and a half weeks. I've got a meeting over the noon hour tomorrow, but I'm hopeful that I can be back home before 2.  When I get back into town, I desperately need to head straight downstairs and get to work on things in the studio. Today should have been so much more productive than it was.

Well, I was at least a little bit right about today. I got down into the studio a bit earlier than I did yesterday, which was good, and I kept looking over some of the early Goldmine lessons, which was also good. What I didn't sit down and do was go through all of the magazines looking at lessons and transcriptions.  Instead, I picked a mag at random, found a James Taylor lesson inside it, and started to take a look at that. Also, I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it before here, but since it fits in with the JT focus, it bears repeating.  His website has a fantastically cool set of lessons on it that cover songs from his entire career, all taught by the man himself. Today was another decent day, and as usual of late, I'm hoping tomorrow will be better.

Today was a better day, a better start to the week. I got into the studio later than I wanted to, but I was still down there long enough to accomplish what I had hoped to get to today, which was a start on the acoustic side of things.  I went through the first couple lessons of the Goldmine book, which were review-based in nature anyway, and especially so considering that I know I had looked at them one other time.  Still, it was good to get something underneath my fingers. After some of the other things I got done today, tomorrow should have more time open for me, and I'm looking froward to diving back in to the acoustic stuff in the morning.  I'm pretty sure that at least some part of tomorrow will be spent looking at lessons and transcriptions from the magazines I've collected over the years, but there will also be a lot more playing than I fit in today.

So, I'll be the first one to admit that last week didn't go quite the way I had hoped it would.  I got small things done in the studio each day, but never really put enough together all at once to feel like I made substantial progress.  Today was no exception to that. I've had acoustic stuff on the brain for the last couple of days now, and my hope for tomorrow is to get into the studio early enough in the day that I can really dive into that side of things.  The biggest things I need this week are a little bit more focus and some bigger blocks of time than I found in the last seven days.  I'm really going to try and focus on acoustic stuff and songwriting this week, which will hopefully tie in to some work on the recording project side of things. Wish me luck!

Today was a quiet sort of day. We spent a lot of it in Des Moines, so there wasn't a whole lot of time to spend in the studio, but I was able to find a book on the making of Dylan's Blood On The Tracks . The best thing about the day was the continued musical discussionswith my brother. After talking with him all weekend, I'm really looking forward to the week that's coming up, and the plans I have for what I would like to get done.

My brother and his girlfriend got here tonight. I'm always thrilled to be ableto sit up late and talk about music, and that's exactly what has happened this evening. With the way that the rest of the day went, I didn't have a lot of time to spend in the studio today, but I made the best of the time that I did have down there. All told, it was a pretty good day.

Today was a good day.  I got downstairs late, but I still got myself down there, and once I did, I followed through on some (if not all) of what I had hoped to get to.  I took the first crack at the acoustic unit.  Somehow I thought that this would have happened well before now, but no. I started in the obvious places for me: 1.  The Acoustic Goldmine book 2.  Old issues of Guitar World Acoustic 3.  Old issues of Acoustic Guitar magazine Somehow it always comes back to these three things, at least starting out.  Mostly because I think there's enough information crammed into everything on the above list to keep me going for quite a long time, should I so desire. Good day, good start on that side of things.

Another okay day. I did some blues work.  Found a cool app that has 96 blues licks in multiple different styles, with both tablature and sound included.  I know I've focused too singularly on one area, and that if I'm going to get to all of the things I hope to by the end of the year, I'll need to start spreading the love around to the other things I want to work on.  Tomorrow, I really need to sit down with the acoustic and work on some songs, and then just some acoustic work. This week hasn't been as productive as I'd hoped, thus far, but a solid push the next couple of days can definitely get me somewhere I'll be happier with by the end of the week.

I got my time in today, and again, I had my focus set on the GT lessons from earlier in the year.  Tonight, I followed up on that earlier work by finding a few things online to supplement my earlier work. Tomorrow is my first day this week where there's nothing else going on.  While I had some time this afternoon, I'm looking forward even more to tomorrow, when I'll have time to follow up on the last couple of days, and also get (hopefully) to some songwriting. It's been an odd start to the week, but a decent one, and hopefully tomorrow will build on it in a big way.

Today was a short day in the studio, and knowing that, I didn't want to overwhelm myself by trying to get a whole lot of everything done.  Instead, I sat down and focused on a single thing, and just tried to do a bit of work on that.  In this instance, the one thing happened to be a Guitar Techniques lesson on scales that I had started to look at earlier in the year, and then gotten away from in the craziness of our move. All in all, I felt good about what I got done in such a short period of time, but what I really needed to do today was manage my time better, so that I had more time downstairs to get some work in. I'm busy in the morning tomorrow, but if I'm smart, what I'll do when I get home is head straight downstairs and dive back into the work I started tonight, because I'm feeling like an afternoon in the studio is exactly what I need to really kick-start the week. 

Today was a good day on a couple of different fronts. I did a bit of playing today that fit loosely into both the "songwriting" and "blues" categories.  I was doing a bit of listening in the studio, and that led me to try and sort out some of a song called "Everybody Knows She's Mine" by Blackberry Smoke.  They're a fun little southern rock band with some bluesy overtones added in, and that particular song has a fun, laid back groove to it.  I started out listening and trying to figure out how the song went, and then ended up finding the tabs for it online, more to check my work than anything else.  I had successfully figured out the bones of the song, but the tab helped by throwing in a few of the extra touches that make the tune memorable.  I used the exercise as a way to not only get some playing in, but also as a way to get my ear readjusted to the idea of transcribing. All things considered, I'm feeling really good about how the studio...

There's so much to say about yesterday, so many thoughts, so many memories... but most of all, so many pictures! (1st Verse of "American Pie," as written on the green room wall by Don McLean) (Memorial at the Crash Site) (Tour Poster) (This is the phone Buddy, Ritchie, and JP used that night) These are just a few of them... I will probably space the rest of them out over the next few days.

So much to say about the day, and yet I know that most of it will end up in tomorrow's post. We went to the Surf Ballroom and the Buddy Holly crash site today. It felt like a rock and roll pilgrimage, and it was marvelous. I took a ton of pictures, but I want to sort through them all before I post them here. It was an all around fantastic day!

I got more time in the studio today than I have all week, and I got a few things worked on that needed my attention. First, I spent a little bit of time with the one recording project that hasn't gotten any love yet this year: the (idea of the) double album.  The last time I had gone sorting through song ideas to try and figure out which ones belonged with which projects, I ended up with 5 ideas that I thought deserved consideration for the notion of a double album.  I remember thinking that, of those, there were a few that didn't shine quite as brightly as the others.  I was right.  In revisiting things today, there are three ideas that really sparkle, and a couple of them that need some further work. The other thing I got done today was a start on the "Songs I Wish I'd Written" playlist... I'm up through ten letters of the alphabet, and it's a long-ish list already.  Still, though, I'm feeling good about the progress I made in regards to that, an...

Today was a songwriting day, and it came about from a rather odd source.  I was going through posts on social media from this day in years past, and I had written something five years ago that, tonight, struck me as a line for a song.  I know a few basics about it... the song's in the key of C, and it's primarily acoustic in nature.  I can hear parts of it in my head, and tomorrow will be at least somewhat devoted to mining those parts and seeing what comes of them. This was the first mental push from the songwriting side since I made up my mind about the four areas of study, and it was good. The other thing I decided tonight is that, if I'm really going to get serious about the songwriting (and with three potential recording projects that will all need songs, I really ought to), one of the obvious things that I can do to help myself out as I get started again is to go through my iTunes, and make myself a playlist of songs I wish I had written, and then take at least ...

Okay, so I'll admit it right off the bat: I didn't get my deliriously amazing "full day" in the studio.  And yet, I again managed to make some good progress in the time that I had, so there's that. (Side note: I'm ten days into the new blog year, and I already feel like I haven't gotten as much done as I should... it's definitely time to step it up a bit more) I really got things up and off the floor tonight, thanks to the new storage cart that I got down there last night.  The floor is the cleanest I've had it since I got all of the pieces in place, so that feels good.  I'm still feeling like there's more I can do in that department, but I'll get to that tomorrow. As for the playing side of things, I was (again) drawn to the bluesy side of things, this time with a bit of Stevie Ray Vaughan on the brain.  I worked my way through a bit of "Cold Shot," and did some focused listening with "Texas Flood" and "R...

Today was okay, but it wasn't the day I had been hoping for. I helped myself out a little bit by doing something completely mundane, but in the long run it will be a good thing, so I'll take that for what it was.  The end of last week, when we were up in Minnesota, I had picked up a three drawer cart at Ikea.  I wasn't sure what I'd use it for, exactly, but something told me that I needed it for the studio, so it came home with me.  Today, I put it together and got it downstairs.  Immediately, it was obvious to me: the cart was the perfect place for the notebooks that held the current stuff I'm trying to focus on.  It got things up off the floor, and still left the basics quickly accessible. So, yeah, after thinking I had the studio pretty well organized, tonight ended up more focused on organization than anything else.  I needed it, and for that I'm grateful, but it wasn't exactly what I had planned. What I really need, and might get at least some of...