"Muse" - ings on Rock & Life

  So, here's the drumstick, along with the Twin Forks vinyl (autographed by the band).   Made it into the studio for a little while this morning.  I had picked up a DVD & booklet put out by Guitar Techniques while we were in Madison over the weekend, so I started taking a look at that.  Haven't had a chance to watch the DVD side of it yet, but the booklet will provide a good scale resource, as well as some technique information.  It also included a few jam tracks and solos, so that will be fun to play around with as we close out the year. Headed off to Davenport shortly for the second Counting Crows gig.  It has already been a good day for music, and another show will make it even better.

I forgot to include the one other piece of cool news from the first Crows show... I wound up with a drumstick!  It got tossed right at me at the end of the gig.  No picture yet, but you best believe that one will be posted here soon.  Can't believe the second show is tomorrow.  I'm so pumped to see them again so quickly. Talked to my brother for a few minutes tonight.  We discussed The Police, and their connection to Bartok, and made plans for musical awesomeness when he comes down to visit for a week or so after Christmas.  Yet another thing I'm really looking forward to. I did a small bit of playing tonight, but mostly I collected all of the music purchases from the trip over the weekend, and got them moved into the studio, and then got myself caught up on some of the recent guitar magazines.  Kind of an uneventful day, in a way, but if I play my cards right, I should have a little bit of time before we leave tomorrow to get into the studio and m...

What a great show. The Orpheum was a great venue to see the Crows, and they stepped up and played a fantastic set. It was really great to hear the new songs in a live setting, and, from a guitarist's perspective, it was fascinating to see how they split the parts up between the players to make things fit together and at the same time seem so functional. Can't wait until Tuesday night to see how similar the sets end up being.

Well, we're just about to head out for Madison, but I wanted to post something today before we leave. I got my time in the studio this morning, and I'm also feeling pretty good about my list of music to search for when we hit the Half Price Books stores in Madison, so that should be a fun adventure. On top of it all, Counting Crows at the Orpheum tonight.  I need a good week of live music to serve as inspiration through the end of the year.  This is going to be awesome.

Tonight was a good time in the studio.  I had picked up the latest issue of Guitar Techniques in my travels last night, and they had a transcription of "Every Breath You Take" in there this month.  That's one of those songs that has always existed around the edges of my learning experience.  Honestly, something about the add9 chords has always seemed daunting for some reason.  Tonight I sat down and started working my way through it.  As I expected, I struggled a bit with the arpeggios associated with the F#m chord.  Those reaches down in the early part of the neck are always a bit tough for me.  That said, I made some good progress with it. I worked a little bit with the Vai workouts, but most of my time tonight was spent on The Police.  It was good to come home and dive into something I hadn't really picked up before. Tomorrow before we head to Madison, I'd like to get into the studio for a little while at least.  Do a bit of playing be...

Well, I got 2 out of the 3 things that were in my list for today. Okay, so technically it might be closer to 1.75 out of 3, but still. I got the lion's share of the iTunes work done tonight.  Not everything that had been on my list, but enough to justify syncing the iPod.  If nothing else, I made a substantial dent in getting the newer music caught up.  It's funny, the one thing I still feel bad that I'm missing at the moment is Girls Can Tell by Spoon.  I know I own it, I know I've seen it recently.  I found the case the other day, and was so excited to have uncovered it that I didn't bother to look inside and make sure the disc was there.  It wasn't. I made it to the record store and started my Christmas shopping for my brother. I also spent what felt like a lot of time in the studio tonight, but somehow didn't manage to get around to the Vai workouts and the GW columns. Either way, I got through some of the tedious things today, and have myself s...

Today was another strange one. I had all these great plans to get up early and get a lot done in the studio.  And then I slept in.  Late. So, with my morning essentially shot, I resolved to have at least a bit of time in the studio before my student got here at 3.  I got in there a bit after 2, got things cleaned up enough to teach in there, and had a bit of time to play before my student showed up.  I had a lot of fun teaching today, and so by 4, my day felt like it had finally started. I hung out in the studio for a little bit after my lesson, but there was more I didn't get around to today than things I actually did get accomplished. Tomorrow night I really need to: 1) Finish up the iTunes uploading & sync the iPod 2) Work on the Vai & GW columns 3) Stop at the record store and do a bit of Christmas shopping for my brother. Those three things need to happen for sure.  After that, anything else is a bonus.