"Muse" - ings on Rock & Life

So, I know I said that I really wanted to find a big chunk of time to spend in the studio today, more focused on the playing side of things.  That didn't exactly happen today.  What I did manage to focus in on was this list of songs that I've spent a bit of time with in the last week. Today was the biggest block of time I've had to put toward the song list, and I managed to make it all the way into "F."  Somehow that feels like a decent accomplishment for this sort of thing, where staring at it for too long is liable to drive one round the bend somewhat.  At any rate, the list is up into the 200's in terms of total songs.  I'm hoping, with a little luck, to be able to make it all the way through the iTunes by the end of this next week.  I bit off more than I could chew when I made that proclamation last week, but this week, I'm thinking I can pull it off. That said, I really need to get back to the playing side of things tomorrow.  The Mrs. works 4...

Not that it took much, but today was a better day than yesterday. I spent time with both the electric and the ukulele in my hands tonight, and both felt good (although it took a few minutes to get warmed up with the electric).  I'm still hoping to have a longer run of time in there tomorrow. The other thing I'd like to do tomorrow is make another substantial run at the song list.  I stayed away from it today, almost intentionally. I also made a bit of progress in The Inner Game of Music , which was good. Tomorrow needs to be more centered on the playing side of things for me, though.

The weekend is finally here! We were out tonight, and I picked up the new issue of Guitar World . Lynyrd Skynyrd on the cover this time around. There's a tab for 38 Special's "Hold On Loosely" in the magazine this month as well, which is one of those songs that I have always wanted to learn, but never really gotten around to, so that is a fun coincidence. I didn't get around to as much as I might have tonight, if only because the day was such an exhausting one. I was going to work some more on the song list tonight, but the idea of sifting through the iTunes wasn't all that appealing to me. I'm sure that I will get some work in on it this weekend, though. I got some listening in on the way to and from work, though, so that was good. I'm really looking forward to getting into the studio this weekend, and having a good chunk of time to play. I'm pretty sure that I need it.

Today was a fun day.  I didn't do much with the song list today, but I did get to spend some quality time with an instrument that I haven't picked up in a while: the ukulele. The Mrs. announced earlier this week that she intended to learn to play the ukulele this summer, as a distraction from all of the work she has going on.  She made it known that she would be looking to me for help, even though I "hadn't picked it up in a while," and "somebody ought to."  With that being the case, I figured that I should spend a little bit of time with it, and after she had started messing around with it tonight, I did just that. It felt good to get back to it, and while I was a bit rusty on some of the chords, they came back quickly.  I'm still thinking that I'll have to try and learn at least some of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" this summer.  That may be crazy but it still sounds like fun.

Today was a quieter day than I was hoping for, but I made some progress on a couple of things, so I'll take it as a win and keep moving forward. The biggest thing I made progress on was the song list that has been somewhat of a focal point this week.  I'm halfway through "B," at the end of the day today, and I'm up to 72 songs.  Something tells me that this list is going to be rather extensive. After working on that for a bit, I did a bit of studying, and was done for the day.  Not a lot to report today.  Felt like a small bit of a step back today.  I'll go after it again tomorrow, hopefully with better results.

Another better day today.  I spent more time in the studio tonight than I did yesterday, and while I wasn't singularly focused on any one thing, I made some progress on a few different fronts today, so I'll take it. It felt good to pick up the electric again today.  I knocked a bit more of the rust off, so that's a good thing.  As an added bonus, I only go in for the afternoon tomorrow, and so I'm optimistic that I'll be able to get into the studio for a little while tomorrow morning. I kept working on the ever expanding list of songs tonight, as well, making it all the way through "A" in iTunes.  It doesn't seem like much, I know, but I'm up to 51 songs. The other thing I did tonight was to start reading The Inner Game of Music.  I'm only about 20 pages into it, but it seemed like a better place to start than The Mastery of Music , which I had started in March and haven't made much progress in at all. Today was better than yesterda...

Today was a better day.  It wasn't quite everything that I wanted it to be going into it, but it was still a better day than I've had in a while. I kept working on that list of songs, and was able to push it up to 30.  The next step in that process is to go all the way through iTunes, and just add everything that seems like a lot of fun.  I'm giving myself a small bit of grace on that, and thinking that, if I spend a few minutes with it every day, I should (hopefully) be able to get it done by the end of next weekend. I got in a little bit of playing, and it felt good to get back in there and get a bit of work in.  It wasn't the huge day I was wishing for, but it was something. Also, I kept working out my thoughts on the practice binder, and just making small steps with that felt good.  I'm really confident that I'll get that where it needs to be sooner rather than later now. About the only thing I didn't get to today was any extended listening.  Wh...