Category: Guitar

#RPM2021 Day 14

Hello and welcome to the half way point. 14 days down, 14 days to go.

I did a lot today. I also kind of lost track of what I did.

  • I wrote lyrics for two songs.
  • I finished the song form for one of the two remaining songs that were just a single phrase or two. I also wrote the melody and lyrics for that one.
  • I added rhythm guitars to three songs.

I think that was everything.

I haven’t updated my works in progress playlist with any of today’s changes. I might do that in the morning. I thought about doing some early morning car vocals tomorrow but my step son’s car is blocking my car in the driveway so that will wait until Tuesday.

So where do the 14 songs stand at this time?

  • Six songs have rhythm guitar, melody, and lyrics and are ready for vocals.
  • Two songs have rhythm guitars but no lyrics or melody yet.
  • Five songs are ready for rhythm guitars. Of those five, three have melody and lyrics, and one has just melody.
  • One song is still just a pair of eight bar bass/drum phrases without a song form.

That’s 14 songs and 14 songs is enough for a complete RPM Challenge album and a complete FAWM project. I’m hoping that within the next couple of days the rhythm guitars and a good chunk of the vocals will be done. If time permits I might try to finish some of the leftover January songs that I never got around to. I would have to redo the bass and drum parts in order to qualify for RPM, and they wouldn’t qualify for FAWM at all, so I won’t even look at them until the 14 in the pipe now are done.

And there you have it, the state of RPM at the midway point.

#RPM2021 Day 9

I didn’t get a lot of playing done, but I did play some. Three of the 12 songs have all of their rhythm guitars, though one of those three might need a rewrite. I also wrote lyrics for two of the songs. Not terrible progress. Hopefully we’ll get on a roll or something. Probably not.

Almost Starting Time #RPM2021

One hour and 13 minutes from now it will be 12:00AM on February 1, 2021. In other words, just over an hour until the start of the RPM Challenge.

I’ve never felt less like playing the RPM game than I do right now, but it will be good for me, I think. Who knows. Musical therapy has been a theme for the last year. Maybe now I will make the best use of it. Who knows.

I have a new overdrive pedal to use in my new music nook. I haven’t plugged it in, let alone play through it. I haven’t setup the microphones on the new vertical two amp setup. I meant to finish off the last two songs for the re-recording project as a test drive for RPM but never got around to it. Life got in the way. What did John Lennon say? Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans?

I have no plans besides limiting myself to a wah pedal, a fuzz pedal, and a couple of overdrive pedals. I am going to use the ES-335 for no reason other than it feels the best at low volume. Two amps, the Vox AC15 and the Fender Bassbreakers. No wet dry or stereo silliness, just one signal split into two amps. Simple.

I don’t have the fascist in the white house to write about anymore, but I have plenty of nazis and nazi collaborators and (worse) nazi wannabees in the congress to complain about. Just because cheeto is gone doesn’t mean we’re in the clear. I’m guessing there might be some medical songs too. Who knows. Maybe I’ll force myself to write 10-20 songs about insects just to change things up.

I mean, it could happen.

To paraphrase the Iron Maiden song, 64 minutes to midnight.

Day Two is Done

My closet has been cleaned out and completely reorganized. I knew it was going to be a pain in the ass, but it was a bigger deal than I thought it would be. The closet organizing insert thing was smaller than we thought it would be, but it still works fine. I also hung some shelves, proving once again that I don’t have the ol’ carpenter/contractor gene. Not even close. While I was doing all of that, Jen was reorganizing storage spaces and closets all over the house. She was amazing. Right now she’s on her computer planning out a hypothetical post-covid redesign of our kitchen and dining room. That’s what happens when you watch too much property brothers. You start getting crazy ideas about knocking down walls and putting islands into your kitchen. As always, she is amazing.

Jen and I are both off from work tomorrow and there should be a new bed frame getting delivered. That’s goal number one. I also have to drive my father to a doctors appointment. That’s goal number two. Goal number three? I haven’t played guitar in days. I have a new wah wah pedal literally sitting on the floor next to me and apart from proving to myself that it works, I haven’t played with it yet. That needs to change tomorrow. Mental health dictates that I get some significant playing time in tomorrow. I have spoken.