Category: Guitar

Why Didn’t That Work

Why didn’t the audio file I added to the post last night work? The one from the night before worked, but not the one from last night. Why?

I tried re-adding it a couple of times, but nothing. I tried adding it to a new post, nothing. I tried adding it and the song from the night before to another new post and the older song worked. Weird. I don’t know what I did.

I just re-uploaded it to the site. Does it work now?

Wah Wah Pedals are Fun to Step On

Just in case you were wondering if I owned a wah wah pedal or not. Once again, I’m not sure about the mix here. What I need to do is line up all of these suckers in a play list and then drive somewhere that’s 2-3 hours away. Listening to mixes in the car is pretty much the source of truth for the entire recording industry. I’m actually a little bit serious here.

Quarantine Tunes Volume 2 is Happening

The first song from Quarantine Tunes Volume 2 is done! Hooray, babie!

Back in 2016 I wrote a bunch of songs for the RPM Challenge that questioned the mental abilities of flat Earthers. Someone listening commented that I was being closed minded. Really. This song was my subtle response.

I’m not sure I have the mix just right. There are four tracks of rhythm guitar and I was worried I’d get carried away and overpower everything else. I wonder if I over compensated by backing them off too much. I’ll listen back in a couple of days and decide.

One down, eight to go.

The Answer to the String Question

Prior to the Covid-19 screwing everything up I had posted a couple of things about trying to find a new brand of guitar strings. There were a few that I was looking at but I wasn’t sure if any would be better than the strings I’ve been using since the 80’s.

I think we have a winner….

I promise that the decision has nothing to do with the fact that they send me thank you notes when I buy from them. I promise.

“Happy” Seven Months

It’s October 13th. Happy (I mean that sarcastically) Seventh Covid-Quarantine Monthiversary.

This fucking sucks.

Last night one of the guys in the band floated the idea of having a mask-wearing, spread out all over the room band practice. Another guy immediately said yes. The third guy commented but didn’t say yes or no. Then I was the asshole. I’m really tired of being the asshole. Like… really tired of it.

I was going to mix one of the songs last night. I replaced all the bass and drum parts and made sure everything lined up correctly. There was one spot toward the end of the song where the vocals sounded weird. I had two tracks singing the same thing. I’m not sure why I did that, but I did it for the first three songs I recorded. In this particular instance there was a drop out that cut a whole word out of one of the takes. How did I miss that?

I listened to just the vocal tracks, one at a time, and there were little drop outs all over the place. What the hell? I was mostly able to comp together one full track out of the two that I had, but there was one line where both tracks had a drop out. Fortunately it was in a chorus so I was able to fly in that line from another part of the song.

It really pissed me off though. How did I miss that when I was in the car? I knew I was having signal loss issues that day but I thought I was catching them as they happened. I’m so mad at myself. I did the same thing with the two other songs I recorded that day and they both had a drop out or two, but they weren’t nearly as bad. I comped together a full take pretty easily. I then did the same for the four songs I recorded yesterday, when I wasn’t doubling tracks, and everything was fine. I don’t have to redo anything, but it still pissed me off like crazy.

I also had my first bad news on the exercise front, though it wasn’t unexpected. When I started this I said I was going to do the intermittent fasting and 30 minutes of exercise each day and see what happens. I explicitly said I was not going to screw with what I ate, just when I ate it. I have been weighing myself every Tuesday morning and I was losing weight. Today was the first weigh in where I was up. Only a pound and a half, but I was not happy. Not even a little bit. I told myself that weight loss wasn’t my primary goal, but now that I’m up a pound and a half I think I have to face the reality that maybe it actually is my primary goal. Crap. I thought I was more evolved than that (that’s a joke, I didn’t really think that).

The good news is, last time I cut the grass I would do about 10 minutes of mowing and then have to sit for half an hour to recover. After a month’s worth of multiple little “work outs” each day, when I cut the grass this weekend it was more like 20-30 minutes of mowing with little 5-10 minute breaks to recover. That was my original goal for all of this shit. I consider that a small success in an otherwise garbage universe.

Kiss my ass, Covid-19.

Bad

Worked on the Great Re-Recording Project of 2015 today.

I wrote these friggin’ songs, why can’t I play them? What the hell is wrong with me? I mean, clearly if they came outa my head they aren’t hard to play. Why the constant screw ups?

I’m up to four songs ready for vocals though, so that’s not so bad.

That Pedal Show Slays Me Again

They just did a full episode on Fender Deluxe Reverbs. My Deluxe Reverb has been at my bass players house since COVID started. I miss it so much right now I can’t put it into words.

I joked with Jen that I’ll just have to buy another one. She said, “maybe.” my brain heard, “go ahead and buy one tonight.” WOOHOO!*

*Just kidding…. or am I?