Category: Guitar

50/90 One Month Check In

It’s August 1st. I cannot believe it’s already August 1st. The universe ended in March, how can it be August? What the freak?

So where are we with 50/90, because that’s what really matters to the universe, right? Ugh.

July 4-31 saw work on exactly 20 songs. 11 of them are done and done. Likely never to be listened to, or even thought of again. Three more songs have guitars but are waiting patiently for lyrics and vocals. Three more have a complete form but are waiting quite impatiently for guitars. That leaves three that are just a couple of little bass guitar noodles. One of which is only a few hours old. I snuck it in last night just before midnight.

So what does August have in store for us? No clue. I did something to my left thumb a couple of weeks ago. It hurts but I don’t think it’s broken. My range of motion is decreased a little, but not too much. It hurts to make a fist, and sometimes it hurts to lift things. It does not hurt to play guitar, but if it doesn’t get better I am going to have to have a doctor look at it. If there is something wrong and they need to immobilize it then guitar is going right out the window.

Other than that, my hope is to get up near 40 by the end of the month. I need to do at least 10 from start to finish in order to keep the album in a month streak alive, and I need to save at least 10 for the same reason in September. You know, now that I think of it… there is a shit load left to do. Ugh, I’m all intimidated now.

Crud.

Rock on, bro.

Three Songs

0.5x lens:

1x lens:

2x lens:

I recorded lead guitars and mixed three songs tonight. That puts me at 11 out of the goal of 50. Why the rush? I mean, my laptop battery is down to 9%. Surely I could have pushed one song off to tomorrow.

February, March, April, May, June… all have a complete album in a month project. Also, they all were completed on the 29th day of the month.

Today is the 29th of July, and I now have a complete album in a month project for this month, even though that is not technically the challenge I’m playing with at the moment. I still did it, and I still did it by the 29th. Cool.

This one isn’t very good:

This one is okay, I guess:

This one is also okay, I guess:

And now to celebrate my goofy milestone, here are some tintype photos because it’s 1850 or so.

Back on the Floor

Jen asked for one of the little step stools back so she could use it in the kitchen, so the Bassbreaker is back to sitting on the floor. I’ll find a replacement somewhere.

I thought about playing my Les Paul tonight in memory of the great Peter Green, but the 335 is the only guitar I have with relatively fresh strings. I’ll switch back to the Les Paul soon though… even though Peter Green only really played a Les Paul for about four years worth of his career, it was the important four years, if you know what I mean.

10% Done

I mixed two songs tonight while sitting here feeling like a wrung out dishrag after the events of the day.

Five songs down. 50/90 is 10% complete.

I’m still stuck at 17 songs in the pipeline. 14 have rhythm guitars. One has vocals. Everything ready to be mixed is now mixed. Today is day 19. 71 days left.

Look Kids, Another Dumb Rock Song

Yup, it’s another big dumb rocker. I kinda like this one though, I wish I could sing. That would probably helped this one out a bit.

I have two more songs ready to mix. I could probably do another one tonight but… naw, we’ll get ’em tomorrow.

Wah Pedal’s Point of View

I leaned my iPhone against my wah pedal and took this with my Apple Watch. What a world we live in, eh?

I put rhythm guitars onto songs 11 and 12, put lead guitars onto songs 3 and 4, and mixed song 1. Not bad for a day where I worked more than 10 hours and then cooked dinner and am totally ready for bed at 10 minutes to 9:00.

You old person, you.

The 2020 50/90 Challenge will not be a shut out for me this year. One song down, 49 to go.

Neglecting My Responsibilities

I really do have work I want to do tonight. Really.

So what did I do?

i added rhythm guitars to two songs. That puts me up to 10, which is good. I also put lead guitars on two of the songs I put vocals on this morning. I still haven’t completed anything for 50/90, but I do have two songs ready to mix. Progress.

Light Dawns on Musical Head

Holy crap, did I just figure something out?

When I record guitars in my bedroom there is a ton of extraneous ground hum coming through my amps. I always put it down to using too many pedals and too many cables and all that, but back in March I recorded using just one amp and no pedals and still had a lot of noise. I didn’t think it was my amp, I just thought there was something else going on.

It literally just dawned on me what it is! It’s the overhead lights in the room!

When I record in my little guitar nook I have the laptop running on battery. I’m one plug short of being able to cover everything I need, so battery it is. I was just thinking to myself that maybe it’s time to get an adapter with two plugs so I don’t have to worry about it anymore. The plug closest to where I sit now has my USB audio interface in one socket and a lamp in the other. I thought, I could just unplug the lamp while I record and plug it back in when I’m done because I usually turn on the super bright overhead lights and that’s when it hit me.

The overhead lights are on a dimmer switch. Hot Damn, why didn’t I think of that? Dimmer switches are the noisiest bastards in the electrical world (I don’t know if that’s true or not, but lets just go with it) and they are the bane of many a professional recording studio’s existence! Also, there are three lamps in the room that all have smart bulbs. I bet those kids are noisy as hell too! I bet if I turn off all the lights I won’t have as much 60 cycle hum coming through my amplifiers! I bet!

I mean, I’m probably wrong, but who cares! I feel smart right now, just let me enjoy it for a while.