Category: Guitar

Two Weeks in a Row

We did it. We have had two band practices in a row. Oh thanks be to the gods of bad middle aged cover bands, we pulled off two Sunday practices in a row!

I fought with my gear through the whole thing. I have something in my signal chain that is adding a weird whistling noise and when it reaches my overdrive pedals it gets LOUD. I ended up bypassing half of the board and it seemed like it fixed the problem for a while, but eventually it came back and kept getting worse. If I had to guess I would say it’s probably my power supply. I don’t know. I think I might bring my stay at home pedal board next time and see if it had any similar issues.

I also just wasn’t vibing with my amp. The Vox AC15 is fun and I like using it when I record at home, but when the band was playing I was missing my Deluxe Reverb. I might swap them next time. Or maybe I’ll swap the pedal board next time and then swap the amp the time after that.

Look at me, making plans for the next two practices, as if I wasn’t just worried about ever having two practices in a row again. Why don’t we focus on the next practice actually happening before we start looking beyond that, m’kay?

As for me personally, my playing was awful. Probably worse than last week. That’s okay though, I will get back up to speed soon enough, assuming we get ourselves on a regular schedule, of course.

How about a couple of gear pics?

190/365

Two Weeks in a Row?

I didn’t get my hopes up last week and everything worked out. Now we’re shooting for two weeks in a row. Should I be excited?

Last week we had our first band practice in months after more false alarms than I care to remember. After all the fails I refused to get excited about it until we were all actually in the room together. Once we were though… rock and roll bro.

Now we’re talking about practicing again tomorrow. One week later. Is it going to happen? Is it going to fall through? Are we on or are we dealing with another false alarm? I don’t want to get too excited. I don’t want to get my hopes too high… but we’re practicing at noon tomorrow and my stuff is already packed up.

Rock and roll, bro.

Do I Want to See Clapton?

Eric Clapton announced US tour dates. There are two New England shows, TD Garden in Boston and Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. Tickets go on sale on Friday.

Do I want to go? I don’t know.

It wasn’t that long ago (just before the pandemic, I think) that I told my wife I wanted to see him one more time before he’s gone. I know he has some sort of neurological issue that is reducing his ability to play the guitar so the days are definitely numbered. Jeff Beck is gone… how long before Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page are gone too? I really should go see them before it’s too late. Those three guys are, more than anyone else, the reason I started playing guitar. Clapton more than the other two. I should want to go see him one more time, right? That makes sense.

But…

During the pandemic he demonstrated clearly what an absolute piece of shit he is as a human being. Do I really want to reward him for that by shelling out what is likely to be an absurd amount of money?

I honestly don’t know what to do.

Keith Relf and Jeff Beck are dead. John Mayall is dead. Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker are dead. Rick Gretch is dead. Delaney Bramlett and George Harrison are dead. Duane Allman, Jim Gordon, and Carl Radle are dead. Clapton is going to turn 80 at the end of this month. Based on that very long list of band mates (no, Jeff Beck was not a band mate, though they did play together a few times over the years) who have died, I think he might actually be immortal, but that’s just speculation. It could be true.

I really don’t know what I want to do.

PS: I am just thinking out loud. I have zero interest in anyone’s comments on this. None at all. This one is just for me, dig it?

Crazy Busy Weekend

We did so much this weekend I can’t keep it all straight.

I hung a mirror, two paintings, and two coat racks in the bedroom, put together a big cabinet for the office and a storage rack for the bedroom. Rearranged most of the furniture in the bedroom and added a new cabinet. I took all of the stuff we bought from IKEA for the office that isn’t going to be used and loaded them into the car, though we aren’t sure when we’re going back to IKEA to return them.

What else, what else… I hung some pictures in the living room, replaced some old table lamps with new table lamps in the living room, pulled up two rugs and put down a new one down in the office. Rearranged some of the electronic devices in the office, or at least rearranged how it all plugs in.

I cooked lunch twice and dinner once, went to a whole bunch of stores for various reasons (not on Friday though), listened to the Bruins win one game and lose another, explained our issues to the HVAC guy who we called in tonight and after he started looking at things correctly guessed what the problem was (and the problem has since been corrected and all is well).

Oh yeah, and had the first band practice in forever where we all reiterated our desire to keep things going and hopefully start playing out again before the year ends. I also, for the first time, decided that the signal chain of Les Paul into Klon Klone into Rat clone into Vox AC15 wasn’t doing it for me, though the Les Paul into the Big Muff clone into the Klon Klone into the AC15 was absolutely doing it for me in the most ferociously fuzzed out blissful way possible. Next time I’ll have to bring a different overdrive pedal with me and replace the Rat clone.

Now the weekend is coming to an end. I still need to have my afternoon vitamins because I fell behind in all of my dietary goals today. The vitamins is the only thing still outstanding though. I will be cleared to have a drink in about half an hour. I’ll have them then and be all set with all of my goals for today. After that I’ll try to sleep for a while and then go back to work tomorrow.

That was a busy weekend. A crazy, busy weekend if you will.

Did it Happen?

The car was packed up… did the band practice happen? It’s been so very long…

Yes! Yes it did happen! All four of us were there. The first band practice in ages!

183/365

Yes, we sucked but who cares! It was fun and we weren’t nearly as bad as we could (should) have been. We have tentative plans to try again next week. Fingers crossed, folks. A few practices… get back into playing shape… relearn a bunch of songs… book a gig. That’s the hope. We’ll see how it goes.

Will Lucy Pull the Football Away at the Last Second Again?

I don’t want to feel like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football but… that might be the case.

We have a band practice scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. Will it happen? I keep getting my hopes up and they keep getting canceled at the last minute. Should I be excited about this or should I be resigned to the fact that it’s going to fall through.

I don’t want to feel like Charlie Brown. I am choosing to be excited, but maybe not quite as excited as I was the last bunch of times.

So which guitar should I bring to the practice? Whichever it is, it’s going to need new strings. I’ll decide in the morning.

RPM Challenge Day 28/28

Let’s see… how did I make out on the last day?

I put lead guitars onto two songs. I mixed eight, count ’em, eight songs. I then sorted all of the songs into three lists.

  • Definitely makes the final album
  • Might be okay enough to make the final album if I hide it at the end
  • No way in hell it makes the final album

Oddly, the third list was very short. I think I ended up with nine songs on the first list, seven songs on the second list, and four on the third. After sorting was done I re-listened to everything on the second list to find at least one that I could put on the final album. I ended up keeping four. There were two that were easy decisions. That put me at 11 keepers. I figured 12 was a better number so I went back and forth between two B list songs but I couldn’t decide so I kept them both.

Next, I “borrowed” a photograph of good ol’ Punxsutawney Phil from wikipedia and used an iOS app to turn it into a very lame album cover. Then I listened through the 13 keepers again and came up with something that passed for a half decent running order. From there, the only thing left to do was go to rpmchallenge.com and submit it.

Done and done. See you next year, RPM Challenge fans.

Groundhogs and Top Hats

Done. I whittled the 20 songs down to 13. I was thinking of using 12 but I couldn’t make up my mind between the last two so I kept them both. I just sent it off to rpmchallenge.com and my name is now on the list of winners. Yippee. 14 successful RPM Challenges in a row. What a hero I am. Huzzah and shit.

Now lets see if I can embed a playlist, shall we?

The Last Day

Tracking is finished. I added lead guitars to the last three songs and then started mixing. I’ve plowed through three mixes already but there are still five left to do. The phrase that pays as far as mixing goes is “quick and dirty.” I just want something to upload, it is not going to be anything particularly good but it will exist and that’s good enough for me today.

This was the last song I started working on, and the last song to get vocals, and the last song to get lead guitars, and the 11th song to be mixed.

Also, I played my Les Paul Custom today and it came through for me on this song. I actually enjoy the leads here. That’s not normal for me on this year’s project.

DSC_3757

RPM Challenge Day 27/28

Yesterday was day 27, which means as I type this it’s day 28 and it’s the last day and I am too panicked (musically) to think straight.

I seriously forget what I accomplished yesterday. I know I did two songs worth of vocals, and I know I mixed four songs. I also did some sax parts but was it two songs or three? I also, also did some lead guitar but was it three songs or four? I think it was three parts each but they combined to finish four songs. I think.

It doesn’t matter. I have two more lead guitar parts to record and then I have to mix EIGHT songs, make a cover photo, and pick the running order for the final album submission.

That sound you hear off in the distance? That’s me screaming in frustration.

Yippee, bro.