Category: Guitar

Another Song for May

Things have been pretty quiet here on Nana Sitting duty. She had a good night last night. Today started out all right, had a bit of a pain hiccup, but has since calmed down again. Fingers crossed for a quiet day.

I watched Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead last night. Eh. Not terrible. Kinda dumb, but not unenjoyable. I actually started it last night and finished it this morning. Every time I put it on my mother would come into the room and I’d pause it to avoid questions of gore. I was watching on my laptop with AirPods in, but I didn’t want to risk grossing her out. When I was 18 I probably would have just let it go. I guess I’m more mature now.

Speaking of mature, the 50 year old red head mixed a song. How grown up of me!

Have I mentioned my beloved wife bought me a new Les Paul for my birthday? Have I mentioned that all of the guitars on this song are that new Les Paul? Have I mentioned that I love my new birthday Les Paul? Not as much as I love my wife, but that gitter is sah-weeeet.

I’m not sure if I am going to submit this one to the RPM site for the Record Every Month thingie. I have three. This one, the last one I posted, and one more that isn’t mixed yet. I haven’t decided which one sucks the least.

New Song

In my fear of going to sleep I mixed a song. Two problems here. First, I used my AirPods Pro so I have no idea how this really sounds. It’s probably going to end up way too bassy. Second, there’s a song from February’s RPM Challenge with the same title. I have to stop doing that. Doofus.

Anyway, this song was entirely recorded on my new Les Paul Standard. Forgive me for loading it up with goop at the beginning. It sounds more like itself once the song gets going.

Things May Be Calming Down

My mother is still awake, but I think things are calming down. The crying and praying has stopped, I think. She is still standing up in the bedroom with the light and the TV on, but she seems to be managing. She actually just went out to the kitchen for a snack. That was a surprise.

I had been watching That Pedal Show on my laptop while the Red Sox were on the TV with the sound all the way down. They went into a rain delay just after the problems started. I have game seven of the Minnesota/Vegas first round series on the tube now. I’m afraid to finish the youtube show. I feel like the minute I put my AirPods back in something bad will happen. I don’t want to jinx anything,

Vegas is up 3-2 in the 2nd. I think I picked Vegas, didn’t I? Speaking of picks, The Bruins second round series against the Islanders starts tomorrow even though the Toronto vs Montreal first round series is still going. Our game one is tomorrow, their game six is tomorrow too. I won’t do a second round prediction post until after all of the matchups are finalized but I’ll be sure to post something about my picks for the 2nd round series that start before the 1st round is 100% over. You can probably bet that I will pick Boston to win their series. You’d win that bet.

Vegas just scored again. It’s 4-2 now.

My mother is lying down. The lights and the TV are still on but I can poke my head around the corner and see her. Fingers crossed she falls asleep. She’s earned it tonight. I should have seen this coming. It’s raining out and she doesn’t do well with whatever the air pressure does when it rains. The forecast is calling for rain all weekend. Shit.

Either a truck just bounced off a pothole (which is very possible on my parents’ street where the construction crews have left it looking like London during The Blitz [not really, that’s a huge exaggeration, but the road is a mess]) or I just heard some thunder. Oh yippee. That’s all we need.

Hang in there, Mom.

Lunch Break

Ready for a lunch break post?

I still can’t get to the editor on a Vivaldi non-private browser window on my work laptop. It works in a private window and it works on Vivaldi on every other computer in my personal computing universe. What up?

I’ve had a couple of good nights sleep lately, but I still feel tired. I think the Covid is finally wearing my out. I put all new parts onto my breathing machine last night, which was nice, and I slept like the dead for over seven hours, which was nice, but I’m still tired today.

Did I mention the Bruins advanced to the second round? I think I need to start watching the Penguins/Islanders series. I don’t like either team, but the Bruins looked like world beaters in the first round so I’m cautiously optimistic about all possible opponents.

Music, right? I want to do car music tomorrow morning, but I don’t have anything written. There are two songs from this month that are ready for lyrics, and three more from the past couple of months too. I have to write ’em before I sings ’em though. I’m hoping that tonight before bed I’ll be able to sneak some writing in. I’m doing a challenge to record at least one song every month and I have one for this month that’s ready to mix. I just don’t know if it’s as good as some of the other things I’ve worked on this month. We’ll see.

Also music: The recording nook right now has the Vox AC15 plugged into the normal channel and the pedals are a Klon Klone, a Rat klone, and a Muff klone. I think I need to swap out the Rat for something else, and I’m not 100% sure I like the AC15 on it’s own. Maybe it’s time for the Bassbreaker 15 to come back. What I really want is my Deluxe Reverb, but it’s still at the band’s rehearsal room at our bass players house. What to do, what to do. Tone, am I right?

The kids are at their dad’s for the next couple of days. I miss them already. Harry went to school this morning and Bellana just left a minute ago. I am sad. I want them here 24/7 because I am greedy and selfish. Crud.

I should do some sunrise pics soon. I don’t know what my nana-sitting schedule is like off the top of my head, but there is a holiday weekend coming up. There’s also a wedding anniversary for someone coming up too. I wonder who?

Okay, fat boy, back to work.

Music Plans and Weekend Plans

I failed to play the guitar last night, but I did come up with some kind of running order for Quarantine Tunes Volume 4. I can sense your bliss.

I have one song for May that is close to being finished. There are a few more that I might be able to get done by the end of next week. I also have a potential batch of songs for a fifth round of re-recording, but I am seriously at the bottom of the barrel. So far I have tweaked a song lyric here or there, and one song had the lyrics rewritten. I think I’m going to have to do that a few more times. Of the 10 songs on the new list, three are actually written about the RPM Challenge. That’s no good. I see some new lyrics in my future.

Plans for the next few days include:

  • Finish watching this week’s episode of The Bad Batch (nine minutes to go)
  • Work
  • Nana sit overnight tonight
  • Nana sit tomorrow until around dinner time
  • Hang out with my family tomorrow night. If time allows, maybe play some guitar.
  • Sunday, celebrate Bellana’s birthday by watching The Godfather and The Godfather II and cooking a steak dinner on the grill.

Not a bad weekend.

85 Minutes to Go

It’s five minutes passed 4:00 which means I have less than an hour and a half to go for today’s work day. 85 minutes to quittin’ time.

I took Tuesday off for the drive to Vermont, and I took an hour yesterday morning for the hospital conference call. These two events have had the unintended side effect of turning my internal calendar inside out and upside down. I have no idea what day it is. At varying times during the day yesterday I was convinced that it was Monday. Other times I was equally convinced that it was Friday. It was Wednesday. What chance does that give me?

I have had my Google Calendar open all day today and it clearly shows that today is Thursday, yet I have been positive that it’s Friday. I had to mess with the Nana Sitting schedule for the weekend too, and that’s going to mess me up even more. Instead of leaving after work on Thursday and coming back after dinner on Saturday, I am going to leave on Thursday and come back after work on Friday. The reason behind it is excellent (happy birthday to Bellana) but it’s messing with my head.

It’s been a wacky week, I tells ya. I’m hoping I have the energy to play some guitar tonight. If I put the leads on one of the May songs tonight I can mix it while I Nana Sit tomorrow.

Back to work. 75 minutes to go. I just got asked to evaluate a custom code project for one of our customers and it’s something I’ve already written. Kick ass, dude. I love it when that happens. Reusing code is totally where it’s at.

Talk to you later. Probably after I get home. Probably with a picture of the cat. Rock on, ladies and germs.

The Last Quarantine Tune

I finished the last of the fourth round of re-recordings tonight. I mixed it using Air Pods Pro which was probably a bad idea. I’ll share it for now, but if it sounds like garbage on better headphones, or on actual speakers, I will remix it.

I still need to come up with a final running order, but that’s it. After that I have to decide if I want to do volume five or not.

For the record, the lead guitar parts here are my new birthday present Les Paul. Have I mentioned that I love that new guitar, and that my wife is amazing for getting it for me, and that I love my wife more than words could ever express?

My New Best Friend

I just sat in front of the TV, noodling without an amp. Just connecting with the new kid in town.

I love the nickel hardware and I love the trapezoid inlays.

I love the grain on the maple cap. It’s not really enough to call it a flame, I don’t think, but it is freakin’ groovy.

None of my other Gibsons have the little knob position pointer thingies. I can’t remember if my poor, stolen Les Paul Deluxe had them or not.

The back is a different color than my ‘78 Custom. I like the lighter shade this has.

I adore the 50’s style tuning pegs. I think my much missed Deluxe had those. My Custom didn’t (I changed the tuners on the Custom in 2006, I think, and I have no clue if the ones we took off were original or not.

I’m happy to see the poker chip. My SG came with one but it wasn’t installed. I haven’t put it on because it’s a royal pain in the ass to do.

You can’t see it in the picture (I tried and failed) but it’s definitely a two piece cap. My eyes could clearly see where they join.

Like I said, I have a new best friend. What a killer birthday present, right?

Tone Controls

I took the cat’s advice and played my new guitar.

I messed with my little recording nook pedal board a little. I took out the Wampler Plexi Drive Mini for the Chicago Stompworks Mr Vermin Rat clone.

I didn’t record anything. I just played. Loud. Jen and Harry had to step out for a minute and I took the opportunity to see if I could get the little Vox AC15 amp up to band practice volume.

Normal channel… master volume on about five… channel volume up to about seven… 106 decibels. sweet.

Note the tone control on the AC15’s normal channel is wired backwards. I knew that and I set the amp appropriately. Why then was my sound so super toppy?

Because the tone control on the Rat clone is also wired backward and while I thought I had it set super bassy it was actually set super trebly.

Amateur.