Here’s what I did this morning… in Hipstamatic pictures… Because… I don’t know why…
And there you have it. My morning excursion in pointless photographs.
My Morning in Pictures
Category: Song Writing
I Played Guitar Today!
Oh thank heavens, I played some guitar today. I worked on two songs for Record Every Month. My finger tips are sore as hell, but I played my Les Paul Custom with the new frets and it felt really good. Really good.
I seriously over did the obligatory pics.
November Music
After cleaning the kitchen, dining room, living room, and the hallway that links them all together today I did what anyone would do. I finally started putting some thought into this month’s music project.
It’s going to be two suites of about 15 minutes. Each suite will be a handful of songs. Each song will end on some sort of coda that is unrelated to the rest of the song. The next song in the suite will start with a variation of the previous song’s coda.
Dig it?
I have the bass and drums down for the first suite. It’s looking like it’s going to be about 16-17 minutes long. National Solo Album Month’s rules require a grand total of 29 minutes and change (the length of The Ramones first record). I’ve got a long way to go, but at least I made some progress. I want to use the guitar that is currently in the shop for most if not all of the guitar tracks, so hopefully I get it back soon. Otherwise I’ll just use a different guitar.
I’m probably going to fail this month’s challenge miserably, but at least I am putting in a little effort to make me feel good about myself, or some shit. Whatever, right?
Music!
November Music
If I am going to have my number one guitar back soon then I should probably get going on a November music project, right?
November is National Solo Album Month. NaSoAlMo. The goal is to write and record 29:09 of original music and play all the parts yourself. I do that for every monthly music project so that’s not a big deal. I started one song idea last week. This morning before work I started another and came up with the gimmick for the month.
The first time I finished a NaSoAlMo project I came up with a way to link a bunch of songs together into one giant song. I think I am going to do something along those lines again. The idea I had for the first song had a phrase that was meant to be a coda section that was not used anywhere else in the song. The gimmick is that I will take that coda section and create a variation of it and make that the opening section of the song that comes after it on the playlist. Song number one ends with something, then song number two starts with a variation on that something. Song number two then ends with a coda that isn’t used anywhere else in the song. Song number three opens with a variation on it. Ect Ect. Get it? Then all the songs get smushed together into one giant song file.
Writing it out like this makes me think it’s a dumb idea…. I’m still going to try to do it though. Let’s see how long I stick with this plan.
Three New Mixes
I have mixed three songs today. I’m hoping to do a couple more but I think I am out of energy thanks to Covid and possibly because a migraine is coming. Not sure on the migraine yet, but I think it might be happening. I am going to try and make some lunch and see how it goes.
The first of the three songs I’ve finished would have been one of the album in a day things if not for the aforementioned Covid. The song isn’t very good but I don’t care.
The second song was started earlier in September and also isn’t very good.
The third song was started in August and finished in September and also isn’t very good.
Covid Tunes
You thought I forgot about the music project, didn’t ya? Well, I have been a little preoccupied the last week or so.
This would have been the first song for the album in a day challenge thing I was going to work on during our first full day home after the Disney World fail. That project, along with the larger 50 songs in 90 days challenge that enveloped it came to a pretty clear fail that same day when the covid symptoms started. I felt up to trying to mix something after lunch today, thinking that maybe I could get one song in before I was completely worn out. I was right. I got one mix in and now I am completely worn out.
I like this song. I don’t like the performance or the mix or the recording and the vocals are utterly atrocious even by my non-existent standards. Like I said though, the song itself is okay.
Musical Morning
I think I have zero chance of pulling off an album in a day today. I might be able to pull off an album in two days, or maybe even an album in a day and a half. I have two songs finished apart from a mix down and two songs that will be finished this afternoon. I don’t know the full running time but I think it’s about 16-17 minutes.
I wrote three songs last night including MIDI guide tracks and melodies and lyrics. I did a car music this morning and recorded the vocals for all four. Since then I have put lead and rhythm guitars onto two of them and came up with a chord change for a fifth song.
Obligatory Hipstamatic pictures……
Zombies and Music
I’m still thinking about an album in a day challenge for tomorrow. I started working on the first song idea at 9:45 this evening. That means I have until 9:45 tomorrow night to finish about half an hour worth of music. It’s already feeling like a failure. I started too late to have enough ready to go for a car music in the morning. that means I’ll probably have to do a late morning car music and maybe an afternoon as well. That doesn’t seem likely.
Another roadblock was having to watch tonight’s new episode of The Walking Dead Daryl Dixon show. Did anyone else notice that the woman who played the nun who sets Daryl on his mission is the same woman who played Fleur Delacour in the Harry Potter movies? I guess there are only so many French actresses around but still, she fought the Death Eaters so I bet she can take out zombies with the best of them.
Another impediment to the album in a day thing is the Doctor Who binge watch. I started season 12 tonight. That means I have finally reached the Tom Baker 4th Doctor era. He’s the Doctor I used to see on reruns on PBS back in the 80’s. He’s more or less the reason I wanted to binge watch the original show in the first place.
So I probably won’t finish a full album in a day, but I will add a lot of new stuff for the 50 songs in 90 days challenge. So it’s all good.
Tuesday Morning Music
Last night, just before I fell asleep, I added a new song idea to the 50 songs in 90 days thing. It is song number 47 and I made it all that way before I worked on a 12-bar blues. Usually the first 12-bar pops up way earlier in the project than this.
This morning I got up early and added guitar tracks to three songs, including the shiny new 12-bar. If I don’t start cranking out lyrics like a lyric writing factory, then this whole challenge is going to seriously crash and burn. I still have a mountain of stuff to do and not a lot of time left to do it in.
For now though, Hipstamatic guitar pics. Shake to Shuffle.
Back Up Your Files
Do as I say, not as I do (or in this case don’t do what I didn’t do). Back up your files. Always back up your damn files.
Yeah, you know that car music I did yesterday? The one where I put vocals on four songs? Yeah, I just accidentally deleted the vocal track from one of those songs. I didn’t notice until after I was past the point where undo could bring it back. Also, with all the travelin’ fun yesterday I never got around to backing up the work I did in the car and now that vocal take is gone forever and I have to do it again.
On the up side though, I did manage to put rhythm guitars onto four songs today and lead guitars onto three. It should have been leads on four, but one of them needs to have the vocals redone because I am a friggin’ idiot.
Back up your files. Always.
Note: Today’s work has already been backed up. That doesn’t fix what I didn’t back up yesterday though. Moron.
Inside the Red Head's Head 