I feel a little less mentally defective now. I spent an hour and a half or so playing the guitar. I recorded five songs worth of rhythm guitars and two songs worth of leads. My fingers are sore, my ears are sore, I’m covered with sweat.
I feel better.
I haven’t played my guitar this week and the stir crazy is getting to me. I’ve done a lot of work on 50/90 but none of it on guitar. I’ve got eight songs with vocals recorded that are just waiting for leads. I have three that are ready for rhythm guitar. Tonight. I hope. All totaled, I’m up to 47 songs now. Three more to go and then all I have to do is the gigantic mountain of work left to finish them up.
The Agents of Shield re-watch is up to season five episode one. It opens with a montage set to a Talking Heads song. At least I think it’s a Talking Heads song. It’s definitely David Byrne singing. It lead me to the question: The year is 2020, is it time for me to give Talking Heads a try? I more or less ignored them back in the 80’s. Should I change my mind? Change my tune, so to speak?
Jen and I have been trying to exercise. I’ve been getting 30 minutes or so in each day for the last few days. I’ve been slacking a little today though. One of the things the Apple Watch activity app tracks is calories burned. I had the goal set at 640. I can’t remember if I set that or if it defaulted that way, but it’s been like that forever.
My SleepWatch app has been giving me notifications stating that I get better sleep if I burn 800 calories. That’s interesting. The last few exercise filled days have seen me going way above 800 and I have been sleeping a little better than normal. I guess that settles it. My activity app has been upped from 640 to 800 calories. Yup. I need to go for a 5-6 minute walk now.
I had six songs ready for vocals. This morning, while sitting in the movie theater parking lot, I cranked out four of them… poorly… as usual.
It was foggy out so it was a little harder to see people around me. I saw a couple of dog walkers and a jogger, but that was it. There was a tractor trailer parked near my usual spot so I went someplace new on the other side of the lot. A mall security car did a slowish drive by. I don’t think he was checking on me, I think he was just slow.
On an unrelated note, I have not had breakfast. The last food I ate was just before 9:00pm. I won’t eat anything until lunch at 1:00pm. I am officially trying this 16:8 fasting shit on for size. Also, I am really hungry. Four hours to go!
I put lyrics onto five 50/90 songs. I am set for some car music in the morning.
One of the songs (song #35) may have the worst lyric ever developed in the history of written language.
I’m so proud.
I added some rhythm guitar to four songs today. It mostly went okay. There were a couple of moments when the tendinitis in my thumb decided to remind me it was there. I had to adjust a couple of things to resolve it, but it was really the first time that my hurt thumb was a factor, even though it was a very small factor.
Gear wise, I started out with what more or less is my Lizardfish setup. If there was a sound that I was forced to call “my sound” meaning my usual go-to it would be this. Gibson guitar into a Klon KTR into a Malaise Forever Black Lives Matter into a lowish wattage amp. In this case, two lowish wattage amps. Sometimes we’ll throw in either an MXR Uni-vibe or an MXR Phase 90 at the front of the pedal chain. Today I started out that way, complete with the Uni-vibe, but it just felt off. It could be that I haven’t played at all in a week or so, but I just wasn’t connecting. I ended up turning everything off except the Klon. Ahhh… there it is. The magic place.
Next thing I knew, I had blown through three more songs. Nice. Next time I might try zeroing the gain on the KTR and maxing the output and letting it push the two 15 watt amps into overdrive. That should be fine. It might be a touch louder than I usually get, but it should be fun.
I mixed four songs for 50/90 today. My ears are so tired I’m actually a little dizzy. Yikes!
I’m up to 31 complete now. Yikes, I said!
Let’s summarize today’s musical milestones.
First, I mixed a song. It was the 26th song for 50/90 overall, but it was also the 10th song written and recorded entirely within the month of August. That means for the seventh month in a row I have completed an RPM Challenge rules, album in a month in 29 days. That is insane.
After that I arranged two sets of ideas, just bass and drums, into something that passes for a song form.
After that, I recorded lead guitars on two songs, then took a break to help my step son with a project, then recorded lead guitars on three more. When I ran out of songs that were ready for leads I added rhythm guitars to three songs.
I am now, temporarily, out of songs that are ready for guitar parts of any kind. I have five songs that are ready to mix, and I expect to pick off one or two tonight, and six songs that are ready for lyrics.
Wow.
I still want to kick off at least three more ideas before August ends. I want to be at least at 40 songs by the end of the month and I’m at 37 now.
Next up is dinner, and then probably a memorial viewing of Black Panther. Then I’ll try to mix another song.
Yikes.
I have a meeting starting shortly and I’m all prepped for it with a few minutes to kill. I’m sitting here thinking about 50/90. I’m at 24 songs completely complete. I’ve got two more ready to mix and I should be able to get to them tonight. That will put me over the halfway mark. It will also be 10 songs started and finished within the month of August, meaning I will have completed the album-in-a-month thing by the 29th once again. Is 10 songs in 29 days some how a natural thing for me now? No, don’t be stupid. The only reason you’ve finished as much as you have over the last seven months is you haven’t had to commute to/from work. Don’t get cocky, jerk.
Anyway, I wasn’t going to do this, but here’s another song that I mixed last night. It’s nothing special, but there is a little three-part harmony near the end.
I mixed three songs tonight. 50/90 is up to 24 complete, and the August album in a month is up to eight.
This one isn’t too bad. I know I use the gimmick of having the instruments come in one at a time but I’m old, what can you do?
This morning before work I put vocals on five songs. Tonight after work I put lead guitars on five other songs, and rhythm guitars on two more. That’s a productive day, musically speaking. Depending on how the Bruins game goes tonight I might throw in a mix down too. We’ll see.
One little mildly concerning tid bit. The last two times I played guitar I felt a little numbness in my right thumb. The right thumb being the one that does not have tendinitis. Oh good. It was just a little pins and needles, but it definitely shouldn’t have been there. Maybe I was just nervous about the left hand and squeezing the pick really hard with the right. Who knows. I will keep an eye on it.
Inside the Red Head's Head 