Category: Uncategorized

Which Guitar

I don’t know why, but for some reason whenever I do one of these music challenges I pick one electric guitar and use it exclusively. In November I used my Les Paul, so this month was going to be all ES 335.

Until this morning. Songs 1 and 2 are all acoustic so far. Song 3 is the 335. I worked on 4 and 5 today, but I used the Les Paul. Weird, huh?*

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*I warned you there would be a lot of lame posts this month.

RPM Challenge Day Four

Last night I started song #4. It uses the ancient riff I’ve been talking about for the last four days. I had it sketched out before I went to bed, but tonight I added an organ part to it.

When I was satisfied with song #4 I started playing with new ideas. I wanted to keep noodling with the organ sound so I stayed with that. I also wanted an odd time signature so I set the GarageBand project to 5/4 time. I ended up with a 5th song project, but I’m not happy with it. I forced it tonight. It didn’t come to me the way the good ones do. I dragged it out of my head, kicking and screaming and the end results will show that. I didn’t outright dump it. Not yet at least.

I am working on RPM and FAWM at the same time, as always. RPM needs 10 songs, FAWM needs 14. I think I have two that are destined to be FAWM only (songs 2 and 5). I’ll finish them for the project’s sake, but I don’t see them being anything I’d listen to again. Last year I managed to like everything I had enough to put it on the RPM CD. There was one that I was on the fence with until the last minute, but something made me keep it. In 2012 I had 15 songs (FAWM, leap year style) and only used 13 on the CD. At this rate I’ll be lucky to end up with 10 songs that I don’t hate.

What an Interesting Day

Today, February 4th, is a very interesting day.  There are many important birthdays.

My step son turns 11 today.  He was four when he and his sister decided that I was good enough for their Mom.  I will forever be grateful to them for that kindness.  On the day I first met him, Jen warned me that he would be super shy and would probably hide from me.  I was ready for that.  Then when we all met up outside of the Chuck-E-Cheese’s in Framingham, he strode right up to me without any hesitation and asked me if I’d like to see something he did in school that day.  The little man liked me from the word go.  I have no clue how I got to be so lucky.  Seven years later and he still doesn’t mind me hanging around.

My nephew turns three today.  I recently got my hair cut.  The woman chopping my locks asked me if I had any kids, and if so did they get my red hair?  I told her that I was step father to the two best kids imaginable, but that I had not passed on my glorious red head.  I also told her that it was okay because my sister has the same hair and her son, who turns three today… just making sure you’re paying attention… was fortunate enough to get the same color.  The red hair has been passed on to the next generation!

Facebook turns 10 today.  Yup.  The last nail in myspace’s coffin… The Accidental Billionaire… Millions upon millions of pictures of people’s dinner (I am as guilty as the next nerd)… it all started 10 years go today.

See?  I told you February 4th was an interesting day.

Read a Calendar, You Dope

Yesterday morning after cranking out a couple of guitar parts I turned on the tube and opened up apple TV and went to purchases and went to The Walking Dead and found no new episode*.  Crap, thought I.  It’s not available yet.  I hadn’t watched the mid-season trailer (remember when we didn’t need idiot things like mid season trailers because seasons were 26 episodes over 26 weeks?) so I opened it up.

The Walking Dead didn’t come back on February 2nd, it comes back on February 9th.

I am such a dope.

 

*I am trying to create a new form of literary art centered on the run on sentence.  How am I doing?

RPM Challenge – Day 3

I put rhythm guitars onto the three existing songs today. The first two got the 12-string, and the third got the ES-335 with lots and lots of wah-wah.

The playlist won’t embed for some reason, and the one I posted the other day won’t update (I’ve since deleted it) so you get a link today. Bad Music Found Here.

The second song doesn’t have any drums. I’m trying to decide if I want it to stay that way. I think I do. I’m not sure though. I tried using the GarageBand Drummer function again but I wasn’t pleased with the results. I think it’s better without the drums. I can’t decide.

Completely changing the subject, there were a bunch of deer in the woods this morning. They were all over to the side of the house. I saw one staring intently toward the street. Something out there spooked her because she bolted off in the opposite direction. All of the others followed. I counted six as they were running by. It was pretty cool.

RPM Challenge – Day 2

I didn’t do nearly as much as I’d hoped today, but I did get a third song kicked off. Again, not the riff I’d planned for the second song, but something new. Jen was in the kitchen making dinner. I was helping, but she gave me a few minutes off. I picked up my iPad and, using a piano sound, played the first couple of things that came into my head. Tonight, while sitting in bed, I changed the piano to a bass, and then gave the new GarageBand’s “drummer” mode a whirl. It inserted a drum part into each of my three bits. I messed with the settings a little and came up with something that I would not have thought off, that was also clearly better than what I had in mind. I don’t know if I’ll use it again, but it was cool to play with it tonight.