Tag: 50/90 challenge

Priorities are Jerks

Is doing the right thing overrated? Are priorities jerks?

Wednesday night I got a little less than six hours of sleep. I was really tired through most of the day on Thursday. I wanted to go to bed early last night but I ended up going to bed late. Fail. Then at about 3:30am I woke up with stomach pain. I have been doing a really shitty job over the last few days of eating three square meals. Three nights in a row I’ve had protein bars for dinner. It caught up to me. I was dealing with hunger pain a lot yesterday. I just couldn’t keep my stomach topped off for very long. I ate something before bed but it wasn’t enough and I was hurting when I woke up in the middle of the night. I had a little protein bar and felt better but I couldn’t fall back to sleep. It was annoying.

The end result? Less than five hours of sleep, and that includes over sleeping by about an hour. That lead to another question. Do I do my normal morning exercise and skip playing some guitar before work, or do I skip some or all of my exercise and play guitar. Ugh. I did the right thing. I did my exercise. I did not play guitar. I punched in to work at 8:50 with plenty of time to spare before the start of my shift, but I did not get any 50/90 challenge work done. No music for me.

Bummer. Maybe I’ll be able to sneak some work in tonight. Also, maybe I’ll have actual dinner tonight instead of just protein supplements. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I just don’t want to have hunger pains today. Let’s do the right thing, m’kay?

2024 50/90 Challenge Day 22/90

Making time to work on this thing before work in the morning is really making this wackiness seem a little easier. Well, easier is probably the wrong word. More manageable might be a more accurate description.

Day 22 (yesterday) saw rhythm guitars added to two songs and leads added to two other songs. I also added one more song idea with MIDI bass and drums complete. That brings the total song idea count up to 26.

I forgot to do my once per week (on Thursdays, in theory at least) count of songs that are in each of the Trello buckets I use to keep track of everything. I’ll do it now because… I don’t know.

  • Zero songs in the Song Ideas bucket (meaning it’s just a riff or a chord progression with no song form)
  • One song in the Complete Song Form bucket (meaning the MIDI bass and drums are done)
  • Eight songs in the Complete Rhythm Guitars bucket (meaning it they don’t have lyrics yet)
  • Two songs in the Complete Lyrics/Melody bucket (meaning they are ready for vocals)
  • Two songs in the Complete Vocals bucket (meaning they are ready for lead guitars)
  • Seven songs in the Complete Leads bucket (meaning they are ready to mix)
  • Six songs in the Complete bucket

Doing the math? It adds up to 26. On to week four.

Clock Management

I played some guitar this morning before work. That’s good. The bad part was that I lost track of time and nearly made myself late for work. You have to be better at clock management, Robert. Point noted.

I worked on four 50/90 Challenge songs. Two got rhythm guitar tracks and two got leads. I swapped from my SG Standard to my Les Paul Custom because… I don’t know why. I just wanted to. I’ve used three guitars on the 25 songs so far. The only one I haven’t used is my 50th birthday Les Paul because I have been using that at band practices and it’s upstairs while my music nook is downstairs. I will put the birthday Les Paul to work on 50/90 soon enough.

Pics because… because.

329/365
329/365

2024 50/90 Challenge Day 21/90

The day 21 update is identical to the day 20 update. I mixed one song (six down, 44 to go) and I started a new song with a full song form and MIDI bass and drums complete.

It should be noted that there is still a full week left in a three month challenge and I have 25 songs ideas in the pipeline which means I am halfway there. Sort of. Not really, but sort of.

2024 50/90 Challenge Day 20/90

I was afraid I was going to get shut out on day 20 (yesterday) but I managed to get some work done with the little time available.

I mixed one song (five down, 45 to go) and started one new song. After reading about John Mayall’s passing I had to come up with a 12-bar blues. It was a moral imperative.

Today looks to be another light progress day as well. Hope for a little something, but won’t be surprised if I never have time.

2024 50/90 Challenge Day 19/90

Day 19 had a good start and then it fizzled out. I put lead guitars onto three songs before work in the morning. That’s it. I never had a chance for anything more. I wanted to work on things but was not able to make the time.

Day 20 is already looking like it’s going to be a no-progress day. I’m working in the office today and I have things going on after work. We’ll see if I can sneak something in.

Good Morning

It’s always a good morning when you play the guitar before work.

Three more 50/90 challenge songs have lead guitars down and are now ready to be mixed and put into the finished songs bucket. Good morning, indeed.

326/365
326/365

2024 50/90 Challenge Day 18/90

Day 18 was a pretty good day.

I had three “songs” that were just a collection of 3-4 little bass riffs. I started the day by turning each of those little collections into a full song form. Once that was done I had four songs forms that were ready for rhythm guitar tracks. I put the rhythm guitar tracks onto all four songs. After that I was feeling like I was in a bit of a guitar playing groove. I didn’t have any rhythm tracks left to do so I started recording leads. I added them to two songs before my finger tips were done for a while. I had other things to do as well so it was a good time to take a break. Instead I ended up mixing two songs. After that I went on to other non-musical stuff.

Like I said, it was a pretty good day. It would have been better if I could have written a new lyric or two, but I am not complaining at all.