I did it again. I messed up my morning routine. Big time. I overslept, then I had a problem that came up and screwed up my morning exercise. I am just off today… again.
I did work on some music though. I put rhythm guitars onto two songs. I used my SG for both of them.
Then I switched to my Les Paul Custom and put leads onto one song.
Musically speaking, what’s next for today? I haven’t a clue. I’ll let you know once I straighten out my brain. Maybe in 25 years or something? Who knows.
I played some guitar this morning. Judging by the above screen shot from my Apple Watch, I may have changed up the recording workflow a smidge.
Oh yes, yes I did.
I played through a speaker. Instead of using my Fender Bassbreaker 15 and my Vox MV50 Clean amps with their direct line outputs and speaker cabinet emulation functionality, I plugged into my Fender Deluxe Reverb. In the next photo you can see that the power light is on and it is glorious.
I then did the craziest thing ever. I took the volume knob and turned it up. Way up. It wasn’t full blast, but it was close enough for a Thursday morning. In the next photo you will see proof.
The volume was a smidge under nine. Again, glorious. Spectacular. I had an overdrive pedal boosting the input signal as well and it was distorting nicely. Tube amps are just the best things ever. I should have actually brought the volume down a little as the signal was over compressing to the point of being a squashed, squirely mess, but that’s okay. I’m just making demoes, right?
I played my SG because it was out of the case and sitting on the stand next to my desk. I probably should have played my Les Paul Custom, but this was fine with me. I ended up adding rhythm guitars to one song and leads to another. Oh, and I also added vocals to two songs. Fun. I probably could have snuck in a little more 50/90 challenge work, but I had to get ready for work and didn’t want to risk being late.
The one question that remains to be asked: Are my ears still ringing (about an hour after I stopped playing)?
Why yes, yes they are.
Glorious
Obligatory I’m-in-the-office-today-so-I’d-best-snap-some-photos-before-I-leave-the-house pics, which are by definition either cat pictures or guitar rig pictures. This time around it’s guitar rig pictures. Variety is the spice of life and shit.
Still very pleased with my cheap-o third party lens, but I really need to go outside and do a photo-takin’ walk around somewhere to really put it through its paces to know if I got a really good deal or just a regular good deal. Next week we are on vacation but are just staying home (a staycation, as it were) so I hope to have a few opportunities for photo walks. I’ll let you know.
I am back to work today. My bereavement leave is done. Wouldn’t you know it I went ahead and screwed up my whole morning routine today. Right on queue. Ugh.
I did sneak in some guitar playing though. That was nice.
Yup, I played some guitar this morning. Bellana went home and we are sad to see her leave so I played guitar to feel better. It didn’t really help, but it was still good to play. Hell, it’s always good to play.
Bonus pics:
The Gibson Theodore… a lot of people hate it. I… I guess I… I guess I don’t hate it. I sure don’t love it, but I don’t think I hate it. I almost think it’s cool.
I’ll embed a video below that goes into depth, but the deal is that a few years ago Gibson unearthed a guitar design that was unused back in the golden era of the 1950’s and did a short, very expensive, run out of their custom shop. Recently they released a standard production model that is also grossly expensive, but a whole lot less expensive than the original version.
Yeah the body shape is kinda dumb. I liked the custom shop’s use of P90 pickups rather than the USA version’s use of humbuckers. I like the four knobs on the custom shop over the two master controls on the USA. I very much greatly prefer the bridge on the USA version.
I don’t know. Like I said, I don’t love it but I don’t really hate it. Weird, huh?
Change of subject: unrelated, both the Bruins and the Red Sox won today. The Red Sox snapped a really ugly four game losing streak. The Bruins… I think… clinched the Atlantic Division title… I think… didn’t they? No… did they? I knew they needed a win over Pittsburgh tonight, but I can’t remember if it was a win OR a Florida Panthers loss would clinch things, or was it a win AND a Panthers loss? Also, did the Panthers need to lose, or lose in regulation? I don’t remember. The Bruins won in regulation and the Panthers won in overtime. I guess I’ll find out the answer to this question in the morning. Whatevs, both of my teams won today. Happiness.
Back to the main topic. Where does the Theodore sit on my Gibson Guitar I-Want-One list?
Damn… that’s a long list. It’s also an insanely expensive list. Come on, Gibson USA. Help a brother out. Bring those prices down. I don’t want to start thinking about Epiphones. I’m a Gibson snob after all.
If you are looking for a gift to give me and you have a couple of million dollars burning a hole in your pocket, might I suggest bidding on this:
It’s a 1964 Gibson SG that was originally owned by Eric Clapton. He played this guitar with Cream. It is named The Fool, after the art team that painted it. It is probably the guitar that you hear when you listen to Cream’s second album, Disraeli Gears.
It is going up for auction soon. If we win Powerball tonight I will be bidding on this puppy. That’s a financially idiotic promise that I make to you all right here and now. Win the lottery tonight… bid on The Fool next month. Bank on it.
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.
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 