Wait, What?

Play Like Mr Johnson

I use the youtube to learn how to make new and exciting weird noises, but I don’t often use it to learn how to… you know… play.

I have no excuse for never learning how to play finger style guitar before. None except that I have no independence in the fingers in my right hand. For the lesson in the video, I can play the thumb part easy. I can play the non-thumb part easy. Can I play them both together? That would be a no.

Mr Johnson and I share a birthday. The least I can do is learn to play more like him (ie: steal from him*). Now that I’m 50, why not? I mean, Mr Johnson died at 27** so it’s really the least I could do, right?

*Is “ie” used correctly? Should it be “eg” or “re” instead? I didn’t sleep last night so I can’t do grammar.

**No one knows for sure how Robert died, but the most common theory is that he was chasing after a married woman and her husband poisoned him.

10 Hours to Go

It’s 2:00. I started lunch a little late today because I had a couple of meetings and my company officially announced the new post-Covid telecommuting policy. So I’m writing my lunch post at 2:00pm instead of 1:00pm.

Harry found his keys! WOOHOO!! They were in his backpack all along. Sweet. We still have to get him a spare, but for now all is well. We can get a spare at our leisure.

I haven’t played guitar in two weeks. The facebook mind reading last night had me inspired for some searching of the Google for some absurdly expensive vintage Les Pauls and now I just want to play and play and play. I made it worse by reading an article about the new Gibson Murphy Lab were Tom Murphy brings his aging process to Gibson Custom Shop guitars and, while I really don’t love the idea of artificially aged guitars, they look awesome. Maybe I’ll get some playing tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow. It’s now 2:15pm which means I only have nine hours and 45 minutes left in my 40’s. Shit. When I turned 40, Jen got a bunch of my family and friends together and we all went out to a fancy restaurant and had a great night. My 30th birthday was a shit show. I started freaking out about turning 30 on my 28th birthday. The idea of only having one more 20-something birthday left really screwed me up. I spent my 30th birthday… at Larry’s, I think. Pretty sure it was Larry’s old place on Chandler street. I think I was nursing a little heartache over some forgotten woman that I was much better off without. 30 was a bad time for me, but without it I wouldn’t have been where I needed to be for 36. My 36th birthday came about a month after I started dating Jen. They’ve all been pretty good since then. I have Jen and Harry and Bellana to thank for that. 50 will be fine too. It’s just that existential dread that comes from knowing, as Captain Picard once said, that there are fewer days ahead than behind. Harry has teasingly dropped the words “half a century” a few times. I’m fine with the reality of that, but the idea is pretty disturbing. Back in my late teens I convinced myself that I wouldn’t live to see 40. I don’t know why. Suck it, teenage self, how do you like me now?

It’s 2:30 now. 9.5 hours left in my 40’s. Oh well, what can you do, right?

Marketing Fun

Jen sent me a text today asking if I had made an appointment to have work done on my beloved 1978 Gibson Les Paul. Her message used the exact phrase, “Les Paul.”

Fast forward to bed time and she tells me that her Facebook feed is filled with ads for Les Pauls. Including some custom shop models. She was surprised by the high prices. I was not. I told her about a ‘59 I saw for sale online today for $400,000.

That doesn’t matter though. What matters is she typed and Facebook tried to sell.

Surprised?

Thoughts on a Tuesday

I spent my whole afternoon so far looking through a customer’s database for an example of a piece of data that I am now pretty convinced does not exist. Le Sigh, as the French (don’t) say.

The Bruins moved into third place in the division with a win over New Jersey last night. The win also clinched a playoff spot. There will be a post season for the Bruins in this Covid Season #2. There are still a few more games to play but if it ended today they’d be matched with Pittsburgh in the first round. Le Yikes, as the French (don’t) say.

I tore the cellar storage apart twice and that little purple knock off uni-vibe pedal is still MIA. Before the great cellar disaster clean up (I’ll give the details someday, but the wound is too fresh for now) it was in a cardboard box on top of the table next to the bulkhead door under one of the last remaining functional fluorescent lights. All of that stuff was packed up and moved into the storage area just to the left of the washer/dryer. Everything else is there, but the little purple knock off uni-vibe pedal with Jimi Hendrix painted on it is not there. (It’s a Moen Shaky Jimi, if you’re curious). I did have a thought as to one place it could be… it could be over Mike the Bass players house. I have an amp (my beloved Fender Deluxe Reverb) and a small board there that have been off limits to me since Covid. I know my Wampler Tumnus is on that board as well as an MXR Phase 95 and a Seymour Duncan Vapor Trail. I have no memory of putting the Shaky Jimi on that board, but there is a chance that it’s there. Waiting for me. Taunting me. Le Lame, as the French (don’t) say.

I’m going to see my father in the rehab hospital tomorrow. I haven’t been there yet, you need an appointment to visit patients, but my brother has. I talked to him a little today. He said I am going to have to take a Covid test before I can see my dad. He suggested I bring my vaccination card with me. Well, I bring that little cardboard bastard with me everywhere I go. I am willing to pull it out and flash it for all the world to see at the slightest moment’s notice. Hell, most times I leave the house I have to stop myself from stapling it to my forehead on the way out the door. I want everyone to see that little guy. I am vaccinated. Two shots plus two weeks, babie. I am up-to-date. Le Groovy, as the French (don’t) say.

I Admit Defeat

I told myself I wasn’t going to mess with the band pedal board, but here I am wanting to put vibe on a new song idea and I can’t find my cheapo backup vibe pedal.

So I pulled this dusty little guy off the band board.

Insert frustrated, yet musical, sigh here.

Vibe-Free

Somewhere in this cellar storage nightmare is a little, purple, cheap, vibe pedal. There’s also a foot switch for one of my amps, and an isolated 9volt plug that I can use with guitar pedals.

I went in there looking for the little, purple, vibe pedal. If I found the other two things, that would be nice, but I wanted the vibe pedal.

I found the other two things.

I didn’t find the little vibe pedal.

Almost Bed Time

The Red Sox lost, I did a load of laundry, my mother sat up for about an hour before going back to bed, I watched an episode of That Pedal Show that is making me want to go into cellar storage and find my cheap uni-vibe pedal, I wrote the music for another song that could possibly make good use of a cheap uni-vibe pedal, and the first episode of season four of The Handmaids Tale has some seriously dark shit in it.

I’ll be turning in soon. Here’s hoping my mother sleeps through the night. She was asleep when I got here. She woke up a couple of hours later thinking it was morning. I asked her if she wanted dinner as she was fishing out a package of instant oatmeal for breakfast. Hashtag, le sigh.

The Music Day is Complete

Vocals this morning, lead guitars this evening, and a mix down tonight. Cool!

The RPM Challenge folks are running a secondary challenge to record at least one song each month for the year. It started in March. I now officially have a submission for March and April. Bring on May!

As a challenge within the challenge within the challenge, I made myself write the vocal melody first. I don’t know if I’ve ever done that before. I’m not too upset with the results. It doesn’t suck as bad as most of the garbage I write.

I used the Rat clone I bought last month for most of the leads. I’m liking it. I also used the Ryra Klon Klone pedal after the main dirt source. That’s the opposite of how I normally set things up, but Mick from That Pedal Show keeps suggesting we try the Klon as a boost at the end of the chain and now that I’ve done it… I might have to rethink everything. I like it.