It still looks like Sunday will have a band practice. The first one in ages.
I need to put new strings on my Les Paul Standard. I also need to not get too excited because statistically speaking it’s probably safe to assume something will take the plans and cock them up.
Ugh. I want to be in a band again! AARRGGHH!!!
4:00pm on Sunday?
We’re trying to setup a time for the band to get together this weekend. I think everyone is in. At least we’re all in as of this moment. I need this. I so need this. I don’t even know when the last time all four of us got together to play was. It’s been way too long. So long that I was pretty convinced it would never happen again. Pessimistically I am still pretty convinced that it is never going to happen again but I am choosing to look on the bright side right now, like the ray of fucking sunshine that I am.
My fingers are crossed. Band practice on Sunday. Make it so.
Quarantine Tunes Volume 8 is going to need an album cover. Coincidently, I need a photo for today’s photo a day challenge thingie.
Hello, two birds. Meet my one stone.
It’s Friday. One week from today I am going to be writing about how I only have an eight hour work day standing between me and a full week’s vacation. I am already hyper focusing on it. Crazy.
I just watched the season two finale of Silo. It was very good. I sort of screwed things up though. The show is based on a series of books. A few weeks ago I got tired of waiting to see what was going to happen on the show so I started reading. I’m going to finish the third and final book probably this weekend. When the super confusing twist happened in today’s episode I knew what it was and I knew it was coming. I spoiled myself. I don’t care though because the books are good, the show is good, and the books and the show are just different enough that I can still feel engaged with both.
This week I also watched the season (series?) finale of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew and I am down to the second season (series?) finale of The Alienist which I am enjoying a lot even though it’s creepy as hell. Fortunately season two of Severance came out today. I’ll watch that tonight before bed, I think. Silo is over, but I still have a Friday show to watch out for. That’s nice.
Last night I watched a video on the youtubes. Five Watt World’s Short History of the Les Paul Deluxe. My first “real” guitar was a Les Paul Deluxe. I didn’t learn how to figure out the date on a Les Paul until years later so I have no idea what year it was made. I think it was very late 70’s or very early 80’s. I bought it in 1988 at Russo’s Music in Lowell, MA. All of the knobs had cracked off of it and I never replaced them. I was a kid. I didn’t have the money or even the know how of how to get replacements that would fit. It also had a nasty gash in one of the frets, and I seem to remember that one of the inlays was coming unglued. I didn’t care. I loved that guitar. I adored that guitar.
On a Sunday night/Monday morning in November or December (pretty sure it was December) of 1990 it was stolen out of my car. That was pretty much the end of the world for me. I have never really recovered from the violation of it all. I bought my Les Paul Custom a short time later and that is still my number one guitar… but some days I really find myself missing that Deluxe. I would have loved to have taken it to a good shop and had all of the negatives fixed up. It would have been epic, mini-humbuckers and all.
Watching this video made me feel all the feels. Steve Hackett, Pete Townsend, and me. All of us, Les Paul Deluxe veterans.
Okay. Time to stop farting around and get ready for work. Happy Friday, everyone. The weekend awaits.
My lunch break is coming to an end. I was late to work today and had to take some personal time. I took my lunch break a little later than usual and who cares about any of this, right?
There is nothing going on today. There was this morning, but nothing is happening now. It’s turning into a quiet afternoon. I have to go to a store after work and then Jen (my beloved bride) and I are going to get some Japanese take out for dinner. Other than that? Nuttin’, honey.
I was thinking about tomorrow morning. I am working from home tomorrow so I have some time to do stuff before work (assuming I don’t oversleep). Should I take my new/old camera out and finally shoot a test roll or should I track some guitar parts for a song demo or two? I checked the weather. The forecast is calling for temps in the teens around sunrise tomorrow morning. I guess guitar tracking it is!
I have two songs ready for rhythm guitar parts. I just have to remember how to play them. Then I have to learn how to play them in a different key, because I changed my tuning for this round of recordings. I just tuned down a half step but that means I can’t just listen to the original demos and learn the parts. I have to tune back up or I have to change the key on the fly. We’ll see. I don’t think either song is particularly hard. I should be able to re-learn the parts easily enough.
Isn’t home recording fascinating? I can see by the bored, glazed over look in all of your eyes that you’re all just riveted. You’re welcome, really. Any time.
Finally… I played guitar today. Just for a little while (and pretty poorly), but I played. I used the new pedal board with the amp sim pedal (TC Combo Deluxe ’65) and for the first time… ever(?) I used a compressor pedal (MXR Dyna Comp mini).
I feel pretty good about the state of the world right now.
The RPM Challenge is about three weeks away. I’m thinking about what to do as far as guitar gear and I think I have an idea…
I would add a Crybaby wah pedal to this. It would be off the board to the right, but in the signal chain it would come after the Fuzzface and before the Dyna Comp. Pedal chain law requires a Fuzzface to come first. It’s an impedance thing. I’m not an electrical engineer so I don’t really get it, but it’s true. wah->Fuzzface sounds terrible. Fuzzface->wah sounds… okay.
I’ve wired this for power but I haven’t put velcro on the three new pedals. Outside of that and adding the Crybaby, I am all set to try this out… someday. Saturday? Sunday? Someday.
Guitar playing… I haven’t forgotten about you, my friend and favorite hobby and possibly unhealthy obsession. Just need to make some time.
I didn’t have a chance to play any guitar last night. I didn’t blow off an opportunity, the opportunity just never arose.
This weekend? We’ll see. I need to start preparing my fingers for February’s album-in-a-month challenge. Also, hopefully the band will start practicing again. I have no calluses on my finger tips right now. It’s been almost two months since I’ve played a single note. It’s going to hurt when I start. That’s okay. I will survive. I will persist.
I’m thinking of downsizing the pedal board setup for February. Just to shake things up. We’ll have to see.
It’s time to start playing for real, Robert. Get to it.
There may be time for me to play my guitar tonight. Not only that, I may have an opportunity to play through an amp at ear bleeding volume. Nice, huh?
How much do you want to bet that I’ll sit on the new couch watching television instead? I have zero motivation for anything right now. No motivation at all.
This cat 100% looks like I feel. She is absolutely my spirit animal right now.
My step son, Harry, will be proud of me. I just finished watching Better Call Saul. He really wanted me to watch it. He was raving about it all the time. Now I’ve watched the whole series and he can finally talk to me about it without worrying about spoilers.
FYI, it’s as good as everyone says it is. Go watch it.
Subject change. I mentioned that I bought a few new guitar pedals over the last week. I haven’t had a chance to try them out yet. I’m debating whether I want to integrate them into the board I use at home, or should I make a brand new pedal board instead. I’m leaning toward a new board. Just for a while at least. Just for schnitzengiggles.
Subject change. We have a couch delivery scheduled for this morning. The delivery window they gave me is pretty long. It extends into my work day and it overlaps two scheduled meetings. Here’s hoping we get lucky and the truck gets here early enough to not mess anything up.
Subject change. Our mouse hunting cats had a target last night. We woke up in the middle of the night to see them chasing a gross little teeny tiny rodent around. At the time, the little bastard got away. We don’t see any signs of the prick this morning, but the cats are clearly still on high alert. We live in the woods. One of the biggest rivers in New England runs smack through our town. Mice are a part of life. Still… go get the little home invading asshole, cats. Do your job. Protect your house.
Okay. Time to go start the day. That delivery truck is going to be here… eventually.
Inside the Red Head's Head 