Tag: Guitar

Back on the Floor

Jen asked for one of the little step stools back so she could use it in the kitchen, so the Bassbreaker is back to sitting on the floor. I’ll find a replacement somewhere.

I thought about playing my Les Paul tonight in memory of the great Peter Green, but the 335 is the only guitar I have with relatively fresh strings. I’ll switch back to the Les Paul soon though… even though Peter Green only really played a Les Paul for about four years worth of his career, it was the important four years, if you know what I mean.

10% Done

I mixed two songs tonight while sitting here feeling like a wrung out dishrag after the events of the day.

Five songs down. 50/90 is 10% complete.

I’m still stuck at 17 songs in the pipeline. 14 have rhythm guitars. One has vocals. Everything ready to be mixed is now mixed. Today is day 19. 71 days left.

Look Kids, Another Dumb Rock Song

Yup, it’s another big dumb rocker. I kinda like this one though, I wish I could sing. That would probably helped this one out a bit.

I have two more songs ready to mix. I could probably do another one tonight but… naw, we’ll get ’em tomorrow.

Wah Pedal’s Point of View

I leaned my iPhone against my wah pedal and took this with my Apple Watch. What a world we live in, eh?

I put rhythm guitars onto songs 11 and 12, put lead guitars onto songs 3 and 4, and mixed song 1. Not bad for a day where I worked more than 10 hours and then cooked dinner and am totally ready for bed at 10 minutes to 9:00.

You old person, you.

The 2020 50/90 Challenge will not be a shut out for me this year. One song down, 49 to go.

Neglecting My Responsibilities

I really do have work I want to do tonight. Really.

So what did I do?

i added rhythm guitars to two songs. That puts me up to 10, which is good. I also put lead guitars on two of the songs I put vocals on this morning. I still haven’t completed anything for 50/90, but I do have two songs ready to mix. Progress.

Light Dawns on Musical Head

Holy crap, did I just figure something out?

When I record guitars in my bedroom there is a ton of extraneous ground hum coming through my amps. I always put it down to using too many pedals and too many cables and all that, but back in March I recorded using just one amp and no pedals and still had a lot of noise. I didn’t think it was my amp, I just thought there was something else going on.

It literally just dawned on me what it is! It’s the overhead lights in the room!

When I record in my little guitar nook I have the laptop running on battery. I’m one plug short of being able to cover everything I need, so battery it is. I was just thinking to myself that maybe it’s time to get an adapter with two plugs so I don’t have to worry about it anymore. The plug closest to where I sit now has my USB audio interface in one socket and a lamp in the other. I thought, I could just unplug the lamp while I record and plug it back in when I’m done because I usually turn on the super bright overhead lights and that’s when it hit me.

The overhead lights are on a dimmer switch. Hot Damn, why didn’t I think of that? Dimmer switches are the noisiest bastards in the electrical world (I don’t know if that’s true or not, but lets just go with it) and they are the bane of many a professional recording studio’s existence! Also, there are three lamps in the room that all have smart bulbs. I bet those kids are noisy as hell too! I bet if I turn off all the lights I won’t have as much 60 cycle hum coming through my amplifiers! I bet!

I mean, I’m probably wrong, but who cares! I feel smart right now, just let me enjoy it for a while.

50/90 Day 12 Update

I suppose it’s time for a 50/90 update. Let’s do some math, shall we?

July 4th through October 1st. 90 days over three months.

90 songs in three months means 16.67 songs per month. Thanks for coming out even, stupid math. So at the minimum, two of the three months need 17 songs and one needs 16. Since July starts on the 4th instead of the 1st, July is the shortest month, therefore logically July should be the month that only needs 16 songs.

Math is hard.

As of bed time last night I have 16 songs in progress. All of them have the song form set, half of them have very badly performed guitar parts recorded, none of them have lyrics or melody yet, and all of them pretty much suck so far.

But….

I am on the minimum pace.

I want to record some guitars tonight, and I’m hoping that by the time the weekend is over there will be some vocals down too. We’ll see. That might be a tall order.

I also feel that I should warn you, faithful readers (he said like he was Stephen freakin’ King or something) that a few minutes ago I started on what could be the nerdiest project I have ever undertaken… and that’s saying something.

Jen and I have become a little weirdly obsessed with candles during our four month lock down. All through our work days we both have a candle or two (or three) burning near our desk. I don’t really know why, and I don’t think she does either, but we do.

This morning when I lit my desk candles I started taking a time lapse video of one of them. I pointed my iPad at a candle, started recording, and lit the bastard. I was planning to let it run for an hour or so out of fear that the battery wouldn’t last for much longer than that. As I was writing this though, I found a lightning cable long enough to plug my iPad in without moving it from it’s video-ing location.

It is possible that I could take a full 8-9 hour long time lapse video of this candle. Oh. My. Nerd. Hopefully I don’t accidentally knock over the iPad or something. Knowing me like I do, I’ll probably do something stupid to screw this up and spare you, faithful readers, from my epic nerdness.

We shall see.

A Pedal Junkie’s First

There are guitar pedals that I covet that are no longer in production that cost a small fortune that I would love to get my mitts on, but given the cost I would never actually consider.

That’s a common occurance (looking at you, vintage EHX Electric Mistress, and Triangle Big Muff, and Klon Centaur, and a bunch more).

Today I put a new twist on this for the first time. I looked around for a certain pedal that I know is out of production, but the used market is not out of control at all. It’s a Keeley 1962, or a 1962x. I’ve got a hankering for that Blues Breaker style pedal and I still have a year or more to suffer through the Analogman King of Tone waiting list, and I was hoping to get something cheaper than a Wampler Pantheon, and I refuse to do business with JHS (Google it). I’ve seen Keeley 1962 pedals for less than the Pantheon, so I went looking today.

Nothing.

I found one for sale on ebay from a seller in Japan.

For the first time in my internet shopping pedal junkie existence… I have been denied.

Damn!