I did it again. I just added another song. It’s a vocal away from being finished. Why did I do that? Instead of having three vocals to record, I now have five. What a doofus.
It’s nothing but a goofy 12-bar. Aren’t there enough of those in the world already? Why did I suddenly have to add another one.
What a jerk.
I’ve got three songs left to finish. Almost there. I might even have time on Tuesday morning to finish up the vocals. Nice, right?
Well…
I felt like playing the guitar today and I didn’t have any parts to record so I… Well… I added another song. Urgh.
Even worse, it’s a cover. Urgh indeed.
Question for guitarists and guitar playing aficionados. When you think of Fender Stratocasters, who do you think of? Jimi Hendrix, post 1970 Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Ritchie Blackmore, David Gilmour, about 100 others. All good choices.
Me? Despite a lifetime of being obsessed with both Clapton and Beck, to me the first name that comes to mind when I think of Strats is Robin Trower. Not the biggest name, and probably not the best player, but something about his style always spoke to me. There is soul, there is passion, there is class, there is fire. Lots of slow bends, legato phrasing, well… Just a lot of things I have always tried to do. The difference being that he does it all while I futz around like a wannabe.
Back in high school I had heard of him without ever actually hearing him. One night I listened to a recording of a Procol Harem concert on the King Biscuit Flower Hour. The host was singing Trower’s praises and rightly so. The guitar playing in the show was fantastic. First chance I got I went out and bought a couple of records. BLT and Bridge of Sighs. I didn’t find out until later that despite the commentary, it wasn’t actually Robin Trower playing in that Procol Harem show. That was okay though, Bridge of Sighs won me over big time.
There is a song on his first record that I’ve always loved. “I Can’t Wait Much Longer.” Great song. Back in high school I tried to get my band to play it, but no one else was feeling it the way I was. The first time I ever borrowed a 4-track recorder I recorded that song. I used the cheesy little drum sounds on my dinky little Casio keyboard. It was basically the same goofiness I’ve been boring the universe with lately, it just didn’t sound as clean.
Anyway, I recorded a cover of “I Can’t Wait Much Longer” today. It’s all done except for the vocals. Once I bought a Strat it was pretty much inevitable. The whole thing is on my iPad right now. After I finish the vocal I’ll port it to the MacBook. I’ll have to clean up a little bass here and there, but other than that I’ll just mix it as is.
I’ll leave it until the last three March songs are done though.
Maybe.
Damn it!
I just finished the April music project. All 10 songs mixed. Now I just have to figure out a running order (I’ll probably just use the order in which they were written) and make a playlist on bandcamp. should I make an April playlist and a March playlist, or should I make one for both of them and mix them all up in the running order. I waffle back and forth on that one.
So I only have three songs left from March right? That’s what I said last night when I finished playing the gitter for the night, right?
No. Idiot marked one song as finished when it still needs to be mixed. Idiot. I have four songs that aren’t finished yet. I should get the un-mixed oversight mixed tonight though. I think.
Was sticking with Amplitube for all of the guitars on the 10 April songs a good idea? This one used the Jimi Hendrix bundle for all of the guitars. The rhythm is my Les Paul and the lead is my Strat. All of the other April songs used the Fender Twin for the rhythm and Hendrix for the leads.
It’s okay, I guess. If I put a ton of effects on during the mix it might be all right. I don’t know. Maybe if I did everything on the iPad it might feel better, and be a little less noisy. I don’t know. I’m torn.
The lyrics are one of many songs about how much I love my wife, and how happy she makes me. I expect the list of such songs to grow steadily for the rest of my life. I’m kinda nuts about her.
I finished the last lead guitar part from April. Now all that’s left for the month is to mix the last two songs.
March still has three that aren’t finished. Two have lyrics written but only have a guide track. The third has nuttin.
I broke one of my rules tonight. Twice. I have a rule that states when I record bad rock songs the lead guitars cannot be recorded until after all the vocals are complete. That is the law. I broke the law. I recorded leads for the two songs that only have guide vocals. That means March now has two vocals to record, one to write and record, and one lead guitar to record. Then those three songs need mixin’. That’s all that’s left.
One other note. I am having a really tough time playing the Stratocaster. I’m just having a tough time getting the feel of it. The neck is so different from the Gibsons. I knew it would take a while, but I’m getting frustrated. A little. Not much. Just a little.
I also need to put lighter strings on it, and soon. Ouch.
Just like yesterday, I only had enough time for baby steps today. I wrote another song’s worth of lyrics and melody but I didn’t have time to record a proper take.
There are only five songs left needing work but I am doubtful I will get it all finished by June 1st.
One song is ready to mix.
One song still needs lead guitar.
Two songs have lyrics and melody but still need vocals and lead guitar.
One song still needs lyrics, melody, vocals, and lead guitar.
Considering that I will be on vacation next week and not in any sort of a recording mood, those five unfinished songs are starting to look like a mountain.
I’m not quite sure what I want to do in June. 50/90 starts in July but I don’t want to take the month off. I want to keep in the musical frame of mind, but I don’t want to run out of gas either. Maybe I’ll stick to songs that are already written. Maybe I’ll work on new songs but set the goal at five instead of 10. Maybe I’ll keep the goal at 10, but only work on one at a time instead of work on all 10 in bits and pieces.
I don’t know. We’ll see.
A new April song.
A song about cats.
No really. The lyrics are about cats. I am being 100% honest.
I need a lyricist, badly.
I wanted to keep this one simple but I ended up with all sorts of soupy sauce everywhere and I compressed the hell out of it. I also ended up duplicating tracks and splitting takes across multiple tracks to have effects on parts but not on others. I made a bit of a mess.
Tempest Fero Lives again!
My first real band was called Tempest Fero. We shoulda rethought that name. Anyway, this was one of the first four or five songs we wrote. There should be keyboard, but I don’t have the skill or the patience to try and pull it off.
Recordingly speaking, there are things to note about this turkey. First, it is the first time I ever used the tempo track in Garageband. There is a bonafide tempo change in this one that I didn’t cheat my way through by recording two separate files and then editing them together.
Second, all three of my electric guitars make an appearance. The rhythm guitar is my Les Paul Custom. The first half of the guitar solo during the slow section is my Stratocaster. The second half is the Les Paul Custom again. The two solo breaks toward the end should have been keyboards, but instead they are my ES 335 Pro. The guitarmonies at the very end are actually all three guitars. They weren’t part of the Tempest Fero arrangement, but I thought it would be fun to have all three gitters in harmony.
As for the old days in T.F., this song was monkeyed with often. I believe this is the arrangement (sans keys) we stuck with the most, but there were others. I remember at one point the slow section opened the song. I only found one old (ancient) tape of the song and I could not for the life of me figure out the lyrics in the last verse. What I have here is close, but probably not 100% right.
As for the lyrics, well… we never had a chance. It was 1987 or 88. I was really into Deep Purple. Our drummer was into White Snake and Iron Maiden. We all loved Led Zeppelin. At some point we were going to write a hooker song. None of us would have known a hooker if we had one sitting on our lap, but there was no way around it. We were going to write a hooker song.
I clearly recall three, maybe four, of us sitting in a fast food joint working on the lyrics. We created the character and threw the lyrics together while snaking on McD’s, or Burger King. I’m also pretty sure we got there on a high school band bus. It was a stop along the way on some competition or trip or something. I also seem to remember thinking it was pretty funny. Really, it was just kinda sad.
Ah, the 80’s.
I finished the leads on two March songs today. They are now on the ready to mix list.
One displays nerdiness on an epic scale…
Three part guitarmonies with a different guitar playing each part.
Just
Dripping
Nerdiness
I recorded the rhythm guitar on this song on Sunday. I recorded the vocals and the lead guitars tonight.
Why is that important? Because I bought the Fender Strat on Saturday. All of the guitars you hear on this song are Fender. There isn’t even a single note played on a Gibson. That has never happened to me before. Also, I used the whammy bar near the end. I have never recorded myself using one of those ridiculous things before. There are firsts all around on this one!
What isn’t unique is that the lyrics are utterly meaningless. You can’t tell me what they mean because I was there and I know they mean nothing. The rhyming dictionary site I use more or less wrote this one for me.
Inside the Red Head's Head 