Tag: Music

Two in a Row

Today was the first band practice after two weeks off. It was the second practice since I had my really scary pain filled practice. Fortunately, it was the second in a row that was mostly pain free. I had a little issue early on in my right hand, which is pretty unusual. My left hand, where most of the crippling pain happens, was okay. Whew!

Lots of issues though. I plugged in the MacBook and there was a ton of noise coming in on the left channel. I spent a couple of minutes trying to track it down and then just closed the laptop and went on with practice. Next week I’ll get some new cables and bring some compressed air and try and figure out whatever was wrong.

I also had a battery in a stomp box die. I decided to go with the quick fix here too and just plugged the guitar straight into the amp and bypassed the pedal board entirely. That lead to the silly problem. As I was plugging the cable into my guitar I threaded it through my strap, as you should. Unfortunately, the strap popped off and I didn’t re-thread the cable when I put it back on. Wouldn’t you know it, the very next song I stepped on the cable and popped it out of the guitar. Damn it! I plugged it back in, threading it through the strap again, and the strap popped off again. Argh! I literally screamed in frustration… while standing next to my microphone. hehe Woops!

The things we guitar players do, am I right?

New Song that is Actually New

Here’s a song from the aborted album in a day I tried on the day that the bathroom remodeling project started. I mixed it with ear buds so I’m sure it sounds like dung.

I don’t like the lyrics and I don’t like the melody in the verses. What do you think, is the rest of it worthy of bringing to the band? I’m undecided.

New Old Song

Written in pieces in 1994 and put together and finished off sometime in 1995 during my “arrangements too complicated for people to actually play” phase.

Recorded in January 2015 during my “Ancient History Revisited Volume 2” phase.

Mixed in September 2015 during my “I have songs ready to mix?” phase.

I’m not terribly pleased with this recording. I might remix it. I might scrap big chunks of it (I’m looking at you guitar solo and vocal harmonies). Probably not. It’s done and done.

Who Knew?

I’m trying (and so far failing) to turn this weekend into a recording music weekend.  I knew I had a bunch of unfinished noodles in GarageBand.  The plan was to try and finish one or two of them.

Little did I know but I have three songs finished and ready to mix.  One is an old song from last January.  The other two are brand new from a failed attempt at an album-in-a-day from the day the bathroom remodeling started.

Who new?

I Live to Play Guitar Again

Whatever it was that I did this weekend, it worked. I had very little pain in my hands during last night’s band practice. Every now and then it would flare up just to remind me that it was there, but it was never bad and it didn’t last long.

So what was the cure this time? Increased practicing on my own? Starting to warm up an hour before rehearsal started? Stretching sooner? The double shot of Advil I took just as rehearsal was starting? Playing my Les Paul instead of my ES-335?

Or did I just relax and not tense up the way I usually do.

I don’t know. Some combination of all of them? I don’t know, but I’ll try the same routine next week. With the pain out of the equation, I was able to concentrate on what I was doing and I felt much better about the quality of my guitar playing. My singing too, although who cares about that, amiright?

We played a bunch of new songs, and for the first time since I started mic’ing the room the recording sounds half decent. The vocals still need to come up and maybe the guitar needs to back off a bit (fat chance of that happening, amiright?). I even did a tiny bit of mastering this time. It’s just a stereo track. I put a compresser on the whole track, added a little eq, and just the tiniest touch of reverb. I also unmuted the left side of the drums.

What do you think?

Prep-Time Part 1

Practice is at 6:00 tonight. A little after 1:00 I did some prep work. The Les Paul hasn’t been played in a few months and the strings were rusted and grimy. I took off the strings and gave the neck a serious wiping down. It helped, but it’s not perfect. I need to polish it but can’t find my bottle of goop right now.  
I put on a new set of strings and played through my homework (four songs) a few times. I played sitting and standing, and all four new songs sit around the 2nd fret, which is usually what triggers the pain. No problems at all. Maybe I just need to relax when I play with other people around.
We are going to eat dinner soon. After that I will play again for another 45 minutes or so. I’m also planning to bring a bottle of Advil to practice too. Hopefully all of this combined will keep me mostly pain free tonight and I’ll actually be able to focus on playing the damn guitar as well as I can for a change.

Determination

Oh yeah, I will play better at tomorrow’s practice.  I will.  Oh I will.

I’m taking a different guitar.  Not because the 335 had anything to do with last week’s trouble, but because karma and the cosmos and shit.  Yeah, Robbo’s on the desperate side.

   
 
And while I still haven’t shelled out the $1500 for a Fender Twin Reverb, I do still have a software simulation of a Fender Twin Reverb.  

  

Music from this Past Weekend

I told you all that I played really poorly at this past weekend’s practice, and that the pain in my hand was significantly worse than ever before.

Did I also tell you that I recorded most of the practice and didn’t notice until we were done that one of the two mics on the drums was muted on the mixing board? Other than that the recording is almost okay. Next week I have to turn my vocal mic WAY up and maybe nudge the PA output up a smidgen. Also maybe turn up the guitar a bit. As for the drums, un-mute the right channel (you fat idiot), pull the low end up a little more (again) and maybe turn both channels down a hair so that the crash cymbals don’t blow your brains out when you’re listening with headphones on.

Oh yeah, and don’t play the guitar like a quadriplegic with the IQ of a salmon egg. That will help improve the quality as well.

Here are a few songs from Sunday. I picked the ones with the fewest colossal guitar screw ups, although the guitar is a touch out of tune on the Gaga tune.