Tag: Music

Is it Finally Time for Slide Lessons?

I learned the jist of slide guitar technique very early on in my playing days. Keep the slide parallel to the fretboard, don’t put it behind the fret like you would with your finger, put it directly over the fret and don’t push down into the fretboard. Use the fingers behind the slide to slightly mute the strings so they don’t buzz like nuts. Pick with your fingers and try to sit on the strings you’re not playing, again to keep them from ringing and buzzing in ways you don’t want to hear.

I was never that much of a fan of playing slide though for two reasons. One, because it sort of felt like I was wearing handcuffs. I mean having four fingers to fret with is struggle enough, now I want to play with effectively one? I think that’s a legit reason to not enjoy playing slide, but the bigger reason has always bothered me and frankly it pisses me off.

The second reason is intonation. For some reason my eyes looking at the slide’s position over the frets and my ears hearing whether I am in tune or not just cannot for the life of me get together and agree. The result is that when I try to play slide I end up horribly out of tune. It’s infuriating to me. Why? I bend strings constantly and my ear is always always always able to tell my fingers when to stop bending. I’ve always been able to do it. No one ever taught me how to bend and stay in tune, I have just always done it. If you hear me bend a string and it goes out of tune, 99% of the time it is because there is something wrong with my fingers and I am unable to put the string where it needs to be. I am able to stay in tune when I bend without any extra thinking or effort on my part. Why then can I not do it with a slide? What’s the difference? Come on, ears. Do your friggin’ job.

Over the last couple of days I’ve been thinking about trying to learn some new techniques on the guitar. Push myself a little, you know? Last night I started looking at slide tutorials on the youtubes. I figured I could learn some Elmore James tunes and see what happens.

Now I am not saying this is going to happen. It’s just a thought. More like just a fantasy. Failing to stay in tune with a slide pisses me off, and it pisses me off quickly which means I am unwilling (mentally unable?) to practice and thus get better. Playing in alternate tunings also tends to get under my skin and make me want to stop and do something else. So slide in an alternate tuning might be a double whammy that sends me packing right fast.

I don’t know. Maybe we’ll see what happens.

Catching Up After a Couple of Off Days

The last couple of days have been weird, health-wise. First it was the headache issue on Tuesday, then it was stomach issues on Wednesday. Now here we are on Thursday and I am feeling a little like a wrung out face cloth. Here’s hoping today will be a quiet day.

We’re having some HVAC folks come and tell us what they need to do to replace the mini-split in the bedroom. We’ve had it serviced a couple of times this winter, but it’s just not working and we’re more or less unable to heat the bedroom without using a space heater as a supplement. They won’t actually replace it for another week or two, but they are coming for a fact finding mission.

So, television. Yesterday was the premier or season three of The Mandalorian and I could not be at a higher hype level. The first episode was excellent but… I think today’s third episode of season three of Picard might have been better. I did not see that coming, kids. I was just glued to the screen as I was getting this morning’s jogging (yogging) in. The captain vs admiral conflict seemed a little forced and out of character, but everything else? Fan-freakin-tastic. The bad guys behind the bad guy? Fan-freakin-tastic! I can’t wait for episode four. I also can’t wait for episode two of The Mandalorian, but that’s a given. In the Star Wars vs Star Trek debate, I come down on the Star Wars side, generally, but only by a little bit. Regardless of which franchise you prefer, it’s a pretty good time to be a space opera fan, am I right?

For the first time in a year, I am suffering from guitar gear acquisition syndrome. There are two overdrive pedals that I really want to buy, and I also really want to buy an amplifier simulator that I can use as a plug in through GarageBand. Last year I finished the RPM Challenge with a plan to do their Record Every Month challenge throughout the rest of the year. I had a goal of two songs each month that I could pretend were a single. I failed completely. I didn’t write a single song over the 11 months between the 2022 RPM and the 2023 RPM (with the exception of a few failed attempts in November). I am going to try again, but I am probably not going to record guitars through my amplifier on a regular basis. I am thinking I can do direct input more often and I want a good amp sim that I can use consistently. The one I am looking at is only $40, but I just don’t want to spend any money. We have a mini-split to buy after all.

Speaking of gear acquisition syndrome, I also really want to buy a new lens for my new camera. I adore the 40mm lens we bought for Disney, but I’d like a little zoom option. Possibly because the cats are suffering from The Zoomies every night and it just sort of inspired me, you know? I also really really want to buy a 35mm film point and shoot and I don’t know why. I want to buy a 35mm film camera with autofocus functionality too, but that’s going to cost some dough, and I think I can get a point and shoot for pennies. I want to go Nikon, as usual, but decent Nikon point and shoots are stupidly expensive on ebay. I looked for Pentax options yesterday and saw some with the starting bid of $1.00… so yeah, that could be a better option. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll hit the thrift stores more often.

Okay, time to get breakfast and get my day started. I have a lot of meetings today and need to be ready for a long day at the home office. Wish me luck.

A Hiccup in the Plans

Hello and welcome to March 1st, everyone. The RPM Challenge is over. Well… technically working on March 1st is allowed, but I don’t.

Last time I posted here I said I had two songs to mix and then I’d be done with everything that I wanted to have done. I managed to mix one of them and then, around 7:30 last night, it went bad. I had one of those episodes where my vision went blurry and I started getting a headache. I went to bed, turned off all of the lights, buried my head under the blankets, and called it a day. I had just finished dinner when it started, but I was still seven grams of protein away from my daily goal. I missed it for the day, but not by much. I’m not that worried about it.

I slept from 7:45 to 3:30. I woke up, put my watch on the charger (it was at 33%), filled up the tank on my CPAP machine, stepped on the scale for the Wednesday weigh in (more on that later), and went back to sleep until about 5:20. Then I got up, got dressed, filled up my water bottle, updated my food tracking spreadsheet and my weight tracking spreadsheet, jogged in place for 40 minutes or so (pronounced yogged, with a soft “j”), watched the new episodes of The Mandalorian and The Bad Batch, packed up my laptop, and started my day.

Wednesdays are in the office days now so I have to get a move on so I can get out onto the road about 50 minutes from now. I have to prep a lunch and a breakfast, refill the water bottle, shower, get dressed, clean off the car, bring in the trash barrel (assuming the city picked up the trash during the snow yesterday, not sure if they did or not), and get going.

My headache is still there, a little bit, but it’s better after hydrating myself some. My eye sight is normal again too. I just have to watch out for crap like that. It’s not fun at all.

Okay, let’s get a move on.

Winner

I still have two songs to mix, but neither of those two songs are good enough to use on the final record… so I submitted it. I threw together a somewhat logical running order, created a playlist on alonetone.com, and sent it off to the RPM Headquarters.

Done and done.

There I am on the list of winners. I filtered it by people in Massachusetts so I’d be easier to find.

Now I just need to finish those last two songs and I’ll be done with everything for this month. I am pretty surprised I made it through. I’m happy I made it, even if I am not happy with the results.

11 Songs Down, Three to Go

This is song #11 out of 14. I think it’s the only song I’ve done this year that’s in 7/8 time. That’s sad.

At least two of the remaining three will be dropped from the final album. One of them is still on the fence but definitely leaning toward the drop list. I think I have enough time to mix one more before work. Let’s see if I can get ‘er done.

Tracking is Done

I have finished all of the tracking for this year’s RPM Challenge. I added really crappy lead guitar parts to the last two songs and I am done with the recording. Finished, babie!

181/365
181/365. The focus point is on the pickup switch, I think.
DSC_1096
The focus point is on Baby Yoda, babie!
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The focus point is the word “Fender” on the amplifier.
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The focus point is on the guitar, which I think was pretty obvious.

RPM Challenge: The Last Day

Technically the RPM Challenge rules allow you to work on March 1st, but I prefer to stay within February so today is the last day for me.

Four songs left. Two are ready to mix. Two still need quick lead guitar parts before they’ll be ready to mix. I can do it all today. I also need to come up with a running order and drop anything that’s not up to snuff. This year that’s pretty much everything so lots of weak songs are going to make the cut.

I have a doctor’s appointment at 10:00am so I took sick time for the first half of the work day. That should let me get the guitar tracks in once Jen is out of bed. It’s snowing though. There isn’t much more than a dusting right now but we could get eight inches. I may have to shovel this morning, and I’ll definitely have to shovel after work. I also need to do my exercise this morning and I over slept about an hour so… yeah. Dumb ass.

Okay, Robert. It’s motivation time. Get to it. Get shit done!

2023 RPM Challenge – Day 27 of 28

As posted on the stupid tumblr page……..

I just mixed and uploaded song #10. I still have four more songs to work on, but if I wanted to stop and call it a day now I could and still submit a completed project.

That sound you hear is me breathing a sigh of relief. I am going to bed now. I’ll finish the last four songs tomorrow and come up with a running order. I made cover art earlier today. I am really close to putting this one in the rear view mirror.

Time to Get to Work

It’s the second to last day of the RPM Challenge. I have seven songs mixed and finished. Five more are ready to mix. Two additional still need a lead guitar track. I just finished dinner and I am in the middle of a first season episode of Star Trek Deep Space Nine (the one with Q). It’s time to get a move on, Robert. Let’s get to mixing!