I just put lead guitars onto six 50/90 challenge songs, including all four that got vocal tracks this morning.
My ears are dead from wearing the headphones and one of my finger tips is about to fall off, I think.
Not a bad afternoon’s worth of musical work.
I screwed up my morning routine today and I don’t know how I am going to recover. No details needed, as they are neither important nor really noteworthy, but I did manage to straighten it out enough to get a couple of things done.
First things first, car music. I put vocals on four 50/90 challenge songs. I was hoping to get to five, but I didn’t have time to add another song. I didn’t do particularly well today, and a couple of the melodies were a bit more complicated than my no-talent self usually gets. We’ll see how it comes out when the songs are done.
After the car music was complete I went on a quest. My father asked me to bring him a newspaper. I had a paper route back in the 80’s. Long time ago. I tried to remember the last time I bought one… given that the newspaper industry is effectively dead and the fact that they still exist is laughable. The last time I bought one was… I think… 2007? When the Red Sox won the World Series I bought a Boston Globe. I think I did it in 2007. I know I did in 2004. Let’s just say it’s going on 20 years.
Where the hell do people buy newspapers? The one my father wanted isn’t one that you could ever regularly find near my home (we’re in Lawrence Eagle Tribune country and he wants a Lowell Sun). I went to my old home town, Tewksbury, thinking there were a couple of stores where I might be able to find one. The first store I went to does not carry newspapers anymore. Big surprise. The second… is now a dentist office. Again, not a surprise. I finally decided to just hit any grocery store or convenience store I saw and I found one.
Quest complete. Newspaper acquired.
Now some random pictures… just because…
Finally… cats.
I put rhythm guitars onto five more songs this morning. My schedule is all topsy turvy and I’m not sure if I will be able to do anything more today, but five songs worth of guitar tracks is a nice haul for the morning.
I am actually out of songs that need rhythm guitars now. I still have two that need leads, but we’ll be getting to those soon enough. I want to write some lyrics tonight so that I can have at least five songs ready for a car vocals in the morning.
We had a visitor in the back yard.
I opened the window so I could take a picture and the cats came-a-runnin’.
It is Friday, at last. Every single day this week has tried to trick me into thinking it was Friday (there must be something wrong with my brain’s calendar function) but this time it’s real. This time it actually is Friday.
Insert the sound of an emphatic sigh of relief here.
The weekend is one 8.5 hour work day away. The best part? My step daughter is coming over tonight! She’s going to a work conference tomorrow and is stopping here on the way to it. We haven’t seen her in ages. I’m really looking forward to her visit.
Musically speaking? I played some guitar before work this morning. 50/90 progress. I put rhythm guitars on two songs and leads on one. I took a bunch of pictures with my Nikon. I had the 28mm lens on it for all but one. I swapped to the 40mm and took one more pic just to make sure it was working. It was. That lens is so much better than the 28mm. I’ll keep the 40 on there for a while. I really love that little sucker.
Here’s the one 40mm pic. It’s the choice for the photo a day thing for today.
Note the guitar case in the blurry background. That’s my other Les Paul. The one Jen got me for my 50th birthday. I’ll be swapping them out the next time I record guitars. The birthday Les Paul is the only one of my electric guitars that hasn’t made it onto a 50/90 track yet. That will change, probably tomorrow morning.
Now for a bunch of faux artsy pics with the 28mm lens.
I feel better about my place in the universe now.
I got up, did my exercise for the day, ate breakfast, and played the guitar. I learned two songs for tonight’s band practice. One of them requires a capo! What the hell, bro? I own a capo but I haven’t a clue where it is. I tuned the guitar up a full step to F# and learned the song that way. I’ll have to get a capo this weekend and re-learn the song for next time. There was a third song on our to do list but I seem to recall our singer saying to drop it. I hope so because there is a keyboard part that will tie my hands in an a knot if I have to play it.
After working on the new songs for the band, I recorded rhythm guitar parts for one song and lead parts for another! We had band progress and 50/90 challenge progress. Epic!
And even with all that music, I was not late for work! WOOHOO!
I absolutely, 100% have to play guitar before work tomorrow. Not because I need to make progress on the 50 songs in 90 days challenge thing, but because I have a band practice tomorrow after work and I have 2-3 new songs to learn for it.
That’s a nice change of pace, eh?
It’s been a long time since we had a practice. I really need it. Hopefully the rest of the band needs it too and it doesn’t get postponed the way the last four or five or whatever were. Fingers crossed, music lovers.
This morning I did what might be the most bad ass thing I’ve ever done. I was in the bathroom, getting ready for my day. I looked down at the floor and saw a spider running toward me. I was barefoot. He was moving really fast. I didn’t have time to pick something up so… I stepped on it with bare feet.
Like I said… bad ass.
Vice President Harris picked her running mate. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. He used to be a high school teacher. I think that is outstanding. I think that’s the kind of thing we need. He also never committed treason and tried to overthrow the Federal Government. I think that makes him a good choice.
The Smashing Pumpkins released a new album this week. I really did not like the last couple. I tried. I really did. I just couldn’t get into them. This one though… I’ve listened to seven of the 10 songs so far this morning and it’s really good. I’m enjoying this record a lot.
I did not get a chance to play any guitar this morning before work. I just procrastinated and ran out of time. I wanted to, but I failed. I won’t have time tomorrow morning, so let’s hope for better time management on Thursday. I did take a couple of pictures though. One is basically yesterday’s photo a day picture taken from the opposite angle. How creative of me?
Finally, in closing… a cat.
As usual on a working in the office day, I took a picture for today’s photo a day challenge entry in the cellar before I did my daily exercise (which I had to cut short because I overslept and now am at a high risk of not hitting the activity goals on my Apple Watch because grrrrrrrrrrr). I used my Nikon though. Expect something similar on Wednesday (two days from now), when I work in the office again.
Did I play any guitar today? Why yes, yes I did. rhythm guitars on three songs and lead on one. I played my number one, my Les Paul Custom. It went well. I am hoping I have a little more playing in me for later this afternoon. Here’s hoping.
Inside the Red Head's Head 