2024 NaSoAlMo Day 8/30

Same old same old. I added another song. Full song form with MIDI bass and drums.

I am now up to seven songs. All seven are in 7/8 time. I had this thought early on about taking a bunch of unrelated songs and gluing them together into a big medley. How about this… seven songs in 7/8 time and call the medley, “Sevens.”

That sounds groovy, doesn’t it?

Guitars today… if it kills me.

2024 NaSoAlMo Day 7/30

Forward progress has been made. A little bit. One, long, slow, dirge of a new song. Like all of them so far, it’s just MIDI bass and drums, but it’s something. It’s more than yesterday’s nothing.

Here’s hoping we (meaning I) start tracking some guitars tomorrow.

2024 NaSoAlMo Day 6/30

Nothing happened yesterday. I started work at about 5:30am, left at 1:00, did some errands, made dinner for my wife and screwed it up, then went to the Iron Maiden show in Worcester.

All in all a productive day, but nothing happened on the National Solo Album Month front. Hoping for better today.

2024 NaSoAlMo Day 5/30

Look at me, acting like nothing happened. Just whistling past the fucking graveyard.

I added one more song last night. I’m up to five. They all have a complete form but currently are just midi bass and drums. No guitars, no lyrics, no vocals, no hope, no belief in a better future for our kids, just midi bass and drums.

2024 NaSoAlMo Day 3/30

I added another song yesterday. MIDI bass and drums are done. That’s all I had in me yesterday. I don’t expect much different today. I had a covid shot two days ago and it kicked my ass yesterday. I still feel less than wonderful today.

2024 NaSoAlMo Day 2/30

I did not play any guitar yesterday. I did try to fix a problem with some buzzing on my ES-335 and I think it worked. Once I actually plug in we’ll see if my optimism is warranted. In 38 years of guitar playing I had never adjusted a truss rod myself. Now I have, and I don’t think I broke anything.

Back on the main topic though, I did not record any real human being instruments, but I did add two more songs to the queue. Both have (midi) bass and drums and one has a (midi) guitar guide track. That brings me to three songs and strangely, they are all about four minutes long. Is that a trend this year?

We will see.

2024 NaSoAlMo Day 1/30

National Solo Album Month is underway. Write and record an album and do it all without any help. Fly solo on the whole thing.

I’ve had some vague ideas of a prog-like super long song or two but I think I am just going to write the usual batch of the usual length rock songs in 7/8 time (mostly) strung together in a big medley. I’ve done that before on one of these projects. Who knows.

I started one song. Bass and drums (midi) are done and there is a (midi) guide track for the guitar.

We are underway.

2024 50/90 Challenge Day 90/90

This year’s challenge is now officially over. 90 days in the books. Thanks for coming along on my journey through silliness.

The next internet based musical songwriting/recording challenge kicks off on November 1st. National Solo Album Month. I’m not sure if I am going to play along this year. 50/90 took a lot out of me. We’ll see.

2024 50/90 Challenge Day 89/90

This year’s 50 songs in 90 days challenge equates to more like 57 songs in 89 days. I am done. I mixed the last four songs. I didn’t mix them well (just quick and dirty) but they are done and now so am I. I hit all of my goofy little goals.

  • 50 songs
  • 10 songs started and finished within each calendar month
  • More songs than any of my previous 50/90 successes (my record was 52)

And there we have it, folks. My forth successful summer challenge. I guess the next step is to pick around 10 songs that aren’t as awful as the rest and edit, rewrite, and rerecord them into a sort of album-ish project. Maybe that will be my task for day 90. We’ll see.