The plan for June was 10 songs with all of the guitar parts played on the Strat.
That will still happen, but…
There will be two additional songs. One is a three part suite type thing. It uses my lovely Takamine 12-string and my magical Gibson ES 335. The other song is all 12-string right now, but it’ll probably get some Strat later.
Here’s to musically biting off more than you can chew! 50/90 is two weeks away!
I did a little recording tonight. I put the rhythm guitar onto one of the two songs that were still guitar free, and I put the leads onto two songs that are now finished and ready to iOS mix.
My playing is poor. Very poor. It’s only been a couple of weeks or so since last I played and tonight it was just difficult. I wonder if I took out the Les Paul would I have an easier time.
I also have an urge to write an extra song this month and make it proggy and long as opposed to the bluesier, acidy feel for most of this month’s crap.
We shall see, but I can almost see a GarageBand for iOS file with some 12-string tracks. Almost. Again, we shall see.
Well the June Tunes have definitely slowed down over the past week. There are 10 plus the one May left over. Three total are finished but only the iPad mixes at this point. I hope to make good progress in the next couple of days.
Until then, want to hear something? How about the goofy May left over?
Wasn’t that fun? Of the 11 songs, three are 12-bars because that’s the mood I’m in. Wait… Is it three or four? I can’t remember.
Want another?
Fun, eh? Everything is still 100% iOS. How about one more for the road? This is the first song I’ve ever recorded entirely on a telephone. There will be another soon, but for now this is it.
I’m writing this post using the WordPress app on my iPad. Here’s hoping the audio tags work, eh?
That’s three songs down. Eight more to go, and then I remix ’em all. Hooray for bad music!
I said I was going to do all of the recording this month using GarageBand on my iPad. That’s mostly correct.
I just finished doing something that I’d never done before. I have a song that is recorded 100% on my iPhone. Drums and bass are GarageBand MIDI tracks. There are also two tracks of guitar, the Strat, and three tracks of vocals.
It’s rough, but everything this month is rough. I’m just glad I was able to sneak in a vocal today before this SOB of a cold ruins what little voice I have.
Have you heard the expression, “my eyes are bigger than my stomach”? Meaning I put more food on my plate than I could actually eat? I have coined a guitar playing version of that statement. My eyes play better than my hands. Let me explain.
I am up to seven songs this month. Three of them were written in the dead of night using the built in instrument sounds in the iPad version of Garageband. Today I replaced the fake, software guitar parts with an actual real live guitar. On one song I was almost forced to stick with the crappy fake software. I came up with a funky little riff that was standing out above most of the others in my little head. I thought it was pretty snazzy. When I tried to play it today I couldn’t. It was beyond my abilities at this time. I’ve no doubt that back in 1995 of 2004 I could have nailed the sucker over and over again, but today? With my playing chops as weak as they are? Nope. I couldn’t do it.
I did find a work around though. It was in two parts. First, and most importantly, I practiced the little bastard over and over again for almost an hour. Over and over again. I got to the point where I could play it, but I couldn’t quite play it cleanly four times in a row as the song required. That’s where the second work around came in. It is a huge cheat. An epic cheat. A cheat for all ages. It’s also standard practice in a recording environment. I played the riff once then stopped. I then started the recording on the second measure of the phrase and played it again. I repeated until I had the whole thing comped together. I now have a complete recording of the entire phrase that is, while not perfect, good enough for my needs.
Am I a cheater? Oh you bet your sweet ass I am. In this respect, me and everyone else on the planet.
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.
This is the song I almost forgot to mix. It’s done now.
I have to say I liked it a whole lot more an hour ago.
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.
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.
I didn’t have time to record a vocal this morning. I did manage to write a lyric and a melody though. I used my Apple Ear Pods. I listened through the headphones while recording a guide track with the built in mic.
It wasn’t much of a nerd moment, but it sufficed for the day.
