Tag: Songwriting

2024 50/90 Challenge Day 7/90

One week down. How did I do on day seven?

I only worked on two things. I started a new song, the 11th so far, that is just bass and drums and a full song form. I also put lyrics and melody onto another song, song number three.

That’s it.

So after one week, let’s sum up the state of the challenge.

There are 11 songs in the pipeline. According to my Trello board the assembly line looks like this:

Three songs are in the bass and drums with song form bucket. Five songs are in the rhythm guitars are done bucket. Three songs are in the lyrics are written and we’re ready for vocals bucket. Here’s hoping for a long weekend worth of serious musical motivation.

2024 50/90 Challenge Day 6/90

Not a lot of progress on day six, but I did start working on the piece of the process that is the most difficult for me.

I added lyrics and melodies to two songs.

That is all. Lyrics, melodies, and vocals are where I usually get bogged down and the whole project bottle necks. As little as I accomplished, it feels good to get those particular balls rolling at least.

2024 50/90 Challenge Day 5/90

I didn’t have a lot of time to spend on music on day five (yesterday) but I did manage to sneak in some work before bed. I added two new songs. Both are just MIDI bass and drums but they have the full song form. Basically the same progress that I made on day one. Not bad for an in-the-office day.

2024 50/90 Challenge Day 1/90

The annual goofiness is underway.

Yesterday I worked on two new ideas. I ended up with a full song form for both of them. The MIDI bass and drums are done, and they both have a MIDI guitar guide track.

That’s all. Not as much as I had hoped, but still a good start.

Sneaky Guitar

I managed to sneak in some guitar playing today in between my doctors appointment and punching in to work. The recording project I am trying to work through right now had three songs that needed lead guitar tracks. I finished off all three of them. My playing was poor at best, but who cares. Bad playing is better than no playing, right?

Here’s where things get super nerdy. I had three songs that needed work… and I used a different guitar on each song. My only regret is that I didn’t have a forth song to work on so I didn’t get to use all four of my guitars. Oh well. In further nerd news, I took a picture of each guitar with my Nikon Z5 and… well… nerd… I took a selfie with my iPhone of me playing each guitar too. Thanks, camera app on my Apple Watch that has a timer built into it.

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Gibson ES-335 Pro
Nerd playing a Gibson ES-335 Pro
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Gibson Les Paul Standard 50’s
Nerd playing a Gibson Les Paul Standard 50’s
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Gibson Les Paul Custom
Nerd playing a Gibson Les Paul Custom

RPM Challenge Prep

I’m redesigning my music recording nook in our bedroom with the intention of having it all setup and ready to go by the time the RPM Challenge starts on February 1st.

I’m still going to use two amps, but I ordered a stand that should allow me to stack the two little 15 watters on top of each other. I can’t just put one on the other as the feet are too small and the handles too tall. Also, all of the knobs are on top. So a stand that I can sit both of them on sounds great. The Amazon description said it should be able to handle two 1×12 combos, but we won’t know for sure until I actually have it in my hands. Amazon tells me it should be delivered today.

I’m building the teeny tiniest new pedal board. I put the big sucker away to save some room in the redesigned bedroom. The new one is going to be very small. I have a new crybaby coming, the Gary Clark, Jr signature model that I wanted to get when I bought the last wah pedal, That should also be coming today. Fingers crossed. That will likely sit on the floor next to the new tiny board. I will use the Ryra Klone pedal I bought myself for my birthday back in May for cleanish and low gain stuff. I have the Malaise Forever Black Lives Matter pegged for high gain at the moment, but I also ordered a Wampler Plexi Drive Mini which will either replace it outright or share the highish gain stuff. Not sure yet. I also want to put a fuzz pedal on the board. It depends on how much room I have on the teeny tiny little pedal train thing I bought. If I can fit the Wren and Cuff Super Russian I’ll use that, otherwise I’ll see about the Wren and Cuff Tall Font Russian or the Way Huge Russian Pickle. All modulation and delay will be outboard stuff added in the mix. I have spoken. This is the way.

The January album in the month has been scrapped. I still have two songs from round four of re-recordings that need lead guitar parts. Hopefully I’ll have the new setup (everything except the Plexi Drive which won’t be here for another week) put together tonight or tomorrow so that I can use those two songs as a test drive for February.

I’m a little sad about the state of the RPM Challenge website. The blogs and the forum seem to have been replaced by a Discord chat, but I have never been able to log onto it. It just hangs and never connects. I am going to miss all of the extra curricular RPM stuff. I’m almost nervous that I will miss it enough to take the fun out of everything. Time will tell.

Why Didn’t That Work

Why didn’t the audio file I added to the post last night work? The one from the night before worked, but not the one from last night. Why?

I tried re-adding it a couple of times, but nothing. I tried adding it to a new post, nothing. I tried adding it and the song from the night before to another new post and the older song worked. Weird. I don’t know what I did.

I just re-uploaded it to the site. Does it work now?

Lost

I did some good work on May Music last night. Four songs got lyrics and melodies. When I finished I backed everything up. Today the computer crashed and I had to wipe it. I lost yesterday’s work, but I had the backup.

Nope.

The backup didn’t save correctly. Yesterday’s changes are all gone for good.