2024 50/90 Challenge Day 10/90

I had big plans for day 10, and I did make some important progress, but I failed to do half of what I wanted to do.

When I woke up I had seven songs ready for vocals. I recorded five of them. That’s a pretty big deal for me as anything related to the vocals tends to be a big of a hang up for me. I wanted to put lead guitars onto those five songs but I didn’t get the chance.

Just before bed I managed to write lyrics and melodies for three more songs, so once again I have five that are ready for vocals. I am hoping that stating that is actually foreshadowing for tomorrow’s update post. We will see.

2024 50/90 Challenge Day 9/90

Another decent day’s worth of progress, but probably not as much as I had hoped. I worked on four songs in total. First, I put rhythm guitars onto the only two songs I had left that didn’t have rhythm guitars. Those were songs number 12 and 13. Next I added two new songs, numbers 14 and 15, which have MIDI bass and drums and now also have rhythm guitars.

That’s it. Not a bad day’s worth of work, but I had to spend a lot of time running errands, and my wife and I decided to go for a drive in the evening so there wasn’t time for anything more.

Round Two

I went out and got my hair cut, I got an inspection sticker for the Kia, and I stopped at the sugar free bakery to get a treat for myself to celebrate my 20th work-aversary. Then I went home, made myself some lunch, noodled out a couple of new song ideas, and played my guitar again. Technically it was a different guitar, but it is still mine so I guess saying “I played again” still counts.

Now I am going to start thinking about cooking dinner on the grill for me and my beloved bride, the love of my life, Jen.

20 Years

20 years ago today I started a new job. I am still with that company. I have a different position now thanks to a promotion, but I’m still with the company.

How did I spend my 20th hire-aversary?

Well, so far I have played my guitar. I am also thinking about getting a haircut and maybe getting one of the cars inspected. A super fun day!

2024 50/90 Challenge Day 8/90

I got a lot done yesterday but maybe not quite as much as I had hoped. I don’t know. It felt like a good haul at the time.

First, I put rhythm guitars onto three songs. Next, I wrote the lyrics and a melody for three songs, two of which were from the day’s batch of guitar tracked songs. Finally, I added two new song ideas. Both of them have the full song form and MIDI guitar guide tracks. One of them already has lyrics and melody too.

Not bad for a Thursday vacation day. I probably could have done more, but I think I did okay.

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.