Sunday, February 24, 2008
The beauty of shuffle mode...
Maybe I'm approach a theme or mood. I was mentioning simplicity yesterday and I found a good example. I had my MP3 player set to shuffle on Thursday. A tune I hadn't heard in a long time popped up, Gillian Welch's "April 14th (Part 1)" off of Time the Revelator. That whole album is a study in simplicity. Not just simplicity, but beauty. I switched the MP3 player to Normal and listened to the whole album again. It still amazes me how awesome just two voices and two guitars can sound (David Rawlings being the other voice and guitar).
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Stuck in the Mud
I've been kind of stuck in the mud for the last couple weeks. I haven't had much inspiration and haven't done much musical practice. Everything has kind of come to a stand-still. I just don't feel like doing anything.
I am going to try and get back on track soon. I'm going to try several projects to get myself moving. Just doing stuff is the key I think.
I used to sit around hoping for inspiration to strike out of the blue and instantly reveal a vision of a masterpiece in its totality. I realize now that it doesn't work this way. Inspiration seems to hit people while they are working toward something.
With that in mind, my mission this week is to get myself moving again...but not in a way that I'm in a rut. With that in mind, I'm just going to work on putting together a generic blues song. Just record a simple I-IV-V chord progress and add an equally simple bass line. After I get that recorded, I may or may not try to throw some lead licks in there. That's all. Nothing fancy, but I've never done it before. Something easy, yet something of a stretch for me.
I've also decided to give setting up a computer recording another shot...mainly because I threw so much money at it. I can experiment with a sound card I have in the garage...see if I can take some of the load off my CPU and hard drive. It'd be a waste not to try and get it to work. I'm going to approach it a bit differently though. It's not the centerpiece of what I'm doing. In other words, I can keep goofing around with it until I get it to work. Until it works, I'll just keep using the trusty Tascam 4 track to record. I may even start my mixes with the Tascam and then move them to the PC for the final mix. The idea actually appeals to me...lately I've been kind of appreciating old (analog) technology. Something about analog is appealing to the ears...kind of the same principle that makes distortion so popular for electric guitars.
I have an 80's beast lurking under my bed...an 80's Korg DW-6000. I just keep it around because it was my first "real" musical instrument. It is in horrible shape. It will definitely need a new battery to charge the patch memory. I think the lowest key is also broken. However, I may make it a project over the summer to get it working again. It had a nice "airy" quality to it -- a lot of 80's keyboards kind of had this to my mind. The DX-7 was another "breathy" keyboard.
Funny observation, I have a Casio/Radio Shack keyboard that sounds slightly out of tune. Supposedly this shouldn't happen, but there it is. It only sounded "off" to me...someone with better pitch pointed out is was actually out of tune. I think in the 80's they had a lot less faith in electronic correctness than we do now. Why...there is actually slider on the 80's keyboard to adjust the tuning. There might be a similar function for the Casio, but it's buried below fifty levels of menus. My point--sometimes it's nice to just flip a slider and get to have to get out a tech manual and search for an hour.
I'm not trying to be a luddite...I'm just starting to kind of appreciate simplicity a bit more than I used to. That's it for this ramble. Peace out.
I am going to try and get back on track soon. I'm going to try several projects to get myself moving. Just doing stuff is the key I think.
I used to sit around hoping for inspiration to strike out of the blue and instantly reveal a vision of a masterpiece in its totality. I realize now that it doesn't work this way. Inspiration seems to hit people while they are working toward something.
With that in mind, my mission this week is to get myself moving again...but not in a way that I'm in a rut. With that in mind, I'm just going to work on putting together a generic blues song. Just record a simple I-IV-V chord progress and add an equally simple bass line. After I get that recorded, I may or may not try to throw some lead licks in there. That's all. Nothing fancy, but I've never done it before. Something easy, yet something of a stretch for me.
I've also decided to give setting up a computer recording another shot...mainly because I threw so much money at it. I can experiment with a sound card I have in the garage...see if I can take some of the load off my CPU and hard drive. It'd be a waste not to try and get it to work. I'm going to approach it a bit differently though. It's not the centerpiece of what I'm doing. In other words, I can keep goofing around with it until I get it to work. Until it works, I'll just keep using the trusty Tascam 4 track to record. I may even start my mixes with the Tascam and then move them to the PC for the final mix. The idea actually appeals to me...lately I've been kind of appreciating old (analog) technology. Something about analog is appealing to the ears...kind of the same principle that makes distortion so popular for electric guitars.
I have an 80's beast lurking under my bed...an 80's Korg DW-6000. I just keep it around because it was my first "real" musical instrument. It is in horrible shape. It will definitely need a new battery to charge the patch memory. I think the lowest key is also broken. However, I may make it a project over the summer to get it working again. It had a nice "airy" quality to it -- a lot of 80's keyboards kind of had this to my mind. The DX-7 was another "breathy" keyboard.
Funny observation, I have a Casio/Radio Shack keyboard that sounds slightly out of tune. Supposedly this shouldn't happen, but there it is. It only sounded "off" to me...someone with better pitch pointed out is was actually out of tune. I think in the 80's they had a lot less faith in electronic correctness than we do now. Why...there is actually slider on the 80's keyboard to adjust the tuning. There might be a similar function for the Casio, but it's buried below fifty levels of menus. My point--sometimes it's nice to just flip a slider and get to have to get out a tech manual and search for an hour.
I'm not trying to be a luddite...I'm just starting to kind of appreciate simplicity a bit more than I used to. That's it for this ramble. Peace out.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
A ramble
Well, it's been quite a week. Last weekend I spent most of the weekend running to Home Depot to get parts for a toilet. After a whole weekend of spending lots of money, I have a still leaking toilet. Funnier still, the toilet wasn't the source of the problem. It was a backed up septic tank. Well, at least most of the throne is new. Then I had some family business to tend to in the middle of the week. All of this is a long-winded excuse for saying, I haven't practiced music all week. I have to admit though, I was playing pretty sporadically the week before. It's like this with a lot of things I do - practice guitar/bass, exercise. Do great for a week or two. Then life interferes in some way or another (sick sibling, backed up toilet). I miss a day...which becomes a week. After the week mark, I feel guilty. I should be doing what I was doing before. The guilt in turn makes it harder to get back to what I was doing. It's easy to see how that would happen with something like say, exercising. I know I need to. I know it's good for me. I still hate it and it's a chore. Now music is different. I love music...I love trying to make music. So why does it take on such a chore-like feel after I miss about a week?
Part of the problem might be my approach to fun...or lack thereof. Even "fun" is serious business for me. It's part of my "Calvinist" streak. I've noted my problems with perfectionism before. The "Fun is serious business" is part of that problem. Society helps a bit...suffering for your art and all that.
Oddly enough, I don't have as much of a problem with drawing. Not that I'm any better an illustrator than musician. In fact, I "know" far more about music. I've read more books, taken more classes and lessons in music and musical performance. Yet for the last month, I've been able to draw something everyday. On some days it's been little more than a doodle. Point is, I've been keeping up on it and doing. I don't know why this could be. It seems to have taken on a life of it's own.
I wonder if it's because I'm not as attached. I'm not expecting to be a great artist. I just do it for fun, for something to do. I do it because I love graphic arts -- comics, illustration...even magazine layout and design. But by the same token, I've no expectations for myself with it other than learning how to draw. That is to say, I only expect to improve.
With music I guess I feel a great musical masterpiece should issue from my rear and change my world. I've felt changed by music and feel when I make it, I should be making "great" music. I think I might be placing some burdens on myself are making music a bit harder than it should be. I think for a long time music was my escape and took on portions of my identity. I was just a geek...but in High School I was geek and...a musician. Geeks not so hot...geek musicians ok. I think this pretty much has continued through my adult life. I'm a loser geek...but I'm also a musician. I've got a dull boring career, but I'm secretly trying to write a an awesome rock opera (or some other pompous thought). I think this type of thinking also drove my desire to obtain more and more equipment. "See this proves I'm a musician....I spend every penny I have on music stuff."
The trouble this type of thinking is it's taking away from what I should actually be doing...making music. I've let all of this stuff take over. Meanwhile, I've been practicing the same old stuff over and over again (come to think of it, this is another reason practice is a "chore"). I've also worried about the exact way to do everything...I'm sure I need to know be able know and play a Phrygian scale...even though I probably will never have to use it for anything.
Sure I want to make some good music. I'd love to express myself musically. I just need to somehow get it back to the fun it used to be. When I first played guitar, just making an A chord was work, but I felt so good when I got it to ring. On piano, I was just happy when I could play something and recognize it. I didn't expect to write a symphony or anything. More than anything, it just deepened my appreciation for what other musicians have done. It increased my wonder...it heightened my connection to the music I heard on the radio. I'd like to get back to that feeling with what I'm doing.
How can I get back to making music for music's sake and just having fun? How can I make mistakes and not care? I don't know, but I do know I'm starting down this road just by thinking about it. Hopefully over the next several days and weeks and can get back to just practicing and having fun again...just doing it for the pure fun and nothing else.
Part of the problem might be my approach to fun...or lack thereof. Even "fun" is serious business for me. It's part of my "Calvinist" streak. I've noted my problems with perfectionism before. The "Fun is serious business" is part of that problem. Society helps a bit...suffering for your art and all that.
Oddly enough, I don't have as much of a problem with drawing. Not that I'm any better an illustrator than musician. In fact, I "know" far more about music. I've read more books, taken more classes and lessons in music and musical performance. Yet for the last month, I've been able to draw something everyday. On some days it's been little more than a doodle. Point is, I've been keeping up on it and doing. I don't know why this could be. It seems to have taken on a life of it's own.
I wonder if it's because I'm not as attached. I'm not expecting to be a great artist. I just do it for fun, for something to do. I do it because I love graphic arts -- comics, illustration...even magazine layout and design. But by the same token, I've no expectations for myself with it other than learning how to draw. That is to say, I only expect to improve.
With music I guess I feel a great musical masterpiece should issue from my rear and change my world. I've felt changed by music and feel when I make it, I should be making "great" music. I think I might be placing some burdens on myself are making music a bit harder than it should be. I think for a long time music was my escape and took on portions of my identity. I was just a geek...but in High School I was geek and...a musician. Geeks not so hot...geek musicians ok. I think this pretty much has continued through my adult life. I'm a loser geek...but I'm also a musician. I've got a dull boring career, but I'm secretly trying to write a an awesome rock opera (or some other pompous thought). I think this type of thinking also drove my desire to obtain more and more equipment. "See this proves I'm a musician....I spend every penny I have on music stuff."
The trouble this type of thinking is it's taking away from what I should actually be doing...making music. I've let all of this stuff take over. Meanwhile, I've been practicing the same old stuff over and over again (come to think of it, this is another reason practice is a "chore"). I've also worried about the exact way to do everything...I'm sure I need to know be able know and play a Phrygian scale...even though I probably will never have to use it for anything.
Sure I want to make some good music. I'd love to express myself musically. I just need to somehow get it back to the fun it used to be. When I first played guitar, just making an A chord was work, but I felt so good when I got it to ring. On piano, I was just happy when I could play something and recognize it. I didn't expect to write a symphony or anything. More than anything, it just deepened my appreciation for what other musicians have done. It increased my wonder...it heightened my connection to the music I heard on the radio. I'd like to get back to that feeling with what I'm doing.
How can I get back to making music for music's sake and just having fun? How can I make mistakes and not care? I don't know, but I do know I'm starting down this road just by thinking about it. Hopefully over the next several days and weeks and can get back to just practicing and having fun again...just doing it for the pure fun and nothing else.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Still going...
It's been awhile, so I've decided to do another blog entry. I've had kind of pendulum effect going the last two weeks. I had a couple of days...maybe a week where I was feeling crappy about life, the universe and everything. But I had some really great days in there as well. I've managed to keep the drawing and cartooning up. I even sketched out an idea for a strip. I've been tempted to shut it down for many reasons -- all of them stupid. The one that always gets to me the most is that it's taking away from my musical efforts. That's really the old "ultra-focus"/perfectionism problem. I've actually found that my musical efforts have actually improved as pick up drawing skills and work more with them. Just getting the old conditioning out of my head is the problem. I think that might be why was having a bad week last week. The old junk keeps coming up. I'm lucky though. This time something is different. I keep being able to fight it off. I keep being able to draw and enjoy it. I keep being able to play my instruments and have fun. In fact, I've been enjoying music more lately. I've been able to pay more attention to the sound of notes...the feel of notes.
Even with the dark period, it has been a positive couple weeks. I'm feeling more interested and energized than I have for a long, long time. I'm feeling a lot more like myself. I just hope to have the strength and courage to keep going and keep doing what I'm doing.
Even with the dark period, it has been a positive couple weeks. I'm feeling more interested and energized than I have for a long, long time. I'm feeling a lot more like myself. I just hope to have the strength and courage to keep going and keep doing what I'm doing.
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