Note to self: when putting your guitar on, don't whack yourself in the face with it. Emulating the "look" of the kid on the cover of War is dumb.
Don't exactly remember how or why I did that, toward the start of rehearsal; perhaps I was about to whack the mike stand with the guitar and pulled it back a little too hastily. In any case, ow, split lip. But rehearsal (which was just starting) carried on fine, once I got the bleeding stopped.
Rehearsed in a rather large, nicely appointed room at JamSpot tonight. Expensive room, it was all that was available, but it worked nicely. There was a floor monitor right by my mike ... no need, nor even a temptation, to oversing to be heard over the instruments. So my voice is fine.
Eric and Ryan are learning the material nicely and adding good things to it. A couple of these songs are going to kick ass when we've got more time and practice under our belts. Next step, I think, is to see if Doug will come in and do some drums.
Won't listen to the rehearsal CD until tomorrow at the earliest. I know there were plenty of flubs, many of them mine ... but let's leave this as a memory of a really strong rehearsal for now. Time enough to critique tomorrow.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Sun Breaks Through
The signs and symptoms
Are breaking through
You thought you had this bird in hand
But it somehow got the best of you
The signs and symptoms
Break into life
And all the planets in your plan
Become the stuff that parts a man and wife
It can't be helped now
It's only luck
It can't be helped now
And I'm sorry but you're really fucked
Again
And then the sun breaks through
And you feel all right
The sun breaks through
Maybe it's all right
Ah, the sun
Ah, the sun
Breaks through
The signs and portents
Are spinning plates
You set your life on the edge of the knife
But you reached the fork a little too late
The signs and portents
Will have their way
You paid the clown to settle down
But he tells you that you cannot stay
It can't be helped now
You know it's true
It can't be helped now
And I'm sorry but you're really screwed
Again
And then the sun breaks through
And you feel all right
The sun breaks through
Maybe it's all right
Ah, the sun
Ah, the sun
Breaks through
It's a lie
Can you bear it?
It's a lie
If you share it
Again
The signs and symptoms
Are getting rough
You play your hand the best you can
But your partner finally calls your bluff
The signs and portents
They can't forgive
You wonder how you'll work it out
But somehow you're just gonna have to live
It can't be helped now
Heads or tails
It can't be helped now
And I'm sorry but it's epic fail
Again
And then the sun breaks through
And you feel all right
The sun breaks through
Maybe it's all right
Ah, the sun
Ah, the sun
Breaks through
copyright 2008 Pete Chvany
Are breaking through
You thought you had this bird in hand
But it somehow got the best of you
The signs and symptoms
Break into life
And all the planets in your plan
Become the stuff that parts a man and wife
It can't be helped now
It's only luck
It can't be helped now
And I'm sorry but you're really fucked
Again
And then the sun breaks through
And you feel all right
The sun breaks through
Maybe it's all right
Ah, the sun
Ah, the sun
Breaks through
The signs and portents
Are spinning plates
You set your life on the edge of the knife
But you reached the fork a little too late
The signs and portents
Will have their way
You paid the clown to settle down
But he tells you that you cannot stay
It can't be helped now
You know it's true
It can't be helped now
And I'm sorry but you're really screwed
Again
And then the sun breaks through
And you feel all right
The sun breaks through
Maybe it's all right
Ah, the sun
Ah, the sun
Breaks through
It's a lie
Can you bear it?
It's a lie
If you share it
Again
The signs and symptoms
Are getting rough
You play your hand the best you can
But your partner finally calls your bluff
The signs and portents
They can't forgive
You wonder how you'll work it out
But somehow you're just gonna have to live
It can't be helped now
Heads or tails
It can't be helped now
And I'm sorry but it's epic fail
Again
And then the sun breaks through
And you feel all right
The sun breaks through
Maybe it's all right
Ah, the sun
Ah, the sun
Breaks through
copyright 2008 Pete Chvany
Friday, May 2, 2008
Kludging
Regarding the last couple of posts: I've done a bit of playing around with running some different rhythm loops under the main loops in those two songs that sound too similar to one another.
I find that if I put a different rhythm on one of them, let it sit in the background, stereo-separated (hard-panned left and right on two different tracks), right from measure one .... and on the other song, run an additional rhythm loop ONLY during the first couple of measures before the guitar and bass kick in, then drop it out .... that the particular similarity of the songs' introductions is reduced, and the differences between them are highlighted a bit.
Haven't ripped the current versions to my Nano to let repeat listenings inform me whether it's really enough. But the next major thing would be to stop tweaking the production and get more backing instrument parts on them. And recut the vocals. The laptop mike is pretty awesome for rough takes, but I'm wondering about doing more fully-rehearsed vocals.
It's all VERY interesting, process-wise. And the amount of interest I have in process, rather than only in outcome as in my youth, continues to be a good aspect of all this.
I find that if I put a different rhythm on one of them, let it sit in the background, stereo-separated (hard-panned left and right on two different tracks), right from measure one .... and on the other song, run an additional rhythm loop ONLY during the first couple of measures before the guitar and bass kick in, then drop it out .... that the particular similarity of the songs' introductions is reduced, and the differences between them are highlighted a bit.
Haven't ripped the current versions to my Nano to let repeat listenings inform me whether it's really enough. But the next major thing would be to stop tweaking the production and get more backing instrument parts on them. And recut the vocals. The laptop mike is pretty awesome for rough takes, but I'm wondering about doing more fully-rehearsed vocals.
It's all VERY interesting, process-wise. And the amount of interest I have in process, rather than only in outcome as in my youth, continues to be a good aspect of all this.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Another
Got another "bedroom rock" track demoed last night. I'd had the verse chord progression sitting around for a while and a few lyrical bits. Hacked some lyrics together Tuesday evening.
A drawback is that it sounds rather too much like the earlier track. At work yesterday, during some downtime when I was caught up and nothing was happening, I scanned through some GarageBand rhythm loops to find something that felt appropriate. Damn if, when I laid the guitar track down over it, it didn't turn out that the rhythm and guitar patterns sounded WAY too close to the first. Slightly different rhythm, slightly different strum, but not different enough.
I think I've determined that my default strum tempo on an acoustic guitar, at this point, is 68-72 beats per minute. That's part of the problem right there: not enough tempo variation.
Gonna have to work on some different strum patterns, too.
And do more with picking and arpeggiating, not just hold down chords all the time.
I suppose the similarity of keys (one in C, the other in Em/G) doesn't help.
Once I realized this problem, I found another rhythm track that still works, but isn't quite as similar. Gives things a little different feel. They're still very close.
Of course, this is one reason to crank things out fast like this: find out where your default strengths AND default weaknesses are. It's still pretty cool that I knocked these things out so quickly. The sound quality through the little laptop mike, with the string muting and fret buzzing issues of my guitar playing (more obvious on an acoustic), and my singing so as not to peg the mike, give the tracks a quality we can charitably describe as "interesting."
But hey. Two years ago could I have banged out this much this fast? A year ago? No.
A drawback is that it sounds rather too much like the earlier track. At work yesterday, during some downtime when I was caught up and nothing was happening, I scanned through some GarageBand rhythm loops to find something that felt appropriate. Damn if, when I laid the guitar track down over it, it didn't turn out that the rhythm and guitar patterns sounded WAY too close to the first. Slightly different rhythm, slightly different strum, but not different enough.
I think I've determined that my default strum tempo on an acoustic guitar, at this point, is 68-72 beats per minute. That's part of the problem right there: not enough tempo variation.
Gonna have to work on some different strum patterns, too.
And do more with picking and arpeggiating, not just hold down chords all the time.
I suppose the similarity of keys (one in C, the other in Em/G) doesn't help.
Once I realized this problem, I found another rhythm track that still works, but isn't quite as similar. Gives things a little different feel. They're still very close.
Of course, this is one reason to crank things out fast like this: find out where your default strengths AND default weaknesses are. It's still pretty cool that I knocked these things out so quickly. The sound quality through the little laptop mike, with the string muting and fret buzzing issues of my guitar playing (more obvious on an acoustic), and my singing so as not to peg the mike, give the tracks a quality we can charitably describe as "interesting."
But hey. Two years ago could I have banged out this much this fast? A year ago? No.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Surprise
I'm really pleased with how I can surprise myself. Today's surprise was, not surprisingly (I know, I know, I'm too clever) about music.
I had a house guest the last several days and he was lovely and amazing and we hung out with each other and a lot of mutual friends and that was all wonderful. Including playing an American Idol-based karaoke game on a friend's Wii in which I did fairly well at singing stuff like "In The Air Tonight" and "Tainted Love" and didn't feel TOO bad at wishing I'd done even better.
Lovely as it was, I was sort of chomping at the bit to get back to my regular routine. Problem is, I also wore myself out having a nice time (we were all up especially late the night of Wii karaoke because we also watched a Harry Potter flick until nearly 1:30 a.m.)
So I ended up cancelling tonight's rehearsal with Eric, my bass player.
But tired as I was ... and a bit depressed today, what with poor weather and lingering tiredness, which always affects my mood .... I still wanted to write.
I hacked around with some simple ideas in C and spouted some lyrics and ended up writing a quick ditty. I've been meaning to try writing a little more simply, I-IV-V progressions, not move all over the place, which in one sense is a sign of my increasing sophistication and in another sense is about me not knowing how to take full advantage of any single chord I've got.
Anyway. Came home tonight and worked it out a little more on acoustic guitar. Which we know I still don't play all that well. But it was sounding okayish.
Laid down a rough track on my MacBook--no metronome, keeping my own tempo. The microphone in this thing is still surprisingly awesome for quick-and-dirties. Guitar and voice. Sounded pretty decent.
I decided to figure out the tempo. Found a rhythm pattern that kind of fits. Re-cut the guitar, no voice. Added a synth bass line. Added the vocals again (first two verses and choruses. Put in a little piano. Put in a bit of backing vocal harmony.
Um .... suddenly I have half a song? With acoustic guitar cut in one take? That sounds halfway okay .... you know, nothing that would be totally out of place in a Robert Pollard "I hacked this together kind of fast" way.
Like I say: surprise.
I sort of need a vacation from hanging out with fun people, which is my usual vacation from work. I had been thinking it would be neat to go away totally by myself for a week, with only a guitar and a laptop, not hang out online so much, and spew forth as many songs as I was/wasn't feeling like writing real fast.
As a dry run for something like that, this evening was WAY fabulous.
Who knew I was getting so quick at knocking things out? Boy, if my old Berkeley classmates could hear me now. Actually, I should point Aoife at some stuff. Maybe this is something I should let her hear. I suspect she'll agree I've come a LONG way.
I had a house guest the last several days and he was lovely and amazing and we hung out with each other and a lot of mutual friends and that was all wonderful. Including playing an American Idol-based karaoke game on a friend's Wii in which I did fairly well at singing stuff like "In The Air Tonight" and "Tainted Love" and didn't feel TOO bad at wishing I'd done even better.
Lovely as it was, I was sort of chomping at the bit to get back to my regular routine. Problem is, I also wore myself out having a nice time (we were all up especially late the night of Wii karaoke because we also watched a Harry Potter flick until nearly 1:30 a.m.)
So I ended up cancelling tonight's rehearsal with Eric, my bass player.
But tired as I was ... and a bit depressed today, what with poor weather and lingering tiredness, which always affects my mood .... I still wanted to write.
I hacked around with some simple ideas in C and spouted some lyrics and ended up writing a quick ditty. I've been meaning to try writing a little more simply, I-IV-V progressions, not move all over the place, which in one sense is a sign of my increasing sophistication and in another sense is about me not knowing how to take full advantage of any single chord I've got.
Anyway. Came home tonight and worked it out a little more on acoustic guitar. Which we know I still don't play all that well. But it was sounding okayish.
Laid down a rough track on my MacBook--no metronome, keeping my own tempo. The microphone in this thing is still surprisingly awesome for quick-and-dirties. Guitar and voice. Sounded pretty decent.
I decided to figure out the tempo. Found a rhythm pattern that kind of fits. Re-cut the guitar, no voice. Added a synth bass line. Added the vocals again (first two verses and choruses. Put in a little piano. Put in a bit of backing vocal harmony.
Um .... suddenly I have half a song? With acoustic guitar cut in one take? That sounds halfway okay .... you know, nothing that would be totally out of place in a Robert Pollard "I hacked this together kind of fast" way.
Like I say: surprise.
I sort of need a vacation from hanging out with fun people, which is my usual vacation from work. I had been thinking it would be neat to go away totally by myself for a week, with only a guitar and a laptop, not hang out online so much, and spew forth as many songs as I was/wasn't feeling like writing real fast.
As a dry run for something like that, this evening was WAY fabulous.
Who knew I was getting so quick at knocking things out? Boy, if my old Berkeley classmates could hear me now. Actually, I should point Aoife at some stuff. Maybe this is something I should let her hear. I suspect she'll agree I've come a LONG way.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Cyberspace
Reach me while you can
Oh you lonely man
I'll give you something to believe
Meet me up in space
I'll help you find your place
If you can live on what we breathe
I know you're looking for
A way to be much more
And I'm the net to break your fall
You'll find your brothers here
They'll hold you fast and dear
If they find time to take your calls
Millions flock to me
Longing to be free
Trying to forget the past
They talk for hours and hours
Like they've got super powers
And maybe some of it will last
But deep inside my webs
The tide still flows and ebbs
A star still flickers out and fades
So let me take you up
I'll fill your every cup
And maybe someday we'll upgrade ...
To a better dream
A better dream
To a better dream
A better dream
Oh you lonely man
I'll give you something to believe
Meet me up in space
I'll help you find your place
If you can live on what we breathe
I know you're looking for
A way to be much more
And I'm the net to break your fall
You'll find your brothers here
They'll hold you fast and dear
If they find time to take your calls
Millions flock to me
Longing to be free
Trying to forget the past
They talk for hours and hours
Like they've got super powers
And maybe some of it will last
But deep inside my webs
The tide still flows and ebbs
A star still flickers out and fades
So let me take you up
I'll fill your every cup
And maybe someday we'll upgrade ...
To a better dream
A better dream
To a better dream
A better dream
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Rehearsal
Huh. No sooner do I consider updating here than I notice that my last post was about how far to go with a song that, indeed, I rehearsed just last night.
The big change in my work recently is that I've picked up a bass player, whom I've rehearsed with several times, and last night "auditioned" an old guitarist friend ... and we played the song I discussed in my previous post, the political one.
Among other things.
My focus lately is not on the politics of that song, but on the fact that in the second verse (which is eight couplets rather than four like the first and third verses, for extra drama) I'm trying to jump up several steps (an octave, maybe??) halfway through the verse for EXTRA extra drama. And I'm consistently not in voice to sing it very well up there.
So there I am struggling with my vocals while also trying to hear whether the guitarist is doing something I want him to do.
Being a band leader is .... interesting. My bass player and I have good rapport, but I don't think it's giving away state secrets to say that having to teach him and work on things is sometimes, not frustrating so much, but ... dunno. Tests my limits a bit. I have to say things like "that was good but it doesn't work for me." When part of what I'm feeling is "OMG someone wants to play my songs, I shouldn't criticize ANYTHING they do."
The guitarist hauled out some nice licks last night that were COMPLETELY wrong for the song. Thank God he asked me, to my face, immediately afterward, "that was too western sounding, wasn't it?"
If I'd written a country song I would have fucking loved the part. It was good. It just didn't fit at all.
And I hate saying "no" to people, apparently.
But I'm learning.
And then he did some different stuff the next time and it was better.
And the bass parts are coming along nicely. A lot of it is about rehearsal now, for him.
Still. My god, what an effort sometimes. It's like I'm "on" all the time. I'm the boss. Nothing happens unless I make it happen.
It's not more difficult than doing it all myself. It's just DIFFERENTLY difficult.
Rewarding too, of course. The work with the guitarist was ... ragged .... if I think about the parts that need work or that I have to decide about. But he hauled out some things that a) I would never have thought of and b) that were like YAY when I heard them. I mean, I've worked with this guy before, I had a clue about what I was getting. Some of what he brings won't fit. Other stuff will be brilliant. I just have to see if I can get him to substitute anything that isn't brilliant right away with something else.
And I really need to figure out how to hit those high notes. They're within the range of my falsetto .... but I need to be able to figure out how to come up to them from the earlier lines that are down below them, and still project with power, without busting my throat.
Skills building .....
The big change in my work recently is that I've picked up a bass player, whom I've rehearsed with several times, and last night "auditioned" an old guitarist friend ... and we played the song I discussed in my previous post, the political one.
Among other things.
My focus lately is not on the politics of that song, but on the fact that in the second verse (which is eight couplets rather than four like the first and third verses, for extra drama) I'm trying to jump up several steps (an octave, maybe??) halfway through the verse for EXTRA extra drama. And I'm consistently not in voice to sing it very well up there.
So there I am struggling with my vocals while also trying to hear whether the guitarist is doing something I want him to do.
Being a band leader is .... interesting. My bass player and I have good rapport, but I don't think it's giving away state secrets to say that having to teach him and work on things is sometimes, not frustrating so much, but ... dunno. Tests my limits a bit. I have to say things like "that was good but it doesn't work for me." When part of what I'm feeling is "OMG someone wants to play my songs, I shouldn't criticize ANYTHING they do."
The guitarist hauled out some nice licks last night that were COMPLETELY wrong for the song. Thank God he asked me, to my face, immediately afterward, "that was too western sounding, wasn't it?"
If I'd written a country song I would have fucking loved the part. It was good. It just didn't fit at all.
And I hate saying "no" to people, apparently.
But I'm learning.
And then he did some different stuff the next time and it was better.
And the bass parts are coming along nicely. A lot of it is about rehearsal now, for him.
Still. My god, what an effort sometimes. It's like I'm "on" all the time. I'm the boss. Nothing happens unless I make it happen.
It's not more difficult than doing it all myself. It's just DIFFERENTLY difficult.
Rewarding too, of course. The work with the guitarist was ... ragged .... if I think about the parts that need work or that I have to decide about. But he hauled out some things that a) I would never have thought of and b) that were like YAY when I heard them. I mean, I've worked with this guy before, I had a clue about what I was getting. Some of what he brings won't fit. Other stuff will be brilliant. I just have to see if I can get him to substitute anything that isn't brilliant right away with something else.
And I really need to figure out how to hit those high notes. They're within the range of my falsetto .... but I need to be able to figure out how to come up to them from the earlier lines that are down below them, and still project with power, without busting my throat.
Skills building .....
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