Quickie update

Just a quick note to show that I haven't died or given up the guitar etc.

I went to Bonnaroo a few weeks ago and managed to catch the BonnaFlu that usually goes along with it, so I've been sick and unmotivated for the last couple of weeks.

The highlight of Bonnaroo for me was seeing The Mars Volta live for the first time. I was already a fan of the albums, but holy crap, they are one of the most amazing live bands I've ever seen. I'll try to post more links 'n stuff later.

Since I got back, I managed to acquire a Peavey Rockmaster preamp and Mesa Boogie 50/50 power amp in preparation for getting an isolation speaker cab from Grendel Sound. Grendel doesn't seem to be the fastest-moving small business in the world, so I'm still waiting for it, but hopefully I'll have the cab within the next week or so. I want to get moving on some new musical ideas, and just make a whole bunch of crazy noise!

What's next?

So, now that I've let out my inner experimental Coltrane with "Saturation", where do I go from here? I'm going to pursue four threads:

--Big improvisation. Long-scale improvisations with massive amounts of overdubbage. At the moment, I've conceived of two ideas. The first is an atmospheric improvisation that has many layers but largely lays off the percussion. The second is a zillion layers of percussion with a focused guitar and bass in the top line. I'm not sure yet where this will go.

--Trio improvisation. Sort of like "Saturation", but my Modulus bass guitar gets to join the party. I could knock this out pretty quickly once I get my guitar sounds sorted out (see below).

--'70s blues/jazz/funk rock. Hendrix and Jimmy Page meet John Coltrane. This one will take awhile to happen, but I'm committed.

--'80s rock w/jazz influences. Big '80s hard rock bursting with melody and crunchy guitars, but not mid-scooped double-kick metal. I've been avoiding it for years, but the fact is that, musically speaking, I came of age in the '80s and can no longer deny it. Think Journey or Foreigner with jazz chords and minus the sappy vocals.

Have I committed myself to four albums? Not necessarily. These four threads could merge into a couple larger projects or fall apart entirely. I just wanted to let the readers know where I stand at the moment.

A note on my guitar sound. "Saturation" involves an extreme guitar sound that comes from my Axe FX preamp direct into the mixing board. I've tried the Axe Trak isolation speaker cabinet, and it sounded like ass. However, a company called Grendel Sound makes an isolation cabinet that seems like it might do what I need. I'm going to spend the $$$ to make it happen. If I could get the sound of a real guitar amp into a microphone, I'd be very happy. As an apartment dweller, this is difficult. Perhaps the Grendel Dead Room will do what I need. You'll find out soon. ;)

I'll be off to Bonnaroo next weekend. Don't know if I will post before then, but I'm sure that my experience at Bonnaroo will lead to many new musical insights that I'll be eager to share.

Peace out!

Saturation Time! And the blues, too.

Well, it's here. My newest album is finished and online for your listening amusement. You can check it out at my new BandCamp site. It's far from an easy listen, but I think anyone who likes Frank Zappa's guitar playing might be able to get into this.

BandCamp is just a great site for us musicianly types. I was able to upload all three of my albums in full and proper sound quality, and present them in a cohesive and artistically pleasing fashion. This doesn't render my SoundClick site entirely useless, however. I'm reserving BandCamp for completed album projects, while SoundClick will allow me to present oddball stuff and preview tracks before an album is completed. You can download music from my BandCamp site free of charge in both mp3 and FLAC format, which is full 100% original sound quality!

My last week has been quite busy musically. In addition to finishing up "Saturation," I acquired another Heritage Les Paul to go with my existing Heritage Black Beauty. The new one is a mellower sounding instrument, allowing me to get some Gary Moore-style warmth to go with the Black Beauty's metal craziness. Here's a pic of a portion of my guitar family, with my three Heritages up front, the new one on the left, and the Black Beauty in the middle:



I'll get around to posting detailed pics and stories about all my guitars, eventually.

With my new bronze beauty and the Black Beauty, I recorded a new blues track to show off the sonic differences between the two guitars that otherwise look similar. Unfortunately, the sounds I used don't do a very good job of that. But I'm happy with the track anyway. It's called "Kalamazoo Blues," after the hometown of Heritage Guitars, which are made by former longtime employees of Gibson Guitars who stayed behind in the old factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan after Gibson moved its operations to Nashville. The Bronze Beauty is in the left channel, while the Black Beauty is screaming away in the right channel. Enjoy!

Saturation Mix

Well, this time I came through on my promise. I finished four more guitar/drums duets this weekend--enough to round out an album of these. I did the mixdowns this evening and will master and upload them tomorrow.

But, you ask, haven't I abandoned the idea of the album? Isn't that what this very blog is supposed to facilitate? Well, sort of. However, I can't get over the album as a cohesive presentation of music. It's still a very convenient way to frame an hour's worth of music. And the hour of music I just completed is one I'm calling "Saturation", after the ridiculously saturated distortion that drenches the guitar sound on every single track. Way over the top. You've already heard six of the tracks on this site and can tell what I mean, hopefully. It's also "saturation" in the sense of trying to push things to the extreme of free playing. Just press play on the record and go for as long as feel like it. I imposed time limits in a few cases, but on others I just went where my mind would go.

This material will the first on my upcoming bandcamp.com site, which is a music site that allows artists to upload music in high quality, lossless form, with much longer permissible song lengths than SoundClick allows. It's pretty much made for what I do.

I'll have more to say about all this tomorrow.

I'm back, with music!

Hi, Internet! It's been awhile. I've been bad about not posting and not playing for the last month or so. Well, I've played a little bit, but I do need to get my chops going again. I'm hoping to get some more guitar/drums duets recorded this weekend, as well as maybe work on another long-form piece.

Speaking of long-form pieces, I finally got a file-sharing account going so I can share my long pieces with everyone. It's not as good as Music V2 was, but it does the job. Unfortunately, I can't post a link to a central page with all of the long pieces, so I'll have to post individual song links, as well as a streaming player for them. Right now, I only have "One Day in August" going on the site, but that's ok.

Here is the link where you can download One Day in August.

And here is One Day in August in the streaming player:

Go to folder - FileFactory.com

It's gone!

Well, Music V2 is officially a thing of the past now, so you can't download the full 48-minute version of "One Day in August" at the moment. I've been scouting around, and it turns out there are plenty of free file-sharing services available that will allow me to upload my long-form musical monstrosities for you. I've just got to choose the best one. I'll do that tonight, time permitting.

I've been practicing a whole bunch, and I'm starting to feel like a guitar player again. I'm eager to start recording some more music!

NYC musical weekend

Had quite the musical time of it this past weekend. I went up to NYC to check out two shows by legendary Deep Purple/Trapeze singer and bassist Glenn Hughes. He's been a favorite of mine for many years, but I never got the chance to see him live until now. Simply awesome! While I was in New York, I also managed to catch a set by drummer Johnathan Blake's quintet at The Jazz Gallery. Johnathan is a fantastic jazz drummer who put together a smokin' band including Jaleel Shaw on alto sax, Chris Potter on tenor sax, Robert Glasper on piano, and Joe Martin on bass. All those guys are first-rate players who also lead their own bands. I saw Glasper's band a couple of years ago at Bonnaroo and knew I'd have to check this band out this weekend. Glad I did. The weekend was almost too much music to handle. And I can't forget the trip to the Downtown Music Gallery to pick up a whole bunch of avant-garde CDs. That place is dangerous to the bank account, man!

I haven't played anything myself for over a week now. I've just been feeling a bit hollow musically. Not sure why. Between the music I saw this weekend and reading Bill Bruford's illuminating autobiography, I'm starting to feel the need to create again. Being in NYC for even just a weekend clarified my love of exploratory music and my intense need to be musical. Now I just have to get back in the music room and get my guitar chops back.

In a slight bit of bad news, it looks like Music V2 is apparently going down the drain--that's where I host my long-form pieces that are too big for SoundClick to handle. I'm currently searching for an adequate replacement. My V2 page is still up, and you can still download from there at the moment, but I suspect that won't last long.