General Music Chat

Hey, JonnyR,
Glad you're 'out there' playing,' man.
Sometimes, just sometimes, the "same ol - same ol" can be a good thing, eh?
In other words - it's a good life to be playing music with others. That is, as long as it's fun . . .
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Practice is important, but when we play with others - we have living, breathing evolving music that we're part of.
Feels good, doesn't it? Makes it all worth it . . .
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Got 2-3 musicians coming over tomorrow. Gonna sweep the floors, set up the chairs, put on a few pots of coffee, tune-up, and PLAY for a few hours, or maybe until my finger tips start fraying apart . . . !
Sure does make life sweeter to do that kind of thing, huh?
Alan

Are you guys still around?
If so - what have you been up to?

Hey, Jonny Rocker,
Glad you're still busy.
I stopped looking for other musicians; I'm going to spend more time creating new music, and less time playing with others.
Lately, playing with others has not been rewarding.
But, every 2-3 hour's of self-practice invariably results in me coming up with a new song.
I've finally got recording software now, too. Don't know if you heard the mp3 I posted, w/ guitar & bass. Check out "Descending Boogie," if you're interested.
I know you liked "The Bradley Boogie." After doing "The Bradley Boogie," with an ascending bass-line, I wanted to see if I could write a boogie with a descending bass-line. You can let me know if I succeeded . . .
I've been told the computer drums are not so good . . .
Maybe I'll record & post "The Bradley Boogie," with bass & guitar, I don't know . . . haven't got much feedback . . .
I've got the paperwork back for my first 2 copywrited batches of songs,
11 songs in 'album#1,' 10 more in 'album#2.'
No label, yet - haven't even been looking . . .
I don't want any more distractions from writing new songs. Ya gotta make hay while the sun shines. You've gotta strike while the iron is still hot.
I've started recording my 3rd batch of songs. Got about 15 more songs that need to be copyrighted.
"The 4th Emotion" came out pretty good. You remember the post, "What do I call this chord?" When I mail this 3rd batch out to the Library of Congress, maybe I'll post it. I've got a bass-player doing a bass for it, but I'd probably record my own bass-line on it before posting. My technique is maybe not as good, but there are less mistakes if I do it myself. . . the bass - line is all over the place . . .
Other artists would probably play the song at 1/2 the speed, and break it down into 2 songs. That'd make it a lot easier. As 2 songs, it'd be ok; but - as one song - much better. Real hard for others to learn, but I don't even care anymore. If they can play it - fine. And if they can't play it - fine.
Yeah playing together would be cool. We have different strengths. You'd blow me away, but as long as I keep writing the kind of stuff I've been writing (and with all those "Toh - chords") I bet it'd sound great . . .
Alan

Glad you liked "Descending Boogie."
Those 2 (Bradley Boogie & Descending . . .) are my only 2 true boogies, right now . . .
I did one song which is kind of a county/rock song. What's cool is that the bass-man plays a Boogie/Blues bass over it, which makes for a neat song. No name for it yet, just calling it 'Country Rock,' for now.
Geez - didn't know you had so many songs, my friend. If you keep that up, I'll have to start calling you 'sir.'
Keep composing.
(you ought to post something . . .)
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Yeah, I know it's not a matter of blowing each other away - what counts is the overall effect. We each put a little of ourselves into the song. A couple styles, with different accents. Some augmentation here - some overlapping there . . . A straight chord for one verse, then a toh-chord for the next . . .
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Yeah, I will keep creating songs. I've written some lyrics, too. If I find a vocalist who is actually comitted, I've got a few songs ready to go . . .
However, right now, writing lyrics is just one more distraction from composing songs.
I'm no longer looking for musicians. But if a great musician (or female vocalist) comes knocking at my door - well, ok.
Good luck with the chord chart.
Ever think of contacting those people who print music instruction books for the school systems? . . . could have some interesting results . . . .
Maybe you could email me w/ your address sometime. . . . got a feeling that maybe we should keep in touch . . .

Hey, JR, got your email ok. Thanks.
I know what you mean by waking up in the middle of the night with a tune in your head. I've had to get up at 3 - 4 am to record tunes.
Usually my tunes are chords, not single notes . . .
Sometimes I can pick up my guitar and find the song, but other times I have to play with it, to find a toh-chord.
I've found that if I just write the chords down, then the next morning when I go to play it, I have mabey a 20% change of finding it, even with the chords right in front of me. It seems to be all in the rhythm. Evidently, given any 4 - 8 chords, there are about 99 trillion different rhythms you can put them to. Without the exact same rhythm - the song is lost, or you only get a crude approximation of it, at best.
Thats just for me, maybe, I don't know if others have encountered this kind of thing...
So I use a tape-recorder. I've got over 10 hours of un-heard music going back a year. Only about 1% of it was music that got me out of bed.
When I eventually listen to part of a tape, I usually get a new song or three for every 5 minutes of tape . . .
Sometimes I just wind up listening to stuff I've already been playing for the last year. And then I'm usually amazed at how rudimentarily I played the song a year ago. Yet, often I'll pick up a forgotten part of the song, or a better rhythm off thr tape.
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Just got an email from a female vocalist. We practiced some stuff a few weeks back. . .
She's been late twice, and cancelled once, so I didn't think she was serious enough. So I never called her back.
As I get older, I'm finding it easier to say 'so long.'
But I guess we're practicing in 2 hours . . . what the heck . . .

JR,
Yeah, I checked out the page. I see he's a sucessfull self-publisher, into working with schools. Sounds good for your chord charts . . .

Hey - here it is 2007 already - I haven't heard from you guys since last year!
Whacha been up to?
Alan

I'm about ready to pick up the pieces & start over AGAIN. I'm getting together with a guitarist & a bassist I've worked with on different projects. Just trying to find a drummer now. Hopefully by the time I'm back on both feet we'll be ready to start booking some gigs. I've also been recruited to sing on a CD for a company that creates sports-related music for sports teams. They found me here, so this place really does work!

Congrats to you Julie, hope it works out great for ya. Good stuff to know.

Good luck !!