Nose to the Grindstone

I've found myself in a fairly fertile period, musically. I think this can be credited to a few things, one, I'm playing guitar a lot, with Bus Stop performances going on. I'm certainly play acoustic more than I have in a long, long time. That's led me to some nice things, including music for a set of lyrics that have been sitting around for over half a year.

Of course, I have a LOT of lyrics that have been sitting around for half a year. That's a whole 'nother issue.

Second, I just feel inspired. This may come from all the Rock Biographies I've been reading, or the positive energy from the people around me. Either way, it's great. I've just come to a point where I'll play a riff, or a progression, and I'll think "that sounds pretty good," and I'm OK with that. Sometimes I still get caught up in the "make it more complicated" thought process, but not as much as I used to. I'm feeling good about my rhythm playing, even if I can say my lead work could be better. I love putting down a drum beat, and playing over it.

But yes, oh faithful reader, here it comes...

Do you think he has some free time?

God, the drum machine is starting to bug me. I really need to figure out some way to make the drum lines more organic, more connected to the guitar and bass parts. What I'm doing is fine, it keeps the beat, but I'm just not good enough at programming the damn thing to do the cool stuff that's in my head.

It comes down to this, find a drummer (Dave F, where are you when I need you?), or figure out how to do it myself. I've been looking at some electronic kits. I'm not a drummer, but I know I can keep a beat, so it might just be a step up from the machine, but it would be live. Or, I could put everything aside and, y'know, put some time into REALLY figuring out how to program the machine. Either way, I want something MORE...

The reason is simple. I feel really good about the riffs and songs I'm putting together. It's the best stuff I've ever figured out, and with the equipment I have, now, I can make it sound really, really good. So, here's the deal, and I know I've been saying this FOREVER, I am looking forward in the schedule, the time has come to really focus and get this set of tunes done. Make them work, and make them work well.

I may end up shaving the number of tracks I wanted to have down a bit, which seems like a bit of a cop-out, but it'll also get me to "finished product" faster if I say "EP" instead of "LP." At this point, after so much time, I think that's just being realistic. I also think it's time to stop mucking around with the 6-7 tracks I have "in process" all at once. I intend to start from scratch, and take one track at a time, percussion, guitar, bass, vocals, mixing, mastering...then onto the next track.

The honest truth is I'm lost on some of the work I've done before. I can't even remember what exactly I was thinking when I made certain choices. This is a chance to wipe the slate and regroup (Thank God I've been taking better notes about what, exactly, I'm playing), and actually move forward with finished progress to mark my path.

I think I need it.