After the Christmas hols, the New Year celebrations, and a few days in bed with quite a nasty bout of flu, I am back with some more live sounds to rock you with!
The Notes Don’t Seem To Fit!
And it’s straight into some chugging, with a bit of distortion from the mixer which usually goes away after a few seconds or so. It’s a rock and roll beat, but I can’t quite seem to get the right amount of beats into the bars – they just don’t seem to fit properly at first. But after a bit of trying they seem to start working. It’s still got that sesame street kind of vibe, but I like it, and I think I will be able to put some nice sounds on top at some time in the future. It should sound more laid back rock, and less children’s TV program!
Incessant Repetition!
I have a little go at a few bits and bats of some other stuff – paranoid, and Black Dog among them. Black Dog is my new one, that I just looked at today, which is why it starts out a bit shitty! But hey, just keep practicing! Things soon start to smooth out, as I get more comfortable with the riff, I pay special attention to small chunks of it, and repeat them incessantly. Next time I play this, I will be a lot better!
Next up is some nice fast something or other, that morphs into a poor rock and roll loop – but the stuff I put on top is pretty standard, and the result isn’t insulting to listen to. But, despite trying a few fun things, the loop is quite awful, and I soon get bored with it and stop!
Not My Best Ever Go At This!
Time for some old familiar. I put some Led Zep chords into my loop box, and play some notes on top. The volume on the loop is too low, which makes the solo notes appear too prominent, and instead of merging into the background, they hover prominently alone. This is not my best ever go at this! Still, there are some nice moments in it, and if I can clean a bit of the holiday rust off it, I should be able to come up with something nicer next time. It’s all practice, and practice is good.
keeping it with Led Zep, I have another go at Black Dog. It’s not quite there yet – but getting closer! Though there are more bits of the song too, that I will have to look at, and learn, later. That is for another day!
I Need More Oil!
I have a little twiddle with some Santana, which is a very pleasing riff to be able to play – but I am a bit rusty with this too, the timing is all a bit out, though it’s not easy without a backing track! – I obviously need more oil to keep that rust away! Maybe a bit more vapor and another beer would help oil things some!
After a little aimless wandering, I set up a hazy purple loop. There is quite a nasty pause just where I hit the loop button. I really must get this better. Blank spaces are the worst. But the loop isn’t too bad, and I put some nice jazzy sounds on top. It’s mostly E minor pentatonic, with some bits of arpeggio in it, just for a bit of variety – and I do try to mix a bit of E minor in there, but the pentatonic bits sound the best!
Arches Up And Down
Some arches next. I am going through all my old familiar stuff that I haven’t practiced in far too long.
I have the levels set better now, and the arpeggios fit better over the top of the rhythm and sound quite cool, but something is not quite right, so I redo the loop, and it sounds much better. The solo is a little awkward at first, but without any really awful bum notes, and generally doesn’t sound too bad.
A bit of pentatonic added to the mix when the arpeggios reach the top, and then back down the other side and a nice fade out to finish. doesn’t sound too bad at all – I will have another listen to this one later.
Some Scales!
This is a practice session you are listening to, and here is me practicing my scales a bit! Luckily this bit doesn’t last very long, as it would be very boring indeed were it much longer. It is very boring and monotonous listening to somebody practicing their scales. I will try not to do it when I am recording. But sometimes I forget lol!
Hank
I decide to continue with some more delicate picky stuff, and have a go at Apache, though first I need a new sound. After trying a few different ones, I eventually pick a sound called ‘Hank’, it sounds quite echoey and shadow like. I suppose it’s called ‘Hank’ for a reason!
I then have my best go at tripping the copyright filter with ‘Wonderful Land’. Can the robots recognize what I am playing. I will see when I upload it! If I am playing it properly, it should get flagged every time! I play it through, without a backing track, and very few mistakes. I am relatively pleased with this , except for the ‘Hank’ sound, which seems a little hollow – so I change it for a new sound for my next song!
Next track I try is another Shadows song – Apache. I have never successfully got this track flagged by the copyright bots, so maybe this time will be the first. The effects sound is nicer than the last one, a bit fuller, but still echoey and quite Shadowy sounding. I play the track without any bum notes, but the timing has to be fairly good to hit the copyright bot – so will see when I upload it, if I flag the bot or not!
Pretty Melodic Cabbage Trees
While I have this nice melodic sound, I decide to do a bit of ‘Cabbage Tree’, and it sounds quite nice with this sound. It would sound better if I could get rid of that damned sporadic distortion. I think it needs a new mixer really – but that’s not happening any time soon!
The Cabbage loop comes out nice, and the notes go over the top like paradise. With some more work on this track I could create something truly beautiful indeed. Not quite happy, and not quite sad, just really pretty.
Back to my fast one string picking, which is what I seem to do when I am out of ideas. At least I am getting faster at one string picking, so the practice is good for something!
The munches finally take over, and so it’s time to end the session, and go get something nice to eat!
Hope you enjoyed
Yours –
Tim Buktoo!
PS!
Hit the copyright bot twice this session. Once with ‘Sweet Charlemagne’, at 27:26 – Which is My ‘Arches’ track – And again at 37:49, with Wonderful Land – which they somewhat amusingly manages to misspell!
Looks like I am going to have to keep trying with ‘Apache’, or maybe it needs the drums on top, before the bots can recognize it!
