It has been a heck of a long time since I posted any live rock music – almost exactly a year! And since I have been practicing like a crazy loon since then, I hope I sound better now, than I did a year ago!
It is also the first session I recorded using my new compressor pedal, which is plugged in, and turned on throughout the whole session, with the settings unchanged, and pretty much as they appear in the video – I love that sustain turned nearly up to the max!
I tried listening back to this with my telephone bud headphones, but it sounds awful without the great bass sound my good headphones give me – so I recommend wearing a good set of headphones to listen to this, if you have them – as it will make me sound sound less crappy 🤠
To begin the session, I start with a classic rock and roll type sound, a nice rocking 12 bar, with not too much gain, just dirty enough to give it a bit of grit. After I set up a loop,using my trusty Digetech JamMan Express Looper Pedal, I put some nice treble down on top of it. Some familiar arpeggios go up and back down, just as everybody has heard them thousands of times before – It’s Rock & Roll baby – and it’s great fun to play!
It’s a nice way to start – going over familiar ground one more time, before I try anything more complex or daring, and start making a real old mess, as I regularly tend to do!
I try some new scales and stuff after that – some stuff works better than other bits, but it’s always fun to try something new. I like Phrygian best, but it doesn’t always fit in properly, and here is a great example of Phrygian not working great – so I go back to some more regular stuff, and even manage so sound like chuck Berry – well a little bit like Chuck Berry maybe, if you use your imagination quite a lot!
I have a go at major scale next, and while sounding a bit too bright and happy, at least is sounds better than the Phrygian. Undeterred by such a happy sound, I go back to Pentatonic, before ultimately getting bored with the loop, and I hit the stop button, which stops the loop – surprisingly brusquely!
A different sound, and I try something that is a bit new for me – so patience please while I make a mistake or too – I am slowly getting better at this, and some bits don’t actually sound too bad! It’s more a bit of experimental fun than anything else – though pretty much everything I do can be explained away like this! Sorry about the bits that stray a little too far!
Plugged in my favorite pedal, with the nice grungy sound, and its more 12 bar, but with some nice variations to it. There is no loop on this one, so I have to keep the sound constantly rocking, which I hope gives it an ACDC kind of vibe. Eventually I get too experimental, try stuff that gets too far from where i started, and, horribly dazed and confused, I decide to stop, and try something else instead!
Searching for a new sound, and some different chords, I go into a rocky kind of something or other – and although I try to strum at some kind of double speed, that would sound really good if I could do it properly, I really haven’t tried to do this before, so it doesn’t work at all lol!
I go back into some grungy experimental 12 bar, which doesn’t sound too bad. There isn’t a loop on this one, so I am practicing taking the base to new and interesting places. That Phrygian is in there somewhere and sounding awesome when it works, especially with such a heavy rhythm to it. After going up and down the scale I don’t seem to have anywhere else to go, so I let the last chord, or the last note just ring out – Which, thanks to the compressor pedal, just goes on and on and sounds really cool.
Wanting to try something different to 12 bar rocking blues, I set up another loop, with just two chords that have an ‘invisible sun’ kind of vibe – I mess about on top of them for a little while, it mostly sounds quite nice – though the loop doesn’t quite meet, which irritates me a lot and so I stop it short before it really gets going. I will have more goes at this sound, as its nice and easy to play, yet sounds quite effective, as long as I can get that loop right.
One of the main issues I have with My Digithech Looper Pedal, is hitting that button with bare feet, which I generally have at home in summer, can sometimes hurts like holy hell – It must be pressed at the exact right moment too, and if I don’t catch it just right, with part of my big toe, either the loop doesn’t work, or my foot is left in extreme and severe pain. Next time I buy a loop pedal I will get one with a nice soft pad to step on – like those Boss pedals have!
I have a mess about with sounds, and try to get comfy with some chords. A Stevie Ray kind of vibe starts to appear, so I go with it – and although I can’t really do it, it doesn’t actually sound that bad – Though sure – it need practice!
I have no loops on this, and I am trying to put some trebles on it, which I make a complete mess of at the beginning, but succeed towards the end, and generally I am quite pleased with this track!
I do another one, quite similar, but with a different beat, and a mellower sound and feel to it – with the looper turned on – so I can add some nice treble bits on top, though it takes me a couple of goes round, to get organized.
I play around with some arpeggios, some Pentatonic, and some major scale – ah yes – Exactly how good clean fun should be! Up and down those scales baby – I seem to be getting good at this 🙂
For this last track I thought i would put a well known song on, and play along to it, only recording my part – Just to see if anyone can tell what it is. I hope it’s not too boring and repetitive in the middle bits, but I just seem to run out of interesting things to do while the singing bits are playing, and sometimes I just seem to get a bit lost, out of tune, and a bit awful. Anyway enjoy – and if you recognize it (Or not!) – please leave a note in the comments, just for fun! Anyway – it sounds much better with the original track playing in the background!
I hope my last twelve months practicing has not been in vain, and I have actually improved, even if only a bit – I have certainly had loads of fun, and enjoyed all those rocking sounds I have made.
Stay tuned for more amazing sounds in the future – From Tim B. (Buktoo!) Green.
Enjoy!
