Let’s start with Some Rock & Roll!
This session starts with with that familiar chugging sound I love making, at an ever increasing speed – at this point in time I still have no idea what song I am going to play. Today the chugging turns into a familiar rock and Roll rhythm, not for the first time, and probably not for the last! I manage to make a decent job of creating a rock and roll loop – and the first notes on top sound quite good – with only a little wobble or so.
The track is rocking, and the solo is great. The volume of the solo could do with tweaking, a bit, but apart from that I am very pleased with this track – even though it is pretty standard stuff.
Damn Cat!
Then disaster hits – the cat stands on the mixer – and everything ends abruptly, with some distortion, and a pinch of confusion thrown in – damn cat again!
I seem to be in the mood today, and soon I am setting up a new loop – It’s rock and roll again, ‘cos that worked before! – This time though, the loop doesn’t quite make it. There is a nasty gap at the end, or the beginning, depending on your viewpoint! I try and ignore it – and I put some notes on top, I even try some unison bends, but the gap in the loop is off-putting, as are the mistakes I make – and I soon give up!
More Rock & Roll!
Time to try something else – maybe I should go with Hendrix, I play a few chords – but no, rock and roll again baby! And yet again I make a balls up of the loop! – The soloing is better, but there is still some distortion in there, not sure if it is coming from the mixer or where.
This go is a bit more experimental, and not too bad either – I seem to be managing to keep those really bad bum notes down to a minimum, though there are still some in there!
Some of this rock and roll stuff will inevitably get hit by the copyright flag – It will be interesting to see If I can reproduce something accurately enough to start hitting the same songs on more than one occasion.
Phrygian Baby!
I have played enough rock and roll for today – So onto a bit of Phrygian baby! The loop is fine, there’s only a little gap at the end lol, but the volume of the soloing needs to be a good bit higher! – I make too many mistakes, and dismayed by failure, I soon cut the track short – even though it wasn’t really too bad.
Undeterred by mistakes I don’t panic, but instead carry on! – It takes a awhile chugging on the same chord before I set up another loop for my Phrygian scale – this one works a lot better – both the loop, and the soloing – but I don’t seem to have anywhere to go but round and round – so it soon ends.
I try a new chord pattern – the one I use with some arpeggios on top – there is a long and very pregnant pause as I set the loop up – but those arpeggios go nicely – if only it wasn’t for that massive gap in the loop – With Phrygian still in my head from the last track, I try some here too – but it doesn’t sound as good as it did in my head – so I stop and have a go at something different instead.
A little Muddy
A little blues intro gives it a muddy feel, as I start chugging again – and we are back into some pure rock and roll – till I mess the timing up somewhat. A quick recovery, and I set up a new loop. I seem to have got the hang of what key this track is in, what scales I can use – even the right note start on!
It’s really not a bad little solo at all – some nice quick little trills, and some unison bends which I even seemed to manage to play at the appropriate moment! But a couple of bad bum notes and I give up again – I have played this track too many times already today.
And Now For something Completely Different!
Now it’s time for something completely different! I start chugging again – I should be bored to tears of this by now, and trying a completely new sound, but no – I soldier on with the chugging! This time it leads into the Led Zep riff – I can usually make a decent job of creating a good loop with this riff – and this time is no exception – But, and it is a big but – the soling starts out absolutely diabolical! – Not only that, but it doesn’t get better quickly! But since I enjoy playing this track quite a lot, I continue making some nice sounds, and some quite awful ones! By the end of the track I put a nice scale over the top, and I think I can say it wasn’t a complete disaster!
I try a bit of directionless, aimless wandering, that must have sounded good at the time! It soon turns into my Phrygian riff, but certainly not one of my better attempts at the – so I soon give up. Maybe it’s getting late, and the beer is starting to have too much effect. Things certainly don’t seem to be better now than the beginning of the session.
On The Path Of Giants
I mess about with some different sounds, and when I find one I like, I have a go at Pachelbel’s cannon – but I think this is the worst ever attempt at this and I quickly abandon it! I try some more different sounds on my foot pedal, and settle for quite a loud sound with some echoey depth to it. I like the sound, but I am not sure at first what to do with it – until, like a revelation from the heart of the sun, an early Pink kind of atmosphere seems to take over.
It takes a couple of attempts, or so!, but I find the note I am looking for, and it is very pink indeed! Unsure of what is happening, because I have never tried this sound before, and it sounds freaky weird when I set up a fast rhythm, I soon set up a loop – I don’t realize at the time, but I appear to be heading for the heart of the sun! I love the scale and the riff underneath it, I just hope I can remember what I did, to try to recreate this sound – While it certainly needs practice – quite a lot of practice lol – it has promise, and shows I am heading in the right direction – along the same path as giants before me.
I am pleased with this session, and while there is no outstanding track on it, there are several tracks which are ‘OK really’, and at this stage I am pleased with that. More practice means I will get better, continue to find new things, and make less mistakes.
Thanks for listening
As Ever – Yours,
Tim Buktoo
