So I have been messing around with some ideas for songs, if there is going to be a band, there has to be at least a few original songs. I refuse to play all covers, thats not in my vocabulary.
Here are a few snips of things I have been working on. Nothing is final, but please any constructive criticism is more than welcome.
Number 1
Excuse the sloppiness, a 4Loko was involved.
This just uses open strings, intervals, nothing crazy. I try to use as many open strings as possible when I play. I feel like it helps to fill out the space and adds some nice droning in the background.
Number 2
This was a chord progression I came up with a few months ago. Again, open strings are the key here, just to add some fullness. All the chords are standard, but with the open strings, they take on a different sound.
Still need to work on lyrics for both of these ideas, but I am not even sure if I like either of them enough to go forward. We will see..
About to head out to go play golf at Crescent Point in Bluffton today.. Obviously going low.
I am going to post up a preview of the ideas I have been trying to work into a new song later on. Hopefully I can get some feedback to see if it is as good as I think it is!
I am extremely excited to be playing again, and the rust has been falling off quicker than I had anticipated.
I still am having trouble touching on some of the ideas that were going on in my playing, but I figure that will come. The biggest difference I have noticed is that the music has been flowing very easily. My playing is more vocal, and though maybe not as technically flashy as it once was, more organic.
Anyway, be on the lookout for some of my ideas later on… I will probably post up a video of some sort. The tune is definitely in the crunchy jam band ilk…
A month ago I realized I was starting to fall out of shape. Decided it was time to get back in the gym again.
I have always been good about keeping myself in moderate to good shape, most recently last spring I would say I was in the best shape of my life. 170 pounds, good strength, just feeling and looking good overall.
My next go around, and hopefully one that I keep more consistent, is a crack at the workout routine Daniel Craig used to get ready for the Bond movie Casino Royale. It includes two days of circuit training on Mondays and Fridays to burn fat while increasing muscle mass, and the rest of the week is specialized to certain body parts. I won’t get into the specifics, but I will be making a few adjustments for my own goals.
That would be the goal right there.
Two weeks in and I have already lost 5 pounds, weighing in at 169 right now. Here is a picture of where I’m at right now.
As you can see, there is work to be done.
The diet plan is simple enough, and it also allows for moderate alcohol consumption two nights a week. Perfect.
I will throw up another picture in a few weeks to show some of the results.
This past weekend I spent time with some friends down in Atlanta, a great weekend to say the least. We stayed with my best bud Cruise’s family, and were treated to a hockey game, football game, golf, dinner, and good company.
I was privileged enough to play golf at Cruise’s parents country club Hawk’s Ridge. We went out as a foursome with one of their close family friends Bert, a total class act, and one of the nicest guys I have met down here. If we could just get his weight to his left side, he would be a dangerous golfer!!!
Hawk’s Ridge was an absolutely gorgeous course. It might be my favorite course I have played up until this point. The conditioning was perfect, the views, elevation change, and overall atmosphere were astonishing. A Bob Cupp design, I understand what makes it a top 100 golf course. Really spectacular.
It was great to be around family, and reminded me of how much I miss my own. With the holidays coming up, I have been feeling a bit of homesickness. The dude really just needs some time with his parents.
I really enjoyed Atlanta, and am starting to wonder if I should look for a job around that area. The confusion that has been going through my head lately as to what to do after I graduate is putting a lot of pressure on myself. I really have no idea where or what I want to do.
I still have my heart really set on moving to California. I want nothing more than to move out there, and raise my family. California spurs a feeling inside of me full of excitement, opportunity, beauty, warmth, and confidence.
That said, it might not hurt to see what kind of work I could find in Atlanta and maybe spend a few years there as a jumping off point to California. No harm in building up my resume, and being around a lot of great friends.
This song by Moby is an all time favorite, and a tune that really strikes a chord in my soul. Just a beautiful song.
A year ago I put down the guitar. I put it in the case, locked the key, and didn’t touch it. The weight of expectations, and a young mind focusing on what the future was to bring, thoroughly weighed me down mentally to a point where my love of the instrument was gone.
It was like breaking up with a girlfriend.
There are some regrets, I don’t know if I will ever be as good as I was. I think there was a time where the music was flowing through me strongly like the force, and I didn’t know it.
But a recent delve into my past thoughts, thinking about my best friend, and some music that is inspiring has gotten the guitar back out of its case and into my hands.
I feel like an old ship with barnacles all over it. My hands are creaky, the mast needs fixing, the sails are tethered, but there is a strong wind, and passion to make new discoveries.
With a little work in my free time I think I can get back to some semblance of a guitar player again. I want to start a band and play in Savannah for a few years. Not asking for too much, just to play again. I have plenty of music in my head, and I know I will be able to put a smile on some faces.
Great song, with beautiful lyrics. It has all happened to us at some point, not knowing what to say, or losing the opportunity..
I lost my I-pod a few months ago, and since then some of my favorite bands have been lost in the cracks. I have been a slave to the few cds I have, and the radio. For the most part, all I have been listening to is country and rap, which is what most radio stations are down south. No complaints there, definitely opened some new doors as far as artists I didn’t know about, more on the country side then rap.
Anyway, I was reminded the other night of Saves the Day, a band that had fallen victim to the loss of my I-pod. I sat down and went through my Itunes and listened to some STD while doing homework, which then brought back another thought that had been pushed aside. I guess just lost in the daily motions of thinking about my life, and what I am doing.
Saves the Day was introduced to me by my childhood best friend when we were in high school. It was our soundtrack for everything from car rides, pre gaming, break-ups with girls, sports, golf, EVERYTHING.
The timing of this band being brought back into thought is ironic, because about a year ago, I lost my best friend to a crazy path that he still walks on today.
There was a lot of partying in high school. I won’t get into specifics, but it was the norm at my school. Once college came around, everyone split paths, and took the party to wherever they were going. My buddy stayed home, and kept the party to himself which turned out to be a mistake. As time went on, he just couldn’t accept that partying has its times, and that it can’t get in the way of you trying to move your life into adulthood.
Life took me all over after high school, and every time I came home, it seemed like he just kept getting worse and worse. The alcohol turned into prescription pills, and the pills turned into drugs. Eventually, my best friend was a full blown junkie. He kept it very secretive, and it was something that though I knew it was going on, I really did not know the extent.
To this day I still feel like I could have done more. I knew there was some sort of problem, I just didn’t know it was as bad as it was. I tried talking to him, I tried being with him as much as I could, but he was gone. The regular glimmer in his eye that was always there, was gone.
When I left for school, things seemed to really fall off the deep end. His addictions started to turn him into a devil that was killing and hurting everything around him. It was so sad to me, because I knew who he was deep down. He was just somebody who had a lot of inner demons and problems, but turned to self medication as opposed to seeking real help.
Around this time a year ago, he was homeless, and robbing houses regularly in and around my hometown to fund his addiction habits. Eventually he was arrested, found guilty, and thrown in jail. It was shocking to see this happen to someone who everyone was extremely fond of. He was the man to put it bluntly. He was talented at anything he put an ounce of effort into, a great friend, funny, ladies man, the list goes on.
After all of this went down, it was funny to see how many people turned against him. I still take his side, and will be there to support him that day we finally talk again.
It has been a year since we have talked, and I am not sure what I would say to him. It is so complicated, and I could write forever about it.
It all boils down to this though, I miss my “brother” because that is basically what he was and still is to me. I sometimes still blame myself for it, whether it is rightfully or wrongfully.
To turn it all full circle, I am sure there are lyrics to a Saves the Day song that describe this current situation. But I guess I will leave you all with what was probably our most worn out tune (almost a hundred plays on my Itunes)
Recently I have been gathering my thoughts about times past. Gotten into some conversations talking about stories of trips and the topic of music has come up quite a bit.
I have never written anything about my year or so on tour, so I figure to keep the memories alive from getting lost in the clouds of my head, I would take the time to throw some stuff out there.
This was the Nugget in Reno, Nevada. After a long drive through the Rocky mountains, we arrived early in the morning, where I proceeded to go to the casino after one too many red bulls the night before. On no sleep and a lot of caffeine, I lost close to $700 dollars before 10 AM. Good style.
Luckily the casino gave all the guys in the band a hundred bucks worth of credit to play around with, and I made some money back. My first experience gambling was a humbling one, and I can say with all honesty I will avoid it until maybe I have some more financial freedom.
Been starting to try and apply the swing concepts of Sean Foley the past few days. Inconsistent results so far but after floundering around for the past two years with different swing philosophies, I think this is the route to go.
His basic concept is fixing your weight to your left side while turning around a fixed point, your spine. This is radically different from the action I have made since I started playing, where I would load to the right, and try to explode through impact by transferring to my left side. Too inconsistent to my liking.
So far it has been difficult to get down, I figure it should take some time to get used to.
I just try and keep this in my head at all times these days..
“I can do everything through him who gives me strength”
