More

Another bright spot from last night I forgot to mention earlier...

A few weeks ago I came up with a neat little riff while working on a bass line for one of our songs.  I played it for our drummer last time and he really liked it, and he put a really nice beat down to go with it.  Only thing was, while it sounded good it was more of a funk/blues type of thing rather than rock/metal.  I didn't know if it was usable in its current form, but we figured we'd see what the guitarist thought.

Btw, our drummer is Brian and our guitarist is Ed.  It feels awkward typing out what they play instead of names, so now that you've all been introduced, on with the story...

So last night I play the riff for Ed with Brian on the drums.  I show him how to play it and he starts working it out.  Eventually we all hammered it into a more metal sounding riff, and then we all started throwing around ideas for guitar parts over it til we got something we liked.  I'm sure it will undergo more changes, but point is we were able to use something I came up with for a song.  So that was cool.

In other news, I have my son for Thanksgiving this year.  I have no family (disowned them several years ago) besides my son, so our holidays are usually lower keyed affairs, though very enjoyable and relaxing.  So I gave my son a choice: we could go out for dinner, or I could attempt to cook a turkey.

I've never cooked a turkey before.  I actually am a good cook, I just don't cook since its just me 95% of the time.  My son knows I can cook since I have cooked for him when he's up here, so he opted to go with me cooking a turkey.  So I've been googling tips and instructions all day, trying to make sure I pull this off without making us sick.

Should be interesting, if nothing else.  I'll make sure I post how it went.

Posted by pp2 @ 7:25 pm EDT | Permalink | 6 Comments

Back in the saddle

So our band finally got together in full force for the first time in like 5 weeks.  I'd gotten together with the drummer since then, but either the guitarist couldn't make it or it was on a day I had to drive downstate to pick up my son.  But finally all 3 of us got together in one place, and it was a blast.

I'm still learning their songs, so normally we'll play the 3 I know and then work on new stuff or just free jam for a bit.  Since we hadn't gotten together for a bit I offered that maybe we should just keep up with what we knew and go from there.  I had also asked the drummer (who hosts) if we could record a bit, since the versions of these songs I have don't have me playing bass on them.  So he had the setup ready to roll, and after we had a good mix for everyones sound we went ahead and jammed away.

It was probably the best we've played all 3 of those songs, ever.  We're more comfortable with each other now so I think that helps.  As I mentioned I had recordings of these songs I'd been playing along to, and the problem I'd run into when we got together is that the tempo and arrangement had been changed on them since they were recorded.  So of course I'm playing what I'd been listening to while the guitarist would start into something else lol.  But we'd keep going til the song was over then discuss what happened and decide on the arrangment.  The funny part was on the one song where the recording is a fast tempo, the guitarist wants to slow it down.  Not just a little, but quite a bit.  I think slowing it about half speedis a good idea, but not quite as slow as he wanted.  So we would start off at the tempo he wanted and me and the drummer would kick it up to where we liked it by the end of the first verse.  Couldn't be helped, and the rhythm section always wins. 

I think the plan is to get some more originals down and then some covers, and then actually do some proper recording.  I mentioned in my last blog about the Maiden song I thought we could pull off as a 3 piece, and the drummer and I played it for the guitarist last night, then we found the youtube video and played the actual song for the guitarist, and he's totally onboard.  So there's another cover, which I think is 3 and about as far as we want to go with covers in our set.

Anyway, once we get some tracks "officially" recorded I believe we're going to do a myspace page for our band.  Once that happens I'll link it so you guys can check out our tunes.  Whats cool is that all of us 100% believe in our original stuff, that its good and has an audience.  Not that we're going to get any kind of deal or anything, but we enjoy what we play and are looking forward to getting feedback from people in general.

So overall a good night last night.  Its amazing how good you can feel after something like this.  Work can completely suck and you can be literally dragging your ass out the door when you leave, but by the time you strap on your instrument and get finished jamming, everything is rosy again.

Posted by pp2 @ 11:44 am EDT | Permalink | 0 Comments

2 weeks too late, I know...

I meant to post a "scary" Halloween music video and kept forgetting, so here it is:

Iron Maiden of course, back from 92.

The reason I got around to posting it now is because we're sorting it out in our band, or at least hoping to.  I am pretty sure we can pull this off with one guitar, the drummer thinks so too.  We haven't talked to the guitarist about it (he's a Maiden fan though so no worries) but I can't see him having a problem getting both solos down.  It will require me doing some extra work (chords and whatnot) to make up for losing a guitar, but thats how I play this song anyway so no worries.

Btw, don't read too much into the chorus of this song...its one of the songs in the "Charlotte the Harlot" saga, and the theme of the song is based on that on not on any kind of beliefs the group may have.  In other words, they're not satanists. 

So as I was saying...I always found this song interesting on the bass because I think there are multiple basslines recorded for it, overdubs if you will.  Watch Steve Harris throughout, and he is playing the song correctly (not just miming).  However...he is playing it 2 ways that I can see.  He's playing both chords/octaves and single notes.  Its kind of cool to watch (for me anyway) because if you look at how this song is tabbed on most sites, its tabbed playing the intro and the bridge just on the G.  If you listen closely, you will hear that along with Janick playing octaves on the guitar, so is Steve on the bass.  So thats the way I learned the song 15 years ago and thats how I still play it.  Honestly, you could play that through the verses too, and I actually may try that out to see how it plays with 1 guitar.

Anyway, no clue if any of that makes sense or not.  Half-asleep, getting ready for work, and its Friday.  Yay.

Posted by pp2 @ 8:25 am EDT | Permalink | 1 Comments

New TV

Well I finally did it.  I broke down and spent just about every last penny I had (fiscal irresponsibility FTW) and bought the best HD set I could afford...which isn't saying much heh.

Its an off-brand, 32", and so far so good.  Last time I had a high-def set I was living in an area that sold you digital cable but delivered analog, so I couldn't really see anything in the broadcast tv.  I know I need the setup with cables and all, but I am still getting great HD picture from cable.  There seem to be a lot of auxillary stations, like when you go to channel 5 for example its 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3.  The ".0" is like a regular broadcast signal, but the ".1": is HD and its really badass.

So anyway, maybe now I can actually read the text in these damn games for a change.  Who knows, I may even go back and try Dead Rising again since I might be able to read what Otis is telling me!

Posted by pp2 @ 11:43 pm EDT | Permalink | 8 Comments

Why some people should never own cats

Or have kids either, I would think:

 

Posted by pp2 @ 4:34 am EDT | Permalink | 5 Comments