Absence, Loss, 2010

I’ve been away from my blog for a while now. Significant things in my life happened and changed things that made me not want to write anything or play any music for a while. I lost a close family member recently that just took me away from pretty much all that I enjoy. I took a break from doing anything musically and really didn’t do much “fun” whlie I digested all that had gone on, yes I picked up a guiar and on occasion played the piano but only as a way of relaxing or distraction, nothing serious or structured, or even with thought behind it.  2010 has now arrived and anyone who reads this is of course wished a happy new year, with the poor performance of my own personal goals in 2009 and my own family loss I feel I failed and in general not had a good year. I have raised the bar in some areas for 2010 and lowered some in an attempt to be more productive and progress further with my goals. I’m not really someone who makes new years resolutions but this year I’ve set myself a few, I’m not going to open them for discussion, reading or critisism as they are personal to me. I will update at the end of the year in how I got on.

Birthday Pause

Well, today is my birthrday and although I’ve not posted a new blog entry for a few weeks a few good and interesting things have been going on, all mixed in with the dry 9-5 routine. I’ll make this a quick post as I’m off away on a secret adventure (genuinly I have no idea), so I’m syncing my ipod with some new tracks (Perl Jam Back Spacer/David Gray - Draw The Line) from my birthday gifts, and I’m away however I will put some more worth while updates on tommorow and during the week to catch up and get back in sync.

Lyrics First – Music Later

I’m currently in the process of writing a new song (that would make 10 done or in progress now if you’re counting). This time, for the first time, I’ve got lyrical content before musical content. I’ve got theme for the song that I’ve broken down into chapters, and started putting lyrics to write the chapters. For the first time I have totally no idea how the music for this should go or will go. I’m hoping that when the lyrics are finished the melody will be obvious and that will allow me to write the music. This is a new thing for me and it came totally natural rather than a forced effort. I may make a point of blogging a little more about this song as as it progresses just to document how it goes as fully writing the lyrics before playing a note is so alien for me. With 1 songs available I’m getting close to the point of being able to shove out my home recorded EP project, while working on what songs I want to put together for a longer project with more experienced studio people. I know it’s been quiet for a while and in honesty my musical activity has been quiet too, but it’s still progressing.

Guitar Clear Out

I’ve decided to clear out some guitars I no longer use and want, and maybe update them with some that suite my current style better once I’ve put some more work into song writing and tone.

I’m clearing out my Ovation 6/12 string double neck acoustic, my Floyd Rose USA Redmond 3 and my Fender USA Sambora Stratocaster, I never play or gig these and they don’t really suit my style or sound any more so it seems sensible to lose them now.

Drop me a note if you feel they maybe of interest to you, keep in mind I’m in the UK.

Fender Richie Sambora USA Stratocaster

Floyd Rose USA Redmond 3

Ovation Double Neck Acoustic

Real Life Rules Musicians Life

I’ve not posted here for a while, the major large factor is my real life day to day job and life has taken over my aspiring musicians life, especially the last two weeks where a lot of things have really worked against me and put major set backs in my plans. That said I’ve done some positive things with my lack of time and resources, I’ve re-arranged my home studio to create a much better working environment, with a better layout and more room. This is almost done and it’s just some minor cable tidying. I’ve worked on some more song writing and tidied up some bad sections of songs I was working on to a much better standard, and just need to work one, I’m still stuck with two solos that I want to work out in a clever way for two songs, but that’s only two compared to the others I had previously.

On a band front I’m still looking, although I’ve not been pushing as hard as I have been in the past due to the above restrictions. A singer and song writer I like working with has recently become free as his band split up, this has opened up a potential door for me although time has not really allowed me to exploit it, yet……..