what is going on in your musical life

I can't compare with Hannigan video. That is a wild and dense piece of music.

My band is writing new material and this raw and crunchy demo from a couple weeks ago I thought turned out pretty cool.

https://soundcloud.com/earlnash/beggars-and-thieves

went in to lay down some tracks on Sunday. drummer was hungover and had had about 4 hours sleep so pretty much only got the drum tracks and a bass track down before the day's end which was expensive and frustrating.

Finally finished this (new proggy guitartronic thing): https://soundcloud.com/sund4r-subramanian/broken-refraction

(Change "4" to "a").

(Streaming sound quality isn't ideal, obv, but the WAV can be downloaded for a while if you're a nerd like me.)

I have been asked to play a "songwriter showcase" in about a month. The emphasis is on songwriters playing really stripped-down versions of their songs and talking about their "process" etc. I need advice on whether I should play by myself with acoustic guitar, which is the spirit of the thing but I am kind of uncomfortable with because it's going to be VERY white guy acoustic guitar singer-songwriter, or if I should cheat by having backing tracks of some kind to play over, which may be cheezy in its own way. I kind of want to have a big cassette boom box with my backing tracks on cassette, kind of like "Psycho Killer" at the beginning of "Stop Making Sense," but maybe this is equally pretentious and annoying? And I'd have to buy a boom box. I'm a little nervous about the whole thing bc I've never really played a set by myself, but also it's fun bc I haven't played live at all in a long time and it's nice to have something to work towards.

my inclination is to say "give 'em what they want" unless you are 150% behind the boom box idea, which does sound pretty fun

My wife and I are singing Bach's St Mark Passion on Sunday. Neither of us have any solos. It's mostly going to be a gigantic cakewalk, I think.

I've discovered that my 4 month old baby seems captivated and enthralled when I play the acoustic guitar which has dramatically increased the amount of time I spend playing the guitar.

xpost now I'm imagining the St Mark Passion performed as a cakewalk (in the musical sense of cakewalk)

Ha, I imagined the same thing when I read DJP's post.

So I started trying to play the mandolin a while ago. Fun. Knowing how to play the guitar turns out to be surprisingly unhelpful for mandolin, as the different string-to-string intervals make any memorized scale forms or chord forms useless.

The instrument's constraints have sent my head to some interesting places. First, the limited fretboard real estate means that comparatively few chords are comfortable and full-sounding; the effect is to limit the keys that are readily playable. Going much higher than the first seven or eight frets quickly gets plinky and constricted. So it doesn't lend itself well to guitar-friendly keys like E and A and B. I generally end up transposing everything into G or C (or sometimes D).

Second, the number of strings makes it harder to play any but major and minor chords, so it tends to discourage the jazzy/bluesy coloring that one takes for granted on the guitar. Without the temptation to extend chords or add frilly fingerstyle ornament, it's easier to see how simple most pop music is at its core. This is pleasing in a way.

Some people treat it like a violin with frets - precise single-note stuff, using insanely fast tremolo for long notes. That's not really something I can do, nor do I feel a need to do. There are so many people who are so very very good at doing that that it feels drearily uphill to even try. I guess I use it more like a small guitar, or like people use ukuleles lately. It's very portable for travel, and very easy to pick it up and play simple three- or four-chord songs on while sitting on the couch.

Because I'm not particularly into bluegrass, I feel no urgency about being able to play "Devil's Dream" or "Wildwood Flower" or "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" or whatever. I'm more likely to use it for highly personal noodling, or things one wouldn't ordinarily associate with a mandolin. "Boys Don't Cry," "Save the Last Dance for Me," "Psycho Killer," "Here Comes Your Man," "Satellite of Love."

My sincerest joy will always be playing drums live, with a chugging sloppy loud rock band in front of me. Since having small children, though, I don't really have the time and energy to lug drums and amps to some U Street bar in order to play for 20 minutes to a dozen people. There may be a time when I can do that again; right now the handiest substitute is a twangily rambling version of "All Apologies" on the porch, with an audience of stars and rabbits.

Here's the poster for our concert on Sunday:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CBCDHyRVIAEH6vS.jpg

(DJP pictured second from left)

lol

concert went well btw even if I started blatantly misreading the German towards the end due to fatigue

I am back to my normal home activity of vomiting violin overdubs and ARP sprooiees and clunks onto people's albums for cash.

Had a moment of clarity last month and I’m gonna play my last solo gig this year, touring is stupid

would love for you to elaborate on this.

i was recently talking to my gf about how i want to use a short sabbatical from work for a tour, and she was like "but i thought you don't love traveling, and don't care that much about playing live?" and those are very valid points.

i spent most of my 20s only going places if it was for a gig, so i got used to musical tourism. just taking a vacation without playing a show seems kind of anticlimactic, but i'm beginning to see the appeal.

Mm, it's tough to talk about. I could type for ages about it, lots of reasons, but in short the "moment of clarity" was recognizing that I do not wish to be a person whose occupation it is to play their songs from twenty-years-past to a crowd of nostalgia seekers. I respect those people, yes, but do not envy them, no matter the size of the crowd.

On a more self-critical note, I've had to tie my songwriting to a performance-practice that, although I've feel as though I've got to a point where the set is 100% winners, and I finally feel comfortable about my facility with the practice, I can't imagine the mindset of a person who would pay money to see a guy in his mid-30s looping his violin in 2015. Most of my irl friends haven't come to a show in eight years or so.

I bought a new cymbal (my first one I bought myself) today and changed my drum heads for the first time and I feel pretty stoked tbh.

I think touring seems extremely grueling but I love seeing live shows so ?! I've never played one locally or otherwise. Obvs I'd feel differently if I had had your exorcisms <--- I wrote experiences but it autocorrected lol

touring as a chorister rules pretty hardcore IMO

I've just got back from a short tour and it was awwwwwwwesome. I can see how doing long tours regularly would pale, I guess, as if you're doing it as basically a part of your job it isn't so much about going out and partying, but I love it.

I have been asked to play a "songwriter showcase" in about a month. The emphasis is on songwriters playing really stripped-down versions of their songs and talking about their "process" etc. I need advice on whether I should play by myself with acoustic guitar, which is the spirit of the thing but I am kind of uncomfortable with because it's going to be VERY white guy acoustic guitar singer-songwriter, or if I should cheat by having backing tracks of some kind to play over, which may be cheezy in its own way. I kind of want to have a big cassette boom box with my backing tracks on cassette, kind of like "Psycho Killer" at the beginning of "Stop Making Sense," but maybe this is equally pretentious and annoying? And I'd have to buy a boom box. I'm a little nervous about the whole thing bc I've never really played a set by myself, but also it's fun bc I haven't played live at all in a long time and it's nice to have something to work towards.

― Immediate Follower (NA), Monday, March 23, 2015 4:19 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is tomorrow and I'm pretty nervous about it. I don't usually get nervous about shows but I haven't played in a couple of years and am not used to playing by myself.

In other news, I'm supposed to record a theme song for a librarian podcast.

can you run through the set for any friends or strangers tonight? maybe do it over Skype/Hangouts for us.

just imagine that everyone in the audience is fully clothed, and you're naked

or something along those lines

Ha I actually played my set over Periscope a couple of times, it was funny playing to random internet people and a couple of Twitter friends. Maybe I'll do that again tonight or tomorrow. I half contemplated looking for an open mic to do while I was in Seattle to play live in front of total strangers but didn't get my shit together.

also, i assume everyone does this, but when i'm preparing for a big show or learning a song, i do a ton of visualization (not intentionally, just automatically). it cuts down on nerves a lot for me and makes the show feel like a familiar situation, unless something really unexpected happens. 'unexpected' always means belligerent sound people.

tbrr i would like to have a playing live experience so i can stop stressing out about doing it for the first time
i just wanna do it but i don't know how tbh -- are there open mic nights for drummers? looks like jazz dude workshop isn't the place for me, at least not right now. not sure how to proceed in a dignified manner.

you're gonna be fine n/a!!

looks like the spiritual ensemble I sing with is quietly imploding

:(

Aw man that sucks

I borrowed a mandolin and am now understanding why certain songs I'd tried to learn on guitar in the past all came out sounding wrong

Im taking personal info out of my lyrics cause screw that !

How did it go, NA?

tbrr i would like to have a playing live experience so i can stop stressing out about doing it for the first time
i just wanna do it but i don't know how tbh -- are there open mic nights for drummers? looks like jazz dude workshop isn't the place for me, at least not right now. not sure how to proceed in a dignified manner.

Do you have a set of material that you could do solo?

the first time I played drums live was on a radio show on a temporary station operating out of a storefront so people could come and watch. Maybe something like that?

Do you have a set of material that you could do solo?

good q -- i've been thinking about this and my answer is "idk". it depends on so many things -- is it acceptable to play drums over a bunch of songs that don't have drums if no one will recognize the songs because they are ancient (like hundreds of years old) or relatively unknown? (my guess is no) can i play originals with a backing track? (maybe?) i kind of can't get past the hurdle of what might be acceptable, but technically and physically yeah i could do this no problem.

i'd like to know how to use pedals and loops to layer sounds. one of the coolest solo drum shows i've ever seen was just one drum, voice, and layered sound. it was amazing. thank you for your help!

sorry about your spiritual implosion djp
i do like the phrase spiritual implosion though

Zach Hill has done shows where he plays drums with pre-recorded backing tracks.

How did it go, NA?

― EveningStar (Sund4r), Saturday, April 25, 2015 11:25 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Pretty good! Here's my set, if you want to witness the most awkward stage banter ever and how I wince literally every time I make even the smallest mistake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp17iu4TSgs

We played our first live show since NYE at the weekend and I had a great time. The set was easily twice as long as we're used to playing - 12 songs long - so that was a nice revelation as well. It was in a busy pub on a Saturday night and our music isn't necessarily suited to that kind of thing. There was a group of people dancing frantically to even our slowest song but I spoke to one of them after and it was clear she was on a pill or something. Lots of people said they liked it but I'm never sure if it was out of politeness or not. Someone I sort of know had written 'please turn this band off' on FB at the time so evidently it wasn't to everyone's tastes, but I guess if everyone liked it we'd be doing it wrong. Fun times!

i kind of can't get past the hurdle of what might be acceptable

i think anything is acceptable once you do it. and playing drums over ancient + unknown songs is way better than doing it over new + known songs.

ok! that helps! i'm going to try to put something together and maybe i can find some regular weirdo performance series that will let me do it.

NA it was not that awkward, it was pretty normal for stage banter! The worst is when someone just sits down, starts playing, then says thanks (maybe) at the end and walks off.

co-op space i help run got broken into and robbed twice in the last week. none of my stuff got taken, but the boutique record store up front got cleaned out.

!! where was this?

West Oakland

:( sorry

Wow, that sucks.

proggy guitartronic thing

I think this master sounds better, although I feel like I play it much better now than when I recorded it (always seems to happen that way). I performed on the 9th and felt like that was probably the best gig I've played, even with a couple of glitches from my aging Macbook. It was a really good night with a couple of out-of-town performers and beer and pie. I imagine that it might be the last gig I play for a little while.

Just sang my last church gig of the season: went out on a Finzi piece I hadn't sung since college, which was fun

I'm really mad that I packed my microphone away so well because I've been dying to record some vocal stuff that's been spinning around in my head and I refuse to buy another mic just because I can't identify which box has my current one.