what is going on in your musical life

Thank you! It has been a trip.

So I've got The Boxer, Freight Train, Don't Think Twice, The Fly and Blackbird. Does anyone have any thoughts of where I could/should go next?

"Dust in the Wind" and "Tears in Heaven" are other popular songs at that approximate level. If you want to step it up, you could try "Never Going Back Again" or "Hey Hey" (the Big Bill Broonzy song - charts are easily available for the Clapton Unplugged version, which is pretty close to the original). You could also step sideways to the "early intermediate" pieces here: https://www.classicalguitarshed.com/free-guitar-sheet-music/ . The Carulli op. 211, no. 8 is nice. Tàrrega's Lagrima is also beautiful and widely loved. If you can handle a lot of barre chords, you could try the original "Girl from Ipanema".

The "beginner" pieces at the classical guitar shed link aren't necessarily any more basic than the "early intermediate" ones, actually.

John Prine - "Clay Pigeons"

john fahey - sligo river blues is something i always twiddle away at. standard tuning, just a bunch of open c major, f maj 7 and g major chords with a bit of pinky action, and it still sounds pretty even if you play it badly (hi there!)

Thanks for the recommendations nick and sundr. I'll have a look around and see what I can manage.

I'm obsessing over trying to play the Funky Drummer beat/break perfectly, at tempo. Lots of little exercise to break down the different components of it, and sync everything up with this drop-catch (or push-pull) hi-hat technique. And let me tell you, I never knew how vast the gulf between 98 bpm and 100 bpm was until this pursuit.

So I've got The Boxer, Freight Train, Don't Think Twice, The Fly and Blackbird. Does anyone have any thoughts of where I could/should go next?

Two of my faves are These Days and this version of Here Comes The Sun: http://guitarfingerstyle.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Here-Comes-the-Sun.pdf

So last weekend I was excited to play a show on kit for a lot of people, because I really feel like I've broken through to the other side on some hand technique, finally. However, I had a legendarily bad show due to a freak in-ear monitoring snafu.

This was for a gig where I was playing to a click + backing tracks for the whole show, so the entire show hinges on me being able to hear. We were using a phone app to control our own in-ear mixes (based off the bass player's laptop running the program), and soundcheck went perfectly. All the tracks were labeled, I dialed in my own little mix and could hear perfectly, everything felt amazing. There was a little kerfuffle about the frontline having to move their gear so that the opening band could set up, which apparently was not the plan, but whatever.

A bit before showtime, there are problems. All the track labels on the mix app have been wiped somehow, and our mixes are gone. The bass player thinks he was able to recall them, just not the labels.

We hit the stage in front of at least a few hundred people, and immediately I know something is wrong. I have a quiet click track, but no backing tracks, just the live lead vocal that is horrifically hot & distorted (and covers up the click). No meters are firing and the tracks aren't labeled, so I can't even tell what to adjust to try and get a workable mix (this is on a janky phone as I'm playing drums).

The first song completely train wrecks halfway though, and it haunts me that I didn't just stop the show at this point (although really it was the frontperson's call).

After struggling through a couple more tunes, I realize that the guitarist next to me has the backing tracks in his wedge, so I take my in-ears out, and get the monitor guy to put them in my wedge (unfortunately we didn't have backup wedge mixes, because we were relying on in-ears and trying to keep the stage volume low). This gets me through another song or two, but I hate playing to backing tracks via monitors, and it doesn't work for tunes that have me just playing to the click for certain sections.

Eventually I hit on the solution of keeping my right earpiece in for the click, and having the drum machine/backing tracks on the monitor on my left. This lets me actually get through the show, but it's super stressful the whole time. Whenever stage volume gets loud I can't hear the click, and have to just trust I'm still on it. And I also have to blast the click just to hear it, because I only have the one earpiece in.

So basically I looked like an amateur even though I couldn't have been more prepared, and I couldn't hear anything but ringing and distortion in my right ear for 24 hours afterwards (which was very disturbing). On one level it's kind of hilarious, but also humuliating, no one in the audience could know how hard it was just to hold it together. I'm never doing anything like that again unless there are actual redundancies, and would definitely stop the show rather than attempt to muscle through for two hours, it was so fucked.

Oh my god, that sounds like hell

wow, what a nightmare. point is moot now of course, but any ideas on how everything got wiped?

hopefully you can get another gig soon where everything goes smooth sailing and you can put this one from your memory.

Ugh, we had a similar one where we dialed in everything at the soundcheck and then the drunk sound guy forgot to save it and just tried to wing it when we got onstage. That sucks.

Oh and I still don't know what happened...even after I figured out which tracks were which and pulled up the faders, I never could get the backing tracks in my in ears.

There was some other fun with the lead vocal...after the first couple songs I pulled it down entirely so I could hear the click, which meant later in the show where there were some James Brown style hits (hit me one time, hit me 3x), I knew there were hits but couldn't actually hear the number. So that was fun too.

Hindsight is 20/20, but I think this is what happens when people try to do pop-level shows without the actual budget and technical support that those shows have.

xp no, I have some conspiracy theories about the sound guys who were being dicks, but I don't think that's actually possible. Probably some weird app crash or something? Idk.

I'm torn on whether I want to play another show with the same band for a chance at redemption, or cut my losses.

Been putting together some tunes with a friend in Louisville over the past year or so and on Saturday we are going to do something I have never done as a recording engineer and try to overdub some live drums. Going total doom metal/blues version of David and David 80s production...

The tunes are built up with basic drum machine pieces and/or some with just a four on the floor kick being used as a metronome.

Being that I don't have to deal with a bunch of 50 watt amp bleed in a small space, I'm going to try to go for a more stripped down recording setup on the drums. I got a plate so I can use one mike stand to setup a stereo X/Y setup with a couple of Audio Technica Pro 37s and then I am going to tight mike the kick and snare. (I know some hip hop producers will do a similar recording setup to record their own breaks/beats.) I have had a head phone amp forever and an extension cable for the drummer.

Should be interesting, been doing the home recording stuff for years, so it is always curious to try different things. I'm figuring since the stuff is setup to a grid, might be able to do some cut and paste stuff to even up some things if needed.

I'm really hoping it goes well as this guy has some really nice dynamics as a drummer, hopefully can knock out this little 4-5 song session then start working together on some stuff live. Most of the drummers I have played with were total Conan the barbarian hit the drums as hard as you can until they bleed.

Bought a Novation Launchkey mini the other day and installed a trial versh of Ableton which is doing my HEAD in, it is such a different beast to the FL Studio workflow I'm used to. Anyone know any good tutes?

Hindsight is 20/20, but I think this is what happens when people try to do pop-level shows without the actual budget and technical support that those shows have.

OTM

So, this exact thing happened to me 10 years or so ago. What a nightmare. We got to work on the third night.

What I wish we'd done differently was to hammer out the kinks at some toilet venue first, instead of humiliating ourselves in front of hundreds of people.

*got it to work

Jordan that experience sounds extremely stressful -- sorry you had to go through that!!

me:
* teaching drums via zoom to campers next week -- i have googled but if anyone has ideas for games i can play via zoom PLEASE share ASAP
* got two shows coming up in august w one band i play with!
* joined another band with uncertain future & very agreeable people/good musicians i can learn from
* currently making some improved & improvised home recordings now that i have a better amplification setup. i make a new one every night!

LL what equipment do they have on their end (for the Zoom thing)? Do they have a drum?

I've taken a on a student recently, he's young (idk, 8? 7? 10?) but doing great. He's sort of a beatboxing prodigy so he's obviously got a lot of rhythm and phrasing in his head, it's just a matter of getting it out to the limbs and hands. Teaching has been fun (I've also been made aware that I'm grossly under-charging, but that's cool since I don't exactly have a tried-and-true curriculum).

Anyway, if they have a drum I have some ideas about all the crazy sounds and tricks you can get out of one drum. I imagine it would be hard to do any call & response rhythm game stuff with the delay involved.

Trayce - here are a couple:

These are fun mini-tutorials about some little piece of Ableton that sparked some creativity: https://www.ableton.com/en/one-thing/

Ned Rush makes fun Ableton tutorials, especially if you're into jungle/hardcore stuff.

Jordan -- yes, they will have a full drum set on loan from camp. There are three of them, aged 12-15. I would love to hear about whatever ideas you've got!

after two weeks of fighting allergies and laryngitis, two weeks later is the earliest I finally feel like I can sing with any approximation of how I sang pre-illness.

wasn't COVID - got tested for that. bad combo of "screaming at a football match" and allergies.

not like I have anywhere to use my voice rn but y'know....

dang, jordan, that's some nightmare shit, sorry you had to go through it.

trayce, i found the official tutorials from Ableton helpful for learning Push 2. weirdly, i don't see a "Learn Live" playlist... i'm not sure if this covers all the basics, but the "Learn Live 10" playlist from Ableton's YT channel might be a good place to level up: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoh4MB-kbBmJGLjNwRNr5qAtDr1V3zcNr

there's a Learn Live 11 playlist as well.

I found Ned Rush's use of follow actions pretty interesting. Definitely a different way to construct beats that never would have occurred to me.

I'm going to dig into some of these Learn Live videos because I feel like I'm constantly struggling against the UI. I need to learn more shortcuts and ways to manage stuff better so it feels like less of a slog.

Also, does anyone on here use a Push? What are your thoughts on it?

My current controllers are an APC40 and a cheapo midi keyboard. It feels pretty clunky and I barely use the APC40 these days. Not sure if a newer controller would be beneficial or not.

Fun snare drum tricks/sound ideas for LL's class:

-Getting different tones out of the cross-stick depending on the position of the stick, you can play 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' or simple melodies (let me know if this makes sense)

-Turn the snare upside down and use a stick on the snare wires to do DJ scratches (some how this is the only video I see on this, but I first saw Matt Wilson do it ages ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmKxZ3FJx-8)

-Turn the snares off and use a hand/elbow/foot to change the pitch while you play with the other hand (or both hands, if you're getting a foot up there)

-Use all manner of objects on top of the snare to change the sound, or hit it (I like playing it with car keys in one hand and a stick in the other, and you can make rhythms involving dropping the keys and picking them up)

-All the normal functional ways of hitting a drum - near the edge, in the center, rimshots with the full stick, rimshots with just the tip, playing with your hands, etc

this is something I need to be talking about so I'm gonna bring it to me ilxor chums with gratitude that you're here. as the lead singer in aerosmith I have now, since March 2020, spent longer offstage, and at home sleeping in my own bed, than ever before in my grown-up life. that's about to end when we get back out on the road to play such classic tunes as "walk this way," "toys in the attic," and "lover alot" from the universally beloved Music from Another Dimension! anyway, being home has been groovy in many ways though I've also deeply missed, you know, actually earning a living at the trade I'm good at, and the pleasure of playing music with my bandmates. I'm super excited to make music again, can't really overstate just how amped, but i'm also scared! because the nightly process of what we do, what I think of as an energy exchange, it's very intense -- incredibly taxing, emotionally unmooring. my mental health, after a year and a half at home, is really pretty fuckin good! whereas on the bus we call the Smithwagon I am likely to be found sobbing because my brain is all listing-ship after not having slept more than two hours, or trying to find one corner where reading a book is actually possible. my mental health is reliably extremely dicey out there and i have to guard it zealously or I end up in a super pit where the only good part of the day is the hour plus on stage... but also, I have, like, nightly epiphanies, that time on stage is more than I could reasonably ask for from life, it's a blessed job! but the mania and cliff-dive inside the brain every day is hard, and every day start date gets closer and it's a lot of feelings to hold, so that is what is up with me. koritfw

<3 u steven tyler of the rock band aerosmith

you'll do just fine aerosmith!

one idea would be to start the concert with a "hold your breath contest" with the crowd. i did this once when struggling with a group of misbehaving school children overseas and they HATED ME for it. but maybe you hold your breath too, and the band, and then you improvise a little musically with how it feels, and then a big sweet release all together, and start. it's fucking over. it's over, poooooooof. downside of plan is you have to have everyone sign a waiver on the way in

hahaha

the thing is, I know the shows will be great. every time we got together to play over the past year-and-a-half, it's been just fire. I'm just anxious about the prospect of having to sort of accept that I'm 'Crazy Steve' again during my waking non-stage hours. I have taken a liking to 'Not Cryin' Quite So Much Steve'!

You should give yourself a new stage name!

i have no idea how relevant this is to your situation, since you're the lead singer of aerosmith you are obviously much higher-profile than any of the bands featured here, but i found this documentary diverting and entertaining and there might be some relatable stuff as far as stress of the road goes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agUS6GnZr_U

xp

steven ty$

i am getting ready to "perform" in some nature in the next few months. i'm not sure what that means exactly but it will be my first time on stage since 2006, if it ever happens. just 15 years!

i plan on punching a wall beforehand and screaming into a mirror until i can't figure out which side i'm on

Do you want your drums back? Please don’t punch a wall.

Also XP TO JORDAN thank you VERY much 🙌

JCLC - wishing you best, i can imagine a year and a half of not doing somethings that's taken up a lot of your life must be strange, can only imagine the feeling

just try to remember why you got into this business in the first place: to honk bobos

ZS, I would pay to watch you punch a wall & scream into a mirror until your ego dissolves. Super idea for a performance.

what's weird is i think i could pull off the screaming part (at least, if i were by myself. i'm not sure i could do that in front of people)

punching a wall is only a metaphor for me, though. i am the kind of person who reflexively goes "OUCH!" upon barely bumping into something. i used to be in taekwondo and i failed to break the first board i kicked. it was really thin, i just didn't hit it hard enough, i guess. i got a bone bruise on my heel that had me hobbling for months after that! and i was terrified to punch a board after that.

it's sad to say, but that's probably what kept me from punching walls all my life

Punching walls is gross — you don’t want to be that guy imo. I have seen people do it and it’s never agl. I have faith you can do more effective performance art!

i have busted a few walls and have never felt good about it. it's not wise.

I just make the wall feel bad about itself by bringing up its shortcomings.

same. really give that wall something to think about

thank y'all for the kind words btw it's intense right now!! appreciated

You'll be grand, JCLC. I recognise the mania/cliff-dive thing (even though I have never toured anywhere near as much as you) - it's a lot of work keeping the old brain stable, but it is worth it to do that thing you love.

And good luck, Z!

amazing how much irregular sleep patterns just tear through all the defenses you've built up in your head, brain just wants to consume itself, it's rad. i have never been on tour and fear it for this reason, as much as shows are objectively awesome. psyched you're going back on the road jclc and i hope maybe the stability you've reached had home can be exported to the tour somehow

my band is playing our first show next month and we got one of my favorite bands to hop on the bill and not only do i love playing shows, i love playing the best shows ever with bands that rule

our first show since the pandemic* i mean

Good luck Steve Ty. I was talking to a friend who's band tours Europe a few times a year, he was feeling anxiety because he's become extremely attached to his daily routine over the last year and a half. It definitely seems like a wild leap to go from being home all day every day > going on tour, compared to going back to the office or whatever.