Sound Check...

PART 2 - The Video



The Lyrics:

None.

The Story:

EDIT - Here's the link to the eBay auction:

http://tinyurl.com/yppmuo

Okay, this one is a little bit different. I recently bought a guitar, more specifically a Washburn Dime 333. Since the people who frequent this blog probably have access to my Facebook (marketplace), you can see a picture of it there. For the uninitiated, here's a picture (click for the full sized picture):



Now that my initial plans for this guitar have basically been shot to hell, I'm trying to resell it on Facebook, Craigslist, Ebay, and any other service that I can get my hands on. There guitar is a little dinged up cosmetically, but everything else is in order. It's a good player with some nice features (I particularly like the neck joint - it's a very nice change of pace from irritating low-end Squier necks), but it's just not the guitar for me.

You may be asking yourself - well what the heck is this post about? Part of it is a blatant advertisement for the guitar, but the other part is a "sound check." The song happily situated at the top of this post was played entirely on the Washburn (with the exception of the drum track). It consists of a "60s" texture (the backing track), 2 lead guitars, and one clean guitar. I tried to show what this guitar is capable of as well as what it sounds like, but there are two limits to this. First is the fact that I am not exactly the most proficient guitar player in the world. Second is that the sound of the guitar depends a lot on the effects / pre-amp that you use on it...but I still think the overall product turned out pretty well. Even if it doesn't sell anyone on the guitar it was still fun to play and come up with riffs that were a bit speedier than the ones I normally seem to play.

In any case, for more pictures or for a purchasing price, feel free to send me an email at...

fromthewayside [ at ] gmail [ dot ] com.

Atypical Love Song

The Lyrics:

Blue eyes
Pull me closer
Clear skies
Shining full of stars
Lost hearts
Find your rest now
Soon I'll
Find my way home

---

If the wind called my name
Would you kiss the sky?
If heaven gave you wings
Would you fly to me?

---

I'm coming home.


The Story:

Let me talk about the music to this one a little bit before I start delving into meaning. I'm happy to report that I am more satisfied with my singing and my vocal tone on this track, but I can definitely hear places where I need improvement. There are certain points where I wanted to do a really cool vocal scream (a la Chris Cornell), but it was for naught. I still need more time / practice refining my tone before I start working on new styles. I think the guitar part is reasonably well put together, though there doesn't seem to be anything outwardly complex about it. I wanted to make it more complicated, more complex, more intricate, but ultimately I decided that a sort of "slow flow" was the best route for this particular song. I'd like to point out that I am happy with the sounds of everything, considering that my recording box managed to get dropped again...I'll probably be replacing the little bugger soon, even after all that years of work he's put in. Now, about the meaning of the song...

The title is "Atypical Love Song," for several reasons. First, there's no explicit "I love you" mentioned in the song. Second, there is no chorus to speak of. I'm not troubled by this; I have no complaints about a more free-form approach. Third, the song is very sparse with regards to the lyrics. This was done deliberately, to (hopefully) give the song a more open and free atmosphere. As usual, I'm not going to offer an interpretation of the lyrics here. If you want to talk about them please feel free to email me. Let me point out one more thing before I go. I was watching M*A*S*H yesterday (don't ask me why, it just happened to be on the TV), and something really profound was said. A doctor was speaking to a wounded soldier who a lso happened to be a very gifted pianist. He had recently lost the use of his right arm, and had fallen into a sort of depression about his inability to play. During the course of their conversation, the doctor said, "I can play the notes, but I can't make music. The song in your heart is what makes the piano sing, not your hands." That really inspired me...I always hope to be making music, not simply playing notes.

Force Jansen

EDIT - Now available in blog.

For some reason the typical place where I upload songs is not cooperating with me...until it decides to work, the song will be available at two separate locations:

http://hypnosis.dmusic.com/

and

http://www.myspace.com/projecthypnotize

Sorry about the inconvenience!

---

This is a song dedicated to Mr. Jansen, my 11th and 12th grade physics teacher. The major goals I had for this song were...

- Short
- Minimal Lyrics
- Shred / Tapping Solo

I'm not 100 percent satisfied with the solo, but it's passable for what it needed to be. I think this song taught me some valuable lessons about technique, which I will definitely apply the next time I need the tapping technique.

They Lyrics:

We were hit
By a Force Jansen
Everybody
Started dancin'
Lasers went
Pew-pew
Everybody
Started to
Mo-o-ooove...

3-2-1 Blast-off!

Note: If the song is too quiet...TURN IT UP!