It's So Quiet!

The kids have all gone back to school and it's so peaceful and quiet.  Plus getting them ready in the morning kicks my butt into gear so that by the time they leave at 7.15am I'm set for a good days work.

It feels strange in a way because they've been home for two months but also so much has changed since they were last at school.  Two months ago I hadn't done any real songs, I wasn't properly learning the drums and bass guitar, this blog was all new and hadn't found it's flow and I had no YouTube channel.  Even my guitar playing has come on a lot since then.

Everything feels more focused now and full of direction which I like a lot.  Of course now they're not home I need to get my butt in gear and do more housework, shopping etc but I'll find the time!  It's so nice to sit here and get thing after thing done, to get my blog post done without one of them screeching at another, to get some really focused drum practice in without needing to stop to sort out lunch.  

I do miss them too though, it's comforting to have them around even if it's also frustrating at times when I'm trying to focus.  They're inspiring and I love it when I do something new and I yell for one to come and listen.  Begrudgingly they drag themselves in, give me the "again?" look and yet they're actually very supportive especially my second eldest.

So what am I doing with all this quiet time?  Well my next vid is underway, I'm still unsure about this one I will see how it goes once music and images are together.  I'm trying to focus on proper practice, my scales have been neglected big time (tut tut).  I also haven't improvised as much lately so I really need to get back to that.  I had a lesson yesterday and my teacher got me to impro and it was terrifying!  Fun but terrifying!  Add to that the fact he made me play over more funky strumming (which I've never been able to do) and over a scale I've never used before (the A Dorian Mode) and it was EEK big time.  But although it was not good noodling it was much better than I'd done before so I was both horrified and pleased!

So scales are definitely on my - sort it out Tash NOW list!  I can't remember them no matter how many times I got over them because my memory is hopeless so they need to become second nature and that means drill, drill, drill.  No easy way out.  Consider my back side kicked.

Also I need to get a bit of a review done so that I can focus on what's most important, I've got so much thrown at me I could do with whittling it down now so that I stay on the right path.  It may be oh so quiet but that doesn't mean it's feet up time.