Midnight Blog Posts & Wicked Lessons!

Come on you knew I'd be up writing!  This week was a particularly big lesson so I was always going to end up burning the candle at both ends but that's alright.

Before I start something to make you smile!  We started working on my most recent song idea and he asked me quite obviously what the chords where and I drew a total blank.  I'm so hopeless!  Luckily I had them written down over the transcription of the guitar solo!!!  What did occur to me that should of before is..

a)  I had to have Bm in there - don't I usually!  I really need to pull away from this.
b)  I had to throw in an 'awkward' chord.  Something to create tension, it's the F#m (inverted with an A octave) over C# octave.  I didn't actually choose that chord of course but its where my ear led me.

First the big news - how did Elton go??!!  Actually ok, I stuffed up a couple of times but as I'd worked so hard on getting the timing and dynamics better in the last 24 hours it was a good trade off.  There were a couple of sections that I played the best I think I have, not many but a couple and the rest was ok.  Not bad considering I felt physically sick and was sweating like an arse!!  Tom said I should be proud of it so on this occasion I will be.  I played better than the vid I put up the other day put it that way.

Today we went to the recent song I wrote - Take It Or Leave It, we were supposed to start in on drums but I felt the song took priority and he was happy to go along.  I played it for him, he listened!!  Tom never gives much away, good or bad which can be a little frustrating I'll be honest but I think for the most part he liked it.  Now we have 40% the same taste and 60% not but I think that's just because about 40% of that I haven't converted him to - or to be more precise awakened him to!!  So I think I can guess what wasn't to his taste.

We worked out the structure for the song and then he preceded to do what would take me weeks (but that's why he's the teacher!) and laid down drums, piano and bass leaving guitar for me as that's where the main melody is.  What I have to do is take my noodles and tease out the melodies.  Now that's where I come a cropper (undone if you don't speak my lingo!) because I "sing" with the guitar and I find it very hard not to.  I figure the best way to do this is to do my singing thing and then pull out melodies, do a few possibilities and then he can pick what works best.  The chorus electric solos are pretty much free though so I can have my fun there!

Trying to look on the positives his version sounded a hell of a lot like mine - only a load better!!  But seriously although yes he was following my ideas my song concept it still sounded a lot like what I did.  So yeah that's cool,  BUT.... then he picked up the bass and played the s*** out of it and that's where we parted similarities!  haha!  But you can't have it all.

So this week is stacking up to be another HUGE one, I have the guitar thing we didn't have time for that I'm really struggling to move on and the bass song he said had some potential but we had to shelve that too (I actually really like that, there is a little bit of fun in there!).  I have the electric solo I'm working on and a million other things.   Good thing I'm an obsessed, stubborn, hard working thing right!