Finally got song #3 done, right at the 2 week mark! This one is really pretty simple, except the speed of the neoclassical shred section. I still don't play it perfectly, but I've got it down pretty well. This was the first video I recorded with my new Shure SM57.

The project is temporarily on hold while I wait for money to get new pickups for the 7 string. Hopefully within 2 weeks I can get them delivered, installed and get my video for A Change of Seasons up.

Learning To Live

For some reason I feel like this video doesn't sound as good. I can't wait til I get an an SM57, because this vocal mic just isn't cutting it. Soon.

I already knew this song pretty well. The most difficult part for me is actually the beginning of the instrumental section where its switching between clean and distorted guitars often. You'll notice I still didn't nail the changes. But that's okay.

Pretty decent take. Song 2 check. Come on, Erotomania! (This will be fun)

Afterlife

Tonight, I tried my hand at recording a video for the first song on my list, Afterlife, from DT's 1st album, When Dream and Day Unite. Although it's not perfect, and the perfectionist inside me is screaming, I'm going to go with what I have. It's a pretty good representation of my playing.

The song itself is pretty straightforward. All in 4/4, nothing really difficult going on. But awesome and catchy nonetheless. The alternate picking isn't too fast, but fast enough to be challenging by playing through the entire song. The solo did give me a bit of trouble. I just can't even begin to imagine matching JP's alternate picking skill. There is a ridiculously fast run that I couldn't hope to do, so I used legato and tapping to make it my own, and tried to approximate as well as I could. I do want to get better with my alternate picking but I was surprised to find such a fast run in this older song. It's sad because he was younger than me at that time, and I am nowhere near as good.

But that's okay. Song 1 done. Check me in the Afterlife, 'cause now I'm Learning To Live.

The Great Debate(s)

Now before I begin this gigantic project, there are still some decisions to be made.

First, I should probably figure out a timeline of sorts. I'm a fairly fast learner, but it is DT we're talking about. What's a good balance between consistency and pain-free fingers? I'm thinking roughly two weeks per track. Realistically, I can work out most of the rhythm parts of a song over a couple days and a solo over a few, so I really hope this should be enough time to learn, practice, and record a song.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, should I record a live cover version with video, all in one take? Or should I do what's safer and more familiar to me, which is recording a "studio" version of the song with multiple takes of riffs and solos, then making a demonstrative video later, basically, "finger-syncing" to get the highest sound quality possible. I do want a performance aspect of this challenge, because I believe that will make me a much better player, but I don't want to kill myself trying to get a perfect take of an entire Dream Theater song. What I've settled on is that I will do one complete live take of the rhythm sections of the song, and one complete take of each solo, and splice the videos together. I think this is a perfect balance of what I'm trying to achieve here, and will still be quite difficult.

The Test That Stumped Them All

I'm doing something a little different than Austin's project.

Ever since I first heard Dream Theater in 2004, they have been my favorite band. The combination of amazing musicality, brutal technical precision, and encompassing depth that is their music is a perfect picture of what I've always wanted from music, and what I've wanted to do with it. While I don't think I'll ever be nearly as good as John Petrucci, as many before me have inevitably had to admit to themselves, what I admire about him and the other members of Dream Theater is that they never say never. They have always pushed themselves to go even further with music through practice and discipline, and not just in speed but in all aspects of the art and the craft.

It is for this reason that I'm choosing to cover many of their songs, to push myself and my playing even further. I've learned Dream Theater songs before, some in full and some individual riffs and solos. With this project, I'd like to take a song from each DT album, record a guitar cover of it, and make an accompanying video showing how I've played it. The choice of songs will be a balance between personal appeal and expected capability. The songs will lean towards the heavier, proggier side of DT.

As always with my playing, I will strive to learn much of it by ear and by watching Petrucci himself, because I feel so much can be gained when doing so. Playing numbers off of a computer screen enables you to skip thinking about what you're playing and why you're playing it a certain way. It's a great shortcut, but I believe that by taking the scenic route you can learn much more. That being said, I will not limit myself in resources. If I just can't get something down after a good try, I will use videos and tabs as I need. To record the covers, I will take the original songs themselves, and apply EQ to drown out most of the mid range. What you're left with is a decent backing track with loud drums and a hint of what's going melodically in the songs.

At the moment, the track list is as follows:

1. Afterlife (When Dream and Day Unite)

2. Learning To Live (Images and Words)

3. A Mind Beside Itself I. Erotomania (Awake)

4. A Change of Seasons: I. The Crimson Sunrise/II. Innocence (A Change of Seasons)

5. Hell's Kitchen (Falling Into Infinity)

6. Overture 1928/Strange Deja Vu (Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From a Memory)

7. Blind Faith (Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence)

8. Honor Thy Father (Train of Thought)

9. Panic Attack (Octavarium)

10. Constant Motion (Systematic Chaos)

11. The Count of Tuscany (Black Clouds & Silver Linings)

12. On the Backs of Angels (A Dramatic Turn of Events)

Lastly, the gear I'm using:
1. Red Ibanez RGT42 (EMG 81/85); tuned to E standard

2. Blue Ibanez RGT42 (DiMarzio Steve's Special/Air Norton); tuned to C standard

3. Schecter Diamond A-7 7-string tuned in a variety of tunings

4. Line 6 Spider III 75W combo

Deign to finally learn something.

I've accepted being a mediocre musician for far too long, and I'm just tired of it. I love to write. I love to perform. I find instruments themselves to be beautiful and fascinating. What I don't like is feeling afraid of a challenging lick, doubting my own ability, and wallowing in mediocrity. But that means overcoming a lifetime of laziness and pathetically feeble will power. I have always coasted along, and I'm tired of it.

What I do respond to, however, is goals. And that is why, starting this week, I have accepted a challenge from one of my best friends, in which we both select songs that we enjoy and cover them.

Not such a big deal, right? people cover things all the time, right? Well I never really did. Despite being in bands since I was 13, I have almost exclusively played originals. I always thought that made me a better musician, but in reality, it meant that when my classmates were tackling covers of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, and Nirvana (almost exclusively--that was all anyone in my class covered), I was playing my own stuff. The reality of that is...they learned to tackle solos and riffs and forced themselves to play challenging parts that, quite frankly, were too challenging for them. The resultant effect of that, was--pretty bad performances at the time-- but also learning things the otherwise wouldn't have.

Now I'm at the age where it's embarrassing to do shitty covers, but I feel that I have given myself no choice. So I'm going to start with a hard rock/metal/post hardcore "set-list," and start recording all of the parts (Guitar/drums/bass/vocals). In my mind, this can be nothing but a good thing. Even if it sounds like garbage to everybody else, hopefully I will learn something about composition, performance, practice, recording, and WILLPOWER.

...I realize this isn't the most interesting piece of bloggery that was ever written, but it's my first step on what I hope is a long journey towards being a competent freaking human being who can respect himself.



So, the goal is to record a part a week, via GarageBand, make an accompanying video of that track, and post it here as well as youtube or something. Since I live in a tiny apartment at the moment, these will mainly be guitar parts, with drums recorded as I return to lovely Champaign, Illinois, where my acoustic drums are! If that is just taking too long and holding up production, I will use my electronic drums instead...but that would make me a sad panda.

ANYWAY...the songs.

The idea here is that I will increase difficulty as I go. The goal here is to learn a thing or two about precision and nuance. Therefore, I will be starting with pieces that are on the simpler side.

The first three tracks I will tackle are...

1. Celestial Crown/Barael's Blade--by The Sword.
2. Fiend Club--by The Misfits (Michale Graves era)
3. Little Sister--by The Queens of the Stone Age (this one actually has a solo that I've had some difficulty with already, so I'm a little afraid. BUT THAT'S THE POINT OF THIS LITTLE EXERCISE.)

I'm going to try to stick to one song per band until I've hit a lot of different stuff, and then may return to bands I love to try new ones! The idea here being that I will expose myself to as many different types of styles of play as possible, and in the end possess a diverse repertoire of tricks in my tool bag. Other songs I plan to hit....

Black Tongue OR Curl of the Burl OR Octopus has no Friends by Mastodon.
Sweet Leaf by Black Sabbath
Starlight OR The Small Print by Muse
F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X. by The Fall of Troy
Viscera Eyes by Mars Volta (x_x scary. Especially Pridgen's drumming.)

Definitely want to do a Metallica track, but haven't decided which.

Anywho, that's all for now. First track post THIS FRIDAY.