what is going on in your musical life

Cool! Will listen when I get home this afternoon.

I have a new project being rolled out today that I've decided to call "THE BEST EVER."

Me and a couple friends have started a house music band. We hope to put out an EP later this year. Here is a sample:
https://soundcloud.com/balboa-park/sunset-summer-quick-master

I got a vintage Rickenbacker! This thing is so rad. I've been interested in them for a long time, but they've certainly been outside of my budget. But I ran across this Electro ES-16 model from 1966 at a shop here locally. They were student model Rickenbackers made for a couple of years. This one is super short scale but as far as I know, it's basically a 420 or 425 with a thinner paint finish (and no Bigsby). Same electronics, toaster pickup, maple body, varnished rosewood fretboard, Kluson tuners.

It's just delightful sounding. The difference between the toaster pickups and the '70s-and-after high output pickups Rickenbacker has used is a lot more extreme than I realized.

can someone recommend me a small electric guitar - not just short scale, more like mandocaster size but without the doubled strings?

idk, maybe get an acoustic-electric ukulele and restring it to suit your needs? I mean, you'd only get 4 strings that way though.

I tried looking and was caught up in a wash of Epiphone Les Paul-shaped ukes complete with bad burst finishes, but then I happened on this. Seems pretty bad-ass for a uke.

these are all four-string but: https://eastwoodguitars.com/collections/tenor-guitars

what about if i got an eastwood mandocaster 12 and just took out one string from each course? Would the lesser tension fuck things up?

https://eastwoodguitars.com/products/mandocaster-12

I just don't like double course strings but I really want a tiny gtr

That seagull one looks awesome but more acoustic-electric than I'm thinking

I have def seen mandolas / mandolins with four strings.

https://goldtonemusicgroup.com/goldtone/instruments/gme-4

http://jazzmando.com/bill_bussman_jm.shtml

Would like to try electric mandola some time, they sound tasty with effects. But what I want most right now is an octave mandolin. More beef and more fretboard real estate; no need to transpose in my head (As I suspect I would with a mandola).

The Gold Tone GME-6 is exactly what I’m thinking of! And I could almost afford it at some point.

Fender announced a new tenor Telecaster this week

That's great, Tim!

Played "Autumn Leaves" and "Lester Leaps In" (at ≈200 bpm, not whatever Parker played it at) at my favourite Gatineau bar last night. I think it went decently.

Going to do my first wedding gig in August. The owner of a school where I work asked me to play at his. At least I have lots of time to figure out and prepare repertoire.

Are you going to be the solo guitarist while people are coming in for the ceremony etc?

I recommend reviewing the johnny b goode scene from Back to the Future

I think so, Jordan. Karl: it is never far from my thoughts.

Good luck Sund4r.

My current "acoustic 80s" band is also playing a wedding in April, but the couple wants us to focus on Americana/country/alt-country (as opposed to synthpop). It's doable, though we will be dropping anything Whiskeytown/Ryan Adams-related. Working on some Son Volt instead.

does springsteen work?

i'm getting ready to finally "release" some music, which just means posting it on bandcamp. it shouldn't be a big deal but it is to me. my wife has never heard anything i've ever recorded, for example. plus all the lyrics are kind of a downer because i wrote it during the 20+ years when i was really depressed (i'm totally fine now and will never be depressed again! (a quarter jk first part and a full jk on the second part)) so i'm worried someone i know will take them too literally. anyway, look out for it on your bandcamp near you sometime soon

One of the people I sent feelers out to asked if I wanted to play at some fund raiser at (but not for) the university art museum. I'm playing bass, learning actual covers, and we only get to practice a couple times before the show because of kids and jobs and all that. I should be far more terrified than I am right now.

Xp to Karl, I do "I'm on Fire" and will likely add "Atlantic City," so yes.

i've alluded to this a few times but i've been in a band with a couple of other guys for the last two years or so. it's nice to be playing music but it's not really the kind of music i want to be making, and in general i am just not feeling very motivated to make music right now. the other guys are alright but we aren't friends or anything. so i'm ready to not be in this band anymore.
the complication is that we recorded an album last year that still hasn't come out. one of the other guys in the band paid for the $$$ recording and has put a lot of his own money into promoting the band. he also shopped the album around and got a small local indie label interested in putting it out. right now the plan is for the album to come out in may.
so i basically feel like it would be a dick move to quit right now. i kind of feel like i have to wait until this album comes out. right?
do i give them some forewarning that i'm on my way out or just quit?

hmm, that's a tricky one. do you think they plan on playing shows around may to promote the release?

Maybe help them find a replacement for you?

i don't know. there's a constant push and pull between this main guy wanting to play more shows and get more people to like the band and the fact that we're all old and have kids and responsibilities. i think the hope is that being on this label will lead to more shows but who knows.
i should add that this band existed as a two-piece for a number of years before i joined so there's a good chance the other two guys will keep it going without me.
i'll probably stay with it through the album release and then look for a good time to gracefully exit?

as the person who usually is the person who cares too much, i would say the more forthright you can be, the better. offering to help find a replacement would be nice.

even if they don't take you up on the offer to find a replacement, it's a nice gesture.

i'd offer a related nice gesture, which would just be to offer to show the new replacement your parts (if they plan on replicating them or at least using them as a starting point).

Went to a jam Monday night and did "Footprints" and "Freddie Freeloader". I was feeling a little unsure, like the other guitarist kicked my ass, and like I should maybe not do this again without taking lessons, but I ended up getting some of the best feedback I've gotten (+ some helpful critique). The other guitarist (who has played with some big names) actually wants to meet up and jam things out together, and drummer friend is also talking about booking some regular studio rehearsal time.

Cool!

I’m singing a minor duet on Sunday in a performance of Handel’s Esther and I’m kind of freaking out about it because this isn’t the type of thing I normally sing as a soloist, even though my bit is tiny/inconsequential

Had no idea there was Christian Purim music

V cool, DJP. Hope it goes well.

I'm also thinking of doing the Prelude from Bach's BWV 1007 at a school's recital next weekend.

Like a warm-up for doing it at the ceremony in the summer.

That's great Sund4r, wish I could play some jazz with you.

would attend this performance!!

i finally gathered all the stuff i have been up to for the last 5 years into one post with links and a light introduction to me/what i am after wrt music/drumming. i answered the question no one asked, "what are you doing here?"
lol

i played a show at the batting cages in philly two weeks ago and i wish i could go back and live in that moment forever

I’ve started a new label for exp/avant audio art. The first release is a cassette by legendary Seattle rapper Specswizard (aka Specs One). Some may know him from his Sun City Girls affiliation.
This one is titled ‘TS AND THE S’. Lots more in the works.

ongoingdiscipline.com

Am on board if we ever end up in the same town, Jordan!

I somehow spaced out and forgot where I was in the middle of playing that Bach at the recital today so improvised a little until I could get back on track. People didn't seem to notice, curiously, perhaps because it might have actually been the least shambolic thing about the recital.

BTW that duet went well and ppl loved the concert, yay

That's great.

a collaborative album I made with my friend John called Movies was featured on Bandcamp Daily last week: https://daily.bandcamp.com/2019/03/28/best-experimental-music-bandcamp-march-2019/

Good for you. I enjoyed it and will probably listen again.

That was excellent grant-writing music, flappy. (I applied for a grant to make an album btw, which is relevant to the thread.)

Last Sunday, at a classical guitar concert, I found out there was a classical guitar open mic that night so I went and played this as well as Villa-Lobos's Etude 11. Met some cool people and good guitarists and actually saw my guitar teacher from undergrad.

I was also accepted to perform a guitar/electronics piece of mine (v loose first performance here) at this festival in August, where I will also do a teleconferenced improvisation and might play in a guitar orchestra. Was also asked to play in the guitar orchestra for a performance of Ben Verdery's Scenes from Ellis Island at a chamber music festival here in July.

i was thinking the other day about when i was first getting into playing music with other people, in high school, and a lot of the music we made was just goofing around in someone's bedroom with a keyboard and a guitar and improvising dumb songs and not worrying about them being dumb or silly or sounding good. it being more of a social hang-out activity that you do with your friends than a "band" or "jamming" and how i miss that. i'm not really friends with the guys i'm in a band with now and i miss making music as more of fun friend activity. the jamming i do with la lechera and other people is closer to that, and i can think of other times i've done it since high school, but it's something that's not in my life enough right now.

though some of that is being nostalgic for having time to hang out and play music without feeling the pressure to create something "good"

You know I’m down for recreational jamming/fun! I could use more of that tbh bc my musical life is going nowhere atm

Not for lack of trying, just nothing happening. Kinda frustrated but what else is new.

I have been doing open mics a bunch lately. I used to be a bit snobby about them, but have happened upon a generally friendly and chill scene.

Pros: I can play out whenever I want, and play whatever I feel like playing. This without having to beg to get gigs, send out demos, promise a draw, promote shows, convince a booking person or agent or record label or whoever that I am worthy. Or put together a band, rehearse, decide on material, etc.

I don't have to lug drums, amps, PA gear, etc. about. I can just grab an acoustic instrument and head out the door once the kids are in bed. Or not, if I don't feel like it.

Cons: of course there are a whole lot of corny boomers doing corny boomer shit. There are of course some breathy ukulele players straight outta Pamplamoose, but that doesn't bother me as much. There are dAd BaNdS. (One can always just go the bar or the bathroom during "City of New Orleans" or whatever.)

The audience mostly consists of the other people waiting to play, plus a smattering of girlfriends/boyfriends/co-workers. (Which often amounts to a bigger audience than I usually had when playing original rock with full bands.)

All the people involved have been uniformly positive and supportive, even if what you are doing is obscure or weird. There's an operatic tenor who plays a drum made out of a propane tank. There's a dude with a homemade electric balalaika who plays Ravel and Saint-Saens.

the band i've been playing with recorded at electric audio with steve albini last week. in 20+ years of playing music i've never recorded in a pro studio before so i was pretty nervous but it turned out good. we recorded live to tape, so no mixing after the song was on tape, which actually ruled because obviously he knows how to get good sounds in his studio with his gear (the drums in particular sound amazing) and it means no mixing. unfortunately for me this band has a whole album they did before i joined that they haven't released yet, so they're going to try and get that out first before we put out the stuff i'm on, but i still think it might come out sometime this year?

― na (NA), Tuesday, May 8, 2018 9:19 AM (eleven months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this album is finally coming out at the end of may: https://midwestaxn.com/music/life-is-twigs-by-protovulcan-available-for-pre-order/