what is going on in your musical life

If you want to see me fidget and stammer like someone who has been locked down for months:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPdjOHoSo-w

Galaxie 500 meets the Bee Gees in this one, with heaps of mellotron:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUZOYGf-Cj8

oh, and my wife on background vox!

sund4r i am loving your album! really hitting the spot on this sunny afternoon

Just finished arranging a 90-minute album for a really great new client, feel proud of myself and also empty inside
Have my first viola lesson (ever!) in an hour, playing Bach and Bruch and Schubert

Are you the teacher or student?

Thanks, La Lechera! Glad you enjoy it.

I did a video recording of live versions of those pieces tonight. We spent most of the day trying to set up lighting and cameras in our bedroom. Hope to get everything ready to go live tomorrow.

I played the acoustic version of Shawn Bell's "Currents II" for this video concert that premieres at 4pm Eastern time today. Q&A afterwards

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as0Rp7mlKdY

I can almost play Blackbird on the guitar now

its a classic! i still enjoy playing it.

That's a major step in learning fingerpicking!

Yeah my guitar teacher is throwing all sorts of shit st me since he doesn’t have to bang through basic theory with me. He also had me practicing the guitar arpeggios in “Message In A Bottle” and got me through most of “Here Comes The Sun”

I also taught myself the solo guitar line in Just Like Heaven

Oooh Dan that is so exciting! "Blackbird" was the first thing I learned on guitar

And no I'm taking viola lessons. My first lesson kicked my ass, I'm completely overhauling my positioning and my vibrato. I did three days of "just exercises and studies" since my lesson, and this morning, for a lark, played through Bach Cello Prelude 6 (which I know pretty well) and when I got to the improv section it felt like my left hand was on steroids, I was flying through it spectacularly. Even now I feel like my left hand is 'typing with purpose'

It's gonna take me MONTHS before I can do vibrato properly again but I'm hoping it's worth it

I might also try and squat my way to "having an ass" just to make two miracles happen this year

registered a bandcamp yesterday :)

def here for a "lewis gets thicc" track

xp ya gotta link us when ur new shit drops, simon

if it ever happens yall will be the....fourth or fifth to know

Yay Simon!

Right on, Simon!

I have a virtual convert coming up on Valentine's Day with my church gig; I recorded "Wohin?" by Schubert and the whole group recorded an arrangement of "True Colors" that I did:

http://www.kings-chapel.org/virtualmusic.html

THought you wrote "virtual convent" for a second.

I wrote concert, I thought

Having a tiny bit of post-release depression, even though I know from experience that it's best just to move on (can't make any changes now!), and that anything interesting that comes from putting something out into the world usually comes weeks/months/years down the road. Also wishing I could put out the things that I've finished more recently and am currently excited about.

Also doing a livestream jazz thing next week, pretty meh about the whole livestream thing but it will be nice to play drums again. It's a good excuse to practice and to figure out where the various pieces of my kit are.

I did a video recording of live versions of those pieces tonight. We spent most of the day trying to set up lighting and cameras in our bedroom. Hope to get everything ready to go live tomorrow.

Premiering tonight at 7:15 w picture-in-picture during pieces with pedal work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcG0_o4aA-U

Oooooh I can't wait

Watching now. Might have to go deal with laundry before the end, sorry.

That was fun!

The Valentine's Day concert I did some recording for now has a YouTube link for livestreaming on Sunday at 5:00 EST:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIruHMoyhQQ

Once the concert has been livestreamed, that link will remain for viewing.

I mastered a live release for my brass band from mp3s, which were recorded on an iRiver in 2005 at the Green Mill. Interesting challenge for sure, it was already clipping/brick walled so all I could really do was EQ-related (rolled off soooo much high end).

The concert link upthread turned out really, really great

I'm recording a part for a virtual guitar orchestra piece by a Seattle guy. It's long and kind of exhausting: all with a pick, almost all staccato, some tremolo, sometimes with bars that need to be repeated e.g. 23x before moving on to the next slightly different thing. Going to attempt one more take...

Also it all needs to be really precisely done to a metronome, with long stretches of waiting before and after.

Can you just record it piecemeal?

Don't think so: it's also a video recording and it's supposed to be more like a virtual live performance than a studio recording. So they are accepting imperfections, even though it's all done to a metronome, staccato, repetitive, etc. Everyone will be playing at a potentially different tempo and mixed in at different times! I'm going with the last take.

Ah cool.

I did a livestream last night playing New Orleans jazz, first time performing in public in many months. It felt better than I expected, was able to stay pretty mentally & physically relaxed and not too in my head (my main pitfall). I think the pandemic practice (and non-practice) has paid off some.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=359286345030459&ref=watch_permalink

I'll definitely be watching that.

I watched a little over half so far. I'm not an expert on the style but you do seem relaxed and totally in the pocket. I liked your short solo around the 52m mark, how you kept the groove going while doing a lot over and around it.

Just saw this, thanks Sund4r! I only wish I could have mixed it. The guy who handled sound & video was super nice and easy to work with, and cut us a serious discount as I understand, and I'm sure it's tough to do video while mixing sound, especially while hearing the room sound. But still.

On the other side of things I released some dance music versions from the kalimba album that came out recently: https://chants.bandcamp.com/album/millions-tip-ploy-drum-vips

Can we talk about middle-aged white men who play the guitar?

Partly from my circle of friends, and partly work video meetings, I am beginning to suspect that there are more middle-aged white men who play the guitar (at some level) than don't. Unscientific sample, I know. But.

Of course I include myself in the cliche-pile, as I do have and love and play a lot of guitars. But seeing the absolute glut of guitar players in my demographic has made me want to focus more on other instruments. One of these days imma show up at a open mic night with a triangle, a bouzouki, and an ocarina just to break out of the trap a bit.

Not sure what you want to discuss but fwiw this clearly unbiased study by Fender shows new beginning guitarists are 50% female and with %s of black and Latino players that exceed their share of the general UK/US population: https://sheshreds.com/study-confirms-diverse-guitar-landscape/

Of course I'm thrilled that people are diversifying the space! But it's still gutted with burb dads

Signed,

A burb dad

https://i.imgur.com/16IsPpi.png

i hope halloween shows happen this year bc i am starting to absolutely destroy this foo fighters set i've been practicing on the drums

none of the drum parts are too complicated but they're all like... rigorous in different ways. high-energy and fun

"big me" is the simplest drum part in the world but it's a delight to play

YMP, it's an instrument that exists in many forms that people play around the world. The guitar's roots in the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking world (which includes plenty of non-white people) are deeper than its roots in the anglosphere. There are major guitar-playing communities in Africa and Asia.

speaking of guitar, my teacher told me in my Zoom lesson that I basically have Blackbird nailed down now and I just need rote repetition on it, which given that my previous attempts to do anything with a guitar began and ended with playing very simple solo lines and simplifying bass parts is a huge fucking deal to me

I'm also learning Fast Car

yessss

I’m working on 1er Gymnopedie again lately after first learning it a couple years ago. At the time I thought “wow, I can totally play this!” Now I’m marginally better at piano and I keep thinking “wow, I completely suck and it’s not actually possible to play the piano”

Never have I kept up for so long a learning a skill I am so unpredisposed to as piano.