Saturday 13 May 2023

What's happening May 2023

Sitting here with Covid-19 again, I can't complain it's only my second time and it has only kept me in bed for two days, now I just feel, well, sick. So a good time to sit in front of a computer and peck at the keys. In fact I fixed up my tab of Collective Soul - Shine. How that came about is when I'm playing on Fridays, I often switch to Drop D tuning, and then play a bunch of songs in that tuning. I could only remember 5 or 6 songs in Drop D off the top of my head, so I needed to add some more back in.

It's actually been a real blessing playing in the lunch room on Friday lunch at work. There aren't many people there, somewhere between none and 10 at any one time, but a lot of people walk in and out over the hour I play. 

The main point is that having anyone there puts you in performance mode. You have to play well, and when you are purposely trying to play well, the sound you can make can be so good. And the more weeks I play, the more I'm dusting off old songs and enjoying them again. I find I need to "practise" an old song that has gone rusty for 15-30 minutes at home to clean it up, and then it is good for around two months before I need to clean it up again. Or if I play it at least once a month, it stays good. Funny how the brain works!

I have a couple of songs to record, but I'm not inspired to record at the moment, it just feels like a burden. Trying to play without a single error, setting up the recording equipment, editing the video...I recognise this feeling of burdenedness from my past - when I play out regularly, I get my fix. When I'm not playing out regularly, I lean towards recording videos to get my fix. But, I do want to record two Queen songs and two Cream songs. I will get there, bear with me!

In the meantime, keep playing everyone - either to an audience or to a video camera 👍