What are you working on now? (new years edition)
Dec 19, 2012 8:37:15 GMT -5
Post by mirth on Dec 19, 2012 8:37:15 GMT -5
So just thought I'd post the question to see what everyone's been working on, or not working on, or plan to work on, or whatever. Could be useful for others doing similar stuff. Always interesting to see where people are in there musical lives.
For me:
For awhile there I was working on a lot of singer mimicing especially with the whammy bar stuff. Got some cool ones pretty much down, and taught me a lot about phrasing and vibrato control.
Lately I've been thinking more about trying to focus on my own projects. I've been bombarded with playing in about 5 bands, none of which are really "mine" so most of my energy has been keeping up with these projects. I've realized I just turned 32 this week and though that's not too old really, I think it's time to actually start putting out more of my own stuff. I do put a lot of random stuff out there, but I haven't put the required energy needed to make the highest quality product I can. I need to write out the arrangements, etc... instead of just winging stuff on the fly. Or at least I'd like to. I've written some pretty cool big band arrangements (which are extremely time consuming) that's the kind of attention I need to pay to my rock/jazz arrangements I think.
This train of thought has me kicking around ideas on my weaknesses that would lead to better musicality. So on the more sound side of things I've been really thinking about how I've been doing my lines. I'm not a lick player at all, but it seems sometimes I play some really killer lines and I don't get out of them very well, they don't end logically, just kind of lead to something else in a weird sort of way. I think starting and ending my phrases better would be a lot more enjoyable to listeners. So I plan to start doing some serious writing in the near future. This has also lead me to inform the bands I've been playing with that my role is diminished. (kind of a bummer, but I don't play music for a living, I need to be more selective).
From the technique side of things, I've been curious about sweep picking the last couple weeks, but am now trying to devise a way to work on them, similar to my little "Weakest Link" experiment on Facebook. Where I tackled alternate picking and finger speed that seemed to have solid results not just for me but all involved. It really opened up my playing, so I think a similar approach to sweep picking and in a month or so I could be 100 times more proficient at it then than I am now.
Still working on "time" want to sit in the pocket more.
Finally, still working on Triadic Chromatic stuff at least a couple times a week. It's really opened up my ears and my ability to come up with cool lines.
So what's everyone else up to?
For me:
For awhile there I was working on a lot of singer mimicing especially with the whammy bar stuff. Got some cool ones pretty much down, and taught me a lot about phrasing and vibrato control.
Lately I've been thinking more about trying to focus on my own projects. I've been bombarded with playing in about 5 bands, none of which are really "mine" so most of my energy has been keeping up with these projects. I've realized I just turned 32 this week and though that's not too old really, I think it's time to actually start putting out more of my own stuff. I do put a lot of random stuff out there, but I haven't put the required energy needed to make the highest quality product I can. I need to write out the arrangements, etc... instead of just winging stuff on the fly. Or at least I'd like to. I've written some pretty cool big band arrangements (which are extremely time consuming) that's the kind of attention I need to pay to my rock/jazz arrangements I think.
This train of thought has me kicking around ideas on my weaknesses that would lead to better musicality. So on the more sound side of things I've been really thinking about how I've been doing my lines. I'm not a lick player at all, but it seems sometimes I play some really killer lines and I don't get out of them very well, they don't end logically, just kind of lead to something else in a weird sort of way. I think starting and ending my phrases better would be a lot more enjoyable to listeners. So I plan to start doing some serious writing in the near future. This has also lead me to inform the bands I've been playing with that my role is diminished. (kind of a bummer, but I don't play music for a living, I need to be more selective).
From the technique side of things, I've been curious about sweep picking the last couple weeks, but am now trying to devise a way to work on them, similar to my little "Weakest Link" experiment on Facebook. Where I tackled alternate picking and finger speed that seemed to have solid results not just for me but all involved. It really opened up my playing, so I think a similar approach to sweep picking and in a month or so I could be 100 times more proficient at it then than I am now.
Still working on "time" want to sit in the pocket more.
Finally, still working on Triadic Chromatic stuff at least a couple times a week. It's really opened up my ears and my ability to come up with cool lines.
So what's everyone else up to?
