GT Solo Assignment - June 2008

Here's my final cut. I liked my 2nd pick better, but my son said he likes this one. It's more in your face, and the beat is upfront. I hit a really bad note in there, but whatever. It's the same one as the one in the post I deleted without the phaser effect. http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=845858&songID=6671380

Fingerspasm: glad someone else posted. I haven't listened to it yet, but hopefully there will be more and I'll listen to them all and comment (is that how it's supposed to be done?). Otherwise, I'll give it a listen, and comment if you like. Maybe Light will extend the time for submissions.

I can extend to the end of the week if you really need to. I have to move house today, so I will be out of action till probably the end of the week, unless everything goes smoothly.. but nothing ever does so I am happy to leave the submissions open till Friday.

I have no problem with that, Light. The more the merrier.

Have fun with your move. Sucks, doesn't it?

Yeh. It's exciting that I am moving into a place that I own and all the money I spend on repayments is no longer dead rent money. It's exciting that I won't have to put up with the sub-standard living conditions I have dealt with for the last 6 months (I basically live in a converted 4-car garage at the moment with no insulation from temperature or noise).

It's also very stressful and annoying having to move everything and set everything up again. I've been moving things slowly for the last 2 weeks, just the smaller things like DVDs and things that I don't use a lot. Even though I am sick to death of this place with the noise and lack of thermal insulation, I am setup and "comfortable" here.

Today is the big move day, so I am moving the actual computer, TVs, bed, lounge etc. So once I am finished, there will be no more coming back to here every night after work. I still need to come back on the weekend and do a final clean up and mow the lawns etc (part of the lease agreement), so I can get my bond back from the landlord.

Anyway, I might be around for a little while this morning for the next few hours, depending on what order I pack things and move them.

I've read the 3 top stressful things are death, divorce, and moving. When I last moved in the fall of '06, it was at the start of my divorce. The upside to moving is getting rid of tons of crap you've accumulated over the years. When I moved out, I didn't want to haggle over things like pots and pans, so she got EVERYTHING, except for some pre-marital stuff like my guitars (thank God for that!.) So I pretty much moved into an empty place and had to furnish, etc. Still, I'm a pack-rat, and I've thrown out tons of paperwork, most of my beloved vinyl albums (you old enough to remember vinyl? :) ), a 20+ yr. collection of Guitar Player magazine, and the list goes on. The only thing I wanted was my kids 1/2 the time, which I have.

But it's good to clean out old crap (like the wife, lol- but the divorce STILL isn't final.) Well, I'm blathering, so to get back on topic, when are YOU going to upload your solo? It was your BT, so you should have one up!

Again, good luck with the move. I think I'd rather have a root canal than move- but I may be doing that soon. It's waay too expensive living where I do. Which is literally a few blocks away from the UN.

Originally Posted by: SilimtaoHere's my final cut. I liked my 2nd pick better, but my son said he likes this one. It's more in your face, and the beat is upfront. I hit a really bad note in there, but whatever. It's the same one as the one in the post I deleted without the phaser effect. http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=845858&songID=6671380

Fingerspasm: glad someone else posted. I haven't listened to it yet, but hopefully there will be more and I'll listen to them all and comment (is that how it's supposed to be done?). Otherwise, I'll give it a listen, and comment if you like. Maybe Light will extend the time for submissions.

Ya things slow down quit a bit during June through August it seems. Judging from the past 2 years. I thought we might have a few more posts this month but it looks like we might not. Seems like there is much more activity November through March. I have thought this thing was going to just end once or twice over the past 2 years but we can only hope that some more people might have time in the coming months to get involved. Will listen to your entry here soon. Its ok to listen to the entries when they are posted and make comments. Or you can wait. It just depends on your own personnel preference. I only wait if I have not recorded my track yet. That way I do not get influenced be someone else recording. :)

Originally Posted by: SilimtaoHere's my final cut. I liked my 2nd pick better, but my son said he likes this one. It's more in your face, and the beat is upfront. I hit a really bad note in there, but whatever. It's the same one as the one in the post I deleted without the phaser effect. http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=845858&songID=6671380

Fingerspasm: glad someone else posted. I haven't listened to it yet, but hopefully there will be more and I'll listen to them all and comment (is that how it's supposed to be done?). Otherwise, I'll give it a listen, and comment if you like. Maybe Light will extend the time for submissions.

Hey Silimtao, I checked out your entry. Started our a little sketchy but then you seemed to get more comfortable at about the 45 second mark on. You had some good moments and then some where you got out of time. Not bad for a first entry. I had tons of trouble with this track. So I had many of the same problems with my entry. This was a very hard track to keep up with. I am sure some of the more experienced guys would have done some real nice things with this track.

Originally Posted by: FingerSpasm Its ok to listen to the entries when they are posted and make comments. Or you can wait. It just depends on your own personnel preference. I only wait if I have not recorded my track yet. That way I do not get influenced be someone else recording. :)

I think I'll adopt the same approach; I don't want to be influenced by someone else either. So I listened to your track FingerSpasm.

In the first minute, it feels like you're thinking, "where am I going to take this?." Right around when you started tapping, I think you were finding your groove, but kinda lost it towards the end. I think you rushed this out. Thumbs up for the tapping- I tried that, but my Jackson's pups weren't cooperating- or the Toneport, I dunno. I think if you had a few more days, you would have had something. Seems like you couldn't decide to stay diatonic, or go modal. But thumbs up again for the effort.

Thanks for your input. Yeah, it was challenging. I had done so many takes with my Ibanez, then had to switch off to my Jackson Dinky. Then...correct me if I'm wrong, but there was a B FLAT in there, not a B natural. THAT threw me off big time. In the end I was so tired, I ripped off the last 2 takes and had to walk away from it. I swear though, I don't hear chords, just a bass line. Still, this is fun. I hope to be able to participate more often in the future. I'll probably never be able to lay down a BT, as this recording into my computer is new to me.

Oh, I figured out why I'm having so much trouble recording. Since I live so close to the UN, there's lots of scrambling of phones and governments listening in on each other over the air. The Toneport is supposedly very sensitive to radio frequencies and stuff. But all the bad notes are all mine, lol.

Slim/Fingerspasm

my hats off to both you guys for having the nads to post something this month...it was a really tough track, i couldnt do squat with it. :confused:

I'll be back in for July though.....

Good stuff --- I would so love to be able to upload something.

Originally Posted by: mpaqSlim/Fingerspasm

my hats off to both you guys for having the nads to post something this month...it was a really tough track, i couldnt do squat with it. :confused:

I'll be back in for July though.....

Thanks, mpaq. It was kinda disappointing that more didn't participitate though.

At the end of the year, there should be a poll for best backing track. I've only heard a handful- equator has written some interesting ones (damn bMaj7th chords always throw me off for some reason.) Light's BT this month just kicked butt. It was fun.

Originally Posted by: NekhabetGood stuff --- I would so love to be able to upload something.

Then just do it! You'll get constructive criticism. These guys give good feedback without making you feel embarrassed.

Thanks for the encouragement. :D

However, right now my machine is a little on the low end and I don't have any way to record. I've downloaded a trial version of Reaper for the Mac. I have an older PowerBook G4 - the machine just can't push the application. Maybe I'll look for an older version of GarageBand and pick up a cheap USB dongle at Target or the local music store.

These technical hurdles aside, there is still the issue of skill. I'm still working on the basic stuff and while things are getting cleaner, I still need to practice chord changes and stuff like that. I just couldn't put something together yet -- there would a lot of pauses.

But I will be uploading something at some point. :) It just sounds like too much fun to miss out on.

Nek.

Almost there with my solo now.. Nothing special.. a few nice sounding runs and that's about it. Finally got my computer setup again.. so I'll submit something in the next 12 hours.. then I am going to lock the thread. So if anyone wants to make a final submission.. do it in the next 12 hours.

Well.. it will be pretty evident from this that I am a long way from completion.. but I have to lock this thread otherwise it won't be fair.. but I do have a rough take to submit. I think you can at least hear what I am trying to pull off with it.. I just need like another whole day of practising the same song over and over and over again.. and that just isn't going to happen because I just don't have the time right now. :(

I feel really bad about submitting something so bad.. but at least it's something. Metal is something I am not really used to, so it's good to know that I can at least come up with something if I put my mind to it.

Right Click and Save As...

Ok.. locking this thread now. I'll try to make a voting thread sometime today if I remember. Or someone else can make it and provide all the links and I will sticky it.