Recording: Session 1

I don't think I've ever spent an hour and a half playing one song before. But thanks to Miguel, that's just what I did today.

Ok, ok, so it sounds a little harsh and a little bitter when I put it like that. No, it was a lot of fun. I really love practicing with different people. Maybe that sounds a little weird, but I feel like it gives you a new perspective on them, like you understand them at a different level. You start to understand what parts of themselves they're comfortable with, and which parts they're not. You learn their strengths and weaknesses, how harsh they are on themselves, and you get to know each other a little better.

I guess in that sense the best example that I can give is that when you've been practicing for so long with someone, some things just don't need to be said. You learn to read each other on a different level, and you can predict the other person's reactions. On the most rudimentary level, this means that after practicing a certain song with someone for so long, you don't need to tell them how many intro measures you're going to play. They just know when to come in.

Then after you've been practicing for a while, you learn where the other person is likely to have trouble. As a guitarist, this means cue-ing your singer in. Sometimes, it means you help them along with the pacing of a certain verse-- and if the singer doesn't need to be coached along, sometimes it means that you end up with some really cool harmonizing when all the recording is said and done.

On top of that, you get a little more comfortable with each other. Both of you have things you need to work on, and eventually you're not afraid of showing the other person that you're not perfect-- because you realize that they're not judging you. You feel comfortable pointing out the things you need to work on, and the things that they need to work on. And you're cool with helping them learn it. And then on top of that, it makes you really happy when the other person gets something that they've been working on.

Like when we were recording, and Miguel hit the high notes in the song. That made me really happy. He probably didn't notice the smile on my face for the rest of the song, but I really enjoyed it. I don't think he realizes what an amazing voice he has.

So by this point, you're probably wondering where this lovely recording is. Well, it doesn't exactly exist yet. This was the first time that we practiced together, and we spent almost the entire time on just one song. We played for an hour and a half and recorded maybe twice. By the end of all of this, the pick slipped from my hand, and my chord fingers were really starting to wear out. By the last recording, I had to stop and say I couldn't finish. Like I said, I've never done just one song for that long before. Since you're using the same fingers (all 4 of them in this case) plus the same muscles in your hand, it's tiring. So, we're back to the mic tomorrow to have another go at it.

And that's not to say that today wasn't productive-- it was very productive. It was a lot of fun. I actually can't wait for tomorrow.

On another note, Miguel, Rose, and I are just now looking at a set for Open Mic Night next Thursday. If we aren't able to pull it together by then, I'm happy to perform with Miguel or try to memorize a monologue by then. But this set list is going to take a lot of work on everyone's parts. Rose has to learn the lyrics and learn to harmonize with Miguel. I'm learning a song from scratch, and Miguel is basically putting together a violin solo by ear.

If not next week though, we'll try to record it for you right here.

Oh, and if I haven't mentioned this, I'd really love to record with Béa as well, if not this school year than definitely during the summer.

-Kal

For What It's Worth...*

...here is all the knowledge and experience I have with finger picking.

The two ways you can begin picking are 1) with just your thumb, or 2) with all your fingers. Usually it's just about what feels comfortable, and sometimes beginners feel more comfortable relying on just their thumb. I know I do. But when he saw me finger picking, Senpai suggested that you try to pick with all your fingers, by assigning each finger to a string. Even if you don't feel comfortable picking with your ring finger or pinky (watch the video to see just how uncomfortable I am with this), practice with your first three fingers and work up to that point. You'll be able to pluck a lot faster once you get the hang of it.

Next thing is that you can pick with your bare fingers, which is fine, or you can get these really cool picks that slide onto your fingers and make the sounds a lot more crisp. It's like the difference between strumming with your fingernails and strumming with a pick. The sound is just a lot less murky with the plastic. As you'll see in the video, I only have the pick that slides onto my thumb, but they make ones for your fingers too. And as you'll see from the video, I haven't used that pick in a while and I'm sort of messy with it. In fact, I abandoned it all together until I picked a song on just one string.

Lastly, there are three techniques that come into play with picking: hammer-ons (placing your finger on a fret after you've plucked the string), pull-offs (the opposite of hammer-on), and sliding (smooth transition, sliding your finger from one fret to a higher or lower one).



Tabs used:

Time- Hootie and the Blowfish
Dsus4
-------------------------3----------------------------3--
---------3------------3----3---------3------------3------
------2------------2--------------2------------2---------
--0--------0-h-2---------------0-------0-h-2-------------
----------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------


Sunny Came Home- Shawn Colvin
e------------------------------------------------|
b------------------------------------------------|
g------------------------------------------------|
d--------0-2-0------------------0-2-0-2-4--|
a—2/4---------4-2-0-0---2/4---------------|
E------------------------------------------------|

e---------------------------------------------------|
b---------------------------------------------------|
g---------------------------------------------------|
d--------0-2-2/0--------------------0-2-0------|
a—2/4------------4-2-0-0---2/4---------4-2-|
E---------------------------------------------------|


The Tain- The Decemberists
E|--0--3--7--6/7/6--3--0--3--7/10--11--12-----------------------|

E|--0--3--7--6/7/6--3--0-3--7/10--11--12-------------------------|
     Here upon this pillow

E|--0--3--7--6/7/6--3--0--3--7/10--11--12------------------------|
    Made of reed and willow.           You're

E|--0--3--7--6/7/6---3-0-3---5--7--0---12-11-12-----------------|
    a fickle little twister, are you sweet on your sister? Your

E|--0--3--7--6/7/6--3--0--------------------------------|
    fallow won't leave you alone.

-Kal

The Frustrations of Sudden Temperature Changes

No, weather changes isn't really that much of a hazard, but it's still something to pay attention to. And yes, there is a difference between the hazards and the frustrations, however subtle. Hazards usually involve some sort of bodily harm, while the frustrations are the little bumps you might encounter along the way.

Anyway.

It's gotten really warm and a little humid out these past few days, so my guitars have been slipping out of tune more easily. People mostly use that phrase "slipping" out of tune for cold weather-- because materials shrink in the cold, tuning pegs will become lose, and it's quite hard to keep the instrument from going flat. Now that it's spring though, the warming is causing the wood and all of my tuning pegs to expand, tightening the strings. The past few days when I've gone to play, my strings have been sharp instead of flat. The changes can be mild, and sometimes not noticeable for someone who doesn't have perfect pitch, but you should be careful to check your strings before you play when the weather starts changing rapidly.

-Kal

The Hazards of a New Electric

There's actually a few to list. Principally, as with any new guitar, or really any new string instrument, you'll have to re-tune a zillion times the first few times you play. I've been practicing for over an hour total between the acoustic and the electric. When I picked up the acoustic, it was set to go. I had to tune the electric when I picked it up later, and I've had to re-tune about 3 or 4 times since. It's probably a good idea to check the strings every 2 to 3 songs if your instrument is new, to make sure you're getting the right sound. And if it's really out of tune, don't be worried; just be careful. My high e was tuned all the way down to a B, and I had to tune it a full 3 notes up, which took a good 4 full cranks on the tuning peg. Just go slow and you'll be fine.

The second hazard for me at least, since I'm used to the roughness of the acoustic strings, is that I feel like I can play the electric for a whole lot longer. My fingers don't hurt from the strings, and my wrists don't hurt from the bar chords. Now, this might seem like a plus at first. No pain means I can keep on playing, right? Well, as I put down the guitar to write this post, I glanced down at my hands, and my fingers are of course torn up more than usual. The strings actually tend to be farther away from the fretboard on an acoustic, so they take more energy to hold down. It's very easy on the electric, and requires a whole lot less effort (though as Will can tell you, it's still not "easy" by any stretch, if you're not used to it). The strings though, wear on your fingers just the same. So, I've probably gone through a few layers of skin by now, and I'll probably regret it by tomorrow. But for being able to play, and finally being able to practice hammer-ons, it's totally worth it.

-Kal

Like an artist with no artform...*

I know I've posted before on why I'm doing this, but I feel the need to express it again, maybe because I didn't do so adequately the first time. This might seem a little weird to try and say in words, but there's just this feeling in my chest now, and the overwhelming need to communicate it to someone. It feels almost like a moment of enlightenment, and like I want someone else to be able to feel that. It's like watching a sunset and not having anyone to share it with, or like singing your feelings to an empty room. The point is, I think that's why I'm doing this. I've been through so many "artforms"-- there's dance and gymnastics, writing, poetry, theres drawing and sculpting, and there's music. All these ways of expressing yourself, in the hopes that maybe, maybe someone will understand what you meant when you painted it or wrote it or performed it. Like the song says, "if I get it all down on paper it's no longer inside of me, threatening the life it belongs to". Maybe it seems elementary, but I started this because it became a way of expressing myself when words escaped me. Before I was a guitarist I was a writer, and before I was a writer, I was an artist. Maybe this is just another phase, but if it's a way of getting me to the next wave, then I'll go with it. Right now, this is my way of reaching other people, of finding that connection we all so crave. Right now, the guitar is my release when no other exists. Right now, my guitar expresses everything that I can't.

-Kal

Messing With the Electric

Alright, crash course for anyone just picking up an electric guitar (like me!):

First thing that's actually really awesome, is that all the tuning pegs are on the same side. No more snapping that G-string! Turn the tuning pegs Away from you to tighten the strings, and toward you to loosen them. As you can also see, there are two metal platforms that hold down the highest four strings (DGBe). This becomes important when re-stringing your guitar-- all you have to do is make sure the strings feed under the hooks.








Next thing: there are so many ways to mess with the tone on an electric guitar, especially between the dials on the guitar and the amp. If you watch the video below, you'll get a quick tutorial plus you'll be able to hear the changes that each dial causes (and if I sound like I'm pretty new to this...........I am):



Other than that, here's a brief and probably more organized tutorial of what all the dials do:

First of all, the changes in tone are possible because of these three pickups. The top one is sensitive to lower tones; the middle one, to middle tones; and the last one, to higher tones. The principle way of controlling these is with this switch and these tone dials:



















The switch has five settings: all the way to the top is the top pickup, or the lowest tones. Next is the top and middle pickup. The middle setting turns on the middle pickup. The fourth position turns on the middle and bottom pickup. Last setting turns on just the last pickup, which means you'll get more of the higher notes.

The next way of controlling tone is with the two dials: the top dial controls the top pickup, and the bottom dial controls the bottom pickup. Basically, if you for example, turn the top pickup all the way up and the bottom pickup off, you'll get a very twangy sound. If you use just the top pickup, youll get a very full, bassy sound. To change the tone on the middle pickup, you have to play with both dials.

The last thing you can do to change the tone with the pickups has to do with where you play: if you strum closer to the top pickup, you'll get a much fuller sound, where strumming over the last pickup will give you a very twangy sound.

As if that weren't complicated enough, there's also the dials on the amp. This one has three channels, all of which have volume dials, in addition to the master volume. Then there are the tone dials, low dnd high. Low gets the bassy notes, and high gets the higher notes. I've been told that for playing live, it's best to turn the high knob up most of the way, and the low knob a little bit less so.


Yes, this does seem quite overwhelming at first. And by at first I mean that I'm still overwhelmed by it. It's very difficult to get the right sound for certain songs, especially when you're not familiar with this kind of equipment-- or this kind of control. Usually when I'm playing I'll set the pickup switch to either the second or fourth setting, I'll put the tone dials about halfway, and I strum between the first two pickups. Mostly, you just have to play with it to figure out what everything does, and what sounds good for which songs.

The key here though, which I can't stress enough, is BALANCE. Some people love to pump up the bass, and I can tell you primarily as a listener that it is not appealing when you can't hear the singer or the high notes of the song. That said though, it sounds very unattractive as well when you turn the bass all the way down, so that all you get is a low hum in the background while the high strings are buzzing against the frets. Sometimes it's cool to play around at the extremes of high tones or low tones so you get a sense for what everything does. But please, for the love of God, balance the tones when you're actually playing.

That is all.

-Kal

But Honestly: A Special Song for a Special Someone

This is one of those songs I've been practicing since I got the acoustic-- I mean it sounds like a pretty acoustic song, like it should be played unplugged. But something about it just never sounded quite right when I was playing. The notes weren't clear or crisp enough; everything just sounded very muddled and monotone. Especially on the higher frets, where the strings start to pull away from the fretboard on the acoustic, it gets harder to hold the notes. This song also goes up to the 14th fret, which is about the highest I can hit on the acoustic.

So, here's a quick practice session to demonstrate how much easier it is on the electric. (To see the tab, view the video in YouTube and check the description).



Of course I'm a newbie at this part, so I spent a lot of time fiddling with the balance and the volume (and my mic is still not that great), but if you can get the EQ just right, the notes sound so perfectly crisp. I can hit the highest fret (21st) with no problem, and my fingers slide so easily down the strings (very important for this song). Actually, for someone who's used to rough strings, it's a little hard to judge where my fingers are on the fretboard if I'm not paying attention.

Quick disclaimer, the strings are probably not entirely in tune since I did them by ear again.

And of course, I do have to mention that this video is for a certain someone by the name of Will, who is the reason I've been working at this song since I started playing. I remember when I first got Carmine I was so excited, and I really wanted to do somethign special for him-- but of course, our taste in music had a very narrow margin of overlap, and there weren't a whole lot of acoustic songs I could play for him. This I suppose, was our compromise, since Everlong and Best of You were way above my skill level at the time. Now at least, I can start paying him back, on this appropriately special day.

Now, I know you Foo Fighters fans reading this are ranting in your heads about how I changed the tab to make it easier and I didn't play the song all the way through  I didn't even get to the solo. Patience, patience, I just started on the electric yesterday, and I've barely started to practice picking yet. Next on my list is definitely the picking and slide intros I was never able to do on the acoustic.

Anyway, next chance I get, I'll try to do a post on the basics of an electric guitar, which will probably be a lot of me fiddling with the EQ. Till then!

-Kal