Boom Sha Boom

    Time to give up on this one. I finished it last month and had been trying my damndest to get my vocals on it but my voice is stuck on one range of tone. I might just give up ever trying vocals. I'll do backup but nothing else.

    This is the biggest sound I could get with just a 3 track (guitar, bass, and drum) mix. I like it a lot. Sounds really good in my wife 's Jeep and on cell phone. This is a shortened version for critiquing. Note the drums over the verse riffing. There was only one way to do it. I tried all kinds of other ways.

    My trigger finger is getting pretty severe. I have surgery scheduled next month if my insurance approves most of the cost. I have been just practicing a lot and getting some guitar tracks down to mix for the recovery time (4 weeks).

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    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

    Getting tighter, good job BayouTexan !

    I've said it before and I'll say it again - I think you should up your output and let go.

    What I read in your post is perfectionism. It's stopping you from experiencing and trying things out, and later on in life you're going to be "fuuuu..."

    If you did a track a day or per week even then would any of your worries you've written here matter? If it goes wrong then there's always tomorrow, or next week.

    You'll find the ideas flow of their own accord, as will the improvement, and then if you want to do vocals you just can because who cares if it's wrong or right, no-one else hears you as you hear yourself anyway so how are they to know what you intended? If you're churning stuff out fast you also can go "I'm fine with this being an instrumental" for as long as you need till you go "I'm going to try putting some vocals on here" and then when you do it wont be perfect but it'll be a start.

    Oh and also it's more fun when it comes to learning, because every time you're working on something new, so you can focus on whatever you want rather than just "oh another day of trying to nail that bit" and fatigue of going over the same track so much that eventually you take breaks and are making excuses to not work on the track, and we've all been there.

    I bet if you were to just do one week of a new track per day that by the end of it you'll have already moved further ahead and faster than in the past 6 months if not longer. Make em short, make em fun, they don't have to be complete, they don't have to be good, they just have to be a routine. Start with the first riff that comes to mind and a looped drum pattern, you'd be surprised at what your brain will come up with once you get that first sound down.

    Thanks for pushing me Per! You are not the first to call me a perfectionist. I've been told that for many many years. :)

    It was mentioned to me before that I could lead or follow a drum beat. I always thought a chord had to hit on a kick or snare in 4/4 timing. These verse chords had to hit on the 1/8 note before the snare. If I went on the snare then the whole verse riff was out of whack. So, now I know.

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

    yep it's tighter, looks like you found a way to cope with the drummer :)

    Definitely your tightest track to date BayouTexan, mix is good too.

    Reading through the comments above i do think Per is right in that if you up your creative output to even trying to write at least one new track a week it'll push your songwriting to new levels. Also, definitely don't dwell on 1 track for too long. If you decide to use it later on then fair enough but write it, record it then move on to the next track. I only revisit tracks if i'm going to use them for a band project and the singer wants something added or changed.

    Here's something to try, on your next track, make the chorus section all big chords then try and find a guitar melody that will sit with the arrangement. This way you can have a verse with a riff or dampened notes that transitions into something big and open then back down to your dampened riff for the second verse. Us a closed tipped high hat in the verses and open it up to a chimming ride using the bell. Give it a try and see how you get on.

    Thanks Franjoe30! What? No Babylon reference? :P I might take you all up on that challenge to get one done per week. Coming up with new riffs don't seem to be a problem for me. I have about two dozen not yet recorded. It's finding the right tones that work with my current abilities that takes the most of my time. Half my time is practice and the other half is twiddling with the Kemper and Daw plugins. This November makes me 5yrs on guitar so I definitely want to up my game out of the beginner level.

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

    Quote from BayouTexan

    Thanks Franjoe30! What? No Babylon reference? :P I might take you all up on that challenge to get one done per week. Coming up with new riffs don't seem to be a problem for me. I have about two dozen not yet recorded. It's finding the right tones that work with my current abilities that takes the most of my time. Half my time is practice and the other half is twiddling with the Kemper and Daw plugins. This November makes me 5yrs on guitar so I definitely want to up my game out of the beginner level.

    You are far from beginner level now BayouTexan, you have already raised your game several times. I am guilty of of practicing, which frustrates me as i know i would get a bit better if i did. I tend to just play, which is where all my ideas come from.

    When you say you spend allot of time trying to find the right tone on the Kemper all i'd say is just use the profile that inspired you to right the part in the first place. That's allot of where the inspiration comes from when i write something.