Minutes

Sometime during Covid I started really honing in on this engine Hetfield created with his right hand, and remembered reading him claiming it was all downstrokes. It seemed impossible, but of course there are tons of youtube posts now discussing and celebrating this sound. I don't know that I'll ever get there, but I have turned it into a warm up and meditiation of sorts - here are some of...

Metallica hit town just as we were heading off for 2 weeks in Croatia - Rob and Brian at work went, which sparked a whole conversation on what is good/bad metal from their blossoming and what constituted 'good' Metallica. They have been lost on me for decades, but there was a time when I heard sounds on their records that felt as.. what's the word for recasting your context? There are...

"Arkansas Traveler" is a traditional fiddle tune that I first heard electrified on a compilation of Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant's called Stratosphere Boogie. My god did I love this record - I played it incessantly and absorbed the sounds throughout high school, but didn't think myself capable of playing any of it until later. Jimmy Bryant's technique is so amazing -...

From May 29 One little addition to yesterday's notebook page. The middle voice starts to expand and permute. Link to the post.

From May 29 Number 150! I got a little obsessive with this, but got lazy writing it out. 1 cycle plays the the same scalar figure up and down the scale on E, F, G, A and B, then back down - it has 4 notes in the figure. The other, with 5 notes in the figure, goes up and down E, F, G and A, and the cycles just about meet up perfectly at the end. I haven't been able to sit and practice my guitar...

From April 8 A complicated warmup turned into something simpler. A wise man told me recently that if I wanted to reach more people, swath my weird bits in accessible clothing. Well not those exact words but that was the sentiment. I love playing these slides and it feels good to at least have 4 more bars in the notebook. Moving these through positions and key changes is the next step. Link to the...

From April 7 Another stream of consciousness exercise made into a piece. I wrote this out - one of three studies - in Boonville without the aid of an instrument, on November 3, 2006. These three pieces were a Satori for me, a moment of awakening, where I hadn't trusted my self to freely write. This line has 2 others, as well as drum, in this sketch for a short-lived group I was planning with S...

From April 4: I forgot I'd made this drum track to practice this study with. It's called Shifts, and if you notices the lines in the notation, you'll see why. I can barely play it at this tempo. 5 days without guitar practice time today, so I'm pining for my studies. Next week promises some relief. Link to the post.

From April 2 Big insomnia night last night as I ran inventory - aka monkey-minded - about all the things I think I must do. The chores required of us before we can move. The music I want to write but don't have time write now. On and on obsessive demons gnaw at my stomach until I can put thoughts to bed, usually with the aid of comedians in earbuds and 2 benadryl. Last night it didn't work...

From March 25: Another Slider Ray - this one called Lines Above. I guess I didn't have time or need for stems and beams. The first bar is represented by a squiggly line in the other bars. This 3 Body Problem show is distracting. I loved the books and am loving the show so far. Link to the post.

From March 18 For the last 5 years I've been obsessed with writing pieces for my group Guitar Cult - lots of pieces for either 3, 4 of 6. We've been on hiatus since fall, probably getting back to it at the end of summer, but we're going to get together and run our set next week, and it's got me revisiting a lot of unfinished work. I cranked so many demos out for us–I haven't go...

From March 26: Lotta motion in this one. I recorded this piecemeal and laid some quotes from one of my Circular 4Track cuts ("Pulse Drop 2s"). Today was one of those days where I'm socialed out by 5pm - playing lines like this ground and refuel me. I hope someone out there gives one of these a spin someday and get the same recharge I do. Link to the post.

from March 6: A little audio verité from Jason's place, layering guitars and more guitars. These zippy slidey lines are so fun to play - I'm glad I can fall into the pocket eventually. Here's me stumbling through making this up while Jace tweezes the sounds. Link to the post.

From Feb 19: This line over Jason's funk was a pain for some reason - I couldn't settle on what left hand fingering to use. You check it out. Still learning TidalCycles, and playing with how I might deploy a line from Tidal in sync with Ableton. It seems I need to anticipate either an 1/8th or a 1/4 note, but it doesn't seem consistent. Link to the post.

From March 8: This pattern was written on night 2 with no sleep 11 years ago almost to the day, about 3am (my orig recording is Memo 2013.03.01-EndlessLoopTuktu.mp3). Creating something angular that sits in one position and can be looped. Voivod show last night was amazing. Got to meet Away briefly and talk to Dan Mongrain (Chewy) for a bit. They both thought they'd met me before, and I think...

From Feb 18: Brainstorming parts to a tune Jason set up with the working title of loss, my hands we not warming up, so I rabbit-holed on this. This is one of 4 studies I wrote during a Satori moment in Boonville in 2006. For me, these pieces ground me and present new challenges whenever I pick at them. Today I decided to play with a straight boom-kat and not take any repeats. It induces a brain fo...

From Jan 15: This thing has been called Slider Rays or Lines Above in my notebook for a little over five years. I like the angles, I like the slides, but it's static right now and it won't feel 'done' until I can take the idea and move it through some changing harmonies and vibes. Link to the post.

Construction is in full effect here in Olalla - not enough practice time! Link to the post.

More Thuja, another burst where I'm simplifying the API. I've been using Codeium to kickstart my refactoring and docmentation of this thing, and it's pretty fun. I asked ChatGPT to make some variations of Happy Birthday I could use with Thuja - here's the transcript: Me: you are an electronic music composer, using pitches and rhythms to describe melodies. pitches are notated as low...

Some exploration with Thuja and Csound. Link to the post.

How close were these fellas last night? The closest coyotes calls I've captured so far. Link to the post.

Owls last night having a call-and-response - one on an E, one on a G#, pretty well in tune! Pictured is nice notation for whale song we saw at the preview of the new aquarium exhibit today. Link to the post.

Set my recorder out to catch some coyotes, but caught this distant singing. Something coming out of someone's distant system as the party's winding down (this was around 1am last night) or something more ritualistic? Hearing it from a distance, along side wind and chirping insects adds its own filter that no machine can duplicate. I strip all the noise down and boost the signal of the voic...

The only thing I really spent time with this Olympics was the breakdancing. To live to see something come from the Bronx in new segments and early MTV videos to seeing my first breakin live when I was 10 (1982) at Seattle Center to seeing Beat Street the day it came out in some Edmonds multiplex (probably Lynn Four or the Alderwood Mall) to THIS. Threaded through so many cultures and scenes made m...

Got to meet Dweezil and listen the band rehearse for their show at the Moore. A gem and a brilliant even-keeled player. I'd love to see him taking a more active role in managing his father's legacy, but that isn't in the cards right now. Here they are rehearsing the challenging last lick of Punky's Whips. Link to the post.