Of jobs and not loosing sight of why I got a laptop in the first place.

I got a laptop so I could write and record music more easily. This is something that I've forgotten in recent weeks and is some thing I'm looking to correct. After seeing  this video and others like it I have been inspired to think what I can do on my own. I write songs all the time, even today, but without people to teach the songs and someone to record them they all stay stuck in my brain.

So I'm going to invest in some home recording gear so I can make some some music my own. Or just do Final Fantasy covers or something.

In other news I'll soon be applying for a job teaching music in a school, once I can get the cover letter and C.V. sorted in such a way that makes me look best suited to the job (which I certainly am). Hopefully I'll be able to get out of the day job and into a career.

Sickness

It's been a pretty strange set of weeks.

A couple of weeks ago I performed with Mike Hough at the Indigo O2. This was the culmination of months of preparation and the end result was brilliant as these choice cuts show. Since then I've been feeling pretty rough; Man-flu has struck me bad. However, my resolve to get out of my day job and start making a living from music is strengthened and I'll be spending the next couple of days putting a lot of effort into trying to make that a reality.

Finally these tracks are worth checking out: Polo Towers and  Heck of a Job by John Scofield.

Ears

First off, I've changed the look of the blog. This was because the last look had broken segments and, while it did look nice, it was a bit all over the place. The new one is a bit simpler and will suit me for the time being.

This got me thinking about how much more things look affects the way we would perceive something than how something sounds. Music has been becoming more visual since the television became a staple of every family's living room. Now, with the internet a staple of every family's house, YouTube has become the greatest place to find free music of all time. Just for some examples I can see a live performance of Frank Zappa here, Dizzie Rascal playing Bulls on Parade here and The Black Mages with an orchestra to the tune of One Winged Angel here. Coincidently, I added the picture of the Ghostbusters once the blog was written, it was something that came up in Google images after searching for "Music Video" and since I'd watched this today I thought I should leave it in.

I think that while music will always be sound, the way it will be enjoyed will forever be connected to the visual. As a musician I like to see what the guitarists, drummers, singers et al are doing when they perform. For non-musicians there will certainly be a different level of understanding and another reason for watching music be created on the spot. It certainly makes me think about how I should go about getting my own music on there.

I've been playing even more Ultima recently and I think I'm probably going to end up fusing with my chair and keyboard chewing on my desk for sustenance.

Sick and Tired

I've spent the past week feeling ill in one way or another: hurt my neck, got a cold, muscle pains in my arm and the list goes on. However, that's in the past I feel good and less sniffly; I'm ready for some more blogging.

I work in a shop, a big one. If you've been to England then you've certainly seen one if not been in one. Last week I was working and thoughts went through my head along the lines of how much I'm looking forward to getting out of that place and how bad it is to work there. It then occurred to me that lots of musicians (if not all) go through this transitional period from day job to career and I thought it would be good to list some point about how to approach work and what gets me through my day job when it gets me down.

The People


I've often heard from co-workers that they hate the place but love the people. I suspect this is only partially true; some people hate both but don't want to tell you to your face that they think you're an arse. I would say that I've made more friends at work than any other single institution I've been to. The experiences that you have with people are one of many that will shape you creatively, go on nights out, meet for Quasar or Go-Karting or whatever.

On top of this you'll need people to go to your shows and co-workers will function well as audience members and spreading knowledge of you through word of mouth (what else is there to talk about at work?).

You Will Need Money


I wouldn't be able to be where I am without my day job money. Paying for transport, gear, lessons and beer all adds up. The only problem you may find is the flexibility of your job. I am lucky in that my job is very flexible and I only work two days a week, but even so I find it hard some times: I work a ten hour shift on Saturdays. This makes it very hard for me to do gigs on Saturday nights and I have missed many gigs because of this.

When You Get Down Remember: You Can Quit Any Time


There was a time at my job when a manager was desperately trying to change my hours so that I was working a lot more and I'd have a lot less free time. I was told I'd have to choice and I'd be obliged to do it. Eventually, with some help from my Mother, I realised that I did have a choice: I could quit. Getting another job of the same kind isn't as difficult as people would have you think, or I could have started trying to teach. As it happens my letter of resignation was rejected and I stayed, since then I've been working less and less.

The above is just a short list of that I thought about, I hope it helps me to remember what it was like being a G.A.

On a completely different subject, I've been spending this week listening to Frank Zappa and these links here and here really show him off at his best.

Back from Holiday

What a week...

I've returned from Cheltenham where I went to their Jazz Festival and ate at their lovely restaurants, although Jazz seems to be pushing it a bit seeing as they had seemingly booked any band they liked which contained a brass section or a double bassist. One such band was Polly and the Billet Doux who had a great set of songs, a bit folky with a very busy guitarist and a quite petite singer. Between songs the singer stalled for time by singing Pump up the Jam and Mr. Boombastic. On both occasions the band, when ready, joined in causing great mirth for the audience.

However, the greatest parts were seeing Phantom Limb and John Scofield. Two very different acts but equality fantastic. The former full of vocal harmonies, soft melodies and a general feeling of easygoing-ness (I actually almost fell asleep! Not a bad thing in this case. The latter a hard hitting, heavy on the improvisation, bout of real Jazz from a legend in the (Sco)field. Both were really eye opening; my girlfriend said she understood Jazz after seeing Scofield (Quote: "I get why people use notes out a scale now").

On top of this I can't recommend the following restaurants enough: Ask Italian and The Everest Curry House as well as an unknown Greek food vendour who made some of the most delicious food ever to pass my lips (as seen in the picture, it makes me drool just looking at it!).

Now I'm back it's full steam ahead with Mike Hough and his performance at the O2. Last night we had our first full band rehearsal with a pianist and I'm feeling a bit worried because she (through no fault of her own) is taking up all the space I was on guitar. I'm really going to have to have a think so I can sort out some new arrangements to play in these songs that don't let me get lost in the mix.

One last thing: I've been listening to a fair bit of Oscar Peterson since going to the Jazz festival, he really is amazing and I urge all to listen some of his songs. One such song sounds like a jazz version of Blind Date.

I Feel Like I've Grown New Buttocks

I've been sitting at the computer all day writing, composing and sorting out my computer. My bum is numb and my back is curving. However, I did get a bit done: a song that's been annoying to write a verse for has been completed and I'll soon be sending out a load of pictures and songs to go on my website to my friend who's creating it.

While doing all this I played Lord of Ultima which is pretty far up there in term of Geekdom. I like it, you don't have to think much if you don't want to and you can get things done and procrastinate at the same time.

Worth checking out

The Beginning of the Blog

This blog is for myself, it's a way for me to look back on my past in the future and see how I got to where I've got to. Mostly I'm going to be writing about my struggle to earn a living being a musician but I'll also cover other things that I like such as video games, books, movies and anything else that I'm interested in.


Where I am at the Moment


I've been playing guitar for just over six years and just took my grade six exam a week ago. I've done some teaching and my fair share of gigs but haven't earned much from either. I play in a band for a guy who was in the X-Factor called Mike Hough. It's definitely not the kind of music I listen to on a daily basis but I've still learned a lot about pop song structures (more often than not they're in Ab, handy to know!).


I did a degree in Music Performance and Production, which really did earn the capital letters, and got a 2-1. My final assignment was to create an album, clips of which will be on my website when I get it up and running. The final product was a mix of funk, jazz and jamming that really reflected my playing style at college well.


Since then I've been working on more music that I will hopefully record later this year if I get some equipment together. these songs include rock, metal, jazz, funk, fretless and acoustic guitar work. At some point I want to learn to sing; I had lessons in my first year of college and enjoyed them even though I was pretty bad and nervous most of the time. But I don't know if I want to go the whole way and get a teacher, even though that would be the best and quickest way to learn.


Anyway, that's the first one. I'm going to try and update this whenever I can, hopefully at least once a week.