sketchandjam

Here's a post rock style #straturday jam on my home made partsocaster. I just setup a 6/8 120 bpm metronome and played whatever came to mind with a direct signal into cakewalk. From there I sliced up the wav file and added different effects to each slice to fit the playing mood of each part. All guitar effects were done in bias fx 2, I attempted adding some guitar rig 6 in there but that program is crap now after the latest update. Bias fx seems to be the most stable virtual guitar fx software out there with the best sounding amp sims. Later I added the drums via midi and piano roll programming and superior drummer. Many pre-made basic drum midi comes with cakewalk so it's easy to patch some of those beats into the piano roll view then play additional drums via a midi controller like my Roland Handsonic to vary the beat and add in drum fills at the key parts of the song. Thanks for listening :-)

Here's a quick and grungy #teletuesday​ on a Wednesday. I got way too busy yesterday and couldn't finish mixing the audio and editing the video. But here it is. I just played whatever came to mind to a 6/8 beat at 90 bpm. Later I added the post rock drum kit in Superior Drummer with a few basic drum measures to match the different moods of the improvisation. The tricky thing about this improvisation was that I just played the guitar acoustically into my zoom h6 without any monitoring through an amp. Fortunately I was able to sculpt the tone enough in bias fx after the fact. For the next jam I might work out a way to record an amp and a clean channel for easier monitoring of the situation. Thanks for listening :-)

Here is a 115 bpm improvisation on my hijaz handpan. I basically played the improvisation to a metronome to stay in time so I could add drums easier later on. The rest of the drums are via my Roland Handsonic and include a djembe, shakers, toms, tabla and cymbols. The final track is on my Fender Stratocaster Plus with a tape delay and a bit of overdrive via my Axe FX II. Thanks for listening :-)

Here is an improvisation on my Turkish Baglama Saz to a 115bpm maqsoum style beat. While I improvised on the saz I listened to a generic maqsoum 4/4 beat on the doumbek to influence the way I played the saz. Later in Cakewalk I added an indie drumkit with more of a rock/post rock style drum beat to get an interesting fusion of styles. The trick was trying to get the drums programmed to sound similar to the original doumbek beat I improvised to without having them become repetitive in nature. The mood of the drums and saz kind of reminded me of a group of soldiers going out on patrol on the roads. Hence the name Staggered Column as that is the formation they usually deploy in on roads while on foot. Thanks for listening :-)

I had an hour to kill after work so I did a quick improvisation on my G&L ASAT for #teletuesday For this one I just played to a metronome with the asat going direct into my zoom h6. After recording I chopped up the wav file in Cakewalk to add different guitar effects in Bias FX 2. Next I added the drums. When you play to a metronome it is easy to line up the audio segments to the measures and midi snap drum segments to the audio. The drums on this are the vintage custom kit in Superior Drummer with some compression and dirt added to them via the EZ mix plugin. Overall this took me about an hour to throw together from first recording to mixing and video editing. Video editing is much easier now that I have my black backdrop to record on. Now I just need to pick a better camera angle lol. Thanks for listening :-)

Here are a few deer I saw while looking for morel mushrooms. I recently learned that a group of deer can be called a rangale of deer. I ended up not finding any morels but at least I got to see these deer who didn't seem to mind me being around. Music is an original on my udu drum, 12 string guitar and roland handsonic. Thanks for watching and listening :-)

Here is an improvisation on my Wechter Pathfinder acoustic guitar. To start the process I programmed a 140 bpm basic drum track in superior drummer. I put the drums wav file on my phone and listened while I played whatever came to mind while recording with my zoom h6. Next I imported the wav file of the acoustic guitar back into my daw then reformatted the drums to match the guitar parts. This process seems to yield better result rather than just playing to a metronome as the monotonous metronome tone kind of influences my playing. If the drum beat is varied and interesting it forces you to try and play differently to match the percussion better. Once the song was mixed I layered in the video and fractals in after effects. This is also a test of my new black backdrop sheet that allows me to mask out the video better for adding effects. Thanks for listening :-)

Here is an improvisation on my Takamine classical guitar to a custom 200 bpm drum beat programmed in Superior Drummer 2. I used the vintage custom set with the slingerland kit for the drums. My guitar is tuned to dadgde. Once the drums were in place I just played whatever came to mind on the guitar then adjusted the drums a bit more to add fills here and there to finish the song. Thanks for listening :-)

Here's a random improvisation on my G&L ASAT for #teletuesday​ I played whatever came to mind then sliced the wav file to add different effects to each sliced portion in bias fx 2. Drums were added last via Superior Drummer. Thanks for listening :-)

Here is an improvisation that started out on my bendir drum tuned to an F drone. Later I added some traditional drum via superior drummer to enhance the overall rhythm. With the drums in place I set my capo to set my Wechter Pathfinder to be an open F tuning. This helped it mesh with the drone note of the bendir. Next I added a synth via my You Rock Midi guitar and Miroslav Philharmonic with a viola solo sample. To balance out the left ear I added my F tuned jaw harp. With all the rhythm in place I added my Musicman Petrucci as a subtle lead with a 4 note delay on on it that ping pongs between the left and right channel. Towards the end of the song I bring in my G&L Fallout with an eighth note delay on it to add a final ambient wash over the whole composition. This one is called gravitational fusion because the ping pong notes from the Petrucci remind me of how the sun's gravitational forces are so powerful that they cause heavy hydrogen to form creating a powerful plasma energy. Thanks for listening :-)

Here's a chug sludge metal improvisation on my G&L ASAT for #teletuesday​ I just played whatever came to mind in drop d tuning to a metal drum beat I programmed in Superior Drummer. All Guitar effects are via Bias FX 2. Thanks for Listening :-) #metal

Here is an improvisation that started out on my G&L ASAT with drop d tuning. I wanted to see if a telecaster style guitar could chug with heavy distortion. It did pretty good in the mid range but I had to add some heavy bass on my musicman to give it more of the chug sound. Initially I had planned for this to be a #teletuesday​ jam but ran out of time. So later I added three lead tracks on my stratocaster style guitars for #straturday​. The first strat track is my home-made partsocaster with some atmospheric delay and reverb effects on it. The second track is my stratocaster plus guitar with more of a chorus vibrato effect on it. The final track is my G&L Comanche with some dotted eigth delay on it with some shimmering reverb. As I was dealing with the high gain on the guitars I was reminded of the electromotive force and how emf radiation bleeds into the magnets of guitars. I had to isolate the static frequency in adobe audition and noise print it and remove it from the telecaster track to get rid of the annoying buzz sound from the pickups. Thanks for listening and happy #straturday​ :-)

Here is an improvisation that started on my red stratocaster plus then I started layering in the other tracks over it. My musicman stingray 5 bass was the next layer to go into the mix. With the bass and rhythm track in place I programmed in the drums via Superior Drummer and the Independent EZX. Next I added in a couple of leads on my G&L Comanche and home made partsocaster. I also added a cello track via the Miroslav Philharmonic vst and my You Rock midi guitar All guitar effects are from Bias FX 2 with mastering of the overall composition in Adobe Audition. Thanks for listening :-) here's hoping spring comes soon, I'm sick of this long winter.

Here's an improvisation that started out on my long neck baglama saz. Later I added four tracks of drums including darbuka, riq, frame drum and a marimba via my Roland Handsonic. Later in the song I add a couple guitar tracks on my G&L ASAT using guitar rig 6 and bias fx 2. Playing in key with the saz is tricky in standard guitar tuning but it lets you explore new scales to harmonize with the bflat, f and c notes of the saz. The overall mood of this improvisation is mysterious and a bit creepy. It kind of reminds me of Greek mythology where a siren at sea calls ships to their demise on a rocky shoreline. Thanks for listening :-)

Here's a post punk style jam that started out with a few bass riffs and a drum track I programmed in Superior Drummer. With the bass and drums in place I improvised a few tracks on my stratocaster plus and home made partsocaster. All guitar effects are from bias fx 2 except for the partsocaster track at the end which is guitar rig 6. The overall mood of this improvisation reminds me of the different moods you get at different locations within an urban environment. Most are pretty gloomy moods to me because I prefer nature more than concrete jungles. Thanks for listening :-)

Here is an improvisation that started out to a 3/4 beat on my wood tongue drum. I layered in a couple cajon track and a shaker tracks to enhance the natural wood tone of the tongue drum. I also added a jaw harp track with my jaw harp that is tuned roughly to the key of E. This drum is basically tuned to the key of E as well so it is easy to add a standard tuned guitar with it. I started out with my Wechter acoustic tuned to ebeaeg via the capo. Towards the middle of the song I bring in my PRS hollowbody I with some ambient effects via Bias FX2. Overall the mood of the song reminds me of people telling old stories by the campfire as the embers slowly die down. Thanks for listening :-)

Just a home-made guitar and some blues and the decay of the past.

Here is an improvisation on my long neck Turkish baglama saz to a layered drum beat in Superior Drummer and a drum beat by Jim Dooley on hand drums. The mood kind of reminded me of someone who was thirsty in the desert and found a strange cactus to eat for water. Then all sorts of colors magically appear out of nowhere :-). Thanks for listening :-)

Here's an improvisation on my Hiren Roy sitar to a few basic cajon beats in Superior Drummer. I added a few effects to the sitar via the FAS Reverb plugin by Fractal Audio and some mastering via EZ Mix. As I was zoning out improvising I was subconsciously thinking about the upcoming Holi Festival in India where colored powder is thrown everywhere. What a fun festival it must be. Thanks for listening :-)

Here's a little stratocaster jam on this #straturday​ evening. I just played whatever came to mind to a few drum beats I programmed in Superior Drummer 2. With the dry recording in place I started slicing the wav file into segments with different effects on each slice. The first two sounds are in Bias FX 2 where it starts out with clean phaser then goes to a heavy overdriven rhythm sound. The third effect is via Guitar Rig 6 with a big ambient sound, Guitar Rig has a bunch of weird effects so I don't even know how to describe them. The fourth effect goes back to Bias FX 2 with a crunchy sort of tweed sound to it. The fifth sound is via Amplitube 5 where I have it doing a tankish spring reverb effect. The sixth sound is Guitar Rig 6 with another strange ambient effect signal that bounces between the left and right channel. The next two sound effects are basic guitar amp sounds via EZ Mix by Toontrack. EZ Mix is good if you are looking for a basic sound and not too many options to mess with. Finally the last sound effect is via bias fx where it has a dotted eighth delay and reverb on it. Overall I like Bias FX 2 the best then Guitar Rig second best. Amplitube has good tones but they are always trying to upsell you on virtual gear and it takes alot of tweeking to get a good sound. EZ Mix is my favorite for mixing but for guitar amps it is pretty basic and only good for previewing a clean sound as you record, I usually end up trying to get the right tone from Bias FX later on after comping with the lightweight EZ Mix. Thanks for listening :-)

Here is an improvisation that started out with a beat on my Meinl Goatskin Mizhar drum played to a 4/4 80 bpm metronome. Later I added additional drums via the post rock ezx in Superior Drummer via my Roland Handsonic as a midi controller. The Meinl Goatskin Mizhar allows you to to tune its pitch to different notes. In this song I tuned it to the key of F to act as a bass note drone to the rest of the song. This helped when I tuned my Wechter acoustic guitar to an open tuning then capo'd it at the F note. The next guitar track on my home-made partsocaster is just playing in the key of F with Bias Fx to add drive and reverb. The final track is on my jaw harp tuned to the key of F with some crazy phaser, reverb, and delay via Guitar Rig 6. The mizhar adds a sort of old school battle sound to the mix and the mood kind of reminds me of two armies drawing lines in the sand daring each other to cross them before a battle. Perhaps they are engaged in salami diplomacy where they are engaged in many small skirmishes to wear each other down to win the larger war... Thanks for listening to my weird music :-)

Here is a post punk style improvisation that started out with a bass riff and a custom drum beat in Superior Drummer. Once I had the bass and drum tracks figured out I improvised a few G&L ASAT tracks over it. The first track has bias fx 2 with a dotted eighth delay and some overdrive. The second track is a huge mess of effects in guitar rig 6. Overall the gritty kind of mood of the song reminds me of how civilizations eventually grow old and decay then finally fall apart. Thanks for listening :-)

Here is an improvisation on my cigar box guitar to a 120 4/4 drum beat I programmed in Superior Drummer. I used the Rock Solid ezx library for the drums with a bit of compression and reverb on the drums. The cigar box guitar has a bit of compression and cathedral reverb on it as well. I also added a marimba track with some rotary effects on it as well as a bell track to act as ambient sound on the left and right ear. The mood of this song kind of reminds me of the concept of a parallel universe occupying the same exact space just shifted out of vision to the people in each universe. Who knows what sort of overlap could happen and how the two universes might effect each other... Thanks for listening :-)

Here is an improvisation on my Takamine classical guitar tuned to dadgde. I programmed a midi drum beat in Superior Drummer to a 6/8 metronome at 65 bpm to create a catchy sort of rhythm to improvise to. I used the Nashville drum kit for this beat and switched to drums from sticks to brushes to better fit the classical guitar. From there I just played the drum beat in one ear from my cell phone while I played whatever came to mind on the guitar. A nice base chord progression formed with improvisations in between to match the drums. One thing to note is around the middle of the song a loud car horn blared outside so I had to paste in a different part of the recording to remove that sound. So if you see my hands moving weird and not with the notes envision a loud car horn blaring in the background. The overall mood is a bit pensive and moody kind of like a dark rainy day where raindrops are constantly hitting the window. Thanks for listening :-)

Just an improvisation on my G&L ASAT with a basic drum beat and bias fx 2. Thanks for listening :-)