Blame it all on my roots. I showed up in boots. Hands touching hands. Reaching out. I’ve got news for you. You’re the best man and I’d withstand a boulder for you. Maybe not. Cuz that’s a lot. But Your Song is what I’d like you to share. I’m off to San Francisco for a charity event. I wonder if I’ll find a woman again. But of course, I know there’s an awful lot out there. That’s awful like a waffle with your choice of toppings. I hope the fruit and syrup is popping. Everyone’s drunk, and may your holiday stay crunk. I just hope you can keep me alive. To sum it up, I’ve got music in my cup and my horizon is filled with blue sky.
If it sounds like I’m super confused, that’s because I am. Well, I actually don’t know. I might be. The thing is I have a lot going on. So that makes sense. What else makes sense? Hmm. Music.
What is written at the introduction to this entry is the jumbled summation of my month of December up until the week before Christmas. I was so fucking tired and hungover from several events that I couldn’t finish this entry. Then I got sick, which was exacerbated by the fact that I was beaten down like a dog in heat. I’m not sure I know what that expression means other than referring to canine birthing. See why I’m confused?
We had our company holiday party at our venue, At The Top on Monday, December 18th. Hence, the opening lines of lyrics for 2 of the many songs I sang that night. Yes, we had karaoke. Yes, we had a tattoo artist. Yes, I got a tattoo. Yes, we had tarot, vintage video games, beer pong, etc. Yes, it was fun!
I have not been posting regularly on this blog. In my last post I talked about plans I had for meeting with my cousin. We have not met yet. FUCK. But I have been working on vocals for Coming Home and Maybelline. I have worked out the former, whereas the latter tune I need to revisit. What’s left to consider is a duet with a female vocalist.
The reference to Your Song and Best Man in the introduction is because I have been asked to be the Best Man and sing Your Song at my best friend’s wedding. I have spent a lot of time and basically have the song figured out on guitar and piano. My approach was to research tabs, which none of them are really that accurate. So then I started playing the song on piano because, well, it’s Elton John. I found a lot of great YouTube videos and lessons that gave me the essentials along with varying options for how I can play this song. After a few days, and as I’ve been reorganizing my house with new furniture, I cleaned my piano and then remembered I had songbooks in my piano bench. Sure enough I have a book of sheet music for Elton John. Your Song is last, and it includes guitar chords. It’s been really fun to learn this song!
I have also spent time learning some Jazz essentials, like classical chord triplets versus the concept of Jazz 7, 9, 11, and 13 chords, which basically means if you’re looking at white keys starting with C being, you will skip a white key then arrive at E being the 3rd, then skip to G the 5th, which player together is your standard C chord. For 7, 9, 11, 13, you would continue by skipping a white key to arrive at B, D, F, A. This is as far as you can take it with stacking a chord since a 15 would bring you back to the root of C. Also, another useful lesson is that common Jazz progressions are played as 2-5-1. So for the key of C, talking about chords, the Root 1 is C major, the 2 is D minor, and the 5 is G major. I also spent time going through different rhythms and scales with common ways to solo using your right hand.
My goal this week is to spend time developing a plan for releasing my new music. That includes a release date, associated media content and marketing, short term goals and strategies. I think this, maybe oddly, will help me determine what I’m going to do to wrap up recording! I want to be done with this project so I can get it out into the world.
More on all this later… If you’ve read this far, thank you. I hope I did not waste your time.
Perspective In Sound 