Finger-picking good

Whew. I haven't played the guitar this much since October. I played until my fingers hurt. Then I played a few more songs. [M]rs. montsamu and baby montsamu were the receptive audience, although both settled in for a nap by the end. I'm getting closer to putting closing the books on a new song called The Sparrow -- a departure from my usual kind of song in that it actually has an expressed meaning, and is intended for children. But I guess that is just one example as to how a new dad's life changes.

Sometimes a sparrow's ignorance
can be confused for divine providence
because sometimes
knowing how far can keep you from taking flight at all.

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Stringwork

Saturday and Sunday saw a lot of playtime. The strings settled in only slightly, still a very bright, metallic sound. So I'm likely to avoid the Phosphor Bronze and Bronze strings from Martin in the future. The other options are Elixir, with their "nanoweb" coating, and the recommended D'Addario Silk and Steel strings, both of which are supposed to give me a bit of a softer, more mellow sound. That is what I like, so that sounds like a plan for the future for things to try.

Anyway, not much practicing on Monday or Tuesday. Last night I subbed in for a friend's soccer team and scored my first goal in organised soccer. Hopefully tonight I can get back "on the horse".

I did find a taker for the Yamaha mixer, so it's heading out the door. I had a taker for the AT2020, but inspecting the box revealed that the eBay seller either lied directly or made the mistake of forgotting 2 fairly key accessories. So that fell through in fairly spectacular fashion. There is another guy with interest, so maybe I can get those accessories and make the sale yet. Otherwise, it is a highly reviewed microphone, so maybe, just maybe, I'll try it out myself. [More]

Putting yourself out there

Well, I used Writely to put a few songs worth of lyrics online. It's certainly a much easier and faster way than trying to use Google Pages to edit several pages and get everything "just right". Of course, "just right" certainly doesn't summarize my feeling on the lyrics at all. Standing alone, without music -- wow, they look juvenile and simple. But then again, not may people mistake a lyrics book for poetry.

Maybe it's a good thing I don't have my actual poetry online anymore...

I didn't get much practice in last night, since I was taking in the Jimmy V Volunteer dinner. To my surprise, a very accomplished singer-songwriter, James House, was the evening entertainment. Once home, I did manage to get once more through "Carousel". I'm not sure I'm happy with it but it appears to be getting "set" into a final state. My songs are so limited in chord changes and variety, but at least I threw a capo on for "Carousel" to change the pitch of the drone and hum, even if it's basically the same rythm and chord progression for the most part as "Best Days".

I've got to get with Bud and iron out some kind of agreement for the poem he wrote that I turned into a song, back in 1998 or so. But he's yet another of the friends I've completely lost contact with over the years. (Maybe there's a song idea in there somewhere...) [More]