[BLOG] Guitarist/Songwriter - Building a band

[SensoryOverload]

Hey folks, I apologize ahead of time if I posted this in the wrong section. Since I practically live in a Jam room for this project, seems right.

I just recently decided to start a "basement blog" about my progress and "journey" towards improving as a musician, something every guitarist works at. Nothing fancy, just the occasional post, photo/video about the work behind writing songs, creating an album, recording techniques, how a band jams/rehearses/practices and what works, what doesnt.

I'm a 22 year old guitarist and songwriter thats been hellbent on making quality music and recording songs in the genres of classic rock, hard rock, alternative, psychedelic and .etc. Like many guys on here can relate, started out around my teenage years and fell in love with the roaring sounds of 60s/70s classic rock as well as mid 90s stuff.

I've been on a journey to bring my ideas to life- guitar riffs, solos, songs and the whole nine yards. It's been an interesting path as I've been trying to make a formal band lineup for 2 years now- fortunately finding a talented singer but still working out a drummer. In the meantime though, I've been learning how to play drums and bass as well.

With all that being said, I decided it was time to start a blog. I feel like the best way to keep track of ones progress is to right it down, in order to objectively look at the work one accomplishes over a timeline.

BLOG LINK: http://www.sensoryoverloadband.tumblr.com
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/sensoryoverloadband

In addition to my own perspective, I've always enjoyed reading blogs myself- as there is rarely insight into how a guitarist or musician got a particular sound- how many takes it took- and the unconventional ways they practiced or rehearsed leading up to it. I get mesmerized by stories of famous bands and artists as well as modern ones and what they were doing in their off-time. If anybody here has a Tumblr, let me know so I can follow you as well.- as I just joined and have no idea what I'm doing haha.


I feel like this is also a great opportunity for people to give feedback and help me with speedbumps along the way, as well as post cool photos or information I find for those who actually decide to read my stuff!

I'll be updating this with future posts, and look forward to hearing suggestions from you guys- as well as checking out your blogs if you share them with me! Cheers

[everdrone]

ya I hear ya!  good luck.  here is my info on my track to building a band:

I was renting a studio on my own last year to try and recruit musicians.  I wrote some music with some musicians and played a few shows with them, and they are still playing my music to this day.  So I am happy about that.  They do not give me credit for it, but I know that I was the one who wrote the parts and recruited the band and rented the studio.  I just want to create, and am glad my stuff is out there still.

It was really hard to recruit a singer, so I started learning to do it on my own,

my progress is updated weekly with proof here:  

https://www.youtube.com/user/ronsimpsonesq/videos?shelf_id=0&view=0&sort=dd

and here:

https://soundcloud.com/earthalliance

I figured I might as well just start learning drumming too, but that is still in the beginning stages:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmdYOy6zIIQ  

so my doom/rock journey goes on!  cheers

[SensoryOverload]

ya I hear ya!  good luck.  here is my info on my track to building a band:

I was renting a studio on my own last year to try and recruit musicians.  I wrote some music with some musicians and played a few shows with them, and they are still playing my music to this day.  So I am happy about that.  They do not give me credit for it, but I know that I was the one who wrote the parts and recruited the band and rented the studio.  I just want to create, and am glad my stuff is out there still.

It was really hard to recruit a singer, so I started learning to do it on my own,

my progress is updated weekly with proof here: 

https://www.youtube.com/user/ronsimpsonesq/videos?shelf_id=0&view=0&sort=dd

and here:

https://soundcloud.com/earthalliance

I figured I might as well just start learning drumming too, but that is still in the beginning stages: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmdYOy6zIIQ   

so my doom/rock journey goes on!  cheers

hey dude thats righteous I guess your in a similar boat. Takes a long time to finally come around to learning drums too as it seems impossible at first haha.
Followed you on Soundcloud, Cheers!

Friday
Literally spent about 4 or 5 hours playing guitar and drums to a metronome. For those unfamiliar, a metronome or "clicktrack" is basically a method of measure how many beats are in a minute, and that the tempo or pace you are following is accurate.

It's quite hard to do for such a traditionally sloppy guy as my self, but the hours invested in it is what makes "perfect" guitar takes or recordings. Drums are actually coming along nicely as well, been taking YouTube lessons and playing along to videos for shits and gigs.

I recently recorded the guitar for about 12 songs using my new microphone set-up into an iMac via the Focusrite Clarett 4Pre. However, after going back and listening to them after a week or so, there were definitely some inconsistencies in the timing. It's crazy that being off-beat just for 5-10 seconds 3 minutes deep into a song can actually throw off the whole thing.

Sometimes if I catch it while recording I can punch-in at that point and re-do it.. but if its something I don't notice til after, basically makes it impossible to nail the identical tone again so it becomes obvious when a different-sounding guitar tone comes out of nowhere.

With that being said, I got the practice recordings out of the way, and with the practicing and fine combing of playing to a metronome, my takes should significantly improve over time. Still sloppy though



Post 2 - 14 Hour Work Days


My goodness, is it ever hard to find motivation to get anything done when you come home from work absolutely pooched. Setting up a date with my local guitar tech to get my acoustic intonation issues repaired this week as I mess around on my Yamaha SA800 I recently got fixed.
It's a semi-hollowbody electric that sounds surprisingly crisp for being unplugged and practicing. Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age famously used his unplugged electric to record the guitar bit on " This Lullaby"- however this is not the best sounding method traditionally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sh_waGlEgpk

Experimented recently with DI (Direct Input) and several amplifier simulators, which is the popular method of recording bass and guitar nowadays. I prefer mic'ing my guitar cab but some of these tones are quite tasty, and give a nice contrast to live amplifiers.

With that being said, the small window of leisure time today went to practicing guitar and sketching out amp presets

[everdrone]

cool man I followed back lol!  ya after doing my daily 1-2 hours of singing I get really slow with the drums learningz...  I got a new Black Sabbath inspired song in the oven, mirrored after "SnowBlind" riff.  Im going to the BLACK SABBATH show in 30 days, so excited!!!

good stuff on your intensive practices/recordings man, keep it up

[sleestak]

TLDR

[everdrone]

SensoryOverload I would like to hear your heavy rock music!  I was not able to find any on your soundcloud. 

as for what gear to use to record, the best thing to do is to use what you have and get good with that.  if its not broke, then dont fix it.  if its not up to snuff, then ya I would look to upgrade.  really, if your recording your solo stuff in an apartment, then Reaper, free amp sims, and drum software like toontrack is all you need, which would all cost less than $200 to get good recordings.