Tag Archives: instrumental

Snowed In

Posted on January 21, 2019 | Leave a comment

Happy January! Hope you like snow! Because, uh, we here in my neck of the woods got a LOT of snow over the weekend. So, being trapped in the house all weekend, I naturally got bored and had to make some music.

This tune got a sort of three-step process, all of which took about two hours. First, I demoed the tune quickly on my tablet. Liking what I heard – and also having nothing better to do – I decided to record it for real… so I wrote the chords and structure down. After that, I set up an amp and a microphone and tracked what you hear up there. The intentionally buried keyboard parts weren’t in the original demo, of course…

As always, thanks for listening! Feel free to let me know what you think. Stay warm and I’ll see you soon.

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Side Effects May Include…

Posted on August 13, 2018 | Leave a comment

Today, the Laryngitis EP concludes.

This song being here is proof that sometimes chronological isn’t the best order for music. This closing track was written before each of the previous three AND was recorded on the same day as “Laryngitis” (I had the day off from work that day). The impetus for this one came simply from looking at my lap steel and deciding to use it again. Then, to take the tune to the next level, I took my Gibson and put it in Open-D tuning to match the lap steel. The final piece that really put this one over the top is the solo in the whole-tone section – I received an Otamatone this past Christmas and it finally made its recording debut here.

As always, thanks for listening! Feel free to let me know what you think. Have a good one and I’ll see you soon.

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The Doctor Will See You Now

Posted on July 16, 2018 | Leave a comment

The instrumental EP continues… and we kick off metaphorical Side B with a fun one.

As you might be able to guess from the overall sound, this is my attempt at an early Metallica instrumental – I was picturing it as a combination of “The Call of Ktulu” and “Orion” in a fraction of the time. Shortly after I put this one together, I got an idea: Since there were three spots in this tune for solos, let’s give two of them to other people! So, I got a hold of my friends Jay and Neil (the first two guitar players that popped up in my mind) and they were willing to play! Fun Fact: The solos were recorded in reverse order – my solo was tracked first, while Jay’s was done last (Jay’s a busy guy).

As always, thanks for listening! Feel free to let me know what you think. Enjoy the start of summer and I’ll see you soon with this EP’s closing track.

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The Waiting Room

Posted on June 18, 2018 | Leave a comment

The instrumental EP continues!

I knew I wanted to mix it up with something mellow about halfway through the EP. This one really came about after thinking about my favorite Dredg album and all of its little incidental tracks, all of which are less than two minutes. So… why not keep that mellow thing about halfway through nice and short? After I put that chord progression together, the title practically suggested itself. Were I ever able to afford pressing this EP on vinyl, this would definitely be the last track on Side A.

As always, thanks for listening! Feel free to let me know what you think. Enjoy the start of summer and I’ll see you soon.

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I Googled My Symptoms and Now I Have a Headache

Posted on May 21, 2018 | Leave a comment

Here’s track two from the upcoming instrumental EP.

I had so much fun writing “Laryngitis” with my 8-string guitar, so why not write another 8-string instrumental? This one, to me, has much more of a djent vibe than “Laryngitis”, which I like. Also, to mix things up, I decided to play all of the melodic/solo work on keys this time around.

As always, thanks for listening! Feel free to let me know what you think. Have a good day and I’ll see you soon.

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Laryngitis

Posted on April 23, 2018 | Leave a comment

A few weeks ago, I went and got sick. Shortly after I got sick, I lost my voice. Well, that’s no help… but I had an idea.

During that weekend where I had almost no voice whatsoever, I started to write instrumental music. I’ve always liked instrumentals in the first place, and I couldn’t sing at the time, so why not just play stuff? I promptly wrote two tunes that weekend – this guy here and another one coming later called “Side Effects May Include…” Needless to say, there’s an instrumental EP in the works.

As always, thanks for listening! Feel free to let me know what you think. Take care and I’ll see you soon.

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Distinct Hitting Motion: Rain Delay

Posted on October 2, 2017 | Leave a comment

Dang. Just like that the regular season is over.

I decided quite a while ago – I think even as far back as August – that the best way to end the regular season would be with an acoustic instrumental. Good way to break things up after all the distortion, right? I’ve always enjoyed the acoustic songs in the middle of metal albums, so I figured why not. Also continuing a seeming tradition, I also used an alternate tuning – Open-D, to accommodate the lap steel guitar I used as the melody instrument. I also tracked some organ, but didn’t use the video footage of that.

As for the title… it seemed appropriate after being caught in two rain delays this season – one in Batavia and one in Rochester (the Rochester game wound up being suspended). The noise buried in the background is indeed rain, recorded from an open window in my studio space.

As always, thank you for listening! Feel free to share and let me know what you think. Enjoy your day and come on back in two weeks for something that starts quiet… but doesn’t stay that way!

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Distinct Hitting Motion: Or Do You Want to See Me Sock a Few Dingers?

Posted on August 21, 2017 | Leave a comment

If you know your Simpsons trivia, you knew this tune was coming at some point.

This one took a lot of work. I had over an hour and a half of footage to sort through for this video. There were at least a few bad takes on every instrument… especially that piano part in the middle. Those drastic key shifts made that part tough. Not sure why I keep doing that to myself…

Knowing how the line was delivered, the tune had to start exactly like this – mid-tempo, major key, generally sounding happy and fun. Then, remembering the Terrifying Truth, ending with the sinister riff that opened and closed that song… transposed down again. Because let’s be honest – I’m using the 8-string and that open 8th string with full distortion is just way too fun to leave out.

As always, thank you for listening! Feel free to share and let me know what you think. Have a good week and come on back in two weeks for a little more prog rock fun!

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Distinct Hitting Motion: Do You Want to Know the Terrifying Truth?

Posted on June 26, 2017 | Leave a comment

It was about time for a track like this, wasn’t it? I thought so, too. As soon as I knew I wanted to use a Simpsons reference (the song for the second half of it is actually mostly written and coming later this year), this one started to form a little in my head. Because it came first, the title really helped shape the song itself. Vocals? Lyrics? Who needs ’em?!

Even though I could’ve gotten away without it, I used the 8-string anyway. This is largely as a setup for the second half… and also because I reached for it long before the “7-string in drop-A” lightbulb went off.

Thanks to the title, I knew I wanted changing time signatures and plenty of dissonance. This tune, with the exception of one section, goes back and forth between 3/4 and 5/4 time. As for dissonance, the easiest way to achieve that was to have the guitars one fret off on the high notes in the 5/4 riff. I then had the bass decide who’s “on” and who’s “off” through its own line.

As always, thank you for listening! Feel free to share and let me know what you think. Enjoy your day and I’ll see you in two weeks with a new song!

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