Jump to content


Please note: You can easily log in to MPN using your Facebook account!

How Are You Using Your Downtime?


Recommended Posts

Hi all...

 

Interesting feedback from the https://www.facebook.com/KingdomOfRockPodcast/ I've been co-hosting with Matt Gibson. We've interviewed artists such as Steve Vai, Steve Stevens, Elliot Easton, Johnny A, Bruce Kulick, Michael Sweet, and Joel Hoekstra, as well as a platoon of producers, business people, and everyday musicians affected by the coronavirus crisis.

 

Some of the counsel has reflected on one's personal outlook â such as Steve Vai, who advocated NOT giving into fear â and other comments have focused on what a specific artist is doing to keep busy while sheltered at home.

 

Keeping busy. Yes. That...

 

After all, it would be truly tragic if guitarists DID NOT use the extra time we have all been given to write songs, learn new techniques, practice familiar and unfamiliar exercises, work on social-media and website promotion, devise a marketing plan for when we can gig again, and absorb other practical and essential tools of the musician's creative life.

 

"After I engage with my children and wife each day, I could spend the evening zoning out watching Netflix, or I can choose to work on answering social-media comments, practicing my craft, and finishing my upcoming album," said Joel Hoekstra (Whitesnake, Trans Siberian Orchestra, Cher).

 

In addition to upping your productivity game, I have to believe that working on your music will also calm your soul, anxiety, and frustrations during the apocalypse.

 

So, GUITAR FORUM...

 

What are YOU doing to enhance your talents, aspirations, techniques, and creativity during this time?

Link to comment
Share on other sites



  • Replies 32
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Messing about in the home studio. I've posted 2 tracks to Metapop.

 

This experimental track. 2 instruments. 5 takes with 2 simultaneous tracks per take. 1 mastering plugin in the output section. Guess the instruments!!!!

https://metapop.com/opossum-apocalypse/tracks/that-itch/130532

 

And this, my humble tribute to John Prine, recorded open mic style the night I learned he had passed on. RIP John, you will be missed.

https://metapop.com/opossum-apocalypse/tracks/burnt-orange/130210

 

Clearing the place out, listing stuff for sale, etc. Cheers, Kuru

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Michael and I are,working on some new songs and then he is emailing what we have to are 2 bandmates. I'm learning how to use my pedals and experimenting with where to place them. I'm a real novice on pedals.

Now that rain has stopped as soon as the lake that is our backyard recedes we will start on our outdoor projects.

I'm discovering that sitting on the back patio and having my morning coffee is a lot cheaper than going to Starbucks, in other words appreciating the simpler things in life.

Jenny S.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mixing, mixing, mixing. I have two large projects which have to get cleared off my plate before we return to normalcy. A CD for a folksinger I've produced & engineered maybe a dozen albums for over the last 4 decades, & a full length opera for Kronos Quartet (my day job) with tenor & a Vietnamese traditional musician.

But, during breaks, I've also started exploring open G tuning for the first time, both with & without bottleneck. Plus I've thrown down some quick electric piano tracks that feel like cues for a film I haven't seen yet.

Scott Fraser
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been spending most of my time managing my stock market portfolio, and when the market is closed, I've been doing a lot of cooking. For instance, today and yesterday was spare ribs. The two days before that was spaghetti and meat sauce with grilled Italian bratwursts. The two days before that was spare ribs, and the two days before that was grilled boneless ribeye steaks. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday is going to be baked mostiaccioli, and I'm probably going to make a batch of chili in the crock pot. Speaking of which, if you're getting tired of eating the same old stuff, and you want something that tastes great and is easy to make with only seven ingredients, here it is.

 

French Onion Soup

 

One baseball sized sweet Vidalia or white onion.

Two quarts of beef stock. (Broth works, too)

One package of onion soup mix

Three tablespoons of brown sugar

One teaspoon of Frank's Red Hot Sauce (don't worry, the sugar offsets the heat)

One slice of whole wheat bread per bowl of soup, lightly toasted

Grated/shredded Gruyere cheese, or a combination of Gruyere and Swiss cheeses

 

Chop up the onion into small pieces that will fit in a tablespoon. Put the chopped onion into a crock pot along with the beef stock, onion soup mix, brown sugar, and Frank's Red Hot Sauce. Obviously, you can add other spices or ingredients to suit your own taste. Put the lid on the crock pot, set it on high heat, and let it cook for about four to six or more hours, stirring everything maybe once an hour to make sure all the flavors have blended. Once the soup is done, pour some in a microwavable bowl, add one slice of lightly toasted whole wheat bread (cut up into 16-20 small pieces), sprinkle a layer of cheese on top, and zap it in the microwave for two minutes so the cheese melts. Pull it out of the microwave, grab a spoon, and enjoy. It's really that simple, and it tastes great.

I rock; therefore, I am.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

How Are You Using Your Downtime?
I am doing the same thing I always do as a retired senior. I pick on my guitar every day, I do inner silence practice (meditation), I walk outside 3x weekly. I ride the bike 3x weekly. Can't go to the gym in our community, they have that shut down until May sometime if even then. So basically I just sit home and while away the time playing games on my i-pad, visiting with y'all on the internet, watch a little TV (mot much really, mostly PBS) And do my pickin and a grinnin.

 

I changed the tubes in my Tweaker head yesterday. That is working fine so far. I think the tone improved a little by the tube swap (old tubes were 3 or 4 years old, but still seemed to work OK).

 

I am not shopping much, we have what we need and I hear Walmart even has (or had this morning) Cottonelle toilet paper which is what we usually use, I have enough TP to last until the fall because I always buy big packs of the mega rolls and we did score one a month or so back, and I was still using most of the old pack as well. (We always buy the mega rolls in 24 roll packs even before this TP shortage, and will continue to do so when the stock comes back up to normal).

 

Since my wife works I usually do most of the food and other shopping, but her salon closed until this is over (or the Governor allows hair salons to open back up)

 

So in conclusion, not that much change for me in this time of social distancing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have my daily routines (like DBM I'm a retired guy) which includes: read my books, walk a mile, take a 1hr nap, eat, drink and be merry, play computer chess, check emails, post on the forum, watch the stock market, check the news and weather, watch TV, play my guitars and sing a little...

 

Then I work on a few projects like: get my taxes done and mailed off, get my truck in for an oil change and tire rotate, get my fence project done in the back, get my lawn taken care of in the front, never really a dull moment... :crazy:

 

Before the stay in the house rules with the virus distancing came about, I had already been locked up and sequestered in the house as I had to stay out of the sun. I had a UV-ray face treatment and had to heal up before going outside for two weeks. It was great getting to go outside and take my walks again, even if I really couldn't go anywhere because of the virus! I know I should be writing some music and playing with my band in the box software, but I just like to procrastinate I guess. Maybe I'll get to it, after I get my generator in for a recall issue I just got in the mail today LOL! :cool:

Take care, Larryz
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Short answer is "What Downtime?".

 

My day job would normally have me travelling all over the country every week and I'm grounded, working from home. But I work from home anyway. And as it turns out, my group is in charge of keeping our organization connected with each other, as well as with our customers in a huge webinar series. So I spend my days hosting, assisting, or attending webinars, and spend my evenings creating them or preparing for the next day.

 

Oh, music? Yes so we have a cancelled gig when we were going to launch new songs. We haven't practiced or gotten together to work on the next 4 songs we're writing because some of us are in quarantine. So what did we do instead? We made a video for one of our new songs that we're going to launch and in place of our gig we're doing a "behind the music" livestream. We made the video completely isolated. My daughter recorded all my shots on her iPhone and each band member did similar and we FTP'd the raw footage to the singer who just got Final Cut and is diving in deep. So he has put together an awesome well-produced video with the audio track being what we just finished recording and mixing in the December-January time frame. Wrote the song almost a year ago but it happens to be fitting for what's going on now, so the video includes a lot of current imagery of masks and medical. Not to give away the end of the video, but it's a girl in a mask in the dark typing on a laptop.

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been spending most of my time managing my stock market portfolio, and when the market is closed, I've been doing a lot of cooking. For instance, today and yesterday was spare ribs. The two days before that was spaghetti and meat sauce with grilled Italian bratwursts. The two days before that was spare ribs, and the two days before that was grilled boneless ribeye steaks. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday is going to be baked mostiaccioli, and I'm probably going to make a batch of chili in the crock pot. Speaking of which, if you're getting tired of eating the same old stuff, and you want something that tastes great and is easy to make with only seven ingredients, here it is.

 

French Onion Soup

 

One baseball sized sweet Vidalia or white onion.

Two quarts of beef stock. (Broth works, too)

One package of onion soup mix

Three tablespoons of brown sugar

One teaspoon of Frank's Red Hot Sauce (don't worry, the sugar offsets the heat)

One slice of whole wheat bread per bowl of soup, lightly toasted

Grated/shredded Gruyere cheese, or a combination of Gruyere and Swiss cheeses

 

Chop up the onion into small pieces that will fit in a tablespoon. Put the chopped onion into a crock pot along with the beef stock, onion soup mix, brown sugar, and Frank's Red Hot Sauce. Obviously, you can add other spices or ingredients to suit your own taste. Put the lid on the crock pot, set it on high heat, and let it cook for about four to six or more hours, stirring everything maybe once an hour to make sure all the flavors have blended. Once the soup is done, pour some in a microwavable bowl, add one slice of lightly toasted whole wheat bread (cut up into 16-20 small pieces), sprinkle a layer of cheese on top, and zap it in the microwave for two minutes so the cheese melts. Pull it out of the microwave, grab a spoon, and enjoy. It's really that simple, and it tastes great.

Not a bad recipe!

 

I haven"t experimented with making FOS myself, even though it"s a fave. I must have a dozen or so recipes for it archived in some way. Cook"s Illustrated"s version involved repeatedly browning the onions and deglazing the pan to get a super rich broth.

 

Historical note: FOS was originally made with LEEKS, but over time, onions became more popular because they"re a lot easier to clean.

Sturgeon's 2nd Law, a.k.a. Sturgeon's Revelation: âNinety percent of everything is crapâ

 

My FLMS- Murphy's Music in Irving, Tx

 

http://murphysmusictx.com/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My wife is the chef in our household. I can burn meat or boil water, but in terms of real culinary skill or creativity, that's just not my area.

 

IRL, I pick a room in my house to clean every other day or so, and spend a few hours on that. Laundry is a constant, as most days I'm outdoors working in my yard, getting dirty. Having a big garden area means that there is always work to do, nothing is ever finished. This weekend's goals include transplanting an entire Iris bed, moving several groups of large Azaleas, and a couple of Hydrangeas, just to start with. I'd been waiting for the Hostas and the Lily-of-the-Valley to pop out, before I started digging.

 

In my Music life, I've been playing my new used Taylor, working on some recordings, designing new sounds in my Synths & MFX, and experimenting with my Neutron, my first Semi-Modular. I've started off-loading the User Banks in my Guitar Synths, to make room for new sounds. All of my Guitars have been getting cleaned, polished and re-strung, so I'm very glad I was already stocked up on strings before all the Music stores closed. It'll be a while before I have to worry about ordering any.

 

I know that I'm spending more hours in each day just playing Guitar, and more hours in each week working with my Music gear, but I do miss seeing my bandmate, and going out to the semi-regular House Jams with friends. All good, so long as we're all still here whenever it's time to get back together again. I expect we'll all have some new skills by then.

"Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King

 

http://www.novparolo.com

 

https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am primarily a keyboardist, but the last several weeks I have been playing primarily my guitar, and feel I have actually turned a corner or gotten over a hump technique-wise. Learned to play "Under the Bridge" by RHCP. Finally delved into the Kemper Profiler and do more than scratch the surface.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am primarily a keyboardist, but the last several weeks I have been playing primarily my guitar, and feel I have actually turned a corner or gotten over a hump technique-wise. Learned to play "Under the Bridge" by RHCP. Finally delved into the Kemper Profiler and do more than scratch the surface.

 

Excellent. I've been working on my "drumming", I can't afford to hire a great drummer and rent a space to do a proper recording for some 30 original songs I've written.

I've got a special blend of analog and electronic/digital drums/sounds available, Experiments have shown I can keep a simple beat and lock a groove.

 

I play bass pretty well so next step is to get the drums and bass parts that I want, one song at a time. Stylistically I am all over the map.

 

If/when I come out of this rabbit hole I will be much closer to being able to realize my goal of making records that sound and feel like "real" music to me.

 

So keep at it, keyboards are awesome but so is guitar!

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Working still on guitar thumbpicking. I use thumb picks a lot as a banjoist and Dobro and steel player but that"s mostly all down strokes with the thumb and upstrokes with fingerpicks. On guitar I"ve mostly been pure finger picker or hybrid picker with a flat pick. I don"t know why I never used the thumbpick more. Some of my biggest influences played with the thumbpick. Getting a much better grasp of pinching the thumb pick and using it for alternating flat picking. Been messing with Race with the Devil on a Spanish Highway using the thumbpick. It"s getting better. Should have put this in my wheelhouse 35-40 years ago. Dad had all the Chet Atkins records.

 

I think I"ve settled on Fred Kelly Slick Picks for this because I like the symmetrical shaped blades. Doing everything on my Martin. I haven"t played an electric since the week before lockdown.

"It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne

 

"A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!!

So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Working still on guitar thumbpicking. I use thumb picks a lot as a banjoist and Dobro and steel player but that"s mostly all down strokes with the thumb and upstrokes with fingerpicks. On guitar I"ve mostly been pure finger picker or hybrid picker with a flat pick. I don"t know why I never used the thumbpick more. Some of my biggest influences played with the thumbpick. Getting a much better grasp of pinching the thumb pick and using it for alternating flat picking. Been messing with Race with the Devil on a Spanish Highway using the thumbpick. It"s getting better. Should have put this in my wheelhouse 35-40 years ago. Dad had all the Chet Atkins records.

 

I think I"ve settled on Fred Kelly Slick Picks for this because I like the symmetrical shaped blades. Doing everything on my Martin. I haven"t played an electric since the week before lockdown.

 

Fun, i have thumbpicks and fingerpicks but I've never taken to them. I'm a lefty who plays righty so my coordination centers are different.

I've sort of modified / invented my own style of fingerpicking. My thumb may pick all the way down to the B string and my first finger all the way up to the A. Not traditional, so it goes.

 

I do a barehanded strum with fingernails on the down stroke and the thumb on the up stroke. Downstroke focuses on the high 3 strings, upstroke on the low 3. Sounds great on acoustic, like two strummers in sync.

I've always played lots of acoustic at home, since I am not gigging I have to keep my chops up on the Strat so I am doing it more but the Rainsong is always near at hand.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been learning to play drums, still playing bass, doing a daily (M-F) FM radio show, and working (at least) 5 days a week at my day job.

 

Also, yard work and house stuff, when able.

 

 

 

I'm kinda tired. ;)

 

I'm a lot more like I am now than I was when I got here.

 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am working from home but that gives me about 2 extra hours per day that I don't have to commute. I have learned the chord pattern to a couple more Jim Croce songs and my finger callouses are getting back in shape. I think I want to try James Taylor fire and rain next. I did fixed a blender and a couple vaccume cleaners that were plugged up. Maybe next week we will have a few early mushrooms out. I see some of the retired guys that are super hunters are already getting some dark morels. Jim
Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of our friends in the D.C. Electronic Music community put out a call for a compilation album project, to raise money for local charities. My bandmate wanted us to submit something for the project, so I pulled together a quick track, and sent the sound file off to her. She did a re-mix of the original track, added some elements, including a Drum Loop, and submitted it this morning. A lot of us are used to working this way already, so it's a good way to keep new material coming.

"Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King

 

http://www.novparolo.com

 

https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great stuff everybody!

 

Some evolution in my world. I've been busy listing items on eBay and Reverb. Some things have sold, nothing I need. I am grateful, it helps keep the wheels on the wagon.

Today I ship 2 sold items and will list a few more. That is an income stream, I've been on eBay since 2000 and am building a solid reputation on Reverb - I have already moved all of my music gear sales to them. The workflow there is more efficient and the fees are much lower. Can't sell photography gear there so eBay has me just a while longer...

 

Awaiting the arrival of a Neat Beecaster USB microphone. Once that arrives I will work first on creating videos to troubleshoot for any weak points and then begin live casting as a motivational program to keep strummin' and singin'.

 

I continue to learn what my relatively new accumulation of microphones and preamp sound like. That's fun. Eventually I will probably choose my favorites and off the other mics to the world, sharing the fun. None of them are bad, some are simply more useful than others. With a small project studio there isn't much point in being able to mic "everything" since that never happens.

 

I play guitar every day, one way or another. Be well, be safe!!! Kuru

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Still working sunday to thursday full time.

After that its busy as usual, but I have been working on learning how to use my new Gigboard and FRFR108(trying to get it to sound more like my Mesa Boogie and pedal board), but as a travel rig.

The time I spend watching star wars videos has gone up dramatically.(also watched Tiger King and feel better about my life, but feel worse for the world).

Learning Ben Harper songs and Celtic Frost songs, as I like to branch out further and further.

Been listening to Thomas Lange Prog Pop for the shear fun of it(great album).

 

Everyone else I know seems to be off more than I , but that will change over the next few weeks, layoffs coming to my job next month.

 

Its good to hear everyone is coping as they see fit. Have some fun and stay safe everyone

 

Lok

1997 PRS CE24, 1981 Greco MSV 850, 1991 Greco V 900, 2 2006 Dean Inferno Flying Vs, 1987 Gibson Flying V, 2000s Jackson Dinky/Soloist, 1992 Gibson Les Paul Studio,

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We're both lucky enough to be working from home and paid as usual. For my wife that usually means being in front of a computer on Zoom or on conference calls for close to 8 hours every day. For me that means doing my usual graphic design and layout work as needed, but except for a few regular intensive things it isn't "as needed" right at the moment... so I help the kiddo with the bits of schoolwork she gets sent over the internet and otherwise try to entertain her and keep her out of the wife's hair. I'd love to sneak out back to my music room and play the drums, but time doesn't seem to clear up for that... I get to play guitar sometimes.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Massively composing, arranging, mixing, mastering, and recording, for sure! But I'm focused on MIUDI stuff first, to rapidly complete mock-ups I can send to live musicians for consideration post-quarantine. Then, maybe by next week, I'll get back to pop/rock stuff with bass and guitar parts and run through them rather quickly (as they've been 95% done for a few years now, but keep getting sidelined).

 

I'm also finally publishing stuff, in fits and starts. The feedback is tremendous, so that takes some of the edge off of not being able to work directly with other musicians at the moment, or to gig. I don't want to waste the effort on on-line collaborative tools, choosing and learning one, etc. There's enough tedious stuff to do on my own anyway, that isn't all that pleasurable but is necessary, so I may as well take care of that backlog while I'm alone and miserable and on the edge of bankruptcy and homelessness anyway. :-)

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1,

Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been assembling a second, smaller drum kit so I can still play with others around the house now, as the "big" kit is often too loud.

Playing a lot on a pad, too.

 

Also, I picked up a pretty cool effect pedal, called a Water Echo, for literally pocket change the other day.

It's a chorus and an echo in the same little unit, and I'm finding uses for either and both on guitar and bass. Keyboards are next. :)

 

I'm a lot more like I am now than I was when I got here.

 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

James

I don't enjoy cooking, and am not very good at it. I would have starved to death along time ago if I relied on my own cooking. Its funny because most every guitar player or musician in general I know has some great cooking skills. Then there is me. I do know how to make Chicken Curry from scratch(and no restaurant makes good one around here) but I learned that from a very sexy friend when I was younger and some how I actually learned it.

 

I think there should be a scientific study about what instrument(and style) you play and whats your signature dish. That would make great science. I would be the odd man out

 

Lok

1997 PRS CE24, 1981 Greco MSV 850, 1991 Greco V 900, 2 2006 Dean Inferno Flying Vs, 1987 Gibson Flying V, 2000s Jackson Dinky/Soloist, 1992 Gibson Les Paul Studio,

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome aboard Jamesparkhurst! reminds me of a Hank Sr tune: Hey Hey sweet baby, don't you think maybe, maybe we could find us a brand new recipe! Good luck in the kitchen and playing your guitar...go for 30 minutes a day! :cool:
Take care, Larryz
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome, Jamesparkhurst!

 

My wife is a professional chef/caterer, while I can boil water and start a fire. My major contribution is to help clean up in the kitchen, otherwise, I make dinner for our dogs - yes, they get real food.

 

I'd be very interested in Lokair's Instrument/Signature Dish study, if anyone ever funds it, although I suspect that my Signature Dish would be Pizza. No, I can't make it, but I would happily live on it. The only thing I really want to get when everything opens again is a nice, fresh hot Sicilian Pizza!

 

I've been trying to finish one album project in particular, when I'm not outside gardening. The other day I sat down with a bunch of oddball Synths, including my new Neutron, and came up with a very long track, which I posted in the "Post Your Music Here" thread. Use headphones, you'll be glad you did. In the meantime, it's dry and sunny today, so I'm back out to my garden where my hardy Orchids are starting to open up.

"Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King

 

http://www.novparolo.com

 

https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A lot of musicians also have great cooking skills because creating a great meal is like creating a great song. You don't just take one thing and say there, I'm done. You create a foundation, and then you add to it, regardless if it's an overdub or a spice. And hopefully the end result is something that you're proud to share with others.
I rock; therefore, I am.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...