Wednesday 4th February
This term is a little different to last term in a number of ways. Firstly, the structure of what we're actually doing in this unit is different. I need to be able to perform 4 cover songs and 4 originals that are representative of different eras and styles of popular music. The bands I'm in are a little different too so I'll go over them quickly.
Superior band still exists but as Emily Hecker has dropped the course and has spending less time with our band, Emily Jones is now our one proper singer. I'm not in one alternate band as I was before, instead I'll be hopping about all over the place and doing a cover with one band, maybe an original with another etc.
In Superior band our covers are:
60s - 'Hey Joe' - Jimi Hendrix
70s - 'Play That Funky Music' - Wild Cherry
90s - 'Dammit' - Blink-182
00s - 'Teenagers' - My Chemical Romance
and we're currently working on Matt's own song in the style of 70s disco/funk.
Today we were unable to really to grab a spot in the live room and most the equipment in the practice rooms isn't really working. Nevertheless, I was able to practice 'Teenagers' and 'Dammit' with various incarnations of the band throughout the 90 minutes. Towards the end of the lesson, Ben, Matt, Tim and I managed to get a spot in the recording room and jammed around 'Hey Joe' which was actually pretty productive.
Next lesson I hope to be able to practice these songs as a full band.
Superior band still exists but as Emily Hecker has dropped the course and has spending less time with our band, Emily Jones is now our one proper singer. I'm not in one alternate band as I was before, instead I'll be hopping about all over the place and doing a cover with one band, maybe an original with another etc.
In Superior band our covers are:
60s - 'Hey Joe' - Jimi Hendrix
70s - 'Play That Funky Music' - Wild Cherry
90s - 'Dammit' - Blink-182
00s - 'Teenagers' - My Chemical Romance
and we're currently working on Matt's own song in the style of 70s disco/funk.
Today we were unable to really to grab a spot in the live room and most the equipment in the practice rooms isn't really working. Nevertheless, I was able to practice 'Teenagers' and 'Dammit' with various incarnations of the band throughout the 90 minutes. Towards the end of the lesson, Ben, Matt, Tim and I managed to get a spot in the recording room and jammed around 'Hey Joe' which was actually pretty productive.
Next lesson I hope to be able to practice these songs as a full band.
Thursday 5th February
Today I started off by achieving my aim from last lesson. Although Emily was feeling ill and Tim didn't really know the song, we rehearsed 'Teenagers' very well. Tim was quickly able to pick it up by watching Matt and I (as it's effectively just 12-bar blues chords in E) and we focused on specific sections we were having trouble with until we were able to play the whole song through a couple of times. I really liked our take on it and I'm happy with how it ended up sounding.
Additionally, today I had my first rehearsal with another band. Josh, Rhys, Clara, Joe and I are trying to cover Hacktivist's cover of 'Niggas in Paris' by Jay-Z. Yesterday we'd noodled around with Rhys and I both attempting Drop E tuning (a full octave below standard). I sounded insanely sloppy because a 6 string guitar with a 46 gauge lowest string really can't handle it. Rhys fared much better with his 7 string although ideally he could use thicker strings or really an 8 string guitar. Today I didn't want to try that again so I stayed in a normal tuning and played Rhys' parts an octave higher as well as doing some lead and other stuff that was in my range. I thought it sounded a lot better and really helped thicken the sound. I look forward to developing this more; there's lots more we can work on such as implementing samples using a laptop but I thought that we created a solid foundation today.
Next lesson is a performing day so I hope at the very least to perform 'Teenagers' with my main band.
Additionally, today I had my first rehearsal with another band. Josh, Rhys, Clara, Joe and I are trying to cover Hacktivist's cover of 'Niggas in Paris' by Jay-Z. Yesterday we'd noodled around with Rhys and I both attempting Drop E tuning (a full octave below standard). I sounded insanely sloppy because a 6 string guitar with a 46 gauge lowest string really can't handle it. Rhys fared much better with his 7 string although ideally he could use thicker strings or really an 8 string guitar. Today I didn't want to try that again so I stayed in a normal tuning and played Rhys' parts an octave higher as well as doing some lead and other stuff that was in my range. I thought it sounded a lot better and really helped thicken the sound. I look forward to developing this more; there's lots more we can work on such as implementing samples using a laptop but I thought that we created a solid foundation today.
Next lesson is a performing day so I hope at the very least to perform 'Teenagers' with my main band.
Friday 6th February
Today was our performing day and I got to perform both songs which I'm very happy about. I was very impressed with our version of 'Teenagers' and think it was a fantastic first attempt. We also managed to nail the ending which we hadn't even gotten 100% correct in rehearsal. I don't think it could have gone much better so I think our rehearsals have been very successful.
In the other band, we had a go at 'Niggas in Paris' which went fairly well but the most glaring issue is that we didn't have anyone to rap it for us that day. It just doesn't work as an instrumental song and without the words we also got a little bit lost in the structure. Personally I think we're definitely headed in the right direction but it's impossible for us to progress if we don't have the full band.
Next week I want to try and rehearse as many of the other songs with my main band as I can. I'm not sure whether I'll stick with that same band doing 'Niggas in Paris' or whether someone else will recruit me but nevertheless, my main band is priority.
In the other band, we had a go at 'Niggas in Paris' which went fairly well but the most glaring issue is that we didn't have anyone to rap it for us that day. It just doesn't work as an instrumental song and without the words we also got a little bit lost in the structure. Personally I think we're definitely headed in the right direction but it's impossible for us to progress if we don't have the full band.
Next week I want to try and rehearse as many of the other songs with my main band as I can. I'm not sure whether I'll stick with that same band doing 'Niggas in Paris' or whether someone else will recruit me but nevertheless, my main band is priority.
Wednesday 11th February
Today we rehearsed 'Play That Funky Music' to much success. We managed to get it flagged for copyright on Youtube so that's always good. We also gave 'Dammit' a go which sounded decisively pop punk and we all understood the structure of the song.
Tomorrow I'd like to try and play everything we've learnt up to this point.
Tomorrow I'd like to try and play everything we've learnt up to this point.
Thursday 12th February
Today we succeeded with the goal I set yesterday. We were able to play through 'Dammit', 'Hey Joe', 'Play That Funky Music' and 'Hey Joe'. The first three are definitely solid now in my opinion and are all but finished ready to play. 'Hey Joe' definitely needs work as we're all unsure of the structure because it's pretty much the same throughout but at some points it goes into the riff and we all need to figure out when that is. It would be nice to decide our own ending and try and put our own twist on things so we'll try and really develop that too.
With our 4 covers almost under our belt, we revisited Matt's disco song which itself is almost finished.
This half term I'll practice everything myself and make sure I know Hey Joe by the time we go back. Furthermore, if I have any time I'll try and write some songs for other decades seeing as there's not a lot of time once we've got back before our assessment.
With our 4 covers almost under our belt, we revisited Matt's disco song which itself is almost finished.
This half term I'll practice everything myself and make sure I know Hey Joe by the time we go back. Furthermore, if I have any time I'll try and write some songs for other decades seeing as there's not a lot of time once we've got back before our assessment.
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