2019 Update

I didn't realize I haven't updated here since last summer! How time flies!!

Well, this is what's been going on since last June. I did not complete the Christmas song (Christmas in the City [reprise]) I was working on. I'd say I'm probably 75-80% done. I still need to finish some small synth parts, guitar parts and the drum track. But since I'm making this song a reprise I have to have the counterpart it's based on. I need a full song called "Christmas in the City." That I have not written yet. So if I plan to release at the very least a single for the holiday season, I feel I should have two songs to do so. It's not necessary, I know. Nowadays you only need to release a single track. But it may be strange to release a reprise song without having the original non-reprise song. Make sense?

The last several months I have been working on an instrumental version of "Stormy" by Dennis Yost & The Classics IV. It's a song I have always loved and I even did a guitar cover of it on YouTube some years ago. I came into a really cool Hammond organ late last year and it's a fabulous instrument. I started getting all these thoughts of doing some organ versions of my favorite songs. I started with "Stormy" and it's not quite done yet either. I really want to finish it before moving onto something else. Otherwise, I will end up with a bunch of unfinished projects. A few other covers I am excited at the thought of doing include "Gimme Some Lovin'" and "I'll Be Your Shelter". This organ is so cool that I have tons of songs I would like to do but I need to also stay focused on doing my own original material.

It is now April as I write this. What will I be able to get done this year? Will I get an original Christmas album ready? Or one of holiday covers? Or one of non-holiday music? Maybe an EP or a couple of singles. Perhaps a holiday single and a non-holiday single. That might be the most likely thing. Not ideal but that may be what I have to settle for. This is the era of the single. Oh, I should mention that I did officially release my song "If I Told You" late in 2018 through CD Baby, so it can be found there, on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and other places. I did embellish the song a bit with a few extra things so it is not the same version that I uploaded to YouTube a while ago. This song has become one of my personal favorites.

What I really want to do is get back to my own music. As much as I may get excited about doing covers the truth is that most no one else would be interested and of course there can be no expectations of earning any money from it. It's almost like a TAXI type thing--you custom make music based on their listings and submit to them but they don't accept it. That's a lot of time and effort to spend that could otherwise be used towards making original music that you own the rights to. Problem is, I have not written much at all since the last post. A matter of distraction and discipline.

I am going to try to crank out something before it gets too hot in the studio. But even if it does get hot I will work through it. I remember the hot July recording sessions for "Tomorrow" that I toiled through. If necessary I'll do that again.

I have lots of ideas for things to record. Another consideration for this year is to release an album of instrumental recordings. I was entertaining the thought of calling it "The Soundtrack". There are some unreleased tracks would definitely fit in well on this. And I could easily make some more. Also there is still the possibility of recording a minimoog album. Had some ideas for some shoegazing or spaced out music that could make for something interesting. Or I may just merge this project with "the soundtrack" project if I start to lack in ideas or get pressed for time.

Christmas Music & A Holly Jolly Christmas Guitar Solo Tab

Merry Christmas! The day has officially arrived and although it is great I wish it were still a few days away. The anticipation always seems to be higher than the day itself and now as usual I will going through 'Christmas withdrawal' symptoms. Would be nice if the Christmas celebration would go on during the weekend since it did fall on a Friday this year. But the radio stations already start pulling the plug on the holiday music and the TV stations end their Christmas programming early on in the day. All that just adds to the feeling of withdrawal.

I probably will not be making any additional Christmas/seasonal songs for now. At least not for release during what remains of this year. I may still toy around with some ideas I have. But at the moment I am still fully absorbing the 'sounds of the season' as they say. I'll tell you the truth--it's really hard for me to just completely cut off the music once Christmas Day becomes yesterday. This may sound peculiar but I continue to play Christmas/seasonal music well into February and even March at times. It helps me accept the fact that the holiday season is over and deal with the sometimes brutal moods of winter.

I do have this seasonal tune I wrote some years back called "Wintertime Blues." I wrote it as a bit of a jazzy piece and envisioned a very simple arrangement of only guitar, bass, drums, piano & vocal. I may tinker a bit with it in the coming days and weeks.Would make a great addition to my future Christmas album of all original songs. And as I wrote before, I really want to release an album of Christmas classics as well. If all plays out well in the coming year I will make a serious effort to record another 8 to 10 instrumental covers of public domain holiday songs. Picking out the songs will be something I should start doing right now. It's a shame that I can only use public domain songs, though due to licensing rights. There are plenty of other songs I would love to record, such as "Let it Snow," "Christmastime is Here," "Little Drummer Boy," "Silver Bells" and "Holly Jolly Christmas" to name a few. Don't get me wrong--I totally understand that I can record cover versions of these songs. I just cannot sell them. And I want to put together an album that I can sell without worrying about paying royalties to others.

But speaking of "A Holly Jolly Christmas," I've always appreciated that 12 string acoustic guitar doing fills and solos throughout Burl Ives' recording. I especially like that solo after the key change and I tabbed it out for anyone who is interested. I don't have a video for this but I may make one soon since it would be a very short one. Heck, it may even already be out there on YouTube. But I've learned that everyone hears things differently so it's not a bad idea to present your interpretation to the world.

E  :----------------|--------------------|--------------------|
B  :------6---------|--------------------|--------------------|
G  :-5678--8-56-86--|5h6p5--------6------|--------------------|
D  :---------------8|-----8-4---68-86----|--------------------|
A  :----------------|-----------------6h8|-4-----46/7-8--8----|
E  :----------------|--------------------|----46--------------|

This tab will work for a regularly tuned 6 string guitar and also for a 12 string that is tuned down a whole step with a capo on the 2nd fret.

EDIT: I've decided to tab the cool little intro solo to the song as well. It's just as great as the middle solo and fun to play:

E  :----------------|----------------|-----------
B  :1-----0---------|----------------|-----------
G  :------------2-42|--------0-20-2--|-0---------
D  :----------------|-2---234--------|-----------
A  :----------------|----------------|----2------

E  :----------------|----------------|-----------

E  :------|----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
B  :------|----3-----0-----|----------1------|-----------------|
G  :----0-|234--4-02--2--0-|20----0-22--2----|-----------------|
D  :------|-------------3--|-------------0h20|h2-0-------------|
A  :------|----------------|---2-------------|----0--3---------|
E  :------|----------------|-----------------|-----------------|

Just to clarify--what appear to be '20' and '22' in the tab are actually 2,0 and 2,2.

EDIT 2: Made the video....

New Life For Some Old Songs

Last evening I took one of my old recordings that I never officially released and used a minimoog to play the melody part over the backing tracks. I had this song up on myspace.com eons ago and here and there over the years. This song is so old in fact that I no longer have the electric guitars or bass that was used on it. It's from 2006. But I never recorded a vocal track I was satisfied with. Last year I even considered re-writing the lyrics with a complete new melody. That didn't pan out either. So I went back to the original melody and played it with a minimoog sound. I have some harmony parts which I need to add as well. Just for the heck of it, I may try mixing in the new melody I came up with also, just to keep things interesting. The original song was called "All For You." The rewrite was called "Going Back." If I decide to use parts from Going Back I'll call the finished song "All For You/Going Back." Strange titles always make for interesting conversation pieces.

For my next project I may continue on this route with "Long For Heaven." This is a track I officially released in 2011 as part of an EP. I regret having released this EP as I included incorrect versions of some songs and also songs that I have since improved.Long For Heaven is a tune I really like the music to but not the vocals. Not too long ago I tried to rewrite this one also albeit unsuccessfully. So I may minimoog this one too and use parts from both melodies.

I'm also ready to start recording a new song. It will be my first one in 6/8 time. It will also be another dark, moody song--the kind I gravitate towards. I want to get the guitar track recorded because it basically repeats throughout the song. I don't have lyrics for this one yet but they'll come. This song will be in the vein of "Tomorrow" with sparse instrumentation and a haunting atmosphere. Tomorrow remains one of my favorite songs sonic-wise in that all parts can be clearly heard. That is a goal I want to continue to achieve. My earliest recordings feature a lot of distortion from levels being too high and too much instrumentation competing for the same frequency space.

If I ever release an album of instrumental only music these older songs I'm fiddling around with will mostly likely land on it. I'll have to do as much as I can while the cold weather lasts. It's really comfortable to work in my studio during this time. When the heat of summer arrives it will be very difficult to do anything in there without shorting out some piece of electronic equipment. Well, off I go to a more productive year.

Bandcamp Page Fully Up & Goals for 2015

Well, my Bandcamp page is finally up and running! My new album release is completely there along with the 3 Christmas songs I have recorded. Basically everything that I intended to be officially out there is now available for legit purchase and download. Of course, I have other tunes out there on YouTube and soundcloud that are not really available for official download. Many of those will eventually be released on future albums. Some will never be other than in bootleg capacity.

I had a thought about recording an instrumental album.I already have several instrumental songs that are noteworthy for inclusion in such a project. And some other tracks which I thought about rewriting lyrics to may end up becoming instrumental songs altogether. It's just a thought. Again, I don't wish to spend too much time revisiting old material. Also if I should release an album of instrumental works, ideally it will be as an addendum to an album of singer/songwriter type material.

All that sounds a bit ambitious however. I am going to start recording a new song very soon and fiddle around a bit with one or two older ones. I will try much harder to make 2015 a more productive year relative to the past years. As I look back on 2014, I started and completed only 3 songs. I updated several songs from past years for release this year. And I began a new recording which I did not finish. Overall I feel that I accomplished more than in past years--especially considering the album release--yet still a rather unproductive year.

I read about a guy who participated in a projected where he wrote and recorded one song per week. Imagine that! Fifty-two songs in a year! That's definitely too ambitious for me but I do think that one song per month is quite reasonable. The keys to accomplishing that is to spend more time writing new songs, finish up writing some of my other songs and keep the production values not overly complicated. Will I actually release my 2nd album this year? It's possible if I work hard enough at it. I've always admired recording artists who released an album per year, not to mention those who released more than one in any year. The Beatles put out at least one album each year from 1963-1970. America did so from 1971-77. The Moody Blues from 1967-72. Creedence Clearwater Revival from 1968-72 with at least 7 albums. The Doors from 1967-71 with 6. Bread from 1969-72 with 5. R.E.M. from 1983-88.

But it seems to be art lost on today's artists. Nowadays the album release rate is about 1 every 2 or 3 years. And that's not counting the more established artist, such as U2, who are never in a hurry to release new albums. Albums are a bit longer now than they were in 1969. Many reach the 50 or even 60 minute mark. Thus artists feel less an obligation to release new music on an annual basis. Personally I prefer the one album per year schedule and if all I had to do in life was make music I would most assuredly abide by that pattern.

It's quite a bit late as I write this so I just want to close with a link to my Bandcamp page. I first signed up on Bandcamp in 2010 but only now is it complete and will be one of my official music pages.

Exit World on Bandcamp

Ambient, Mood & Movie Music

If I should not make it for any reason as a recording artist in my own rite, I would be more than satisfied making music for films or broadcast programs or even commercials. I enjoy writing lyrics and singing even though I find it incredibly difficult to sing on pitch, but I also enjoy creating mood music and letting the instruments do the 'singing.' I am particularly interested in foreboding or suspenseful type music, like the great sounds that can be heard on many if not all the crime drama movies and TV shows of the late 60's through the mid 70's. That stuff is classic. SWAT, Kojak, Mission: Impossible, The Mod Squad, The Mechanic, Death Wish and so many others featured such amazing mood music soundtracks. But I don't want to limit myself to just that era, even the sounds created during that time sets the bar in my opinion.

I have here 2 pieces of original work I created. This first one is more modern sounding and could be used in a variety of applications. It's just a 2 track recording and completely recorded on my Yamaha S90 synthesizer. It could best be described as New Age or Ambient. I'm not sure what other classification I could put this song under. Perhaps Soundtrack. I think Ambient fits best.

This is a short 2 minute piece that I made in 2011. It's different from anything I created up to that point and anything I've done since. It's just a synthesizer track plus a piano track. I call it "Open Sky."




I was going for a simplistic yet foreboding feel. I just completely improvised on the piano part.

This next track has a more 70s feel to it. No wonder with the Wurlitzer and Rhodes electric piano parts! But that's what I was going for. I think it is more than just background music when compared to "Open Sky." It does have more movement to it and a fuller sound thanks to the electric piano parts, electric guitar, electric bass and drumstick beat.

I don't usually start recording any song with drums or percussion but this one did begin with the drumsticks. I was working on another song at the time--probably "Blow Your Mind"--and took a break. I had the vocal mic hooked up to some serious delay and reverb and just started messing around with some drumsticks. I came up with the idea for the cool beat you will hear in this song. I tried playing it in time for about 2 and a half minutes so I could have a decent length recording. After I had that track down I just started layering the other parts on top. The parts on this song were more planned out than on "Open Sky." At least the first half of the song could definitely be used during an on-foot chase or pursuit scene and the second half during some suspenseful or revealing scene. But you listen and decide for yourself.




This is one of my newer projects having been recording just last year in 2012. Would love to make a whole album of just this 70's tinged mood/movie music. The good thing is the songs don't have to be long. They can be 2 minutes and under. Consider this a preview of an album to come then. Perhaps you'll hear this stuff in the theatre or on TV in the near future.

(Edit: I forgot to mention that on 'Coming Apart' there are a few additional percussion instruments I added on there courtesy of my Yamaha S90.)