Today I met with two interesting individuals. The one is a guitarrist and the other a bassist. As far as things seem right now, they are unofficially Last Will members. After we have one jam session, the decision will be held as I see how our playing/skills/influneces work together. Both of them are into the same types of things as I am and also Iron Maiden. I feel very positive about these two as they seem to be looking for the same thing in a band that I am. I will keep you posted on this topic for sure.
I have recorded 2 new little mess around clips for the webpage today. One is the harmony part to Peace Sells by Megadeth. I spent a total of about 10 min working on that one. The second clip is basically me jamming and working on some riffs and whatnot. These were both done on the Rogue as I happened to have it out today. Those can be found in the clips section. I also updated my links some.
I was able to play outside today and did some decent practicing on my playing and a various mess of songs. I am very happy with this VF-1 as it seems to give me just about the tone that I want.
After doing some serious thought the past few days, I believe that I will be putting out a 3 or 4 track demo by the end of this summer. The reason that most of my songs are cut off is that I will be able to really focus on those 3 or 4 songs and I'll be able to put in excelent guitar parts, solos, basslines, and drum parts. One song, I am also considering doing vocals, but I must work on the lyrics first. I plan on doing the full length cd around the summer of 2001. This is subject to change, though. I feel that I would rather put off the cd for a year while I improve my playing so that I can have some really good solos and some improved writing than just rush some piece of crap out like what ended up happening with my old band. The advantage of doing the demo is that it will give me more experience with the whole process and will really familiarize me with my equipment and its capabilities. I will inform you when the time for the demo is getting near. Basically the main limiting factor right now is the lacking of a drum machine/drummer. Once I have that solved, then I will be able to start the whole recording and writing processes for the demo. If you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to contact me. Thanks for your support.
This weekend was pretty cool to me for my playing. I have been messing with this effects processor while taking breaks from my school work. Anyways, I was starting to come up with something that resembled a song... so I decided to record it. It ended up being one of the coolest things I've ever played. Now, granted the skills are a bit lacking, but there's a great concept there. I then used a previous rythym style that I used for a song in my last band that never came to light (they hated my part anyways) and wala.. an awesome solo section to a song. It has the kind of feel that I believe is important to the song Plague, so I think that it will be the ending half or so of the song. I have posted that exact recording on this website. It is kinda big, but it sounded so good I didn't want to lose quality with a crappy mp3. Now if I only had a drummer/drum machine.....
I was lucky enough to purchase a Boss VF-1 today. This thing is heaven sent. It is EXCELENT for direct recording and has alot of flexibility. Once I get it all figured out, I will be working on some new clips for the website.
Well, I did some more experimentation with my sound and have basically come back to the same point I was at before. I think that I just need some different equipment to get a different tone. I also did some practice and work on some of my riffs and songs. Pretty good stuff, I think. I need to work on some of my writing skills, but overall I think there's some potential. Abyss is going to be getting a major rewrite. I'm not sure about how things will progress from this point. I need to get alot of writing complete, but I am also working on my playing abilities, which at this time is more important than writing.
10:35pm
I re-recorded Earth of Fire and posted it on the webpage. I am much happier with the way it sounds and the speed and everything. I also made a short recording of Battery by Metallica and Elimination by Overkill. I think I have the best tone I can get outa this amp now.
I spent some time listening to the new Earth of Fire clip and I am very disappointed in it. It is just way too fast for that particular riff. The chords do not get to ring out too much and it makes the song harder to follow at that speed. The old clip had more emotion and feeling to it than this new one. Therefore I will be re-recording that song asap. If anyone has any ideas or comments about my songs, please feel free to contact me about them. Also, I believe that getting an entire 12 song demo out by the end of summer is unreasonable. If you would be interested in a demo of some sort, possibly a 3 or 4 song demo, please contact me. If not, I will just continue on working on what I have here and hopefully I will be able to make a demo within a year. I think that most of the delay is based on the lacking of a drummer or drum machine and the extreme lacking in my song writing and soloing. Plus I've decided to do some work on vocals, and perhaps even doing my own singing on a few songs (Cool is a perfect example).
It's official. I have a jam session with a bassist and guitarrist on Thursday. Unfortunately they are currently in a band, so they are not elegable for Last Will, but it will be a good refreshing expierence to jam with someone other than my friend and "student" (we kind of teach other stuff). Nothing else new on the front. Just practicing and stuff.
Well, I've been really busy practicing some Iced Earth stuff.
They rythyms are very fast and thrashy on the one album I have by them
and its great practice for helping me build up my speed and endurance.
I also am practicing scales more frequently. I added a new clip in
the clips section. It is of me just jamming on my cello. I
decided to get it out for a change of pace. If I practiced that instrument
along with guitar, I think it would improve my overall playing. The
cello is slightly harder to play in the respect of fingering, as it has
no frets and strings are more tensioned. Anyways, there are 2 differnet
songs I messed with in that clip, the rest is free flow. I have been
currently researching effects boards, units, and amp simulators.
Nothin nuts, but I am considering getting something to improve my sound.
This miking stuff just sux. It does work well for the cello, though.
No news otherwise.