- Six Strings - Chorus Noodle Solo Test

(Any Colour You Like - Pink Floyd)

So, lots of good news and bad news here.  Well, more good news than bad news.

I digress.

There was a time when I was convinced that I didn't have the gift of creation when it came to music.  I could imitate, sure, but creating something of my own wasn't something I ever felt like I had a knack for.

Somewhere between last week and this week, that all sort of...changed.  It started with the Chorus Noodle piece that I threw up here earlier in the week.  I haven't been able to get that song out of my head since I committed it to film.  That might sound mildly narcissistic, and if that's the case, I guess...sorry not sorry?  Anyway, I was pretty happy with the chord structure of that song, but it was awfully short at under three minutes.  I put the problem down for a few minutes and moved on to bending practice, which turned out to be a good thing. Between one bend and the next, I suddenly realized that the notes I was working with might just fit really well with the tail end of that Chorus Noodle.  There was a genuine Tony Stark Endgame 'Shit!' moment.

 Then -this- happened:

What you're hearing here -- indeed, what I call out right in the beginning of the video -- is the result of me laying a really sloppy loop down with my Tone City Ditto Looper pedal and then playing over the top of it.

If you're thinking to yourself that this sounds a little different from the Chorus Noodle tune, it's...because there's no Chorus.  See, the looper is only looping input form the guitar, not the amp.  I wanted the solo work I was doing over the top of it to play with a Blues Overdrive, sooo...the whole thing is played with a Blues Overdrive.  Even the loop.  

The whole thing is sloppy as hell, but the experiment did yield a few useful nuggets of information:

- Bending strings is a pain in the ass to learn, but the payoff is worth it.

- I needed to put as much thought into soloing as I did my chordistry.

- I wasn't going to be satisfied with myself until I'd somehow figured out how to lay down a real, honest-to-God multi-track version of this song.

- Perhaps most importantly, maybe I -could- actually create something...

That all happened on the 21st.  I spent the next two and a half days furiously experimenting with my looper and my Katana until my fingers hurt, and then I went from the guitar to the keyboard.  Clearly, it was time to learn how to use a Digital Audio Workstation.

I had no idea what kind of a rabbit hole I was about to fall down, but that's for next time.