MUSICAL ADVENTURES 1: The Work of Mephistopheles
The impetus for this new section was receiving the blessing of the first fragments of a new tune on a new guitar.
This gift from the muse emerged during some early improv sessions on a Boden TT8 Futur 8 str that arrived last week.
The excitement of receiving an eagerly anticipated new guitar tends to be a propitious time for creative ideas.
They also happen when I am away on holiday and in an unusual carefree frame of mind. I always bring a travel guitar with me for this reason.
Anyway, I thought it might be of some interest to anyone getting into writing to follow the journey of this tune to completion, to see and hear how another musician finds their way - so I intend to add the rough (and mostly unplugged) recordings of each new part here in this article and update it and consolidate as the piece evolves.
I do this anyway for my own purposes since it is too easy to forget a rhythmic nuance or fingering. I also write down the frets to reinforce the memory.
My approach for the last few years has been to work on one idea at a time until it finds its natural end, without any preconceived ideas about what genre it is or whether it will be an instrumental or a song. I just follow the thread and vibe of the new idea (it is usually a cool new chord) to its natural conclusion, however long it takes and wherever it wants to go. I think of this like writing and illustrating a story with notes. Some of these take months, some much longer.
My daily workflow is to practise scales, chords, theory, technique etc in 30min chunks and in-between each of these I return to the new idea and rehearse it whilst listening to my imagination for the next part, but also trying to refine the technique, timing and dynamics etc. of the part that’s already done. I mostly do this unplugged until the arrangement is complete. Then when it comes time to record, I test the various sections with different guitars and dirty tones to see what suits. Then I get to work adding the harmonies and synth accompaniment if required.
At this point I often work out the chord names and keys in case the other musicians need this detail.
Then it is my wife’s turn to conjure a bass line before it is ready for the drummer, and singer if it wants a vocal..
The ‘pet’ name of this track came from this comment by a customer after seeing the Boden, ‘Well, it does look good… but 8 strings is far too many, and true temperament is the work of the horned beast's agent of chaos on Earth.’
11 June… this was the original idea and I captured it on video once I was happy with the notes and fingerings, and could play it reasonably well. Also trying the new pickups through an amp on clean then dirty. This tune will spend time in each mode
18 June
21 June - the pounding sound in places is me experimenting with different feels for the pulse using my foot. Later this will help guide the bass and drums to get on the same wavelength
27 June - it’s been a productive week with new paths discovered and older ones evolving, either naturally or via surprising mutations in both mood and groove. Also started plugging in to a small amp to make it clear on these videos. All parts played clean even though eventually some will be dirty in the mix.
Btw if you want to hear where ideas like these have led in the past, the latest track finished by my band The Hidden Mind is out on all networks:
