Splunge - 10/16

Jason, Sal, Nick and I all on board this time out.

Once again, in spite of an increasingly large song list, we got through just about everything. However, it took an extra long session to do it. "Help Me Rhonda" is officially out. Cheap Trick's "Surrender" and David Bowie's "Space Oddity" are officially in, though we only thrashed through both of them once in Sal's last session.

I continued using a pick and a more assertive approach. On one song, Jason said he felt it was pushing him rhythmically, and not in a good way, but I think it worked on the whole, allowing him to play a little more freely because someone else was holding the rhythm. He turned in a spectacular performance on "The Kids are Alright", doing as much justice to Keith Moon as any drummer I've played with.

Vocally, I definitely wasn't at my best due to congestion. Nick was singing well enough, but since he's picked up a greater proportion of the lead vocals, he was starting to wear down by the end of the session. He's starting to hit some harmonies, though this is still new to him.

Jason forgot his earplugs and had numbness on the right side of his head by the end of the session. Not good. I doubt he'll let that happen again.

Overall tightness may have even been a slight step up from other recent sessions. Pardon my ego, but I think I can at least partially attribute that to my own change in approach, giving the guitar players stronger rhythm to follow in virtually every song. On "Teen Angst", Nick felt the song was at a level worth playing in front of an audience, which is something any of the others have been reluctant to say. Now we're getting somewhere!

Splunge - 10/2/11

No Sal this time, just Jason, Nick, and myself. Sounded pretty good, all in all, but the solos suffered a lot without Sal. Nick and I each took a couple, and we went without one on a couple of songs. Neither of us did much to make a case for ourselves as regular soloists. I was pleased with my own solo on "Runaround", but I always play that one anyway.

We made it through almost the entire song list, except for a few songs that just plain don't work without the second guitar. "Help Me Rhonda" still flat out isn't working, and I'm going to suggest that we drop it.

"Low Budget" took a step back; Nick really needs the second guitar to keep himself together on that one.

Started using a pick again this session, moving to a guitar pick rather than the heavier picks I used to use. I think it tightened up the sound of the band as a whole by giving me a more percussive sound that I tied in with Jason's drumming. The pick, incidentally, was one I made myself from an old AAA card with a pick punch my wife gave me as a gift.

Also, I experimented with playing more assertively and driving the band myself rather than my usual approach of listening to everyone else and trying to rhythmically tie it all together. I led rather than followed, which worked better for my role in this particular band, and I'm going to stick with it.

Next session is tentatively scheduled for two weeks from today, and I hope I'll be able to do it with everything else I have going on at the moment.