Mother Nature has been trying to tell us for some time now that we need to focus less on us and more on the gift of a planet we've been given. There's been attempts but in the minority not the majority. Profit first, planet second, people third…

The title track to my 2020 release really opens my mind a bit right now. A bit manic, a bit dark and a bit hostile. It has been clear as I tracked this release that my metal self has emerged in the attempt to simply up the irons and make it…

Here's another one that fit how I felt when I walked into a store for the first time since the pandemic stole our logic and reasoning. It felt so post apocalyptic and I kept looking around for Mad Max to attack me for block of cheese and half…

Truly not much explanation needed here. There's a looming presence over us right now no matter where you turn and the idea that this is certainly a Plague of Persistence inspired this dark creation. This is from my 2020 release State Of Darkness.

I was really enjoying my plugins for the keyboard and thought I would play with a few of the sounds and solo over them with different pickups and tone and switch between using a pick and using fingers. When I set it all up and played it the idea…

In this crazed time what has become incredibly clear is that the solution is not the most important thing, it's who's to blame because we are being governed on both sides of the "aisle" by Holdouts for Supremacy. This is from my 2020 release…

There has been so much going on over the past few months and dark feelings have been an issue. But I can still sit down in my studio and just play. Sometimes it's pick a key and see what comes out. If that's not the ultimate Silver Lining I…

In between my songs of rage I still wanted to play around with some different sounds. Here I was dabbling with the idea of a Rhodes with a Leslie. I listen to it and know I want to do another one toying with this sound. In effect I feel the…

The RPM Challenge folks, in their infinite kindness, decided to do an additional challenge in the month of April in 2020 and boy did it come at the right time. The cloud of uncertainty, of caution and apprehension have just been horrible, ultimately…

With a student wanting to play fingerstyle, it has been a personal challenge to become at least adept at it and feeling comfortable to play this song entirely by fingerstyle was indeed the Turning Point. This is off my 2020 collaborative release…

Written, played and arranged by my very first student, the one that started me on a path I could never repay him for, Luke Jankowski. He sees the song in his mind and conveys it until we get it as he wants it. It just fires me up to see students…

This was another one of those try something different tracks. I love how jazz and blues tracks will incorporate horns, so I had to find some reasonable sounding brass for my MIDI world and then try to balance them with guitar melody. This is…

This song is by one of my longest tenure students and a great dude, Ryley Neumeyer. This song was telling a tale in 3 phases and the siren sound, played by Ryley, as was the bass guitar was signalling bad news for the main character in the tale…

There's so many ways I interpret this song title. In search of better drum tones, in search of the trick to getting the tracks to layer right in production, etc. Like most of my tracks, this one will always represent a point in time in my playing…

This is a fun track played by my youngest student James Almazan. He is showing his progress with the minor pentatonic scale in various positions over my backing. James is a finger style player and a beautiful soul. When we were editing, any…

This track for me was a reflection of the progress in both my playing and producing. I'm still nowhere near where I ultimately want to be, but my progress makes me continue to push forward, and thus the Darkness Falls. This is from my 2020 collaborative…

This song was composed with one of my newer students David Robinson. We were just dipping our toes into the global pandemic so he had some fun with the name. It was his first time tracking any guitars so it was a lot of fun doing this one…

So the ongoing goal for me in songwriting and recording is to play in different styles. This song was meant to capture a Latin vibe, so I researched chords and scales that would flavor it that way and then played around with percussion until…

This is one of the handful of tracks that were all mine from my collaborative 2020 release with my students Class In Session - The Strummer Games. It felt like a throwback tune for me so it was recalling Back In The Day.

2020 thus far has been a year most of us would be glad to see end. In the midst of all the sadness and tragedy, I was able to celebrate February in a huge way with the RPM Challenge. The celebration is because about half of the songs were written…