Well, my 3rd release was in 2018 again tied to the RPM Challenge. I wanted to play around with some fun tracks and let the MIDI speak again. My daughter had a beta fish named Algernon and since they have to live alone it seemed that Algernon…

This was my introduction to tracking a synth piece as a backer to accompany the bass while the guitar sang what was on its heart. Listening to this felt like a Dream State to me, so it had to be the name. This is off my 2018 release Words to…

You're near the end of the deadline and you've worked like crazy to complete the project but you need one last track to meet the requirements. When you get one completed that marks off the last box, it is absolutely the End Of The Storm. This…

What are you able to do? How do you find out? I believe when it comes to songwriting the best way is to Learn The Hard Way and that is to write, write, and write again. But don't throw anything away, record it all. This is from my 2018 release…

Parthenon was Algernon's brother, despite the fact that they could not share a tank. It was only fair that Parthenon get a song that was so opposite of his brother's song. So Algernon had all MIDI, this track has just the drums. This is off…

So this release could have been named Pet Names or something like that. Bentley was a new pet for our youngest daughter and so he needed a song. I called him Sir Bentley almost immediately, so it seemed fitting that he would have adventures…

For me any period of my life surrounded by uncertainty is immediately up near the worst times. That to me is the Certainty of Uncertainty. In that same vibe the uncertainty of where the next part of a song is going and it seems like each part…

The one truth to me about music is how it can take me from a pit of despair to a place of hope in such a short period of time. So when you sit down to write a song and let out whatever is in your heart at that time, you are truly The Optimist…

For me the goal of this songwriting and recording endeavor is to learn, to grow and to continue just enjoying the process. I share this so much with my students and explain that you'll pick apart every song you ever write and probably never feel…

This was actually the first track for my 2018 release Words To Live By and so the name just seemed appropriate as I was starting the RPM Challenge Games so to say. I tell students all the time they will never regret learning to play such a beautiful…

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…

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.

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 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…

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 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…

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 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…

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…

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…