The drums in the chorus are in 4/4 time. Everything else is in 7/4 time. Polyrhythms, people! Welcome to the 20th century! (sorry... that's kind of a music school joke. Even I'm not sure I get it... just like most 20th century classical music…

The rhythm guitar part for this was originally written on an electric piano, but given that I can barely play piano I think it turned out better this way. The title describes the lyrics. I was trying to write something coherent but I gave up…

I am so tired right now I can't keep my eyes open. Does this mix sound okay? I have no idea. On the day the RPM Challenge website opens up for sign ups for a COVID-19 April Challenge I finish the bonus album in a month challenge I set for…

I had this song worked out pretty much completely but it was only about a minute long. What to do? I just repeated the whole thing and stuck an extra phrase at the end to wrap it up. Boom, two and a half minutes. Rhythm guitar is my SG…

Literally everything I've done this month could be titled "Social Distance" or "Shelter in Place" or "Holy shit this is scary as hell". I don't think I ever really plan to write a big dumb sludgy rock song, but they always show up and here…

Another one with an attempt to sort of improvise the rhythm guitar part. Some of it at least. Also, another one with a melody that... well... seemed like a good idea at the time. The rhythm guitar is a Gibson SG, the lead is a Gibson Les…

I've been writing melodies and lyrics earlier in the process than I'm really used to. Normally I sit at the mic and write and record everything at once. Lately I've been writing a melody with a piano track, then writing lyrics that fit, and…

There are a few things from this month's batch of songs that I tried to kind of improvise the rhythm guitar part. I looped a section of the song and without figuring out what I wanted to do ahead of time I hit record and saw what happened. This…

So... I usually try to come up with a little story about each song when I post. This time... I got nothing. It's in 7/8 and there was one section that I screwed up the guitar part about a million times. Other than that? I got nothing. The…

The third song of my socially distant RPM ii: RPMarch 2020 thing or whatever it is. I have this need to try and make 3/4 time rock. This one is okay. Recording the vocals in the car on a Friday morning before work is even weirder than usual…

The second song for my ridiculous post-RPM Challenge album in a month yet again thing. I was working on a guitar part for another song when I played the riff for this by accident. I dropped everything and made sure I had it recorded. I was…

My post-RPM Challenge plan is to just keep going. Here's my first March 2020 Challenge song. I am trying to go much more raw and low-fi than usual. One guitar straight into one amp. No doubling, not extensive overdubs. Same with the vocals…

This is the band mix of this song: https://alonetone.com/robertjames1971/playlists/rpm2020---finished-mixes,-so-far/good-people-(coffee-shoppe-mix) The only note worth making is that unlike almost every other song I worked on this year, the…

Sweet Christmas, this puppy is a mess.... ....and I LOVE it! There is actually two mixes going on at once here. I set everything for the beginning and end sections without even listening to the middle. Once I had the two mixed where I could…

This is a last minute bit of guitar goofiness. I own three Gibson guitars and have been wanting to write a silly instrumental that includes all of them. This is it. The rhythm guitar is my '79 ES 335 Pro, the lead on the left is my '18 SG Standard…

This one is a turd and a half. I knew it was a loser from the word go but my February rule is everything that can be completed will be. As a result we have a song where the guitars are half assed, the lyrics are half assed, the vocals are half…

No one ever rocks in 3/4 time. This is a cheesy attempt to do just that. I woke up one morning with the music for this pretty much complete in my head. I recorded the rhythm guitars and vocals over a simple drum and bass loop. When I went…

This one was fun to play while I was working on it, but now it's kind of a turd. I don't know if I am going to drop anything from this year's RPM Challenge album, but if I do this is definitely a candidate. The lyrics are cheese, the singing…

The miracle here is that I was able to upload this using the guest wifi at Disney World and it didn't take six days! Nice! The lyrics are about how I used to be a cynical asshole when it came to love and relationships and then I met my wife…

Alternate arrangement of this: https://alonetone.com/robertjames1971/tracks/deja-vu-(coffee-shoppe-mix) The guitars are a Les Paul through two Fender Bassbreakers.