The last song to be cut from the 2018 RPM Challenge album is the first song finished for the 2018 RPM Challenge left overs album. Rhythm guitars are my Stratocaster to a Vox MV50 direct output. Leads are my ES 335 Pro to a Fender Bassbreaker…

Reddit’s Song a Week, week 13. The prompt? Syncopation. I think this counts. The rhythm under the solo is syncopated enough to have thrown me off every take. I kept losing the 1. Another song with utterly meaningless lyrics. Even more so than…

This came together in record time, but I feel like I could write 10000 pages on where it came from. First off, it’s for the Reddit Song a Week. Week 12, Harmony. It qualifies as most of the vocals are in two part harmony. It’s also done on…

Written for Reddit’s Song a Week subreddit for 2018 week 11. I don’t particularly care for this, but it was the first attempt I made that was actually finished by the Wednesday night deadline. Rhythm guitars are my strat through my 15 watt…

My first crack at Reddit’s Song a Week challenge. I didn’t finish on time. The prompt for 2018 week 9 was two minutes. The idea was to have the run time be less than two minutes. Mine was, except for the cymbal decay on the last note which…

I had this thought this year that maybe I will try and come up with drum parts that don't sound very traditional. Sort of like mid-80's Neil Peart kinda things. In the end there were only a few songs that I attempted something. This is one…

Part of the plan this year was to use a real amplifier and real effects pedals on all of the guitar parts. Recently I have been becoming obsessed with uni-vibe style pedals. I used one on this song, a cheap thing called a Shaky Jimi. I used…

I like this one, but at the same time... I don't. It's just not quite good enough. Not as good as I was hoping at least. I dropped it from the RPM album. The amp is a Fender Bassbreaker. The rhythm guitar is an ES-335. The lead is a…

I was a prog rock fan for years when suddenly in high school I got really into what would eventually be called Alternative. It was so weird to me that music so uncomplicated could be so good. Some songs were even made up of one phrase repeated…

I don't hate this one, which is high praise this year. It's okay. The rhythm guitar is an ES-335 through a Joyo Vintage Phase pedal. The lead is a Les Paul through an EHX Soul Food pedal. The amp is a Fender Bassbreaker. Don’t know what…

The slow to mid-tempo ideas came hot and heavy toward the end this year. All the up tempo stuff was started within the first week or so. After that it was all funeral marches. I'm on the fence on whether or not I like this one. I had planned…

If a Uni-Vibe pedal modulates the pitch, how do you double track with one? The answer? Very carefully. Actually, I just did it. I used the same settings on both guitar tracks and panned them both hard to one side. The effect was a kinda groovy…

Double tracked Wah-Wah. Pretty much the high point of awesomeness. Les Paul through a Fulltone Clyde Deluxe wah into a Fender Bassbreaker. Give it up now Everything that you care about trade it in for make believe and fairy tails…

There is a lot that I like about this one. There is one thing that annoys the shit out of me. On about half of this year's songs I tried to write the melody ahead of writing the lyrics. I noodled a piano melody and recorded it, then wrote…

This is an early favorite for the "stand out track" title. I like the groove quite a bit. Although I was literally falling asleep while mixing it so who knows if it sounds okay or not. I am in love with my new little Fender Bassbreaker 15…

At least in the past when they told us outright lies they were lies that could possibly have been true. Now? They just make shit up off the top of their head and half the people believe it like gospel. Guitars are a Les Paul through a Fender…

The inspiration for the lyrics to this mess was a tweet from someone named Adrian Bott that stated, "'I never thought leopards would eat MY face,' sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party." This one isn't so bad…

I had high hopes for this one when I first started working on it. Did it live up to the expectations? No way. Not even close. AlI I can hear when I listen to it is everything wrong with it. Why the hell did this one end up 5+ minutes long…

The first track for RPM2017. Get used to buried vocals this year, they are pretty bad and the mixes will reflect that. The guitars are all Les Paul through the direct out of a Fender Bassbreaker 15. The leads also used an EHX Soul Food overdrive…

A simple 12-bar in 6/8 time. I almost like it. The guitars are all Les Paul. Turn the page again It's time to start anew From the top this time don't think we can make it Don't see there's much chance Round and round and round we…