April 15th Open Mic Night

OK, here goes (GOLD- Aced, ***- Barely made through, **-F'ed up)

"Are You Gonna Be My Girl?" by Jet- *****
This one went really well. My opening banter kicked ass, I hit on some girls at the "Are You Gonna Be My Girl?" breakdowns (one even got jealous when I did another table). I only messed up at the end when I forgot how I was supposed to end.

"Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack Of Hearts" by Bob Dylan- **
Tried to do a Punk Cover (all open chords 5ths) but worked out sub-par, and I forgot half the words, and my string broke... It's like I ACTUALLY FAILED THE SONG AS IF I WAS IN ROCK BAND...

"Clash City Rockers" by The Clash- GOLD
So I came back, and played this little number. First song I played was my last song at the Tabler Cafe open mic.

P.S. The Intervarsity Christian Fellowship lied to me there was no Open Mic it was last year. However, I DID find a new location to play at. So more on that later.

March 11th Open Mic Night

TL;DR: I liked how I played, but everything else was a clusterfuck.

(GOLD-Nearly perfect, ***- Barely made it)
"Clash City Rockers" by The Clash- GOLD
BUT I SOUNDED LIKE SHIT. I had to go through the PA system they had, and it made me sound weeeak. NO distortion. But I finally got it right.

"She Sells Sanctuary" by The Cult- ***
I started off by making a Scientology joke that kinda went mediocre. Nobody seemed interested in playing, and I was messing up, so I cut it short. I brought a Flange pedal, but couldn't use it, cause the school PA system sucked.

"Desolation Row" by My Chemical Romance- *****
I tried to do a ROrscach impression: "You'll trip over your acoustic guitars, look up and yell "Play Freebird" and I'll look down and whisper "No."" I FUCKED IT UP ROYALLY.
The song however, I couldn't have played better. I forgot the lines at a couple places, but picked it up. My voice didn't sound that awkward considering I was singing in a lower key.

For however many things went wrong, they went right. My performing got better, but I didn't put on a good show. The problem is that I'm playing the wrong kinds of songs on the wrong instrument, but this is what I like. It's what I feel good performing. The most common response I got was "It took balls to go up there." which I guess means "You sucked, but thanks for trying anyway."

While I seem all hip and coherent on this blog, I'm pretty skittish IRL. I don't know if it's nerves, or thinking of everything in terms of life or death, but I always feel like I'm embarassing myself when I put myself out in public.

The reason I don't feel the same way while writing is simply because I have a backspace key and edit button. I can take my time, and sort things out. When I'm nervous, or trying to speak then think, I tend to talk in word salads a little (i.e. one word is replaced for another).

I wasn't as prepared as I'd like to have been this time around, so I'm gonna hold off on these things, and do the NEXT next Open Mic, April 15th if at that. So I'll focus more time on nailing RB songs. If all goes well, I might actually have a semblance of a video for all o y'alls. Also, gonna try to do a bit of songwriting.

Dani California, the song next on my list was actually played by a friend of mine from the Commuter Association (not S'n, but he was there too, and in good form as usual) and forgot the words and said "fuck it" and laughed it off. God I wish I could do that, just laugh things off.

Holy shit, this is the most personal I've ever gotten on this blog. I better be back tomorrow with some inane rambling on how some aspect of Rock Band is related tangentially to some aspect of Team Fortress 2, or something stolen, I mean, posted from another website.

Voxtar

ANOTHER day I'll have to postpone the song lesson, but here's a tip I can give when it comes to playing and singing at the same time:
Find a "Hook". This means find a distinctive part where lines change, or a specific syllable.
Example from the chorus "Clash City Rockers":
G------------6-------------------------------------------------
D------------6-x16------------------------9---------------7---
A------------4-----------------------------9-x16----------7-x8
E-------------------------------------------7--------------5---
So don't /complain, about your useless /employment, Jack /it in....

Each chord has it's own line. These kinds of patterns are common in most rock songs.

From the verse:
G----------9-9-------------7-7----------------------------------
D----------9-9-------------7-7-----------------7-7-----------5-5---
A----------7-7-------------5-5------------------7-7-----------5-5---
E-------------------------------------------------5-5-----------3-3----
And I WANNA move to TOWN with the CLASH city ROCKERS

G----------------------------------------------9-9-----
D------9-9----------7-7----------9-9------9-9-----
A------9-9----------7-7----------9-9------7-7-----
E------7-7----------5-5----------7-7---------------
Ya NEED a little JUMP of elECtrical SHOCKerz

Oh shit, I just taught you most of "Clash City Rockers"

FUN FACT: I did the Guitar and Vocals Challenge in Rock Band 2 today...

SETLIST UPDATED

February 25th Open Mic Night

THE SETLIST:
"Clash City Rockers" by The Clash-*****

"I'm Shipping Up To Boston" by Dropkick Murphy's-***

Three words: REALLY FUCKING NERVERACKING.

Despite the fact that I've been practicing these songs nonstop for the past two weeks, I felt like shit going up there, and while playing, I was caught in a trance, or another plane of existence... I'm sure I forgot some parts, messed up words, and so on. But apparently I didn't suck. Hopefully I'll be more aware next time.

What eased my fears was that a fellow commuter who also plays guitar was doing it too. He helped me get setup and everything, so Sean (Shawn? I forget, he S'n now) if you're reading this, thanks a lot, man.

The first guy who went up was this really white guy playing a acoustic covers of rap songs. He sounded really good.

The next guy was someone me and S'n ran into there, and he was also good. Played mostly originals.

S'n was up next, and he was actually really good. I play pool with him in the lounge all the time, and here is playing these songs he wrote. Not that catchy, but I was impressed.

The next guy sucked. Barre chords and cliche lyrics ahoy.

This is the point in time where I mention that I was essentially the polar opposite of every other act. All of the other acts up until me were acoustic acts, playing their own songs, yet there I was, the only person there with an electric, playing punk/rock covers.

At long last, it was my turn, I feverishly introduced myself: "Hey, I'm the Rhythm Bastard, I'm an Engineering student, and I'm here to rock."

So, how did I do?

N.B. (Gold= Perfect, no notes dropped to ***=Barely made it through)

"Clash City Rockers"-*****

Out of S'n's amp, this sounded like the real thing. The chords during the verse and choruses were crisp as a new bill, but I messed up the solo on one note, and fudged up a chord once, I think on the bridge. Without a band backing you, every mistake you make is REALLY noticeable, and can seriously mess you up. Solos sound bad perfect or not, because again, NO BACKUP.

But what made this for me, was when I was just getting into it, I saw a guy in the crowd singing along. Boo-yah! He said I was cool after the show. :)

Yay approval from other people! Certainly that won't mess up my psyche!

I was proud of my performance on this one. The mistakes haunt me, but other than that, I think I did well.

"Shipping Up To Boston" by Dropkick Murphys-***

Oof... What can I say here...
I messed up the first riff (dee-do-dee-do-dee-dee-dee-dee-do-do...) but it went uphill from there. NOBODY sang along, which was discouragin to say the least, and sounded weird with the fingering parts overdriven with an amp.

Overall, glad I went ahead and did, you'll get your precious song lesson tomorrow.
It'll be "Shipping Up To Boston". 'Cause St. Patrick's Day is coming up.

Double Duty

Duty 1:
I FOUGHT THE LAW
The Clash: Punk Without Power Chords

Main riff is the D chord strummed quickly 5 times (x2) followed by the G chord 5 times, then the D chord again.

A pretty simple song, it's the quick strumming that's hard to get down.
As per the the hardest part, it's this lick at the end on the chorus:
E--0--------2-
B--2--------3-
G--2--------2-
D--2--0-------
A--0--2--4---
E-----3---2---

Try it now, go ahead!
...
Yeah, quite a lot to change positions that quickly, and sadly, there's no trick to it. The only recommendation I can make to do the A chord with the first three fingers since your index finger only goes up one string.

Also, there's this one part at the end that's kinda fun to play, and easier than the chart implies:
B-------------------------------------------7--
G-----------------------------------------7---
D-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0----------0-0-0-0-7-----
A--------------------0-0-0-0-----------------

Repeat Twice, then before you play the 7s again, play the lick mentioned above.

---------------------------------
DLC Time!
MY CHOICE- "Limelight" by Rush- Seems like a fair Rush song, with plenty of good riffs. Thank God I don't have to drum.

READER SONGS-
1. "Breaking The Girl" by The Red Hot Chili Peppers- Looks pretty straightforward, with a hypnotic melody

2. "Crushcrushcrush" by Paramore- I've been a fan of them ever since I went to those 2007 Warped Tour.

3. "Die, All Right!" by The Hives- Tick Tick Boom I knew how to play prior to this actually, and it's a lot of fun, with plenty of energy. This looks no different.

4. "Fortunate Son" by Credence Clearwater Revival- The band's name makes no sense, but it's about time we got some folk rock with some edge to it. FUN FACT: It was used in a Wrangler Jeans commercial, because it sounds patriotic, but if you listen to it, it's really about the privlages politicians and the rich get:
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,
Lord, dont they help themselves, oh.
But when the taxman comes to the door,
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes,
It aint me, it aint me, I aint no millionaires son, no.
It aint me, it aint me; I aint no fortunate one, no.

5. "Juke Box Hero" by Foreigner- In the words of that drunk chick at a party: "THIS SONG IS SOOOO ABOUT ME!!" Shit, I might have to weasel those lyrics into the mission statement somewhere...

6. "Message In A Bottle" by The Police- I eventually plan on featuring the Guitar Hero games as well, and I'm not too sure if I should do this right now, but if it gets voted on, I'll do it.

7. "More Than A Feeling" by Boston- See above.

8. "Pretty Fly For A White Guy" by The Offspring- I'm 20, meaning I was growing up when they were on the radio ALL THE TIME, and I used to think that this stuff was the hardest rock in existence. This song takes me back to the days of Darkwing Duck and long afternoons of Goldeneye 007 with my friends, listening to these guys share airspace with Blink 182's "What's My Age Again?" and Smash Mouth's "All Star" as we drove in my Dad's beat up minivan to Little League practice. So now, more than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark - that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back. Where was I?

9. "Still Alive" by GLaDOS- Make no mention of the cake and move on.

10. "Syncrinocity II" by The Police- It was between this and "Limelight", but since I already chose The Police for Tier 1 DLC... Oh, and see "Message In A Bottle"...also by The Police

11. "Teenage Lobotomy" by The Ramones- This is about as hard as their songs are going to get, but it's one of their lesser knowns. Speaking of which, "Blitzkreig Bop" has been in, what 3 music games since the release of Rock Band 1? Why not every other game have "I Wanna Be Sedated"? I know the Ramones are simple, and everyone loves them, but dig a little deeper! The only exception is "Rock and Roll High School" from the recent Alvin and the Chipmunks game and don't ask me how I know that...

12. "This Ain't A Scene..." by Fall Out Boy- Yes, Fall Out Boy, the most tolerable Emo band. Still, I like how it switches up tempos and intesity, so IT'S NOT THAT BAD!

What did I say? DOUBLE DUTY!!!

SETLIST UPDATED

Where I Am So Far

Yeah, I started this project a few days before the blog.

Anyways, right now I have "Here It Goes Again" and "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" down pat. Here are my impressions:

HERE IT GOES AGAIN
Easy, power chord driven song. It's really fun to play, but the only part that really gave me trouble was the solo. Not because it was hard, but NOBODY has a clear idea on how to play it. It starts with D# power chord, but then I couldn't really figure out what to do next. This seems to be the best idea, combined with a tab I found and looking at the video from Rock Band:

E--------------------------------------------
B--8---8-x11---8x6-7x4----------8--8x8---6x4-
G--8---8-------7----6--------------8--8-------7----

E-----------------------------------------------
B--8--8x10---8x6-6x4--8-8x4---6666------
G--8--8-------7----7------8-8------7777------

E-----------
B--8888----
G--8888----

If anyone knows a simpler way, let me know.

SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO
If, like me, you've been used to doing Power Chords, this one is a real wake-up call. The entire song is open chords.

The progression is
D G(with four fingers) D
D G D
G5 F5 G5 <----Some tabs showed open chord, but this is the easiest, and sounds most like the original song
D G D
A
D G D

The chorus is just that, only FASTER. After the A chord strumming, it resumes to normal speed.

Also, the four fingered G chord feels much more natural when switching between it and the D because you can keep ring finger on the third fret of the B string.

That's it for now, Maps I have, a bit, right now going over Mississippi Queen.

SETLIST UPDATED