One Thing a Month

So here it is: My thing for January.

I covered Warren Zevon’s “My Ride’s Here.” I was going for a more rock feel than either the album version or Bruce Springsteen’s (perhaps better known) live cover, so I upped the speed. Zevon was a studio musician at heart and a hell of a producer, so the original has the slick sound you’d expect from him, and the Springsteen cover is clearly a live piece. I wanted to take a middle way. I thought just playing the guitar and singing would be too simple for this project, so I added the keys and drums. I hope the ghost of Warren Zevon doesn’t haunt me for ruining one of his songs.

The Good: My vocals are pretty much in tune, and I created everything except the drum track myself. I used a loop for that because 1) I don’t have a drum set and 2) I can’t play the drums, hence my not owning a drum set.

The Less Good: My vocal tone/timbre and guitar playing are pretty weak these days. Lack of use will kill proficiency. I can still make the chord shapes and everything, but I’m 10 years removed from daily practice and that makes a difference. The key/synth sounds are a bit cheesier than I’d like. That’s mostly because I don’t have a keyboard, so I had to enter the notes by hand into a sequencer, which made them less expressive than I was hoping for.

I want to write up a few of the things I learned this month, and then it’s on to the next thing!