As I mentioned in my last post, I have bought an 8-string guitar. It arrived awhile back, but I had to get it replaced, the replacement arrived on Tuesday, and naturally on Thursday (after the back of the guitar had been covered in belt scratches) the bridge pick-up slipped and is now very out of place. On the upside, I reckon I can give it a decent temporary fix.
This 8-string guitar actually turned out to be a better idea than I had originally hoped. My initial plans were to use it in Open F and play some nice instrumental music on it. Instead I took it down to Nathan's to show it off on the day he decides to start drumming.We jammed for a good ninety minutes, and during that time we had answered all our problems.
Our band had been struggling ever since our drummer decided to quit, and on Wednesday during mine and Nathan's jam session, I realised that we could work as a two-piece band because I could play both the bass and the lead parts on my 8-string guitar. This works out at a few more financial difficulties, since we were better prepared for our original idea, but overall it'll all work out cheaper for us, if we do it properly.
During our jam session we were also able to write a song, which was great since we'd have to start again with the song writing. Thankfully I was able to salvage and rework three of our other songs so we could still do them, they may sound different, but they still sound good. This knocks our current song count up to four, if I can get another six original songs I could happily start gigging, I don't mind doing the odd cover song (I have two in mind), but I'd much rather be doing our own material.
I also know that I need quite a bit more than just a few more songs before I can start gigging. The main thing being a decent place to rehearse. We unfortunately can't practice in Nathan's garage, his neighbours keep complaining, thankfully his dad plans on sorting out the back part of the garage (where we rehearse), which will hopefully involve some sound proofing.
Other things we need, amps, mics, and a few helping hands. Things I need: to sort out my guitar, another 8-string as back-up and/or different tunings and an amp that is NOT likely to explode on stage. Unfortunately for me, my brother has done a lot to my amp, and it apparently has a tendency to blow up if pushed above bedroom volumes. I'm not the only one who needs to invest money though, Nathan has a drumkit that needs quite a lot of maintenance, I'm also hoping he'll help investing in the mics and some amps for them.
In order for this project to work I need to start prioritising my expenditure. The first step will be to sort out this guitar as best as I can. The pick-up needs leveling, the strings want changing, and I'm putting some Schaller Strap Locks on for added security when playing. The pick-up leveling will be the hardest task since the screw is currently useless, my dad has an idea, and I have a backup idea, one of those ideas will definitely work. All the other adjustments on that guitar can wait, and so after that, I'll see about getting a decent guitar amp head, and then I don't have any clue what comes next.
I am quite excited about what I can do in this band, but I realise I've made plans like this before and something has decided to thwart them. I can only hope that that doesn't happen this time around, but I am already facing adversary. I hope this works out, but only time will tell, either way, I don't plan on giving up.
Sunday 29 March 2015
Sunday 8 March 2015
World of Warcraft and my New Toy
Just as I thought, World of Warcraft was a very bad idea, but not quite as bad as what I treated myself to yesterday, I honestly can't believe that I thought it would be a good idea to purchase what I purchased yesterday. In fact, I have no idea what I'm going to do with the magical item that I purchased yesterday. Thankfully, I have about nine days before it arrives, and so I've got that much time to think about things.
So what did I buy yesterday? Well, I'll tell you later but first I must talk about the scourge that is World of Warcraft. That evil games that sticks it's claws into your flesh and makes you spend countless hours beating the life out of murlocs just to hear them scream, and also because they drop a quest item, and they won't give you the last one you need for your quest.
I guess I'm weird, I love those adorable little terrors, they still scare the life out of me, but they're so much fun, and when you set the noise they make before they charge you as your text alert on your phone, you get some awesome looks on the bus. But murlocs are still terrors, and me being the idiot I am tried to tank them with my healer, but as it turns out, my healer is quite resilient.
I have been pretty much glued to that game all week, but annoyingly I'm about to hit level ninety, which, for me, is the highest level and so I've slowed down on my main, because I don't want to progress until I get the next expansion, which will be sometime after my new toy arrives. It's rather annoying, I have a character stuck in Westfall, who is set to level up alongside one of Nathan's characters. I have another character who is waiting at level 15 for one Nathan's characters so we can role-play together. I have a Pandaren mage who should really be doing Westfall, but I've done it so much as of late, I really can't be bothered to push through it.
And then there's Grundan, my Horde character. I'm not a big fan of the Horde, I don't like their capital city, and I've played Alliance for so long I feel like a traitor playing as a Horde character. Unfortunately, I felt the need for a bit of variety, and that is how Grundan came about. Currently, he's only level nine and is fighting with a bamboo sword, but he really can clobber murlocs with that thing.
I also installed an Add-On to my client, It's nothing fancy, but I quite like it. I installed the Add-On called MyRolePlay, it basically just adds an extra window to the character screen, allowing you to edit a few minor things, and also help other players who have the Add-On understand a little more about your Role Playing character.
World of Warcraft aside, it's time to talk about my new toy. Yesterday I ordered myself a set of twelve guitar picks from Amazon, but more importantly, I ordered an 8-string guitar from Thomann. To be exact, I ordered the Harley Benton R-458 BK Progressiv Series. If I can help it I'm going to try not to djent on it, chances are that I will djent, but I'm going to try not to. I will play metal on it, but if possible I'm going to avoid djent. Djent isn't my scene. I'm going to try and do something closer to Rob Scallon's work, so I'll tune into Open F and see where that takes me.
Originally I was going to order the R-457, which is pretty much the same guitar, only it's a 7-string instead of an 8-string. I only really wanted a seventh string, but I encountered the R-458 first, and with it only being something like £8 more expensive I thought I had nothing to lose with it. I can still play the songs that require seven strings on it, so why not go a little further.
If I enjoy this eight-string, I may upgrade and get myself an eight-string ESP, but even if I do it'll be awhile before that takes place, ESP guitars aren't exactly cheap, and the 8-string I was looking at was £666, which is the coolest price tag for a guitar so obviously designed for metal. But speaking of upgrades, my amp should probably come next, that or I should start socializing.
So what did I buy yesterday? Well, I'll tell you later but first I must talk about the scourge that is World of Warcraft. That evil games that sticks it's claws into your flesh and makes you spend countless hours beating the life out of murlocs just to hear them scream, and also because they drop a quest item, and they won't give you the last one you need for your quest.
I guess I'm weird, I love those adorable little terrors, they still scare the life out of me, but they're so much fun, and when you set the noise they make before they charge you as your text alert on your phone, you get some awesome looks on the bus. But murlocs are still terrors, and me being the idiot I am tried to tank them with my healer, but as it turns out, my healer is quite resilient.
I have been pretty much glued to that game all week, but annoyingly I'm about to hit level ninety, which, for me, is the highest level and so I've slowed down on my main, because I don't want to progress until I get the next expansion, which will be sometime after my new toy arrives. It's rather annoying, I have a character stuck in Westfall, who is set to level up alongside one of Nathan's characters. I have another character who is waiting at level 15 for one Nathan's characters so we can role-play together. I have a Pandaren mage who should really be doing Westfall, but I've done it so much as of late, I really can't be bothered to push through it.
And then there's Grundan, my Horde character. I'm not a big fan of the Horde, I don't like their capital city, and I've played Alliance for so long I feel like a traitor playing as a Horde character. Unfortunately, I felt the need for a bit of variety, and that is how Grundan came about. Currently, he's only level nine and is fighting with a bamboo sword, but he really can clobber murlocs with that thing.
I also installed an Add-On to my client, It's nothing fancy, but I quite like it. I installed the Add-On called MyRolePlay, it basically just adds an extra window to the character screen, allowing you to edit a few minor things, and also help other players who have the Add-On understand a little more about your Role Playing character.
World of Warcraft aside, it's time to talk about my new toy. Yesterday I ordered myself a set of twelve guitar picks from Amazon, but more importantly, I ordered an 8-string guitar from Thomann. To be exact, I ordered the Harley Benton R-458 BK Progressiv Series. If I can help it I'm going to try not to djent on it, chances are that I will djent, but I'm going to try not to. I will play metal on it, but if possible I'm going to avoid djent. Djent isn't my scene. I'm going to try and do something closer to Rob Scallon's work, so I'll tune into Open F and see where that takes me.
Originally I was going to order the R-457, which is pretty much the same guitar, only it's a 7-string instead of an 8-string. I only really wanted a seventh string, but I encountered the R-458 first, and with it only being something like £8 more expensive I thought I had nothing to lose with it. I can still play the songs that require seven strings on it, so why not go a little further.
If I enjoy this eight-string, I may upgrade and get myself an eight-string ESP, but even if I do it'll be awhile before that takes place, ESP guitars aren't exactly cheap, and the 8-string I was looking at was £666, which is the coolest price tag for a guitar so obviously designed for metal. But speaking of upgrades, my amp should probably come next, that or I should start socializing.
Sunday 1 March 2015
A Weird Passage of Time
It's strange to think that it's Sunday evening, last I checked it was still Wednesday. Instead the sands of time have continued to flow, leaving me behind, but now I shall sit back and wait for the sands of time to flow since I have just renewed my WoW account and I'm now waiting for it to install.
Slightly more importantly, my copy of Hand. Cannot. Erase. should arrive tomorrow, and I can't wait to listen to it and also to watch the DVD. I love Steven Wilson's previous album, and I expect good things from this one.
As a final not, I thought I'd let you know that I've come to terms with my Floyd Rose floating tremolo bridge, but I'm still going to try and avoid them where possible.
Slightly more importantly, my copy of Hand. Cannot. Erase. should arrive tomorrow, and I can't wait to listen to it and also to watch the DVD. I love Steven Wilson's previous album, and I expect good things from this one.
As a final not, I thought I'd let you know that I've come to terms with my Floyd Rose floating tremolo bridge, but I'm still going to try and avoid them where possible.
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