Sorry, it has been so long since I last posted! Things have been going very well.

A couple days ago, I recorded my own version of the song Little Wing, by Jimi Hendrix. I learned how to play it about four years ago, and it’s a song that’s always kind of stuck in my mind. The cool thing about it is Jimi Hendrix used to improvise his guitar riffs off of a simple chord progression. For that reason, it’s nearly impossible to duplicate what he recorded on his original version. So, everyone’s version of it is unique. You can also find a version by Stevie Ray Vaughan.

I was able to record the guitar with two mics recording my amp, and it turned out great! A couple of weeks ago I put some really thick strings on my guitar, so it’s in a much lower tuning than the original, but that gave it a heavy, almost SRV-like, bluesy tone. The drums are fake and the bass was recorded kind of sloppily just to give it some umph, but the guitar solo turned out really great! This was the first time I’ve recorded distorted guitar with mics in a long time for my own music, and it turned out really nice!

I hope you enjoy!

Bill and I used to listen to the Presidents of the United States of America all the time. They’re going on tour with a new album after 4 years of silence. Sounds great!

I have a new song up. It sounds very similar to that last one I recorded except a little darker. I’ve been using a lot of the same little guitar chords and I’ve been writing in the same key, lately, which is why they sound so similar.

I used a lot of different neat little things I’ve never used recording before. I put tons of distortion on the bass in the first part. I also used a “Bronzer” on the guitars in the middle of the song. It sounds really warm. And in the beginning and the middle-end I dual-tracked the guitars, one clean guitar with lots of delay and reverb, and the other with light distortion and tremolo. Tremolo is an effect that makes the volume go up and down… you’ll hear it in the beginning. It came together really nicely.

Enjoy!

This just in:

I got my letter tonight stating that I was a recipient of one of the awards for the Anna K. Suter scholarship that I mentioned in the last post. They award me $500, which isn’t a whole lot, but I am still very excited! This gets my name out there in the math department. And I’m allowed to apply for it each year.

Also, I edited the song a little bit. I took some advice that Jason Carr from the Bean Cup, a local coffee shop, gave me for the end of the song. I let the clean guitars in the end play over the heavy parts. Enjoy!