March 2007 Guitarist Recording Collective task was to :

“ take the song “Sleepwalk,” and do what you will with it. I mean it. Mangle the thing, take the ditty for a spin in a completely different genre, a new style, or a re-engineering old style. Above all, have fun with this well-worn tune.”

I’d been dying to get my archtop on a recording so this was the perfect chance . Went for a slightly jazzy-funky vibe on this one.

Gear Used:

Lead Guitar: Ibanez AF105NT -> Guitar Rig 2
Rhythm Guitar: Ibanez AF105NT -> Guitar Rig 2
Bass: Peavey Dynabass -> Guitar Rig 2/ Ashdown MAG-C210T-200
Drums: Fxpansion BFD

It’s been a while since I did anything for the collective so after seeing the December task I thought I’d have a bash.

The December task was to:

Compose and play a piece that shows your true ‘guitar colours’. Your guitar playing in it’s best light. If your natural inclination is metal, do a metal piece, if it’s country, do a country piece. There are no restrictions at all. Do whatever you feel comfortable doing.

I woke up in the mood to record something so dug out some drum loops and came up with ‘Ronk’.

Not sure if it really is where I am musically at the moment but the idea of using cool beats and heavy guitar is something that I really like.

Gear Used:

Lead Guitar: Ibanez RGA321FSB -> Jim Dunlop Crybaby 535Q -> Carvin Legacy -> Rode NT1-A
Bass: Peavey Dynbass -> Ashdown MAG-C210T-200
Drums: Loops, forgotten which ones!

July 2006 Guitarist Recording Collective task enty.

The task was to take a supplied melody and create a whole song with it as a main theme.

I immediately thought of a ‘spanish’ vibe and improvised around the main melodic theme coming up with ‘Scorchio! reflective of the ‘hot hot hot’ summer.

Gear Used:

Lead Guitar: Fylde Magician -> Shure SM58
Rhythm Guitar: Fylde Magician -> Shure SM58
Drums: Fxpansion BFD

The task for August’s Guitarist Home Recording Collective was:

…compose a piece of music where the main melody/lead part/ must have a minimum number of two notes played at all times.

After purchasing the August edition of Computer Music magazine, which came with various Chilled and Lounge samples, I decided to create a piece with an ambient vibe using some of the supplied samples, and came up with ‘Bliss’.

All guitar parts are played with a minimum of two notes, with triads on the Rhythm guitar, octaves and double stop on the melody parts. Various ambient guitar effects were done with double stops played with a slide and chordal tapped harmonics.

July’s Guitarist Home Recording Collective task was to:

Compose a tune where the melody or lead bit if you want can be played no faster than 120 bpm. In other words two notes per second is your speed limit. Obviously this doesn’t apply to the drums but to the guitar, bass, keyboards etc.

Had the idea to tackle the 120 bpm limit by coming up with a heavy riff, so I dug out the 7 string, the 5 string bass, fired up BFD, searched the web for some relevant audio and came up with the piece entitled ‘Conflict’.