I have not been holding up my end of the bargain lately, vis-a-vis my poor guitar. I am supposed to play at least 3 songs a day, and more than that when the mood strikes me. Yet in the past 6 months, I've been averaging only 0.416 songs per day! Pathetic. And it wouldn't even be that high, if I hadn't blackmailed myself!
What happened was this. Beginning in August, I recommitted myself to daily guitar practice in a very serious way, and it just didn't take. I wasn't doing it. And so as September loomed, I took a drastic step: I swore that for the entire month of September, I would log every song played during each night's practice. And if by the end of September, I had failed to average at least 3 songs per day for the month, then I would post that shameful song log of failure right here on the blog for anyone to see!
What makes this an especially deadly threat is that I'm ridiculously overprotective/paranoid about my songs. I'm worried that even disclosing a song title could jeopardize the whole song - like somebody could reconstruct the whole thing just from the title! It's not that I think they're so great...but it's just that they're mine. I'm extremely protective of that. Except for when I'm performing them live, I never give out my song lyrics to anyone. The exceptions to that...you could number them on the fingers of one hand. After it's been through an industrial-machinery accident.
So to hold that dire threat over my own head - that I would have to post all those song titles of mine online if I don't come through - that has had a really powerful effect. Several effects, in fact. Firstly, the idea that I might end up posting the list has made me reluctant to repeat any songs. For fear that it would give the impression that I'm short on material. As a result, I'm rediscovering a lot of my old jams I haven't played in years!
Secondly, I find I'm choosing songs to play based on how dramatic (or at least, how not-blatantly-awful) the song title sounds. Which is a bit of a mixed blessing. For instance, at this rate I won't get to play "The Dawn of The Attack of The Endangered Species List!" Because...let's face it, taken purely in terms of a song title...that sucks.
Thirdly, I'm realizing that of my 300+ songs...there aren't much more than a quarter of that number, that I really remember how to play (translation: that are any damn good). I wish I'd taken more detailed notes. I know that I've got the trickier parts for all of these songs sketched out over an endless series of audio cassettes, but...who wants to dig back through that? Boring!
But the single biggest effect of this whole blackmail practice regimen is that I'm absolutely killing my fingertips, scrambling to catch up from my early slack disregard of the deadline. Because, let's be honest: I'm going to hit that total. I'm not letting you people see all my best song titles. That's just not an option.
No offense.
Anyway, my calluses are coming back big-time! I'll have to start smoking again. So I can stub out the butts with my fingertips, like a badass!
Ah...those days.
3 comments:
So your guitar is feeling neglected? If it could talk, I'll bet it would tell you, "Don't fret."
Ah yes! That reminds me. I have a song called, "Fret", which is a good 'un yet I haven't played it this month.
Thank you for the jog!
I love the song "Fretless." I am unfamiliar with the song "Fret."
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