Summer Music Project

May 12, 2012

Current Pedalboard Rig

Guitar Pedal, Pedalboard, Summer Music Project, Vox 1

My pedalboard for the recent Summer Music Project gig was a a bit of a compromise. I couldn’t fit the JamMan Delay on the pedal board so it was hanging off to one side, and I had no space for my fuzz and chorus.

I’ve been planning to build a new larger PedalTrain-inspired pedalboard, and make some new correct-length cables.

Meanwhile, some of this pedal order is dependent on the short cables I had on hand. I would prefer to wire the tuner before the volume pedal, and the compressor before the wah, but that will have to wait for the redo. More

May 10, 2012

Guitar Girl’d

Blogging, Guitar Blogging, Summer Music Project 2

Rhymes with Guitar World!

Our singer, Laura Whitmore, has been writing a blog at Guitar World for about a year now. Lately she’s been writing about her transition from playing acoustic guitar to playing electric in our band, The Summer Music Project.

Yesterday, Laura wrote an article for Guitar World about her experience playing and singing at our recent gig.

Funny that, for this brief moment, our little band is on the front page of Guitar World!

She included a video of us playing her song “Don’t Take it Easy”. The audio is really bad, as we were using the built-in camera mic, from the back of the hall about 50 feet away. Unfortunately, my Tascam DR-40 digital recorder was sitting in standby for the whole show- gotta press record TWICE damnit! I of course wish I could hear my guitar better, but the important thing in this video is that we can hear Laura reasonably well.

Here’s that video:

Summer Music Project - SOL Food Festival gig

May 2, 2012

April and the Summer Music Project Gig

Gigs, Guitar Guitar, Pedal, Summer Music Project 2

Well, April just came and went, didn’t it?

It’s been a super busy month at work, and what free time I had was filled with preparing for a gig with my band, The Summer Music Project.

The set list ranged from some classic rock, right up to the present:

Shine On – Peter Frampton
Get Back – Beatles
Penny On The Train Track – Ben Kweller
Taste of Danger – Jonatha Brooke
Stop – Joe Henry
Wonderwall – Oasis
Animal – Neon Trees
Cough Syrup – Young the Giant
Perfect Situation – Weezer
I’m Sorry – Charles Besocke (original)
Don’t Take It Easy – Laura Whitmore (original)
The Only Exception – Paramore
Help Me (She’s Out of Her Mind) – Stereophonics
Level – Raconteurs
Revelry – Kings of Leon
Chocolate – Snow Patrol
Loving Cup – Rolling Stones
Had Me A Real Good Time – The Faces

I’m playing lead guitar on all of these, and some definitely push the limits of my abilities- so it’s been a great challenge. Also, and rather more nerve-wrackingly, I sing on most of the songs- mostly harmony with our lead singer Laura Whitmore, but I also had to sing lead parts on a couple songs. I’ve never been thrilled with the timbre and range of my voice, so I spent a lot of time working on the songs. As with anything, it’s definitely true that the more you practice, the better you get, but I have a looooong way to go. I’ll be writing more about voice training in another post.