The second Portland/Vancouver Kitchen Party for Musicians and Singers was a little shorter for me since Josiah was at his grandma’s and I wanted to go out on a date with Angie that night. I had a good time though. My guitar chops were a rusty feeling though. It seemed like just about the time I started to get a feel for the song, it was over.

The surprise for me was when I picked up the djembe (drum) that Angie gave me for Christmas (and made by the talented Dave Keetah). It was the first time I’d played it in a live setting with other musicians. It was just really enjoyable because I didn’t have to put as much thought into it. I could just settle into a nice simple groove and just enjoy the song.

For those who are interested in finding out more about various element of music, I’ve found the Pandora Podcast to be pretty interesting, educational, well produced, but way too short. You can learn more about techniques of drumming, vocal harmonies, vocal recording and guitar effects for example. Being in an audio format is great because you can hear examples of what they’re talking about. Plus, there are more resources on the episode web pages.

It’s been useful for me as a guitar player to get more insight into areas I might not be so familiar with on the specifics. With each episode being eight or nine minutes long, I alway find myself wanting more when it’s done.

Yesterday, I went to the Portland/Vancouver Kitchen Party for Musicians and Singers. I had a good time. I met some interesting people and played along with my electric guitar and later with my bass.

I’m looking forward to the next meetup and also just seeing where this goes.

Here’s first draft on a tune I’m calling “Desert Star”. It makes use of the E-Bow Plus I got from my Mom for my birthday to lay down the ambient background. Thanks mom!

More details about the tune are available on the ODEO page.

Here’s a little tune-in-progress that I’m working on. This is not a complete tune by any means–it needs a bridge section for one thing. However, I wanted to get what I did have out here to share. I was partially inspired by recent posts by Chris and Troy of their work, I’ve also wanted to share things I’m working on for a while now too.

All in all, this is a bit jazzier then I usually tend toward, but I tend to associate jazz with Christmas and well, that’s where my mind was.

More details can be found here.

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