mikeyz songs

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New song ideas!

Got three new song ideas down on my portable recorder this evening.
I must be going through a musical growth spurt or something.
Each one of the ideas is completely different:
The first one is a jazz-type tune, slightly reminiscent of the likes of Tom Waits;
The second one is a haunting, eerie song, that was inspired, ironically by a guy playing blues harmonica... the lyric theme got stuck in my head, and then twisted around and came out as something else completely. It was originally in double-drop tuning, but I'm experimenting with a different rendition in standard tuning;
The third came from a live video of Rory Gallagher playing "She Moved Thro' the Fair/Out on the Western Plain" that I was goofing around learning a few months back. I started messing around with the double-drop tuning. Then I started riffing on this wild riff, and it just took off in a different direction.
The drop D and double-drop tunings really seem to bring something out in me musically. I find myself getting inspired by the big sound of the guitar in the alternate tunings.
There also seems to be a recurring pattern for me - I'll hear a melody or a snippet of a song, and I'll sit down and start riffing on it, and then it takes off in a different direction and turns into something totally different.
Hm... I wonder if Beethoven ever did that? LOL

Fret Club Song Circle

Andy Ard invited me to join his Song Circle last week. It was a real shot in the arm for me musically.
It was a really enjoyable evening. Andy, Andy II, Terri Jo, JJ, and myself attended. We just went around the circle, and each of us would pull out a song or an idea. Sometimes everyone would play along, sometimes we'd just listen.
There was some really good music. Everyone has a distinctive and unique style and musical 'voice,' and each songwriter had some really good, strong material.
I have several song ideas that have been percolating for the last few months. It gave me a chance to dust them off and take 'em out for a spin. I realized that I had been sitting on some good song ideas, and it was high time I did something with them.
It inspired me to come home and start developing some of the ideas.
I'm looking forward to the next song circle!

Feel-good time!!!

It's really amazing...
No matter how exhausted I may be after work, no matter how tired, or cranky, or whiney...
An evening of playing great music with good friends and bandmates just makes everything feel fine. There is nothing quite like that feeling when a song is going along and everything meshes together just right.... it's a great, happy, fulfilled feeling.
I gotta say, I am really enjoying this period of the band's life, this format - just the three of us - playing great songs, harmonizing, locking in together, it's amazing.
The music is sounding good - but best of all, it feels great!
We're writing new songs, and adding things to old songs... it's fun!!!
I call it "Feel-good time!"

Everything is going to be alright now...

Blast from the past - vintage pics of Mikey playing music

Here's the breakdown:
With my very first guitar, a Harmony "Stella" - circa 1968:


Playing at church with my first electric, a Sears Silvertone - circa 1970:

With my trusty Gibson ES-175 - circa 1971/72:


Playing my Strat, with Stiffwater - circa 1975:


Playing my Ibanez Paul Gilbert PGM300 with Coventry - circa 2003:

Mikeyz Guitarz: a gallery of the many instruments I have owned (and still own) over the years.

My guitars, in roughly chronological order:

*indicates a guitar that I still own...
Here's the breakdown:
Harmony Stella, purchased in 1968:

Sears Silvertone electric, purchased in 1970:


My Gibson ES-175*, originally purchased in 1969:


Harmony "Buck Owens American"* (new 1971):


Yamaha "Flying Samurai" - a reissue*, a near-exact replica of the guitar I originally purchased in 1973 - and the original:


Fender Stratocaster* (new 1975):


Gibson "V2" Flying V (new 1980):


Ibanez Paul Gilbert signature PGM300 (new 1996):


Fender Acoustic "Samantha"* (new 2009):

Funny old world, innit?

I just realized something interesting...
One of the things that I am really good at is deciphering and arranging vocal harmonies - creating distinct individual vocal parts and melodies.
However, the other thing that I have found that another thing that I seem to be really good at is having the other guys sing the part that they fall into, and I find a part that fits in on top of it all. I guess I can just hear it.
Given a choice, my first inclination would go with arranging vocal parts. However, I am learning more and more that I really like finding a part that fits in, fills the gaps like mortar. Or glue. Or another thing that fits in between other things. In addition, if the other guys are singing the parts that they 'fall into,' then everybody is playing to their strengths; i.e., everyone is singing what comes naturally to them, and nobody is out of their element trying to sing a forced vocal part.
I am lucky that I am in a band of musicians who can sing what comes naturally to them, and it works.
Interesting how things work out.