Today I set myself up with my favourite chair, my guitars, a mic, a music stand, lyrics, my laptop, a metronome, and headphones. It was time to do some structured practice for next week’s recording.
I created an environment similar to the one I’ll be in when I’m recording and began to run through the four tunes. I practice with headphones on, listening to either the preproduction recordings or a metronome. When playing with the recordings, I mute the lead vocal and guitar tracks.
I play rhythm differently with or without a drummer. Since I usually play solo, or with Jane on keyboards, I lay down the groove in a very physical, percussive way. With a drummer, however, not only is that unnecessary, it could clutter Adam’s groove. Today I worked at playing without filling that percussive role. It takes some getting used to!
The song that surprised me the most was Next Time, which I though I had mastered. As I played with the metronome, I realized how much I push the time in certain transitions where the energy increases. It was good to practice getting fired up and not speeding up!
More tomorrow.
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