Personal Log 8.13.22

So, it's 2022; this year has really flown by. We've had some really long, hot days but thankfully, Fall is in sight! I've made it no secret that I'm not a fan of Summer, especially the very humid days, the ones where you walk outside & within a few minutes you're drenched & cranky. The high point for me is mid-June when the days finally start getting shorter & when the calender hits October my mood greatly improves. I just need to endure (like a good soldier) August & September. 

We used to have outdoor church services but haven't had any this year, the weather just hasn't cooperated & the timing hasn't been right….

The past two weeks I've been soaking myself in the audio Bible, it's funny; you can read a passage a hundred times but when you listen to it, you pick up on something new. Then you dig a little deeper & the whole Word opens up to you. I do this a lot, especially w/ the NT letters.

My folks have had a pretty good couple of weeks healthwise, nothing major happened, just the occasional not feeling well & general tiredness that comes w/ age. My mom keeps reading about where Moses was 120 and in excellent health, she's claiming that for herself & I'm believing w/ her for another good 20 years at least; she has a lot to do yet and at 80, wants to accomplish more.

They usually go to bed around 9 pm & after I've made sure they've taken their medication & are tucked in, I go around their house, lock everything up, turn off what needs to be turned off & then brace for another 4 – 5 hours of “my” time, unless I'm just wiped out then I head to bed 10 minutes after they do. Usually though, I'm up 'til 1:30 or 2:30 working on my genealogy book or writing/recording songs or practicing some instrument.

The past couple of weeks I've really hit music theory hard again. Sometimes it's just good to go back over basic chords, chord structure, scales & scale structure, etc then it's a little easier to learn a new scale or a new instrument. I find I'm memorizing things better too, it's good to keep your mind sharp. I was getting into a [musical] rut & felt like I needed to learn something new & that the Lord was okay w/ that; I had the choice between the mandolin & the banjo. I was never a fan of the banjo as I just couldn't see it fitting into a worship setting unless we did “Victory in Jesus” Hee Haw-style. There is a left-handed 6 string banjo for sale on Amazon for $154 & one day, if I work a few extra jobs/projects I might just get it for fun & see what I can do w/ it.

Anyway, I chose the mandolin as I think it's a little more versatile, so w/ the alternate tuning (GDAD) & the refreshing of the music theory, I think I have a grip on it now. I just learned the Em Pentatonic Scale for mandolin so I'm feeling pretty good about it. 

To shake thing up once again, I've pretty much adopted the Double Drop D tuning for acoustic guitar (DADGBD) & been playing around w/ it, I like it as it really opens up the sound of my 6 string acoustic. My 12 string acoustic is in standard tuning & for now, I'm leaving that sound alone, it's perfect as is. So, if you have an old acoustic laying around & want to try something new, there's three tunings I recommend:

- EADGBD

- DADGBE

- DADGBD

With EADGBD, you simply lower the high E down to a D; that's it. There's very little learning curve on this one & you'll notice the guitar sounds smoother & a little larger.

Here's an excellent video of a cover of Coldplay's “Trouble” played in EADGBD tuning, listen to the guitar's sound, it's smooth:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuoMyk4Q6ls 

With DADGBE, you simply lower the low E down to a D; that's it. Your power chords are now made w/ one finger on two strings. The learning curve is a little bit more as you have to adjust to the power chord being one step higher than normal on the fretboard, but after a few minutes you get it.

Give any of these alternate tunings a try for seven days, after that if want to go back to standard tuning that's fine but give them a chance & you might yourself a little re-energized on the acoustic! 

So yesterday I pulled out my bass guitar for the first time in a couple of years; 'checked the battery, all the connections, knobs, pots & practiced for about 90 minutes. It's in standard tuning & it's in really good shape but I think it needs a little work done on it...

It took me years to find my sound & tweak it, I'm not planning on changing that [ever] but I am looking at adding something new to my secondary electric rig: an old wah pedal & a pitch shifter, just for a new sound w/ some new scales so we'll see how all that goes…

Oh, as if I don't have enough to learn, I'm looking into some lite percussion instruments like: the egg shaker, the cabasa, etc; things that are not too loud but add volumes to the sound. There's some great teaching videos on those & my pastor is a drummer so I'm sure he'll have pointers on how to use them.

I officially gave up on Zoom & deleted it from my pc & tablet; it was just too much trouble, too complicated, wouldn't let me download updates, blah, blah, blah so I ditched it for good. I can still join a Zoom meeting w/ a link but overall, I was never impressed w/ it. Skype has always been better for me & Jitsi Meet is fantastic for one-on-one or multiple people meetings as you don't meed an account, just go to the homepage, create a room name, create a password if you wish, send out the link & bam! You're in! Yes it's that easy & I'm using it much more now. If you have the app on a mobile device it remembers the room name & you can reuse it. I'm thinking of using it to keep in touch w/ the men for 20 – 30 minutes during the week, so when the Fall & Winter hits everything is already in place. 

Anyway, that's pretty much it, I'm sure I'll have more to say later.