Every morning I wake up to music—not on a radio alarm clock, but in my head. I started noticing this years ago, and earlier this month I decided to start writing down the songs. I’m interested to see if any patterns emerge. Will they tend to be songs with dreamlike imagery? Will Norah Jones be over-represented? How long will it …
Puget Sound Guitar Workshop 2006
I just got back from another incredible week at Puget Sound Guitar Workshop (PSGW). I learned fingerstyle blues licks from fingerpicking legend and Prairie Home Companion regular Pat Donohue, learned how to shape vowel sounds to blend my voice with other vocalists in a class taught by Kim Scanlon, and trashed my callouses in countless witching-hour jam sessions. Highlights included …
Three Seconds of Fame
New York’s WPIX TV station did a story on blogs this morning, and this blog was featured…well, maybe highlighted…OK, it was part of a rapid-fire montage. But I’m still calling mom. The WPIX website uses all sorts of javascript shenanigans, so I don’t know if this’ll work, but try this link: WPIX Video
Electric Kool-Aid Amp Test: Day 164
The amp is done. Today I screwed the 12-inch speaker onto the cabinet’s baffle (minor hassle) and bolted the amp chassis onto one of the two back panels of the cabinet (major pain in the heinie). Both jobs required a little bit of shoehorning, but finding the right place to drill holes in that gorgeous stained cherry took hours. At …
Electric Kool-Aid Amp Test: Day 161
Look what arrived in the mail today. Ain’t she a looker? That’s a 1×12 Marshall 18-watt cabinet made by Weber Speakers. The wood is cherry (the original cabinets were plywood covered with tolex) and the grillcloth is pinstripe (like the original 18-watts). I paid $350 for it—more than it would have cost to buy the materials certainly, but I never …
Electric Kool-Aid Amp Test: Day 118—It's ALIVE!
Some of you who’ve been reading this blog for a while might recall I’ve been playing Dr. Frankenstein in my basement, building a replica of the legendary Marshall 18-watt amplifier. You can catch up on the story here: Day 1 – The start of the project. Day 23 – Loopy from solder smoke, I have a mystical vision. In February, …
The Singing Lesson
Today I had my first singing lesson. Wow! What an intense, scary, illuminating experience. My teacher, whose ad I found in Seattle’s alternative weekly The Stranger, is Susan M. Carr. Her website describes her as “a superior technical teacher,” and she’s worked with all sorts of artists I like—from Layne Staley (Alice in Chains), to Chris Ballew (The Presidents), to …
Winter's Last Snow?
I awoke this morning to white rooftops and the sound of my neighbors scraping windshields. I love it when it snows in Seattle, and it happens just a couple times every winter. Last night’s dusting was even more improbable: I heard on the radio that after February 20th, the chances of snow in the city plummet. Instead, what plummeted was …
Mail From Far Away
It’s always fun to get fan mail, especially from somewhere far away. I received the following email this morning, from a guitarist in Wales, that really sparked my imagination. Thanks for writing, Chris! Hi Rob, My name is Christopher Wood, 57yrs and live in Wales, in the Uk. Just come across your site and wanted to congratulate you on the …
Redempton
For the past two months, I’ve been meeting with six students every Thursday night for Jam Workshop, the first group lesson I’ve offered as a guitar teacher. Jam Workshop is a chance for guitarists who know basic open chords to venture up the guitar neck, learning how to play solos, riffs, and alternate chord voicings to such tunes as “Friend …
