Archive for April, 2013

Guitar Status: April 28, 2013

Apr 28 2013 Published by under Uncategorized

I went through a couple of events in Rocksmith this weekend: pleasant, as always, and it’s nice to both see a new song (Get Free) and to return to songs I enjoy that I hadn’t played for a little while (a couple of Clash songs, and Santana’s Smooth).

But I’m also trying to step a bit away from the events: so I spent some time going through individual songs, sometimes trying to learn segments, sometimes learning a different part from the one the game throws at you from default, sometimes just enjoying playing a song. I’ll continue doing that: I like the randomness that come from having events suggest songs at you, but it’s good for me to dive into songs a bit more.

I also had an interesting talk with Joan about what she’s focusing her guitar practice on. (Which she spends a lot more time on than I do!) I’m certainly being conscious about what I focus on: I’m not focusing on pedals and sounds like that, I’m not focusing on trying different guitars, I’m not focusing on improvisation, but I am focusing on execution. (With, right now, a focus more on my right hand than my left hand.) Listening to her talk about what she’s getting out of her theory grounding was quite interesting, though: that’s something that I should consider thinking more about. This weekend was particularly interesting in that regard: Joan and I spent some time a month or so ago improvising around a twelve-bar blues, and a couple of songs that I played this week had sections that are based on that. (So I should spend more time playing with Joan, to get more to think about! Though I’m sadly super busy this month…)

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Guitar Status: April 21, 2013

Apr 22 2013 Published by under Uncategorized

I didn’t spend a huge amount of time playing guitar this week; though we did go to an Arlo Guthrie concert on Thursday which was surprisingly good. (And unsurprisingly full of old hippies, even Liesl and I were among the youngest people there, let alone Miranda.) Lots of his dad’s songs, lots of his songs, lots of songs by other people he met when growing up; I ordered a couple of song books after the concert, maybe I’ll try to learn some of them.

I’ve hit an arpeggio-heavy bit of the Rocksmith on-disc songs; still hard, but I’m doing a little better than the last time I hit those songs. So: progress, yay. No new songs this week; I downloaded Get Free, but I haven’t played it yet.

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VGHVI Minecraft: February 28, 2013

Apr 21 2013 Published by under Uncategorized

The February VGHVI Minecraft session was a small one: Miranda and I were the only people building, though one or two other people dropped in to chat. As is my wont, I started by flying around taking pictures; this time, a window in the ground caught my eye:

What's that window doing on the bottom of that pit?

What’s that window doing on the bottom of that pit?

That window actually showed a view into the very first mine complex that we built in this world, albeit in a later room; I didn’t take any pictures of that room, but I did wander into the library across from it, and ran into a surprise:

Oh, hello there!

Oh, hello there!

I see you peeking around the corner

I see you peeking around the corner

Sorry, I didn't mean to interfere with your browsing

Sorry, I didn’t mean to interfere with your browsing

After that, I flew around a bit; on a cliff wall near the temple complex, I ran into some more cows:

Cliff-dwelling cows

Cliff-dwelling cows

And that alcove between them caught my eye:

Alcove in cliff wall

Alcove in cliff wall

So I decided to start digging, for the first time in ages, and Miranda decided to join me:

Miranda and I start digging

Miranda and I start digging

We started with a corridor going into the cliff and then going out to the left, where the cliff ends (just beyond the left cow): we put in a sitting room there, with a nicely furnished couch and bookshelves. And a big window, looking out on the temple complex.

The view out over the temple area

The view out over the temple area

A lamp next to the couch

A lamp next to the couch

A door on the other side of the window

A door on the other side of the window

Bookshelves in the back of the room

Bookshelves in the back of the room

That door on the outside leads to a natural set of stairs up to a roof area, so I went out there to explore a bit:

The window from the outside

The window from the outside

The view from the roof, showing the towers

The view from the roof, showing the towers

Wandering around up there a bit, I decided that we could build a set of internal stairs leading up to the roof as well, so we did that next. (With our traditional roles of me laying out the basic geometry and Miranda making it habitable.)

Working on the stairs

Working on the stairs

The view from the roof at night

The view from the roof at night

The view of the temple complex through the window at night

The view of the temple complex through the window at night

The finished sitting room, including carpet

The finished sitting room, including carpet

We left a good-sized chunk of space between the sitting room and the stairs; we decided to turn that into a workroom.

Carving out the workroom

Carving out the workroom

Installing some furniture

Installing some furniture

More furniture and decorations next to one of the doors

More furniture and decorations next to one of the doors

Putting in a gate and flooring

Putting in a gate and flooring

That made a good start on the house; time to give it a name.

Cows. They're remarkable cows.

Cows. They’re remarkable cows.

But there’s still a lot to do! There’s a fair amount of space within the cliff on the level that we’re on, we just have to decide how to use it; there’s also room for at least one story above us, possibly for two of them. I’m sure we’ll get back to that this month.

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Guitar Status: April 14, 2013

Apr 15 2013 Published by under Uncategorized

I’d been on vacation, so no guitar for a couple of weeks, but I got back on Saturday, and spent several hours on Sunday playing Rocksmith. Which was fun, I’d definitely missed playing guitar over break!

I bought all three of the songs on the latest bit of Rocksmith DLC: Have You Ever Seen the Rain?, Ballroom Blitz, and Southbound. I’d played the former in Rock Band 3, and found it pleasant enough; it’s similarly pleasant in Rocksmith, though there’s not a lot to do, it’s all chords, with the only interesting aspect being a moving bass line in one section. (Hmm, and also that, on most of the C chords in the song, Rocksmith throws in a G on the bottom E string.) Ballroom Blitz was mostly straightforward but also quite fine, I’m looking forward to playing that again. And Southbound seems like a reasonable challenge for me right now.

Lots of string bending this week: some in Southbound, and some in the on-disc songs the game threw at me. Which I can still feel slightly in my fingers, I can use the practice!

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