Me and Cub Jam

Last night, my friend, Kelly, came over for dinner and being a former bandmate of mine, we goofed around on my crappy Fender acoustic guitar. Kelly is phenomenal; I'm passable. But my son, Jacob, really got into it.

This morning when we got up, Cub wanted to jam with me, so he asked me to get him two pencils to use as drumsticks and I got out the guitar. You can hear what we did together until I hit a bad chord at the end, with me scatting along vocally. (None of my songs have any lyrics... I just never really got around to it.)

Jacob did a great job on sticks. A big future in front of him, I think :)

By the way, I recorded this on my Sony Cybershot and then converted the MPG to MP3. I have a Tascam US-122 USB device that should allow me to record straight into the computer, bu the Tascam driver is so godawful that it's virtually unusable with Windows XP Service Pack 2. I'm seriously thinking of getting a Mac. Recording shouldn't be this traumatic.

by Brett Rogers, 1/21/2006 2:43:52 PM
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Ohh drums. That's every parents nightmare. ;)

Had a blast and enjoyed meeting your kids. They're lucky to have a Dad like you.

Thanks for the compliment. Though, I think you underestimate yourself, musically. Your approach is one that's untainted from 20+ years of playing the same stuff, over and over, in bars. It's tuff breaking out of that mold. The clip here with Jacob may be unrefined, but, certainly not lacking in talent.

Posted by Kelly, 1/21/2006 6:09:35 PM

...and, yea, if you're wanting to go computer based for recording, Mac's really are better than a PC. I'd still question the latency issue and would want to confirm that it's not a problem.

You might also want to consider a stand alone unit, unless you have other reasons for wanting a Mac. Stand alone will be less money. You can get a good, no frills 24 track unit from Tascam for roughly $1200.

Posted by Kelly, 1/21/2006 6:21:59 PM

You're kind, Kelly, but I don't have nearly your talent :)

In the big master scheme of things, my plan is fairly simple: find the most feasible and bankable idea I can, ride that sucker until it's flat worn out and I've squeezed every dime from it, and then use the money I gain from it to finance the other projects awaiting me.

The other projects:

• the kid's book that I've written, and need to rewrite, illustrate, and self-publish
• the events web site (if it doesn't fly through my work with a couple other people that I'm doing at the moment)
• the Talent Bench project
• launching into my music
• and a few other ideas floating around...

So music, unfortunately, is sitting there waiting for me to find both time and money. I need the time to increase my proficiency. And I need the money to afford the equipment that I need to produce what I hear in my head.

Posted by Brett Rogers (http://www.beatcanvas.com), 1/21/2006 6:54:28 PM

And I'm guessing that drums are more tolerable than tuba... so if he takes up drums, which I think he might, then I'll be very thankful!

So here's a question: what's the least desirable instrument from the parents' point of view?

Posted by Brett Rogers (http://www.beatcanvas.com), 1/21/2006 7:01:57 PM

Beginning violinists! And I was one so I can say that. Sounds like screeching cats or nails on a chalkboard.

And Cub will need 2 sets of drums...one for my house too. Guess I'll have to move soon! (For my neighbor's sake). I'm glad he jammed with you and was very impressed by both!

Posted by Anonymous, 1/22/2006 3:06:43 PM

Good call on the Violin.

While I'm not a parent, I'm sure I've stayed in a Holiday Inn Express at some point in time... soooo, I'll throw Oboe into the ring.

Posted by Kelly, 1/22/2006 6:28:24 PM

Isn't it funny how instruments can start out so grating and become the most beautiful music you've ever heard? I was part of a concert band that went to Europe when I was in high school and we had the best Oboe player....got me hooked.
And one of my favorite movies is Love Actually. Liam Neeson walking past his step son's room while he's trying to learn the drums and the smile of pride when his son finally plays in the big concert.

Posted by Anonymous, 1/24/2006 6:13:59 PM