Sometimes you want to do something but the way you usually do it isn’t an option. For whatever reason it just can’t happen. When that happens you just have to do it different. And such was the case with the Blues Jam this time.
If you’ve read some of the recent posts you know I’ve injured something in my shoulder that has been causing my pain in a lot of areas but most significantly it has made playing guitar painful. And yes, I’m getting help for it. The most recent recommendation was to not work my grip too much. And that makes playing even more difficult. So playing for the jam was not really going to be an option. Singing was. So I showed up with no guitar and my song book, such as it is. Fortunately, Kevin’s is much more extensive.
I only sang one song I have not sung before and took a slower tempo with it but I could probably have done better a bit faster. Lesson learned. The first time with a song there is always something to learn. And it turns out first time singing songs without playing them as well has a lot of lessons to be learned. It’s a different experience.
The first thing I noticed was that it took me a little longer to zero in on my pitch and tone. When I’m playing and singing, it’s easier to zone in on pitch and tone because I can feel the vibration of them as well as hear them and I know what that feels like when I sing. So it’s easier to get them matched up. It’s also why I don’t get as thrown off by not being able to hear my vocal very well if I’m playing and singing.
The next thing I ran into was figuring out what to do with myself. Especially during solos. But also, I had the microphone to hold, I was singing, and I had a small space to fit in, literally it’s a small stage, so what to do. I tried not to just stand there like a stump and also not to swing back and forth like the 4th grader reciting their lines for the school play.
When I play and sing I have gotten reasonably comfortable with leading the song. Kicking it off, or handing it to someone else to start, queuing who should take a lead next and getting back into the vocal. And after a lot of practice, I’ve gotten better at getting us to stop at the same time. It’s different when just singing. I didn’t expect it to be, so, that surprised me a little. I was able to get a bit better at it as the night went on and I got pretty good at getting us to stop at the same time.
We did do a few songs quite a bit faster than I usually do. It’s way easier to do that when all you have to think about are the words. It was a fun. I also got to do a song that I have all kinds of trouble singing when trying to play it. It was a success in that I felt I kept my timing pretty good and was on key. It still needs some work though. I pulled back on the vocal a little to get that control and because I feel like I usually over sing it. The cost of doing that was that it could have used a bit more emotion.
The one thing, in retrospect, that I wish I had done was to record it. I’ve gotten out of the habit of doing that at every jam for a few reasons. So I didn’t put up the camera. It would have been really useful to be able to review it given how different the experience of just singing is compared to the singing and playing. Overall though I thought I did pretty good. I sang in four sets for three songs each. I think my voice held up pretty good for not having much practice.
I still can’t play and the biggest challenge to practicing vocal for me is having music to sing with. I’ve found a way to do that without using the guitar and without just singing with the recording. I have an electronic keyboard and have enough knowledge to be able to find middle C on it. With that knowledge and a bit of analysis of chord structure on guitar, and some help and clarification from my guitar playing co-worker who happens to have had music theory and piano, I was able to work out how to finger the chords on the keyboard. Skipping over some of the possible discussion of how I might have figured this out more easily and cutting to why this worked for me. It’s a pattern. Once I could see the pattern, it made it easier to work with. And now I have chords to sing against. Just with the right hand. That’s enough. The bass can wait.
So yeah. A bit different.
That’s a bit of what’s happening with the Donut Tutorial in Blender. I’m learning different ways of creating things and making them look good. It has been an amazing tutorial and I can’t say enough about it. I’ve learned how to do some light sculpting in it. I’ve got a better grasp of the different render engines that it has. This was enlightening with regards to some of my past renders in Blender. Now I know. I’ve also got a little more information on materials. It’s not super in depth but it’s a better understanding of how simple can be all you need.
I’ve just finished level one of the tutorial so I have a donut with icing. I’ll be starting level two next and will be learning even more new things. Some of the things coming up in level two or later include particles, it will have sprinkles, and texture painting, which is, painting on the model. I have learned a lot already and I’m looking forward to learning more. What just rendering the donut with the material on it at this stage has done for me is difficult to explain. Mostly what it’s helped me see is that in some ways, and in some cases, I was really making things more difficult than they needed to be. And for all that work I wasn’t getting the results I wanted, especially given how hard I had worked.
That’s where things are at this point. There is plenty coming up. In addition to more physical therapy, there is the next level of the donut tutorial from Blender Guru. That should be fun and exciting. I’ll also be figuring out how to learn more songs for just singing, as well as learning some keyboard. I doubt I’ll be back on guitar before the next post so I don’t look for anything to happen with that. That doesn’t mean I won’t be thinking about it and what I want to focus on when I can get back to it. And of course there is always the stuff that comes up that I don’t see coming.