#rpm2025 — Public Fediverse posts

I start a new #RPMChallenge tomorrow, so here are a few words on last year's album... #RPM2025

https://blog.nigenet.org.uk/2026/01/30/another-album-rpm-challenge-2025/

I've made progress on my #rpm2025 work this week!

#SoundCloud

https://on.soundcloud.com/mzcMnKu7y7HTsGX17

RPM Challenge Day 13/28

After two days of nothing, day 13 had some progress, but only a little and not nearly enough to make me feel better about the state of things.

I put rhythm guitars onto one song, and wrote lyrics and a melody for another. That’s it. This weekend is going to need a ton of work, and I don’t think I am going to have any time for any of it. I might need to take a personal day next week to play catch up.

#Guitar #Music #Recording #RpmChallenge #rpm2025 #SongWriting

Another Screwy Day

Today is Thursday and much like yesterday and the day before it is turning out to be a screwy day. Fun.

I overslept this morning. I had a bunch of things I wanted to do before the work day started and then I overslept and screwed up all of my plans. I did get the big things in, my day’s worth of goofy exercise, breakfast, routine stuff like that, and I managed to sneak in a little bit of guitar playing. I put rhythm guitars onto one RPM Challenge song. Not much but better than nothing.

We got a little snow last night. Probably less than an inch. The snow turned into rain and now we have a driveway covered in a nightmare of slush. At some point later today the temperature is going to drop and that nightmare of slush is going to turn into a nightmare of ice and I don’t know if I am going to have time to clear any of it before it freezes. I am super happy about that. Really. There’s not an ounce of sarcasm here. I am thrilled to the teeth by this potential outcome*.

It’s not even noon yet and the work day has been just as crazy as yesterday. Not bad, but a weird combination of hectic and frustrating. It’s looking like tomorrow will be similar, but after that things should settle again. Here’s hoping at least.

In closing, here’s a few guitar pictures from this morning because I am insane.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54324874621/in/datetaken/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54325281160/in/datetaken/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54325099104/in/datetaken/

*Contrary to the above statement, I was in fact being sarcastic. Extremely sarcastic. My words were dripping with venomous sarcasm. Just call me a sarcasm machine.

#365 #365Challenge #365Project #dailySchedule #Guitar #Music #Nikon #nikonZ5 #oversleep #overslept #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photoADayProject #photography #Recording #RpmChallenge #rpm2025 #schedule #Sleep #SongWriting #work #z5

RPM Challenge Day 12/28

Nothing. Again. Two days in a row with no progress at all.

Day 13 has already been a little better but I’ll spell that out another time. Am I running out of steam? Yes and no. I think my internal, gimmicky challenges (10 electric and 10 acoustic songs, and using two different guitars for the rhythm tracks) are probably about to be toast, but the project as a hole is still on, though getting to be massively behind schedule.

#Guitar #Music #Recording #RpmChallenge #rpm2025 #SongWriting

RPM Challenge Day 11/28

Day 11, yesterday. Nothing.

I went to bed early and didn’t get any musical work done at all.

It’s after 9:00pm on day 12 now and I still haven’t done anything.

Shit.

#Guitar #Music #Recording #RpmChallenge #rpm2025 #SongWriting

RPM Challenge Day 10/28

Not a lot of progress on day 10 (yesterday) but a couple of noteworthy things.

First, I added song number 12. We’re hoping to hit 20 this year. Not sure if that’s in the cards or not, but every little bit helps.

More importantly, I added lyrics to one song. Just one. I am hoping to have 4-5 ready to go by Thursday morning so I can sneak in some singing in the car before work. Vocal tracking is always the sticking point for me on these projects so anything I can do to make that process a little easier is a big deal. One vocal part written, at least 11 but hopefully 19 to go. Yikes.

#Guitar #Music #Recording #RpmChallenge #rpm2025 #SongWriting

RPM Challenge Day 9/28

I put rhythm guitars onto two songs. Still playing the Les Paul Custom in your left ear and Les Paul Standard in your right game. We’ll see how long that lasts. I also added two new songs. Both have complete MIDI Bass and Drums.

The two new song ideas are numbers 10 and 11. I have a new mini-challenge in mind and song 11 kicks it off. The first 10 songs will be electric guitar focused. Everything after that, hopefully the second batch of 10 songs, will be acoustic guitar focused. I’ll still have electric guitars on those songs, probably just the lead guitar parts, and I still want to play some sax on them, but the rhythm guitars will for the most part be acoustic. For now. Once I actually take my acoustic out of its case and remember how much of an absolute bitch it is to play, I will probably give up on this particular mini-challenge.

We’ll see how day 10 plays out. I don’t expect to have a lot of time for anything over the next three days, but I do have seven songs ready for lyrics so… maybe.

#acoustic #Guitar #Music #Recording #Rock #RpmChallenge #rpm2025 #SongWriting

On the Hunt

The cats are hunting their little toy mice right now. Well, Robin is hunting. Lily is watching and clearly being very judgmental. Oh well. They played nicely together earlier. It was nice.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54317564988/in/datetaken/

I had a musical idea tonight. What if I shoot for 20 songs this year (I always shoot for 20 songs during the February RPM Challenge) and have 10 of them be electric guitar focused, and 10 be acoustic guitar focused? I could try to do that. I’ll probably follow that plan for a few days and then just make it all electric anyway. That’s what usually happens when I try to get clever. Let’s see what happens.

#Cat #Guitar #iphoneography #Kitty #lily #Music #photography #Recording #robin #RpmChallenge #rpm2025 #SongWriting

Ouch

I’m too old for this shit.

Shoveling, I mean. I felt okay when I first came back inside after shoveling, but now that a few hours have passed… Ouch town, population me, bro. Every inch of me is sore, and despite having two of the best nights sleep I’ve had in ages over the last two nights, I am completely exhausted.

I don’t know if I have the energy to do anything other than sit on the couch for the rest of the night. I think we were already planning on ordering out for dinner tonight. Maybe I’ll be able to crawl to the door to bring the delivery in.* I mean, really… that’s asking a lot.

It is a good thing I managed to put rhythm guitar tracks onto two RPM Challenge songs this morning before I shoveled. I don’t know if I will be able to do any more than that tonight, though I really need to. We’ll see how the pain goes. For now though, it’s just couch time. Much needed couch time, believe me.

Here’s a few guitar pictures to hold us over until next time.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54316576981/in/datetaken/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54316806444/in/datetaken/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54316994390/in/datetaken/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54316805879/in/datetaken/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54316805869/in/datetaken/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54315686237/in/datetaken/

#365 #365Challenge #365Project #exhaustion #Gibson #GibsonGuitars #GibsonLesPaul #gibsonday #gibsunday #Guitar #health #LesPaul #Music #Nikon #nikonZ5 #pain #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #Recording #RpmChallenge #rpm2025 #shoveling #shovelingSnow #Sleep #Snow #snowShoveling #SongWriting #sore #soreness #Weather #winter #z5

RPM Challenge Day 8/28

Okay, figuring out what I did yesterday might take a second. I did a lot and I didn’t keep the best notes. Let’s see….

I put rhythm guitars onto five songs. That’s the big deal of the day. Lots of guitar playing after a long time with almost no playing means my finger tips hurt like hell, but it’s okay because progress is good. I also added song number nine complete with MIDI bass and drums. I redid a MIDI drum part on one of the songs that got guitars but I don’t remember which one. I also just realized I have another song that needs the drums redone but I haven’t gotten to it yet. I also worked out the song form, and the bass and drums for two additional songs. Those were numbers seven and eight, I think.

I’ve already recorded some more guitar tracks this morning, but you’ll have to wait until the day nine recap to hear about all of that ultra fascinating shit. My finger tips need a break though, so it’s time to go shovel. Wish me luck.

#Guitar #Music #Recording #RpmChallenge #rpm2025 #SongWriting

It Was Just a Matter of Time

May 8, 2021. The musical nerd moment I lived today has been inevitable since May 8, 2021. On that day, my 50th birthday, my beloved bride bought me the best birthday present ever. A new guitar. A Gibson Les Paul Standard 50’s. Since that day I have been living the life of a glutton who owns two, that’s right, two Gibson Les Pauls. I’ve had a Les Paul Custom since 1990, and now I have two. From that day on it has been inevitable that I was going to be a total nerd and record some music with the guitar parts doubled using both Les Pauls together.

Today became that day, of course. I put rhythm guitars onto five RPM Challenge songs. In each case, the guitar coming out of the left speaker is my Les Paul Custom and the guitar coming out of the right speaker is my Les Paul Standard.

Yeah… nerd.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54314748814/in/datetaken/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54314762328/in/datetaken/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54315308744/in/datetaken/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54314195197/in/datetaken/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54315307919/in/datetaken/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54314195117/in/datetaken/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54315319038/in/datetaken/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54315308629/in/datetaken/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54315319728/in/datetaken/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54315504755/in/datetaken/

#Gibson #GibsonLesPaul #Guitar #LesPaul #Music #Nikon #nikonZ5 #photography #Recording #RpmChallenge #rpm2025 #SongWriting #z5

RPM Challenge Day 7/28

I made a little bit of progress on day seven. I added two songs ideas. I don’t have the form set yet, just a few pieces. The good news is it puts me back over the one-idea-per-day pace as I am now up to eight songs in the pipeline.

More interesting news will come on day eight. It’s already started.

#Guitar #Music #Recording #RpmChallenge #rpm2025 #SongWriting

RPM Challenge Day 6/28

Day six was better than the previous two days, but still not good enough. I feel like I am light years behind schedule at this point. I am going to need a super productive weekend to fix the current situation.

Yesterday I took the song that I started overnight the night before (see my stupid little recap of day five) and added to it and fleshed out the song form and finished the MIDI bass and MIDI drums. I also added two more songs and got through the bass and drums on those as well.

So at the close of business on day six I have six songs with bass and drums tracked that are ready for rhythm guitars. On average, one new song per day. That’s not bad. It could be a whole ton of tons better, but it’s not bad. I expect there won’t be a whole lot of progress tonight, but tomorrow is Saturday and hopefully the weekend will see the pace pick up quite a bit.

#Guitar #Music #Recording #RpmChallenge #rpm2025 #SongWriting

RPM Challenge Day 5/28

The honest answer is nothing. Again. The second day in a row.

The squint a little answer is one new song idea. Or at least most of one new song. I woke up at 2:00am with stomach issues and needed to sit up for a little while. While I was riding things out I noodled out a couple of bass lines on my iPhone. Now at that particular moment the calendar date said it was day six. However, it was the middle of the night and I guess you can make an argument that day six actually starts when I get up for the day and that most definitely did not happen for a few more hours.

So is that bad little bass line technically from day six or subjectively from day five? I don’t know. Am I just making shit up to make me feel better about skipping two days in a row? Yeah, probably. Let’s just say that it’s been a tough couple of days for me and move on with our lives.

Here’s hoping for better news in tomorrow’s RPM Challenge recap post. Fingers crossed.

#Guitar #Music #Recording #RpmChallenge #rpm2025 #SongWriting

RPM Challenge Day 4/28

Nothing.

I had a really bad day and went to bed early, thinking I would get a good night’s sleep, but then I woke up super early and spoiled the whole plan. Shit.

I did get to wish my step son a Happy Birthday. I think I wished my nephew a Happy Birthday too. I sent him a text, discovered he has a new phone number, got his new phone number, sent another text, he didn’t respond. We called my sister’s phone to wish him a happy but he wasn’t home so we called his phone because my sister said his voicemail was setup but his voicemail wasn’t set up. I speak now directly to my nephew… I really hope you got that text. If not, Happy Birthday!!

That’s my whole day in a nutshell. Birthdays, back pain, stomach pain, first day back to work. Yippee. Today is an in the office day so it’s going to suck on so many levels.

Happy Merry and shit, everyone! WOOHOO!

#birthdays #collegeKids #Family #Guitar #Kids #Music #nephew #Recording #RpmChallenge #rpm2025 #SongWriting #StepKids #textMessages #voicemail

A.I. Album Cover

During a conversation with my wife and my step daughter the other day I heard two phrases that immediately went into the running for this year’s RPM Challenge Album Title.

One potential title is, “Electric Heat is Crazy Expensive.”

The other potential title is, “Groundhogs Wear Top Hats.”

If I go for one of those titles, what would I do for the album cover art? The electric heat one… no clue. The groundhog one though… yeah, let’s ask A.I. to generate an image for us, shall we?

Maybe… maybe not. I don’t know.

#aI_ #aIImages #artificialIntelligence #groundhogsWearTopHats #Music #Recording #RpmChallenge #rpm2025 #squareFormat

RPM Challenge Day 3/28

Day three was similar to days one and two. One new song. This time it has bass and drums finished and a guide track for a sax part. It’s looking like it will be instrumental. I had this idea of having the album open with a short instrumental and this could be it. Unless it sucks, of course, or I can’t play the sax anymore, of course. The usual caveats.

#Guitar #Music #Recording #RpmChallenge #rpm2025 #SongWriting

RPM Challenge Day 2/28

Day two was mostly spent recovering from travel on day one (day three will be similar, I fear). I did add a second song idea and I worked out a full song form for both day 2’s song and day 1’s. So I now have two songs with full form done, including bass and drums. One of them may have a sax part already too, but it’s just a keyboard as a place holder for now.

#Guitar #Music #Recording #RpmChallenge #rpm2025 #SongWriting

RPM Challenge Day 1/28

It is February again so it is time for daily RPM Challenge updates.

Not much yesterday (Day one, Sunday), just one song idea noodled out in GarageBand for iPhone while sitting in a hotel room near Orlando, Florida waiting to check out and fly home. Hopefully I’ll get to a little more than that today.

#Guitar #Music #Recording #RpmChallenge #rpm2025 #SongWriting

Underway

The bags are packed. We are ready to check out of the hotel and go find some breakfast. Our ride to the airport isn’t until around 1:00pm so we will have some time to kill. I think we will explore on of the other resorts a little bit.

On a totally unrelated note, the first song for this year’s RPM Challenge has been started. It’s pretty lame. We are underway once more.

#DisneyWorld #florida #Music #Orlando #RpmChallenge #rpm2025 #Travel #Vacation

2025 RPM Challenge

It is 12:01am on February 1, 2025. In other words, the RPM Challenge is officially underway once again!

Now that it is time to start writing and recording new music… I am going to bed. I’m totally beat.

Breakfast at another hotel tomorrow. Check out from our hotel. Take a bus to the airport. Fly home. The Challenge for me this year will probably start on February 2nd.

Good luck, everyone!

#Music #RpmChallenge #rpm2025

Saxophone?

Do do do, just whistling past the american graveyard again… still… do do do…

I’ve been listening to King Crimson’s Red album quite a bit over the last few days. Crimson, in their original incarnation, had a sax player. First it was Ian McDonald, then it was Mel Collins. When band leader Robert Fripp shook things up and hired a whole new band with a drastically new sound in 1972 the saxophones went away. For a while, at least. By 1974, when they were recording the Red album, they were down to three band members, Fripp (guitar/mellotron), John Wetton (bass/vocals), and Bill Bruford (drums/percussion). Fripp was the only soloist in the lineup… sort of… the other two guys could have cranked out leads with the best of them (because they pretty much were the best of them) but instead they brought in a bunch of session musicians to help fill in the gaps. Among those session musicians were two sax players; Ian McDonald (alto) and Mel Collins (soprano).

Collins plays on the album’s centerpiece, “Starless” and his playing is wonderful (as always). McDonald also plays on “Starless” as well as “One More Red Nightmare”. His playing is out of the fucking world amazing. He wails, especially on “Starless”.

Listening to this record quite a bit lately has me thinking… is the sax playing inspiring me a little? The RPM Challenge is less than two weeks away and it’s coming up on time for me to start recording some new music. Do I suddenly find myself wanting to play the saxophone again? I haven’t taken my alto sax out of its case since I finished the 2020 RPM Challenge. Five years. Is it time to break it out again? I think it might be. I know I can still play even if I am only about 1% of the sax player I was when I was a music major from 1989-1991 and sax was my primary instrument in school. Guitar was a hobby I played on the side, even though I spent nearly infinitely more time playing guitar than sax… which contributed to me leaving school before I graduated.

So I guess what I am trying to say is, if throughout the month of February you start hearing about me writing songs in the key of E flat or B flat instead of E and A, and you start hearing me complain about severe pain in my lips and jaw (due to not having practiced at all in the last five years), then we can probably go ahead and blame Mel Collins and the late Ian McDonald. Just saying.

#altoSax #altoSaxophone #ianMcdonoald #KingCrimson #melCollins #Music #musicSchool #musicSchoolDropout #RpmChallenge #rpm2025 #saxophone #starless