For the first time since October, I’m back in the recording groove and working on a new song.  Today, I spent a lot of time warming up, just playing around on my guitar before I even began to record.  I knew that I wanted to record the first all-electric track today, a song called “I Would (Prefer Not To).”

For those American literature dorks out there, yes, this chorus is partially a nod to Bartleby the scrivener.

After playing the song several times (it’s been weeks since I’ve even picked up my guitar and months since I played “I Would”), I put my headphones on to listen to the new Radiohead album, The King of Limbs.  Initially, I had planned just to hear a couple clips of the new record to satisfy my curiosity before jumping into my own project.  Instead, it drew me in, and I ended up listening to the entire album, practicing the chord progression for my song.  It was good practice for muscle memory without the risk of getting bored with playing it so many times.

Finally, I got underway.  However, I hadn’t even finalized the drum tracks before I got distracted by a new song.  It came to me when I was messing around with drum loops.  The result?  I began writing “Bells and Whistles (or, The Post-Post-Modernist Cha-Cha)” and recorded a couple takes of a demo to save for later, possible Dry-Knuckle BedHead or next solo album, use.

Before Nicole got home from work, I managed to lay down the lead rhythm/riff guitar track, and continued to work on the power-chord guitar track while she watched television in the other room.  That’s the beauty of recording electric guitar: it doesn’t require absolute silence in the rest of the house.  I should confess that I did cheat a bit on the power chords.  This being the first time I’ve ever played them in a song, I kept brushing against the low E string, which kept muddying the sound.  So, I added an, um, “accessory” to my guitar.  It’s not classy, but it worked!

My power chord cheat

So, I came up a little short today, not getting to the lead vocals.  However, there’s time enough for those tomorrow or Monday, and then Tuesday will be my next session, probably for “You Will Thank Me,” another electric romp.

Until then…