Another day, another improvisation. What can you do about it, eh?
Tag Archive: guitar
Not done any music for a while, so I thought I do this one again.
My mother never heard any of my music because I was too embarrassed to play any of it to her and because I didn’t think she’d like it. I had a special surprise planned for her next month and was going to show her a CD that she would have been impressed with.
Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen now. 
And here’s the original version:
I recorded this the other day and forgot to post it here. What a dummy. Not sure if this will make the cut or not. Not even sure if I’ve got a cohesive album in the five or six songs I’ve already recorded.
Enjoy!
Mikhail Medvedev invited me to add some sounds to his live soundscaping and so I duly oblige. But instead of using my guitar, I thought I’d use my six-string bass and do my best to play something complimentary rather than competing with my collaborator. Mikhail is a much more gifted player than myself, so I thought taking the back seat and just adding colour and tone would be a good strategy and I think it works.
The performance from me is one take (obviously) and I had never heard the full soundscape from Mikhail before hitting the record button – so it is an improvisation off the top of my head – hence the duff notes here and there where I think I am going down one melodic avenue only to find it is a cul-de-sac, and I quickly change tack. I found it very exciting and an interesting exercise to focus myself.
But here we have the Internet doing what the Internet does best, someone from Russia working with someone from Great Britain. Clever stuff indeed.
Mikhail Medvedev
http://www.youtube.com/user/MikeMed77
YouTube viewer RyanYardComposer, did a review of my music and remarked how he enjoyed the track “Snapdragon”. He mentioned a few of the technical limitations of the piece so I thought it would be a good idea to return to that stamping ground and improvise a piece where I layer acoustic notes on top of each other. It’s kind of a nod to Terry Riley and the ilk, I guess.
Enjoy!
Watch in glorious 720p HD quality
Look at the pretty colours...
The “Return of the Snapdragon EP” includes this track as well as two other improvised pieces in this style and also includes a free digital HD download of the “Return of the Snapdragon” video.
You can buy the high quality FLAC/MP3 version of this at: http://music.darrenlock.com/album/return-of-the-snapdragon-ep
To buy my music, visit my iTunes page:
http://bit.ly/m53fg8
Or my own music page:
http://music.darrenlock.com
Or perhaps I can interest you in a T-shirt:
http://lock.spreadshirt.co.uk
As I have a terrible cold, I can’t really make any YouTube videos at the moment (unless you want to watch me sniffle and snort my way through them, of course). So I decided to grab my camera and make this little abstract number to accompany the very first piece of ambient music I ever recorded.
The track is called “Angel’s Tears” and it was recorded in 1994/1995 – I am not sure exactly when – and it features the Roland GR-1 guitar synthesiser. This was before looping or delay pedals were added to my sonic arsenal and so it is just me using long sustained pad sounds and lead lines. There might be one layer of overdubbing. I can’t remember. I doubt it because it was recorded using my Yamaha MT4X four-track cassette recorder – so I would imagine I recorded it as live as possible.
Click here for 720p HD Quality
You can buy this track here: http://music.darrenlock.com/track/angels-tears
To buy my music, visit my iTunes page:
http://bit.ly/m53fg8
Or my own music page:
http://music.darrenlock.com
Or perhaps I can interest you in a T-shirt:
http://lock.spreadshirt.co.uk
This is a track I recorded a decade ago and I have made a little video to accompany it. Season’s greeting to all those who come here and follow me and I hope you have a prosperous New Year.
Watch in glorious 1080p HD video
Festive ambient drones from yours truly...
I have released this track as part of an EP, which includes two versions of the song and a digital download of the video in HD resolution. You can purchase said EP from the link below:
