Anxiously Awaiting

Thought I might post this. I wrote this song about a month ago. It really is a miracle because it’s the only song I have ever written that I didn’t mull over the words, structure, or chords. It basically wrote itself. I need God to pass more of these along, since it’s much less work =D. It’s a translation of Psalm 67 into song form–chord forms provided.

Psalm 67
Esus4 Capo
Intro: E5  B  A9  C#m B/D# A9

E5   B      A9
God be gracious to us
C#m  B       A9
Shine your face down on us
C#m    B/D#    A9
That you are known  in     us
C#m   B/D#     A9
Salvation shown through  us

E/G#  A9
Let it Be
C#m B/D#     A9
Let it Be

Chorus:

E5             A9
Let the people rise
C#m
Holy and sanctified
A9           B     E5
Let us rise up and sing out of joy
A9
For the One who died
C#m
And brought us into Light
A9           B
Let Your people sing of Your glory

Tag: A9 B C#m B/D#

Esus4 capo, not relative–actual fret positions
Chords
E B E A B e
A9     5 4 0 0 0 0
E/G#   4 0 0 4 0 0
B      x 0 4 6 0 0
B/D#   x 6 0 4 0 0
C#m    x 4 6 0 0 0
E5     0 7 0 9 0 0

I have a very strong dislike of music that could be labeled emo. But recently I have realize that the only thing I can play on a piano sounds, well, emo. My friend Eric always comments on my playing at house church. A dramatization:

Eric: Jermee, play emo pianoooooo!!!1111one
me: Uh, okay

Those of you who know Eric can attest to exactly how accurate this dramatization is. Unfortunately, I have also noticed as of late that some of my favorite songs sound a bit emo. An example:

I watched you walk away
Hopeles, with nothing to say
I screen my eyes
Hoping to see you again

This is my curse (the longing)
This is my curse (to)
This is my curse (the yearning)
This is my curse
There is love burning to find you
Will you wait for me?
Will you be here?

Your silence haunts me
But I still hunger for you

This is my curse (the wanting)
This is my curse (to)
This is my curse (the needing)
There is love burning to find you
Will you wait for me?

Still I want
And I still I ache
But still I wait
To see you again

Dying, inside, these walls (2x)

Can I see your face in these tears? In these tears
And I see your face…

There is love (8x)

That’s pretty dang emo. So I guess I should coin a new term for myself since I often do this to avoid labeling myself as something that I am inevitably going to change my mind about later (also see Eric about that): pseudo-emo. Now if you excuse me, I’m going to go probably try to kinda cut myself…

Playing guitar is an interesting hobby. It’s intriguing to watch how people approach different facets of playing. For example every person has their own opinion on what the “perfect” amp and the “perfect” guitar setup is; even down to the seemingly irrelevant things such as which guage of strings to use. The naive guitarist–often young in his or her playing ability–often doesn’t think of things such as body wood, pickup height, action, string guage, and neck wood. At one time, I was the naive guitarist. My focus was on sounding like someone else: Metallica, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Joe Satriani, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, Foo Fighers, my list of musical phases is quite long. These days I have focused more on building my own sound; much of which requires a decent chunk of investment captital, a rock solid resolve when things go wrong, and the will to experiment.

Physics is a wonderful science because it is applicable to nearly every physical thing in life. Since I’m a nerd (ahem, see blog categories) I like to apply science to random things in life. With that said, many of the rules of physics can be applied to a guitar to help explain the characteristics of the instrument. For example, electro magnetics are the key to how pickups work. The body mass of a guitar can and most times will color the tone of the guitar. The type of woods involved when you build the guitar will color the tone of the instrument–energy, or the vibrations caused by the strings travels differently through different types of wood. Tightness of the neck and bridge relative to the body of the guitar dictates string sustain. The applications are many.

Why all the preface? Recently I have been tweaking the Telecaster that I have “borrowed” from a good friend of mine. I added new pickups–a Lollar P90 at the neck and a Lollar Telecaster Special at the bridge, changed the bridge out to a Wilkinson, and rewired some of the electronics. Needless to say my first attempt was good, but not perfect. The P90 was very dark and muddy, and the bridge pickup was bright and ice picky. After posting on my favorite forum, I received some suggestions on how to fix the problem. So I followed those suggestions and the gutiar gained some new life. Unfortunately, it was a little too bright. Next, I ordered a custom bridge with stainless steel saddles from Callaham Guitars. Not only did that bridge fix the typical intonation problem that Telecasters with vintage saddles are afflicted with, but it darkened the tone just enough to where I am happy with it.

I used to believe that a guitar simply is, a guitar. There is no coloration of tone because of the materials. I was totally incorrect in my thinking because I was thinking only in terms of electronics. The microphonics of a pickup is more nuanced by the tone and vibrations of the body and bridge than I had previously thought. Who would have thought that the tone of the guitar would be quite darker with a bridge that is simply .25mm thicker? Who would have thought that stainless steel saddles would add some snap to my pick attack? Who would have thought that the guitar would have picked up an additional second of body sustain and an improvement to the overall bendability/playability of the strings due to the tightness of the bridge relative to the body? Not I. I am a nonbeliever no more. Components matter.

So, I believe I am finally finished with tinkering with this guitar. It’s tone is now truely righteous in my eyes. Were I to do anything else, it would be efforts to kill the 60 cycle hum that all single coil pickups suffer from. In any event, this endeavour has been very rewarding and quite fun. Every penny spent was well spent in my eyes, even for the pieces that I didn’t use or switched out. I love this hobby, and I must say it’s quite less expensive than some others =D.

Yes, I’m still alive. Yes, I know I haven’t posted anything in forever. I guess my life is just so boring these days that I don’t have much to write about. I go to work, get paid, come home, go to the gym, come home, go to bed. Although I have been spending lots of time with my guitar as of late; trying to get my chops back. I used to be alot faster than I am now, but alot less accurate. So if I can get faster and retain my accuracy then maybe I’ll be awesome again =P.

I have also been spending some time with my PSP and Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions. Yummy, SRPG goodness. It’s a great port despite the horribly unoptimized code that results in various graphical slowdowns. But regardless, I put down my second run through Final Fantasy I in order to play it. It’s totally worth it so far.