While waiting out the pandemic, I’ve been working on my improvisation/composition skills. Here’s something I came up with in about an hour.
Music
Random Funk
Recently, I’ve been playing the bass more, and finding out how “out of the pocket” my playing has been. One helpful way to practice this, I’ve found, is to record yourself playing over a drum…
Flight
I recorded this using my new Arcturia Keystep MIDI controller. I’d been joking for a while that I’d rather just play all the instruments in a band by myself, so here we are: https://soundcloud.com/bryansim/flight/s-Z5KnE
A Bad Copy
I’m very rarely proud of my songwriting, but I am proud of getting the words “demagnetized” and “database” into this, and having it all make sense (well, you can be the judge of that). I…
Thirteen Years Later
A few days ago, I found a recording of me playing the guitar in 2005: Listening to this has been quite a trip: I can hear influences that I’ve shaken off over the years –…
A Gypsy Jazz Love Song, Redux
Last weekend, my friend Sarah and I re-recorded this song I wrote. I played the guitar, and composed the random 8-bit accompaniment. She’s a way better singer than I am, so you should definitely listen…
I Tried to Write a Gypsy Jazz Love Song
Ever since learning how to play “la pompe“, the signature rhythmic guitar style of gypsy jazz, I’ve wanted to write a song in that style. At the risk of sounding super nerdy, I was inspired…
Falling Easy
I wrote this song about overcoming the uncertainty and nostalgia that comes with being itinerant. In case you were curious as to what the phoenix guitar sounds like, I play it at the end. Here’s a…
A Weird Time to Waltz
This is a song I’ve been wanting to write for a while now. I titled it “A Weird Time to Waltz” because of the 7/4 (7 beats to a bar) sections in the song, and I…
A 1987 Japanese-made Squier Stratocaster
The electric guitar was invented in 1931 by George Beauchamp. Since then, thousands of iterations have appeared, with my favorite being the rocket-shaped Stratocaster. Produced by Fender since 1954, the Stratocaster has an illustrious history:…