Four Fingers and a Broken Swiss Guitar Tied Behind His Back

Even with it tied behind his back he could kick my butt.

CHOPS. Out.

Some Things Live On

We had a great Thanksgiving here. Jen, Rachel and a couple other friends and I did the Thanksgiving Turkey Trot run in the morning. It was very windy and snowing during the race, but fun was had by all. Did a little prep around the house and then welcomed 20 or so family members for dinner. Dishes brought by all made for quite a feast. A morning spent running makes the bird and trimmings taste even better.

A personal highlight of the day, for me, was to have Grandma Renda in our home again. She is over 90 and was in the hospital most of the summer/fall. I didn't see any way she would be with us for the holidays, but, thankfully, I was very wrong. She walked into the house assisted only by an offered hand to steady her up the stairs and visited with the family all day. Quite a woman.

In recent weeks, I had been looking into purchasing a Mandolin. Jen mentioned that Grandma had a couple of Grandpa's old Mandolins lying around. Well, word got to her about this and two mandolins are now sitting in the Man-Cave™. I was a bit nervous about the whole thing, but she was very gracious about it all and said that Grandpa would've liked that someone is playing them again. As I said, quite a woman. Kent (relative) had brought his bass along, so the two of us retired to the Man-Cave™ to while away a couple of hours in song. Family members wandered in and out to listen and bring us cookies.



Today, I got some new strings for the instrument and began to read up on the process. Sometimes particular instruments have little quirks that must be respected. After a bit of study, I decided to remove all the old strings and use some elbow grease to polish her up. About halfway through, I was struck with a nostalgia that made me pause and look a bit on the instrument. This was Grandpa's mandolin. He had been the one to play it and change out her strings for years. Now, it was my responsibility. Now, it was my pleasure. I thought a bit more and, for some reason, grabbed my camera to capture the process a bit.


The bridge on a mandolin is not fixed. Rather, it can be moved to bring about the best possible sound. Not being comfortable with the whole process, I replaced the bridge in the same spot.


Not exactly re-stringing a guitar. One by one, the new strings began to bring the old mandolin to life.


Done. Polished body... Treated fretboard... New strings...

And music.

Some things live on.
J

Trying to See the Sound

Now that I have a few songs in my suitcase, I've really started to think about recording these things for real. While being away for awhile hunting I took the opportunity to begin to think about my "sound palette". You know, the "colors" that will make up my sonic painting. When I write, the palette usually consists of an acoustic guitar, main vocals and maybe some harmony vocals. Occasionally I'll add something to the mix, but that's pretty standard.

Over the past few years my sonic palette hasn't really been important or obvious to me. Recently, I've begun to see my desired sound more clearly. LeAnn Rimes said in a recent interview in American Songwriter Magazine that she made a mix CD for her producer to give him an idea of what she was looking for in her sound. I thought this was a great idea, so I began to look through my music collection for the "sounds" that I've been inspired by. After getting down to a short list of songs (not necessarily artists), I sat down and listened. Over and over again. Why do I love these songs, sonically? What instruments are playing? Where are they positioned in the sound field? What types of instrumentation and mixing fits the type of songs I write?

Here's a little bit of what I've learned the past few days. I'm a sucker for a few specific instruments when combined properly. Also, I have some very specific and different ideas about drums and percussion and how they should relate to the song (well, MY songs, at least). I actually took it so far as to make a list of instruments I would love to have on my CD someday. Here's that list with a few observations about each choice:

1. Acoustic Guitar - This will be the bread and butter of the sound. Sometimes it may be the focus of the song, other times in the background as a scratch track. Also, combinations of Acoustic Guitars (posssibly capoed) could be great.
   
2. Piano - Sometimes there's nothing like a few well timed chords from a piano to anchor an idea in a song.
   
3. Slide Guitar - High soaring sounds. Adds atmosphere.
   
4. Bass - Upright if possible.
   
5. Cello - Adds low end acoustic flavor.
   
6. Mandolin - Adds high end acoustic flavor plus a little country.
   
7. Violin/Fiddle - A lead instrument.
   
8. Drums - Sparse, but with a purpose when used. Not overly busy. Pocket.
   
9. Percussion - Usual shaker and tambourine, but other non-conventional sounds as well when effective.

So, there it is. The beginnings of my sound palette. Now all I need to do is find some folks who can actually PLAY all these instruments!

Write on,
John

2007-11-15 An Instrumental Thing

It's not really instrumental in the sense of there being only one instrument played well. Instead, I'm playing several instruments poorly to make a louder noise.

I just had to try and record the idea. There's a whole other part to it, but it wasn't interesting enough to bother including.

Enjoy!

2007-11-15 Instrumental

What Are You Waiting For?

This came in a flash this morning. I was up earlier than normal and decided I should just record it quickly. I just picked up my guitar (capo II already on) and played this little ditty.

What Are You Waiting For.mp3

What Are You Waiting For?
c2007 Steven Wesley Guiles

What are you waiting for?
What are you waiting for?

There's no time like the present
There's no time like the present

You'll regret it forever
You better go and get her

You better go and get her
You better go and get her


Something can wait, but somethings are needin' some of your attention
Can you bear the weight of a deed undone that could release the tension?
(repeat)

Win A Chance To Have Sufjan Record YOUR Christmas Song!

It could be cool. Sure, you relinquish all rights to your song forever, but it gets recorded by SUFJAN STEVENS, indie songwriting master of destruction. How can that be wrong. Plus, you get to KEEP and OWN one of HIS songs! Tell me THAT ain't cool. I officially make this our December challenge that you can start now. I didn't even ask John. But this is too cool to pass up. C'mon people!

Here's the link. Christmas Song Give Away

Here's the official skinny from the Asthmatic Kitty (Sufjan's label) website.

Times of Possibility

Inspired by Big Fish and an email with John Natiw...written in about 5 minutes. I may change it or rerecord it better. But I like what this rough sketch looks like...



Times of Possibility.mp3

Times of Possibility
by Steven Wesley Guiles

Times of possibility
times of risk and change
Times for moving forward
and times for making gains

Times for consequences
to actions that we've made
These times of possibility
Times of risk and change

Times for past resentments
growing for too long
Time to let them fall to earth
before they become to strong

Time for pure forgiveness
Time for feeling pain
These times of possibility
Times of risk and change

SWG Show Review Nov. 9

Here's my show review in plain old text.
You can also recheck it at the ol' myspace page if you want.

Here are some photos from my last show at Rico's. The first is me and the second is My Name Is Milk. Thanks to Somafied for the pics. Thanks to my head for looking smaller than normal. And a special thanks to the fish eye lens.





Rico Coffee November 9th

This show was a pleasant surprise. I've had a few pretty horrible weeks. For the past two weeks I've been in and out of being sick, losing my voice, etc. Fiona and Joy have also been sick, so sleep has been sporadic for everyone and the misery index at the Guiles' house is at a new high. We're going to survive, but it sure ain't fun. Did I mention I had two wonderful nights of kidney stone related pain? Yeah. That was part of the "sure ain't fun" of the past couple weeks.

The pleasant surprise was first, there were more people here this time than last time. That's always nice. Our faithful attendees were attending (how attendant of them!) and several new faces were in the audience. We had offers of live bongo playing from one audience member and some neighbors of mine also came. It was an all around fun evening and I got to pick and choose from a bunch of songs that I've been wanting to play. This once-a-month residency has been working out nicely so far.

My Name Is Milk, co-headliner for the evening, started things off in strong form. As soon as he comes out with a recording I'll be better at identifying the titles to all of his songs, but last night I was in the middle of figuring out my set while he played, so I didn't do a very good job of tracking his set. Milkman played his newest song (which is a tear-jerk masterpiece) and ended with his great set-ender, Goodnight, I Love You.

Here were the songs in the order they were played...or close to the order they were played:


I Won't Back Down (with modified kidney lyrics)
-I dedicated this song to my kidneys. Tom Petty sure has written a lot of songs I like.

Weapons of Mass Destruction
-I really, really need to do a good recording of this song. I like it and have played it to positive response for sometime, but I've never recorded it properly. I have one recording with spastic drumming that captures the idea I want, but really sucks as a recording.

Can You Hear Me?
-I decided to do this song in a simpler version because I forgot my lyric sheet, but everyone seems to like this one when I play it. I scratched out a modified lyric to use for the evening and it worked out fine.

The Next Chapter
-I have a pretty good recording of this song that I included on my second E.P. I handed out 10 hand numbered copies tonight. 5 new songs. It was fun. This is a really good song too (of course, I'm biased). My recording had only drums and acoustic guitar as background instrumentation, but it sounds so full that I really like it.

Here's To Things I Haven't Done
-This is a song that may eventually become a Pushstart song (if I don't record it first). I may work up an acoustic/drum demo version of my own to release on an E.P. in the future. I love how it feels when I get to the chorus on this song...mmmm....big chorus.

Don't Be Waitin'
-This song is the step-child of two other songs I'd written. The guys in Pushstart liked the verses but didn't like the original chorus, so I took a chorus from another song I'd been working on (in another key) and slapped it on, and they LOVED it. It was weird for me at first, but now it seems natural and I can't imagine it any other way. This is another chorus that I'm really proud of.

Help!
-Another cover tune that I modified to fit my kidney/intestinal situation. You've got to be able to laugh at yourself and your life or else you just get sad all the time.

Country Star
-Jeff said I should play this song for someone that was coming, so I broke it out from memory (because I HAVE performed it hundreds of times by now). It went well and didn't feel as worn out as it's felt in the past. It was like visiting an old friend. I may have him over again sometime soon.


As Milkman heckled me, I cut into the first line of this song...

I've Got News For You
-On my previous 5 song E.P. The recording of this is very basic. I love the 3 part power yell harmonies on the last chorus. I was trying to copy a song I'd heard before (but couldn't remember what it was). I'd really like to mimic what the Verve does on their vocals on Urban Hymns. He does a lot of vocal tracks where he sings the chorus in octaves (a low and high voice) and it has a great sound. Not that this song is ANYTHING like the Verve. I just think maybe that was the original inspiration for HOW I recorded it.


Fill My Mind With You
-ON the new 5 song E.P. (#2). A pretty and simple song I wrote for Joy.


One
-One of my all-time favorite songs from one of my all-time favorite bands, U2.


Bridge Over Troubled Water
-Once before I had played this song and then done a few after. My friend Eric told me once before that I probably shouldn't try to play too many more songs after playing this one. It IS like, super epic. It IS by Simon and Garfunkel, the masters of 60s and 70s top 40 pop. (Would they be considered top 40?) I love this song too. This song has deep roots with me because I've heard it since I was a kid on my mom and dad's record player. I still have the record.


Song I left out that I want to try and do next time:

Don't Give Up (a newer song that I really like), Such Great Heights, Los Angeles, With Friends Like These Who Really Needs Amphetamines.

I also want to play Tammy Faye, I Love You and People Are Pictures next time. Both were on the new 5 song E.P. but I didn't have enough time to practice them (due to the sore throat, lack of sleep, kidney stone-esque, very bad, horrible week).


Covers I'd like to do:

The Lust, The Flesh, The Eyes, and the Pride of Life (by the 77s). This is a song I used to cover all the time that I absolutely love. I may try and find this one and pull it out for Dec. 14. We'll see how the kidneys fare.