I picked up his CD, Processions, but never really gave it a good listen until last week. In short, holy hell. The title track piano concerto on it is addicting, and huge, and well, you should just listen to it. It's streamable on bandcamp, at danielbjarnason.bandcamp.com/album/processions.

I think that's all for today, just wanted to share my enthusiasm for this guy's music.

In the process I decided to switch the order of the Freeze and the Empress Tremolo, so that I can have the trem going on what I'm playing without chopping up any infinite-sustain type things that may be happening. That's all for today.

To be honest, a lot of music composed for electric guitar bothers me, because it tends to either force idiomatic gestures (bending a high note with a distortion pedal, divebombing, etc.) into "classical" contexts - which sounds fake and therefore ineffective - or just seems as if it was written for a classical guitar and transferred over, ignoring the fact that a zillion other things are possible when you're plugged into an amp. Sorry, composers, adding an electric guitar does not automatically make you edgy or hip or whatever else. In most cases, it highlights the fact that you're trying to look edgy or hip. You've really got to understand the instrument to write for it, and that does not mean fingerings and tunings and such. To write for electric guitar, you need to understand its sound.

As such, the task of writing for electric guitar with effects in mind is an enormous one, and most electric guitarists have idiosyncratic effect setups. Plus these things are expensive. If you tell someone to use an Empress Tremolo pedal (which I have and love), and they have a Boss Tremolo pedal (which I used to have, and is a great pedal for what it does), then you'd better be willing to buy them one. So my advice? Be general: just say "tremolo pedal, set to this speed, and this wave shape." Odds are whatever guitarist you're writing for will know what will sound best with the rest of his setup. This goes for everything. And if they don't know, don't use it. A discerning listener can tell instantly when a guitarist just bought the first distortion box he saw because a piece called for it, as opposed to having one on hand that he knows just how to control.

So where to start? I spend a lot of time watching demo videos on ProGuitarShop.com (link goes to their "standout stompbox" page, which lists their favorites), or playing with stuff at stores. Listening to some guitarists who are good at this sort of thing can take you a long way too. I definitely recommend getting your hands on everything by Nels Cline that you possibly can (for all sorts of reasons) and also listen to a whole lot of Tyondai Braxton, as well as his now-former band Battles.

Now, on to the meat of this post (this is totally for my own gratification, so feel free to stop reading here if this is all Greek or Martian to you). Here's a photo of my pedalboard:

And here's my gear list, in order of signal chain:

1. Me (the guitarist).
2. Either .73 mm Dunlop Tortex Standard picks, or an eBow
3. My reissued 1972 Telecaster Deluxe in maple.
4. Boss TU-2 tuner - this has a buffered output so it makes your signal a bit steadier to put it at the beginning of your chain.
5. Digitech Whammy 4 - pretty insane pitch bending/harmonizing.
6. Sola Sound Tonebender Fuzz - meaty, gritty, beautiful fuzz.
7. Electroharmonix Nano Freeze - acts like a piano's sostenuto pedal, holding onto whatever sound is coming in when you press it. I love this thing.
8. Empress Tap Tremolo - coolest analog tremolo pedal I've ever played with.
9. Boss CH-1 Super Chorus - does what it's supposed to do.
10. Boss PH-3 Phase Shifter - really full featured for a compact phaser pedal, with a cool sounding step mode.
11. Line 6 DL-4 Delay - really the go-to for most guitarists looking for a delay pedal that does everything. I use the loop mode a lot, and the rhythmic delays.
12. T.C. Electronic Trinity Reverb - a limited edition variation on their Hall of Fame Reverb, I'm in love with how much space this thing can provide, and how many drastically different sounds it has packed in it. It's also good for putting on just a subtle hint of reverb too, to make your sound more lively
13. An Orange Tiny Terror combo - this is the best amp I've ever owned, and in these days of miking amps, probably the last one I'll ever need (until I step up to a matched stereo pair). I wrote a blog entry when I bought it - one I'm pretty proud of - which you can read here.

As for the wish list? I'd like to replace the Boss CH-1 with a Sea Machine Chorus from Earthquaker Devices, add a Caroline Wave Cannon, Empress Multidrive, Death By Audio Robot, and Malekko Omicron Bit (and maybe something from Z.Vex) to my distortion/fuzz section, a Malekko Omicron Attack Decay in front of the Freeze, an Electroharmonix POG 2 after the Whammy 4, and an Earthquaker Devices Rainbow Machine in front of the PH-3. Plus maybe a second, simpler delay pedal in front of the DL-4, so that I could loop delays. Oh, and an A/B switcher on the very front of the whole thing, so I can switch between a guitar and a mic going through the effects. Oh and I should probably get a wah pedal in there somewhere. Oh, and, and...

SHAZAM!

I've always been torn about the whole score worshipping thing that some musicians do. I guess I've always seen sheet music as a sort of set of instructions, and likened the practice to enjoying the directions that came with your comfy couch from IKEA more than actually relaxing on the couch. At the same time, it's pretty amazing that we've all collectively agreed on a set of symbols that, when followed correctly, can create with startling accuracy things of uncanny beauty, delight, or abject horror, that can be understood whether or not you understand the symbols themselves.

Also at the same time, I sometimes feel like writing the score is a burden. This only happens when (and you'll hear me say this) the piece is finished but I just haven't written it down. I mean it when I say that. When I've come up with every tiny detail of a piece - from opening to chord progressions to entrances to dynamics and attacks and special effects to whatever else - before I sit down at my writing desk (this does indeed happen sometimes, though it usually involves a guitar or a piano), the act of writing it all out just feels like a total hassle, and I just want to get it out in the most efficient way possible so that it can get played. It feels like a formality to write it all down when I'm in this situation, and I'd often rather spend my time coming up with more music, playing, or pursuing other interests (i.e. reading, brewing, Mass Effect 3). This is why some of my pieces take longer than they should. I tend to have trouble getting to things that don't really grab my attention, and writing, when I'm not coming up with anything as I do it, can be pretty dull.

I guess coming up with the score is a matter of professional follow through, though, so of course I eventually do. I will say, even with the previous paragraph in mind, having a finished score feels great, and I can spend an inordinate amount of time looking at one (my own or other composers'), because just looking at it and hearing it in my head and seeing how various lines play out on the page gives me a ton of pleasure, and always gives me some ideas for the future.

Holy hell, this is like the most disjointed blog entry I've ever written. I am seriously exhausted. It's early for a Friday, but screw it, I'm going to bed. The whole point of this was to say that the piano piece I'm writing for Kelsey Walsh, called All The Right Notes, is finished. I just haven't finished writing it down yet.

There's no way to adequately encapsulate in words what a good time I had visiting the great white north and hanging out with the guys in Portmantô. I can, however, post a recording (a live video may be on the way too). We made this during the dress rehearsal:

The piece itself is pretty flexible, and calls for audience members to make decisions about what gets played. People really seemed to dig that. I finally put the score online today. Check it out by clicking here. If you want to play it, go right ahead, but drop me a line so I can send you parts/try to help promote the show.

I'll leave you with a photo that I hope captures the mood of the city and the whole experience: