Well, in spite of having my tonsils removed on Tuesday, and this being a difficult round, I still got a submission in.

I’m not a big fan of this week’s format, and since there is only one other submission as of today (Saturday), I don’t think I’m alone.

Nevertheless, I played “Blues #1” exactly as written, and hit all the guide notes. That was really boring and difficult, so I did a one-take improvised solo (WITHOUT hitting the guide notes) for 24 more bars to make things more interesting.

This was all done on PropellerHead Record for OSX, which I just bought. It is awesome and really easy to use. I used all built-in effects and midi sounds. I played the drum beat (quantized except the intro) on a midi keyboard, and recorded the bass and guitar though my M-Audio USB. Record comes with some awesome amp/effect simulators.

Did I mention how much I didn’t like this round? Although it was good for my sight reading, it was tedious and boring. A “Guide Note” every 2 beats doesn’t leave any room for interpretation other than some passing notes. This ended up being the “Play Zed’s Composition” round. I’m not a great sight reader, so I basically had to memorize it and play it verbatim, which was time-consuming and (did I mention?) boring.

If “Blues #1” including the guide notes was supposed to be for “beginners”, then I have a different definition of beginner. I was going to try #2, #3, and #4, but I’m drained and don’t feel like playing anymore - especially if it involved sight-reading.

Overall, I feel kinda cheated on this Blues round, because only one other person participated so far. I hope there is another blues round that just lets you play 12 bar blues in any key you want, and you can shred it up however you want. That would be a lot more fun, and get a lot more participation I bet.

— Chad