When an Intention Goes Another Direction...

 Like everybody else (if this is not you nothing to see here) I put videos of myself in the internet. They are usually spur of the moment things. I picked up a musical instrument, usually a tuba or banjo and a song popped out. In the video I'm usually shirtless and I post it to the internet because I want other tuba and banjo players to comment, "you go girl." 

The videos that went to facebook show up years later in what's called "memories." It's a what you were doing on this day when type thing that just automatically does that thing. So you look at it and have a, "did I have more hair, was I less fat or what ever happened to that shirt" reaction. I look at my music videos made 5 to 7 years ago and I have a "how did I do that reaction?" Some of them look pretty good. I was playing electric guitar out with other guys in bands and such and was really in pretty good practice. 

That gave me an idea for a blog post. It would be about how musical interest had shifted back to my main instrument of tuba, learning your scales, fluidity on the fretboard, arthritis, the God Almighty Quest for TONE, the righteous true believers, Pink Floyd and how modern man has ruined his brain and lost sight of the cosmic plane. All that's going to have to wait because this went a different direction. 

Usually music I spontaneously post to the internet is a song so obscure that no one knows it or a bit of doggerel I have written myself. I usually don't do a tune well covered by others because my version might have gone a different direction or taken on some elements of melody or style that cause me to get flagged by the blues police. I sat on my recording of Robert Johnson's "Crossroads" because it's a monumental piece of history and legend where the blues and songs about every day living morphed into rock and roll and a more surreal expression of experience. 

As I thought how I was going to use this I parked it to youtube for later and in about three days time it has 600 views. 

All those views are flattering enough but comments start appearing asking, "what kind of mic, amps, pedals?" and "that's bad dude!" I'm an electric guitar Dear Abby. 

For the record because as I said before I look at an old video and say how did I do that: 

 

I made the mic out of a Christmas tin. A pizeo pickup is struck to the lid with the wiring run through to a jack on the other end. It's stuffed with a pool noodle to kill the resonance a bit. YMMV.

The mic runs through and EHX Blurst Pedal which is a low pass filter that does wah wah and tremolo sounds. This pedal sounds good on guitar, bass and tuba but it's capable of so much I hardly get the same sound twice. I use a Fender Front Man amp with the reverb up for vocals. This amp sees use for acoustic bass when accompanying acoustic guitarists, tuba with effects and occasionally electric guitar for which it was intended. 

That's a Fender Squier strat with gold foil pickups tuned open E.

Guitar amp is my 1968 Fender Bandmaster Reverb. 

Guitar pedals are a Joyo tube screamer and the cheapest Chinese made delay pedal I could find. 

As a happy accident the guitar bled to the mic and created a stereo effect with the Bandmaster and the Front Man and The Blurst pedal. 

I can get you the name of the guy that re roofed my garage a few years ago if you think that matters. 

I did find out that the average youtube view is about 30 seconds and my channel analytics say this video nudges right up against that so I'd say a pretty savvy group of viewers to formulate questions, type it out and all that is such a short time. 

I'll be back out in the garage soon trying to remember what that other idea was for a blog and how I got it. 

You can support TONE and the cosmic plane by clicking this link:

https://www.venmo.com/u/Carl-Wallace-23 

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