A Tale Told by an Idiot

[DanCR]

-Down In a Hole; better aligned with my mood. Plus just a cool/easy song.

Great song. You still messing with Nothing Else Matters?

[cgeorg]

-Spider Box; 92 bpm, quarter notes. Left hand definitely wore out quickly. I restrung my guitar yesterday with "coated strings" to try them out (I broke the low E string playing Teenage Dirtbag) and they felt slippery. Maybe that will make slides easier?

Like Elixirs? They sound less bright but yeah, sliding is way easier and I think they wear down your fingertips a little less even when just fretting.

I usually did the spider thing as part of my warmups as well, I'd slide down/up a fret with each string skip (aside from G to B and v/v) to make it chromatic.

[EricK]

-Down In a Hole; better aligned with my mood. Plus just a cool/easy song.

Great song. You still messing with Nothing Else Matters?

Not as seriously as I should. I play the intro all the time because it's awesome and a strummed version of the first verse and chorus. I've played through a version of the instrumental section as well, but haven't really put in the time to connect it with the preceding section and I more or less gave up on trying to do the solo section, at least for now. I'll get back to it. I also want to get better at Tears in Heaven so I can sing and play that one. No shortage of awesome songs...

-Spider Box; 92 bpm, quarter notes. Left hand definitely wore out quickly. I restrung my guitar yesterday with "coated strings" to try them out (I broke the low E string playing Teenage Dirtbag) and they felt slippery. Maybe that will make slides easier?

Like Elixirs? They sound less bright but yeah, sliding is way easier and I think they wear down your fingertips a little less even when just fretting.

I usually did the spider thing as part of my warmups as well, I'd slide down/up a fret with each string skip (aside from G to B and v/v) to make it chromatic.

Yeah, Sweetwater Elixirs. One of the tutorial channels I watch recommended them so I decided to buy a couple sets. I was using D'addario phosphor bronze light strings previously. The slipperiness is the only real difference that I can tell. Not sure I like it.

That modification to the exercise sounds cool, I'll try it out, thanks. What's "v/v"?

[cgeorg]

What's "v/v"?

A lazy vice versa.

[EricK]

Fri, 5/24/24

199.1

Guitar:

A lot?
-Use Somebody; it's my wedding song and the first one I learned how to play (mostly, the bridge was way out of my league back then), but I realized I haven't done much with it in a while. My original plan was to play it for our anniversary as a surprise, but I sucked so bad I didn't have the guts to try it. Funny enough I learned how to play and sing it today. It's a very simple song, the verse and chorus are the same and the bridge is pretty easy, too. The only challenging part is that the syllables of the lyrics are like have a beat off from the chord changes in some places and not in others.

[EricK]

Sat, 5/25/24

??

Lifty-Stuff:
Played around with beltless squat. Worked up to 315. Did some pushups and light concentration curls along the way.

Then I took my son for a 1 mile run. His time was 8:49, and he was kind of dying at the end. Makes a dad feel good.

Guitar:
Sang/Played Use Somebody for the wife, boy started asking if I should get ready for the pool (20 minutes early) then preceeded to try and show off his bubble making skills only to accidentally spit gum in my wife's face. Really set the mood, you know?

ETA
Swim:

250 yds; didn't time it. Almost died, because some asshole apparently made 250 yds way longer since college...

[EricK]

Another cool story from today (this is my diary, eat me):

My wife has always been more musical than me. She was in marching band in high school and college and was part of a community band after college. She also learned to play guitar with an old boyfriend who was part of a band, but she didn’t really stick with it. Anyway that just provides context to the fact that today, she picked up my ukulele and watched a tutorial video on Dancing in the Moonlight and did a way better of learning how to play it than I would have when I first started in 2019. But I was able to play along with her by just using the same chords. It was very nice.

I floated the idea last year of learning to play and sing a song together but I wasn't really good enough to do it. After today I think we could make it work.

[DanCR]

beltless squat

Cool stories too. Glad you’re having a fun weekend.

[augeleven]

I floated the idea last year of learning to play and sing a song together but I wasn't really good enough to do it. After today I think we could make it work.

This is also the way

[mgil]

Another cool story from today (this is my diary, eat me):

My wife has always been more musical than me. She was in marching band in high school and college and was part of a community band after college. She also learned to play guitar with an old boyfriend who was part of a band, but she didn’t really stick with it. Anyway that just provides context to the fact that today, she picked up my ukulele and watched a tutorial video on Dancing in the Moonlight and did a way better of learning how to play it than I would have when I first started in 2019. But I was able to play along with her by just using the same chords. It was very nice.

I floated the idea last year of learning to play and sing a song together but I wasn't really good enough to do it. After today I think we could make it work.

Good stuff.

Regarding the belt for lifts: dunno why peeps would use one if they aren’t going to compete. While I’m not as ‘strong’ as I was years back, I’m not all that far off and I’m able to manage ~feels~ better without one. Core strength is better too.

[broseph]

Solid diary entry. I hope you and wife make beautiful music together.

Seriously though that sounds cool. There’s confidence and vulnerability in artistic expression, so I feel like that’s a cool spousal partnering.

[EricK]

Thanks guys. Yeah, it's a cool experience to have and I really enjoy the ability to even have a capacity for artistic expression.

Tue, 5/28/24

201.2

Guitar:

1:30
-Stinkfist as covered by



(minus the capo); really cool head bang feel to the intro/verse with a subtle chorus. Fun to play.
-Rooster; also cool tune

[DanCR]

-Stinkfist as covered by

That was super cool. If you complete it yourself, throw up a video.

[EricK]

Wed, 5/29/24

199.1

Guitar:
1:30
-Spider Box, ~7min, 92 bpm, 1/4 notes; still a struggle to stretch on the lower frets
-Stinkfist; worked on the chorus, which technically repeats 3 meausres in 4/4 timing, but is easier to think about as 4 measures of 3/4 timing. Worked a little on the bridge section but didn't quite get it as smooth as I'd like. Might take a while to get to a point where I can serenade @DanCR

[ Squat, chin ]: (right bicep still sucks)
No belt - 135 x 8, 225 x 8, 275 x 5 x 3

[ Bench, curl ]:
No belt - [ 135 x 12, 62 x 12 ], [ 185 x 12, 62 x 12 ], [ 205 x 8, 62 x 12 ] x 3

Treadmill:
27:00, 367 cal, 2.78 mi

Basic-bitch protocol.

[EricK]

Thu, 5/30/24

199.1

Guitar:
1:30
-Spider Box, ~7min, 92 bpm, 1/4 notes; little better today...
-Stinkfist; still trying to work through the middle section after the second chorus. And I am pretty terrible at muted strumming.

[EricK]

Sat, 6/1/24

199.0

Guitar:
1:30
-Stinkfist; bridge is still kicking my ass. The tutorial video I have isn't as Barney Style as I'm used to. Good experience.
-Snuff; like the dark, mellow acoustic cover. I'm playing it without tuning down my guitar, though. I still like the way it sounds but I don't know if I'm being sacrilegious...

Press:
135 x 8 x 3

Swim:
250 yd
Very winded, but I didn't puke my steak and oatmeal breakfast. So. Winning?

[DanCR]

Swim:
250 yd
Very winded, but I didn't puke my steak and oatmeal breakfast. So. Winning?

Nearly anything involving swimming is winning.

See also: steak.

[Clearwater47]

Swim:
250 yd
Very winded, but I didn't puke my steak and oatmeal breakfast. So. Winning?

Nearly anything involving swimming is winning.

See also: steak.

See also: bacon

[EricK]

Wed, 6/5/24

198.8

Guitar:
1:00 (?)
-C major scale up an octave; didn't use a metronome, didn't pay attention to how long I worked on it.
-Simple Man
-Heart Shaped Box

Feeling unfocused and unmotivated. Cool.

Press:
135 x 8 x some

Guess this is my go-to because the bar is at the right height with the 45s already on all the time...

Notes:

Not sure when/if I'll crawl out of this funk. Work has been kinda stressful and looks like it won't get any better for a while. Things are good, I just can't seem to get my ass in gear when it comes to my hobbies.

[DanCR]

Not sure when/if I'll crawl out of this funk. Work has been kinda stressful and looks like it won't get any better for a while. Things are good, I just can't seem to get my ass in gear when it comes to my hobbies.

I"m glad that you're still making the time to participate here.

Honestly I can think of far worse shit to do in a funk than throwing something heavy overhead when you feel like it.