I am sitting here, listening to Thiago's music in pitch black, well besides the computer light. I absolutely love his music. I connect with it on a very deep level, but at the same time, I feel that he is ahead of me or on a different level. I am at peace with myself, He iss at peace with himself. I feel like he conveys it better or more easily than I do. All of my music has a lot of tension building and releasing, but none of it is purely relaxed like Within the Zone of Transcendence. This music is very powerful and I feel it would be futile if I were to try and describe what exactly I am feeling. It is evoking some serious emotion from me, however. That is why I can connect with it so well, it brings me elsewhere, just like UnderMind does. That is the point in our music.

On another note. I had my first recording session today. I recorded in Dom's room. Small room, 2 amps, and a bunch of other shit. We got in there, set the 2 mics up really quick, and then recorded. One take for the track. First time I have ever played it. He was the perfect match for the song as well. There is room to add in other parts and what not, but I dont know if there is really a need to. I might just save that for live performances. When we started the piece, I was afraid of fucking up. There was this one part I was shaky at, but I kept repeating to myself "everything is water," and "in music there are no mistakes." These two quotes got me through the piece rather well. The piece was so visual and perfect. It was exactly how I imagined it was going to be. At this point, I have A Rare Moment of Silence and The Color of Mirrors to record. After that, I want to also write Of Emeralds and Rings, but I might have to take a bit more time on that.

I forgot to add this. I practiced outside for the first time today. It was so awesome, fun, and free. I felt a lot more open and not so closed in, in a certain space. I often would look up at the sky and the trees/branches, and I felt that that truly is the essence of UnderMind. To visualize yourself, to hear yourself, and to be taken somewhere. I will be practicing and jamming outside a lot more.

Patterns. I have always been good with identifying patterns in a given subject. I feel this is largely how I view the guitar, well more specifically, the fretboard. Perhaps this is why I have had a lot of trouble learning theory. I do not identify with the patterns so easily. One way I tend to improvise is by keeping a certain key as the center and then adding patterns with my fingers/frets/strings/picking hand to it. Sometimes I go out of key, sometimes I don't. This is also how I tend to form chords. I start with a base finger and then figure out patterns to go along with it. Or I already know a pre-determined chord. I don't usually see chords on the guitar in intervals, but patterns, how the location of one finger relates to another. I have also realized this is how I like to draw, in patterns. I noticed this whenever I scribbled stuff onto my notebooks and what have you. Shapes and patterns. I like to draw that way, I like to see things in that way. I am not sure where to go from here or what more to say. May be I will try to explain why I see things in patterns so much, but that will take lots of brainstorming.

On a side note, I recently bought a sketchbook and am studying the human figure right now. It is pretty hard but it's something I can definitely catch on to. Drawing has a lot to do with observation and noticing relationships between two points, as well as angles and shapes etc. So far I have done two figure forms and I did an abstract improvised piece today while listening to Esoteric....the end product was...rather esoteric.

Demo-ing

Where does inspiration come from? From within myself, I guess. Also from many outside th ings. It could just be the energy that is flowing around me at any given time, whether I look to it as an influence or now. I barely played guitar at all last week, and this week I am making up for it. It is nice because it is almost like I am starting fresh, musically, not technically. I have taking a bit of a liking to the F# minor scale. It is the next scale that comes somewhat naturally to me. With my guitar tuned to Eb it's actually Fminor. I am trying to work with some newer chords and learning to arpegiate chords more than I am used to. Especially minor chords. Eventually, I will make the picking patterns that are most foreign to me natural. I want to get better at arpegiating chords and it seems whenever someone does arpegiate them, they do it in the exact same pattern constantly. Not like that's a bad thing, it just isn't for me and it isn't challenging. I will also be composing music for a female vocalist to accompany. There is something so enchanting about the female voice, and I really wish to work with it.

I have some huge visions for This Beckoning Lake, which I will be writing about in the near future. I will also be demo-ing that and all my songs. Not for me, but for production reasons. It will help to get a good idea of what should sound like what, and what you can add to what. what?

Demo? Ok I am stuck. I was going to record on friday, but that isnt happening now. I don't know when I will be able to record with Dom. I wanted to start recording before I started writing new songs. I feel like, my songs will need GREAT production to really get the point across. At least for most of the songs. Now, I want to really record. I am anxious to. I am thinking of doing demos of everything. I tend to only want to show people final products. I am trying to figure out why I am like that. Also I need to figure out why there should be demos of songs. I usually am very set with how my songs sound and wont really change them, even if I review them.

So there is the question...
Why should I demo?