Category: Unit 8

Today is the day of the gig, and it turns out I don’t own a pair of black jeans or a black T-shirt, so I made a quick journey into Town Centre to buy them.

Once I had got into college I was out of breath, worn out and I needed a hefty break. I had also brought some food to last me and partner throughout the day as it is going to be a long one…

Once my band were all in we decided to rehearse through our set once, this reinsures us that we know what we are doing and there is no room for mistakes, if we went over it more than once we’d lose our concentration and motivation towards doing the set. Plus we would start to pick each other apart on small things that are too late to fix.

After that it was sitting around in the corridor with time, until Chris told me, Tom and Jack to go sit down in the room where Jason was cooking hot dogs. We were locked in there whilst he performed with another band and I was let out in time to watch my partner play with his band.

From that point onwards I was free to roam about and do what ever I wanted to. As the clock drew nearer to the time we were playing my Mum, two brothers, sister and Nan arrived, they all walked around looking for things to go until I was on stage.

However, my brother has a clarinet performance today also ten minutes after I get on stage, so they cannot stay for too long.

When I finally was about to get on stage they all had to leave, the band on before us was overrunning massively because they played eight songs and they decided to repeat a part in the last song which frustrated me as I’m getting to the age where my family don’t care about me performing anymore.

You can check out how our performance went under my Unit 8 tab where you will find a evaluation and my progress leading up to the gig!

We were late this morning because of traffic due to a stupid diversion which is fun but not everyone was in for rehearsal anyway so I ended up waiting in the corridor until my band arrived whilst Ethan scurried away into his lesson.

Once my band had turned up after a short while, in this time I sat and played around with my guitar out of sheer boredom, I couldn’t do any work on my phone because I stupidly didn’t charge it over night.

Not much is installed for me today due to all of the year groups being in at once and everyone in the world is trying to secure a rehearsal room which is top notch banter when our gig is tomorrow. However, I managed to gobble one up before another band took our preferred room which is good, I am not a huge fan of other rooms as they can get too hot too fast which isn’t good if I start to sweat.

When we got in a room we proceeded to go through our set twice, after an hour in a room we become demotivated so it is the perfect amount. Today’s song we were having issues with were 1999, we couldn’t figure out if the progression would sound better within minor or major. To prevent this on going argument, I decided that we should play it in major so it sounds happier and that everyone will get involved with something that sounds appealing rather than being dull and depressing.

After this rehearsal session I had nothing else to do apart from coursework which I like to do at home where it is mostly quiet so I am able to concentrate so I can bring my work to the highest grade possible. Considering I am not being offered guitar lessons again, I took the opportunity and then went home so I can get some work done, then take a nap.

When I get home I am going to tidy up my room thoroughly so I can find what I want exactly where it should be, so until tomorrow I shall see you then!

Due to the GCSE Retakes, just like the previous week, we started again at lunch again this week so I missed out on a hand full of lessons this morning, one in which as a much needed rehearsal, but I still have one to go in for alongside many other tasks…

I couldn’t get in until the end of lunch because my hot water wasn’t working and I needed a wash desperately, within this time I took the opportunity of sitting down and polishing and cleaning all of my guitars. I also went ahead and printed off various pieces of work so I can keep them in my big folder so I am well aware of where everything is if my computer fails me.

After this I soon got into college we were thrown into a rehearsal room so we were able to go through our set multiple times, after setting up before everyone I also went and handed in my completed proposal thing to Chris before everyone else as I am a huge dork when it comes to work.

We played through the whole of our set twice which seems to be the usual at the moment which is the flow I would always like to be in during rehearsal. I really do hope that I am kept within the same band for my second year, I have grown to love each and every member of my band, our playful banter and incredible work effort has led us to a point where I would have never seen myself as a female guitarist with little to no confidence…

Soon after rehearsal our singer had realised that she has not finished her proposal in full because she has had trouble managing her computer at home and the one she has to use within college. After Chris had looked through all of my work he decided that I should show my class mates what to do and point them in the right direction if they were a bit baffled in what to do!

I enjoyed doing this, fortunately I want to go into teaching music specifically at secondary level but I would not mind at college either because I love showing people what I know and passing that on to another. After I did this it was home time for me where I have copious guitar practice installed as I am not the best at remembering things in big, big chunks, hopefully I will pass but I am more focused upon my overall grade as I will be aiming for a distinction and then a distinction star next year.

Tomorrow I will be in college for 9am for rehearsal and more rehearsal on top of that, I shall see you all then!

This week we really cracked down upon rehearsal, our day started off at 10:20. I had a breakfast and went to the shop to get some chewing gum to help me concentrate in class whilst I figure out some aspects of my coursework which confuse me heavily.

Chris gathered us up within the mac room for a chat so we can discuss what we need to get done this week within preparation for Thursday and Saturday, he then soon sent us off to rehearse which I was looking forward to as we have a list of things we need to finish as a band so we can perform to the best of our combined abilities.

Tomorrow morning I will print out set lists for our gigs so we don’t like overly confused onstage, on the plus side it will make us look more professional in comparison to the other bands which is always a win in my books.

We went through our whole set today multiple times, our singer doesn’t have to go her English lessons anymore because she has taken her GCSE so that has given us more time in which I would usually have D.I.S which has given us an upper hand when striking back at the other bands.

The only song we are having issues with is ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’, opted out for a guitar solo where the saxophone solo would have been as it didn’t fit so we are trying to play through that section with Millie chucking in some lyric things, improvisation if you will, which gradually builds up whilst going back into the song.

After that rehearsal session it was lunch time, the weather wasn’t particularly nice however me and my drummer walked up the shop so we could get lunch, she got custard donuts and starburst, I got a hotdog and cookies for later as I know what I am like.

When we got back soon before we know it was rehearsal time again, but afterwards we were blessed with home time which is the most enjoyable thing as my fingers are red raw from playing.

We played through the whole of our set twice, which is enough to bring my fingers to bleed but I am powering through it. If worse comes to worse I will apply superglue on my finger tips so I won’t be able to feel a thing which stops me from pulling some of my funny faces!

I get a bit worked up within our rehearsal room which led me to a couple trip ups in a couple songs here, but apart from that I did well and so did the rest of my band. We are going to stay late tomorrow to work on our songs, coursework and other issues that may arise at that time.

That is all from me I shall see you all shortly for another day at Fareham Music!

This morning started off with me being in early as per usual and Me + Ethan were on time for once which is our goal everything Wednesday morning. His day started off with a rehearsal and I was mean’t to have a guitar lesson for my upcoming guitar exam but Jake has been busy with work and not awfully fond of me or Eth so that is fun.

I went to go get us drinks, after that I proceeded to type out my project action plan/timetable off of this brief plan I put together last night which is built up upon scribbles and random letters, I will attach it below…

I will upload this when it has been finished properly underneath my Unit 8 tab, I have left this until last as I wanted to look at my work at a glance as my year draws to a sad close, however I am looking forward to a lovely summer break.

When Ethan came back out of rehearsal I had to go into a room to go through our set but my band members were scattered about so me and Lucy had to look about for Lewis and Millie. We let Millie finish up her coursework then she came into our room to rehearse, and then we remembered that Lewis has a bass lesson so he walk in when it is finished.

The main highlight of our rehearsal would have to be Jason coming in to help us with ‘1999’ as it was sounding bloody awful, so he gave us a new chord progression and bass line which works a thousand times better it is now up to rehearsing it and getting up to its peak potential for Thursday and Saturday.

We also gave ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ another shot, instead of figuring out something to replace the saxophone solo, I would rather Millie to have a vocal solo or something along those lines to showcase her abilities, because I have enough solos and the spotlight isn’t something I crave massively.

After this me and Ethan went to have a hefty lunch as we are starving at this point during the day, we had hot dogs which are incredibly filling but on top of that I had chicken and he had a sausage roll.

We then went back to college to then realise that I have rehearsal again but Lucy had to do some drumming thing with Dan, so me, Lewis and Millie went through the chord progression for ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ as we were struggling with it earlier. But to save the hassle of setting up and packing down afterwards I decided to do it acoustic with Millie singing whilst Lewis takes note of what I am playing.

Ethan then dropped me home when I finished, I am planning to go through my guitar exam stuff as I am a mere week away or so which is getting increasingly scary…

Due to the GCSE Retakes we started at lunch again this week so I missed out on a hand full of lessons this morning, one in which as a much needed rehearsal, but I still have one to go in for.

I came in a little bit earlier because our drummer had to drive and pick up her mum from the hospital so we rehearsed for an hour from one until two.

In this session we went through our set in full which was fun, here is a picture of the running order below:

‘Kiss’ is definitely our strongest new song which is one of my personal favourites so I put a lot of pride and effort into playing it. We are still struggling to play ‘1999’ and ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’, I’m having a clash with our bass player about what he is playing when it comes to NC2U because it is different to the song.

I spent my evening playing through the track and had noticed that it is completely different to what he is playing. I brought this up but it was too late on within the session to go over.

So I will write up a chord chart to what I think it is and if it works better we will stick with it, if not we will use his.

Our drummer then had to leave to pick up her Mum so Chris then came it to drum for us which is always a treat. We went over ‘1999’ and ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’, Lewis still needs to work upon he bass line for 1999 but it is coming together well.

Chris noted that Lucy would have to throw in a few drum fills to broaden he arrangement, because we have made it heavily funk based.

He also wants me to give singing the low parts ago which is a push for me as I’m daily mid ranged when it comes to singing, so that is something I’ll have to go over at home.

After this session we had an impromptu tutor session in the big room which was fun, we went over the date for instrumental exam and what work needs to be in soon.

Tomorrow I will have a guitar lesson where I’ll be working with Jake on certain elements that I’m still struggling with but I’ll also work with my partner this evening with parts of the exam too.

This morning started off with Chris asking us how our half term went as per usual and he went through everybody individually asking a significant thing they did, I kept mine incredibly simple and said a “Hard Nothing” as I couldn’t be bothered to talk an awful amount in front of my class.

After this long winded routine Chris reminded us when our instrumental exams are taking place, my guitar exam falls upon the 18th of this month which isn’t too far away, hopefully I won’t freeze up like I did within my grade 4 exam and muck up completely…

We then went through an example of a project action plan template for someone who achieved a pass, we were going to have a class on it tomorrow morning but due to the GCSE retakes we are not allowed within college until lunch. Which is handy for me as I do enjoy the freedom of not having to rush and pack everything on a early Tuesday morning, but it also means that we are denied of rehearsal time which is something we desperately need at the moment.

After this lesson we had a much needed rehearsal where we finally went over ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ as a band which went surprisingly well for our first attempt as a band. We initially played with the track then we took it from there, after a couple times we felt comfortable without it so we then went on to play as a four piece.

Over half term I was tasked with figuring out a solo which fits within the slot of the saxophone which I ultimately failed within doing so, if I were to play the sax part it would be hard to then jump back to my original part on guitar when we get back to the song. This evening I will be taking another shot at this solo as we cant have a big empty space within a song because it seems unprofessional and just tacky.

After this rehearsal we had lunch we seemed to last for a mighty long time which is because of our D.I.S session which takes place after lunch, for the most of it we sat about in the corridor doing nothing until our singer arrived back early from her English lesson so we took this as an early opportunity to rehearse.

We set up and began to play through the new songs for our set, we managed to play through ‘Kiss’ successfully three times and then ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ twice. After this we tried going through ‘1999’ we left it up until this point due to how empty it sounds without the triggers and key parts but we managed to play it enough with a bucket full of enthusiasm for it to work at about seventy percent.

Chris was lurking about our rehearsal room for a good amount of time eyeing up Lewis’ bass which was nice, when he heard us attempt to go through ‘1999’ he walked on and told us how we could improve the song and be smart whilst going about playing it.

He then proceeded to change the bass part in which it has a completely different feel to it, my part differs to his when he either plays a high or low F. It is very hard to explain without hearing it, we went through the song and it sounded a bit better but it will be a lot of work for Lewis and I to get our heads around as there is a lot of space for us to go wrong.

After this we went through a couple of songs off our old set then we proceeded to back up and go home!

It is nearing the end of half term and it is surprisingly too hot for me already, on top of the immense heat out side, this is then amplified within my partners car because there’s no air conditioning and it is completely black, so all is well apart from the shirt I have sweated through within an hour of use.

We are starting off our day by going to pick up Ethan’s new laptop so when he goes to UNI he can do all of his work more or less at home, then there will no unnecessary trips just to do work which is a smart idea on his end, which doesn’t happen often 🙂

Then we took a trip to PMT to see if his guitar has arrived yet as he has been waiting impatiently all week for it to arrive like a little puppy waiting for food, turns out it is mean’t to arrive tomorrow only because it got held back for not having a tremolo arm.

Driving back home again was fun, if we had the windows down it would hurt our ears but if we had them up we would sweat bullets, the sooner we got out of the little black box the better. When we got back to my house I quickly packed up my bass and changed shirt as I stank, so did Eth, I also gave him a jack cable which merges into a USB so he can use it with his new Macbook on Garageband.

After we had gathered enough food to fuel us for the next 4 hours we set off to pick Jay up which was a long car journey, by the time we got to rehearsal we were all drenched within sweat. We were then met by Will from DXTA who let us in and told us to give the key to the other band rehearsing after us.

I knew that this was going to be a different space to what we have within college so I brought my earplugs with the thicker plugs so my ears weren’t obliterated by the end of the session, along with my cable, strap and brain.

After a hour in or so we took a break as my fingers were so sore and Jay needed a cigarette, so in this picture you can see my bass and Ethan’s big smelly feet believe me the sweat didn’t improve the overall aroma in the room.

But now that we are on to this topic the room was pretty cosy and a nice place to rehearse, it is twenty pound for three hours if you’re a student and if you rehearse from 7pm-10pm you can play all night as long as you lock up after yourselves. We are going to go back again after we have got a sets worth of songs and when we all know our parts fluently so then it just up to playing as a band, here is another picture of the room below;

I completely forgot to mention that I am the new bassist for Acid Vision, Ethan kicked out Jack because he was difficult to work with and very annoying at times. So instead of finding someone else I wanted to play for him because of the experience I will stumble upon and because I have a lot of potential being a fairly young musician.

Here is a video of what we got done in the rehearsal below;

My day started off with a rehearsal which was cool, I sat around for an hour as per usual as I’m always in early due to sleeping round my partners the night before.

Sitting in the corridor has become a routine that I have became too familiar with, my guitar teacher isn’t available this week because he is playing within the musical so I sat organising the work in my bag and looking at all the work I have to do.

When our singer came back from her English lesson we grabbed a rehearsal room as a trio, because Lewis is always in a bass lesson during the time where it is optional to rehearse within,

We began to look at ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’, we kept playing it over and over whilst playing/singing around to the track until we had some footing of where the song was going.

Me and the drummer picked the structure up quickly, after two times roughly, and our singer had nearly memorised the lyrics too which is very good for her!

We will learn our parts over half term so it just a matter of putting them all together and getting tight as a band. Whilst our singer was singing she went to spit in the bin, well that is what I thought until I had realised she was throwing up in the bin.

I came to a stop after Lucy caught my attention as I carried on playing which is basic instinct for me, we quickly got up and helped her out and then we packed up to sit within the corridor.

I then went home with my partner to have lunch because we didn’t have any breakfast as a sacrifice for being at college in time.

After we had food, I was driven back and forced into a theory lesson but then I remembered Chris saying that my band could rehearse during that session so that is what we did, this time round though we had our bassist.

We went through ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ with our bassist now, he didn’t get the song so he took notes according the cut work down over half term. Afterwards our singer came back to go through the song a couple times then we went home for a much needed nap…

Due to the GCSE retakes I had the morning off which was handy, I then had the luxury of laying in for an hour or so alongside the constant fidgeting from my lovely partner.

I also had the opportunity to dry my hair properly after a shower I had first thing in the morning, which was not worth the ten minutes of pointing hot air at my hair.

Jack came over for a bit to restring my guitar as I always manage to prick myself whilst doing it to any guitar but my black Stratocaster which I heavily rely upon.

We only had two hours lined up for our day in college, this consisted of rehearsal and a tutor session which is always a blast.

Once I was all set up, which takes a fairly long time considering I have to plug in a stomp-box to the back of the amp. Then I have to put the wah onto my pedal board along side my chorus pedal. All that would be left to do is adding the power supply and then my two jack cables one to my amp and guitar!

Chris said from now on Dan will let me in earlier to set up all of my equipment so it makes future rehearsals easier for everyone and more time efficient, not to mention how much more we would get done in the first ten minutes..