Happy Birthday 2011 Lesson

Odd time signatures

I'm finally starting to grasp odd time signatures and odd feels. I watched a Meshuggah lesson today on YouTube and it helped me. No, I don't listen to that band, but I do like the style and since they use a lot of odd feels and odd time signatures, I wanted to learn something like that.

I created a riff over a 4/4 drum track that has an odd feel to it. I think I am grasping 7/8 time after watching a sequel to that first lesson. It's really cool. I love it! It's awesome to play something different. I was getting sick of just 4/4 time: 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4. I can do 3/4 as well, but it's just not as weird as 7/8. Maybe I'll work on 9/8 after I get 7/8 down. I just wanna compose some stuff that's different from what I've been doing all of my life. Yeah, I played piano before guitar, since I was 8, so I'm ready for a change.

But hey, 4/4 time is not bad. If you mix 4/4 in with 7/8, that could be interesting. And even keeping 4/4 time all way through, except put an odd feel into parts of the song makes for an even more interesting song. Course, I guess it depends on your preference.

AHHH!! I can't breathe!

We ran out of coffee creamer this morning. I was going to go to the store to get some. I had had my coffee, but my mom hadn't. I thought of a quick and easy way to temporarily dispel morning breath. We have 100% peppermint oil in the cabinet that we got from the Natural Food Store. It only takes one drop to work. I unscrewed the cap, placed my thumb over the opening, turned the bottle upside down and right side up, and placed my thumb on my tongue. Ahh...that will do nicely. In just a couple of seconds I will feel so refreshed. The people at the store will never know I had not yet brushed my teeth. I started to feel the peppermint spread through my mouth. It intensified. Beyond what I had experienced before. I had gotten a little too much! What?! But how? It didn't seem like that much on my thumb! 

I leaned over the kitchen sink breathing through my mouth, and then my nose - but it wasn't any different. Every time I breathed, an overwhelming dose of peppermint filled my mouth and throat. I felt nauseous. I waited for 30 long seconds until finally I could at least breath normally. I downed some water, only to feel worse. 

I just waited. My mom came into the kitchen. I told her what had happened. She reminded me to be careful with that stuff, and also informed me the store wasn't open anyway. It was 5:30 in the morning. One half hour until they open. Oh gosh.

Fortunately, I did not get sick, but it took 20 minutes until that strong taste left the back of my mouth. Even now - after almost an hour after it happened - I can still taste it a little.

Lesson learned: Don't use too much peppermint oil! And don't assume the store is open either.

--Brandon