I have spent so far 20 hours writing music for my original songs and coming up with ideas to record. I have planned and set aside a lot of time in the summer to be recording in the studio.

practice - 18 hours. just using 1 week of practice session

joes band recording sessions - 8 hours

recording the EP- 40 worth of recording sessions planned so far in the summer

The first band I looked at was Alice in Chains and there nutshell EP. i really like this EP because every song is very different, there are ballad style songs and even a jazz/swing song on this album. My favourite song off this EP is 'rotten apple', I think the production quality is amazing and I also like the way how it sounds musically, I think it evolves as it goes on. I also like the inclusion of different technologies to create it like the talk box that is used all the way through the song.

Another very notable song from this EP is nutshell, which is one of Alice in Chains' biggest hits. This song is about the lead vocalists long time battle with heroin addiction. The song is a very moving and powerful song that I find holds a lot of emotions and meaning to a lot of people. I dove deep into the meaning of this song so I could learn from it so I could use its lessons in my own songwriting and composing. As I am a guitarist at heart I focused a lot on the guitar and how the guitarist, Jerry Cantrell, wrote the guitar parts. with it being acoustic most of the way through up until the end where you hear a tasteful yet fitting guitar solo as the song comes close to an end.

To improve my composing ability I listened to the drum parts on this EP. As I am not a drummer I do not understand the instrument very well so it is difficult for me to come up with drum pieces for my own music that are fitting to the piece. That is why as part of my research and learning I have listened to the drums behind some of my favourite pieces created by other artists very carefully to understand what is going on with them. In the Jar of Flies EP because every song is a different style the drums were very interesting to listen to because some songs used very basic drum patterns, like Nutshell where the drums are keeping a nice pace the whole way through and not being very explorative or explosive. Another track on Jar of Flies with very interesting drums is, 'No Excuse'. Throughout this song you hear what sounds like to me a very fast hi-hat/cymbal fill that creates what feels to be a faster tempo segment only for a few seconds at a time which gives the tracks. really nice feel to it.

From this EP I have looked at song writing and composing in a simpler way, with much more emotion behind the lyrics and the musical arrangement, making each beat and bar mean something.

Hendrix is considered one of the greatest guitarists of all time because of how for the time he broke the rules of 'normality' and used his guitar to create some interesting and really daunting noises and sounds, as you can hear clearly on the opening piece, 'EXP'. This album really does embody the genre term 'Psychedelic Rock'. This album embodies that term from the use of its late 1960s recording equipment and mixing ability by using the pan controls and other effects that were just starting to come into use, like distortion and the Wah Wah effect. These effects quickly became what Hendrixs' guitar sound was known for, as well as his use of blues style playing and vocals, as well as his songwriting style. My favourite song off of this album is, 'little wing', I really love this song because the opening riff is effortlessly catchy and rememberable as well as the lyrics that play in your mind for the rest of the day. The production techniques through this album makes it really interesting to listen to as you hear lead guitar parts coming from the left side and then rhythm parts on the right side and vice versa. I enjoy that you can still hear imperfections I the recording like drum spill and a static feedback very quietly throughout some of the tracks, this would be something I would like to try and recreate in my own EP as I feel it gives it a really natural feel, by allowing human error and fault to shine through and maybe even become something spectacular, like the random chord in The polices song 'roxanne'.

I have also spent a lot of time studying the many guitarists that have been in this band, I have mainly focused on John Sykes and Steve Vai, and how they write their own music and some of there other projects and bands. John Sykes for a time played in Thin Lizzy which have had numerous songs over the years that have been hugely popular such as; the boys are back in town and whiskey in the jar. The other guitarist I researched that played in whitesnake was Steve Vai. He has had a wildly impressive career creating very guitar based music as well as other avenues like game theme music (halo 2). From both of these guitarists I have learnt how they write there songs and come up with ideas and develop on pre existing ideas, using technology, timing, chord progressions and different melodies.

To start my routine I will do 2 hours of learning scales and modes and music theory understanding, this giving me a greater musical understanding so I can have the knowledge to write more creative and interesting music.

After I have practiced known scales and learnt knew ones, I will then spend 2 hours practicing what I have learnt to really engrave them into my brain. In this time I will also always try to write a musical idea with what I have learnt. This is a very important time as it allows me to practice new things but to also improve my technique and make sure I am not falling into any bad playing habits.

The next few hours are spent learning songs that I love and also learning playing styles that other artists use giving me a greater arsenal of ability to choose from when writing my own music, this can range from Kurt Cobains rather fast and chaotic but stylish playing to Marty Friedmans highly accurate shredding. I never actually set a time limit when practicing like this as time limits and constraints I find can take the fun away from things whereas the instrument is meant to be fun. It is very helpful to have some time set aside dedicated to strictly practice and learning to improve my ability, and therefore making my practice more fun and enjoyable. improving my ability also has made the writing process more fun as I now have a better idea of how to write music. All the practice will pay off in the recording sessions as it will mean less time will be spent rerecording multiple takes due to sloppy playing and actually writing good music.