On AI, Existential Threat, and the Collapse

Good evening ladies and gents. Hope you all had a good Sunday. I wanted to write here a bit more about AI, existential threat, and the Collapse. 

    First, AI is the latest buzzword of the last couple years and it's really taken the world by storm. I've used a ton of AI art generators to generate art mostly for fun but also here for the blog so its got some pictures to go along with these giant blocks of text. A lot of media and news sources want to keep constantly making the claim that AI is here to take your jobs, that we're training AIs to replace us, that using AI for art isn't real art, that the best thing for humanity is to just not even use AI for anything at all and sort of boycott it by just not using it at all ever.

    But I don't think not using AI is going to do anything whatsoever. In fact, if you're not using AI to augment your skills, abilities, or even for personal fun, research, and learning, then, my God, you are going to become behind in life and your other associates around you are going to surpass you in the occupational, intellectual, and the Culture itself. What I mean to say is that if you are boycotting AI, not using it and haven't used it yet, or just think its the worst thing in the world, you are going to be behind in the future economy and Culture. Think of it like a person who doesn't use a smartphone, they're definitely at a disadvantage, or someone who doesn't use the Internet, well, that person is like a fossil at this point. 

    Moving on, I don't think AI is going to replace us and I'm not sure if I believe that its really such a shocking blackbox that news and media outlets keep saying that it is. I think it is imperative for news and media outlets and people around you to say that AI is bad and you should never use it and that its going to replace you, and I think the reason why is that because if they can get you to be stuck up on AI, get you scared, get you excited, all of it generates more media and attention, which is then used to pump up AI and get more revenue and sales from AI, especially because now all the biggest stocks are all tech/AI companies, actually mostly AI, all the big money is all on AI now, trillions. 

    So keep in mind, if you think AI is bad and stupid and shouldn't be used for the sake of humanity, that's probably what they want you to think, especially because even bad news is sensational for these AI companies, and not only that, but sometimes you can see it as good news for people who love bad news, as this also generates media, attention, and revenue. 

    Second, the existential threat of AI. Is AI an existential threat to the United States, China, Europe, and the globe? I'm not a genius but I would say no, not at this moment in time. I think the global threat of extreme heat, fires/earthquakes/storms, fascism, obesity, cancer, dementia, nuclear disaster, war, contagious diseases, and drone warfare are much more of a existential threat to this world than anything AI could inflict upon us, at least that is how I feel on the subject, at least at this current juncture, but that could change if suddenly AI becomes some sort of electronic God and takes over every city and town in America, but now we have entered the realm of science fiction? Who here has read Alfred Bester? Or, if you're even older, who here has read The Machine Stops? 

    Third, we are now in the age of the Collapse here in America. You don't have to think and wait for the Collapse, it's already here folks. You aren't going to wake up one morning and all the news media outlets are going to tell you straight out, 'this is it, this is the Collapse,' rather, America has declined more and more after only very small intervals of time. Now, it's gotten to the point where America has fallen so fast that as a normal human being, you just don't have enough time, energy, cash, attention, or resources to even to keep up with the fact that everyday America is declining faster and faster. 

    Lastly, if I was a boomer I would say that throughout my life the decline of America was slow and took place over successive stages. However, I'm a 40 year old guy and I found out for myself that the decline of America happened very fast, its almost as if it happened in the blink of an eye. 

    It's like the Romans when they had their decline. The Romans were so busy living luxurious lives, having orgies, and watching the fighters get eaten by lions at the coliseum, they were so busy doing that, that they didn't have time to realize that their entire civilization had fallen. 

    Which brings me to America. America is sort of like a baby Rome, short of the years required to truly be a longstanding civilization, but has had the military strength to subdue all her foes and take over through the sword of imperialism. Not bad for only 250 years, eh? 

    In conclusion, and I'll end it like this. I think most Americans just don't have the wherewithal to do anything to stop this and some of them might not even care and yet even some more know this and are using it to their advantage to scheme, loot, rob, disenfranchise, and take over things to keep control and turn things to their advantage at other peoples' detriment [Trump in a nutshell]. 

    There will always be bad actors but given these terrible circumstances of a failed state, a failed government, the cataclysmic collapse of the American Empire, that not only will there winners and losers but there will be more criminals and bad actors of any and all sorts, infinite in their form. 

    I'll end it like this, I might be the only person you read who's my age who will tell you this like this, other people won't be able to articulate it in quite the same way, and they don't have the free time to really talk about it, write about it, or articulate it. Leisure is the hobby of the intellectual class. 

My drum progress, Recordings made with Soundcorset

Hello Musicians and Muzak Fans,

So I started playing drums back in August, at the end of the summer. I've always wanted to play drums as a kid and often spent a lot of time in the classroom trying to play a beat with a pen in one hand and a pencil in the other. I bought a cheap plastic/wood Kibaga snare drum practice and got some black painted ziljin thin sticks and got to practicing. My coworker told me how to play a basic rudiment and I got started from there. 

Now it's November so I've been playing and practicing for three months. I've been recorded various drum solos at guitar center on their three thousand dollar Ludwig kit all this time as well as playing at home with a snare drum and cymbal that I got from this rock and roll guy who wanted me to be his drummer. These are all recorded with an Android free app called Soundcorset, it's very cheap, as in free. 

But I digress, here are the recordings, enjoy. Arranged in order from earliest to most recent. Thank you in advance for showing interest and curiosity.  

https://soundcorset.com/r/A0kVQeM6Gh?fbclid=IwAR2p6rVdRFoG-785xgc_gvHWDqm5Ix9bu28hv4tYiFxhvO8pirq8zZ_ZPs4 [Drum Solo No.4]

https://soundcorset.com/r/AvXQoK6pCp?fbclid=IwAR2lODFdEWXAxyTQzrLYRuPp46wUVdZLdIChL2fnSSXb3IpIDlnviEsIb9E [Drum Solo No.5]

https://soundcorset.com/r/hd1hMqvf3e?fbclid=IwAR1LJIvJ_5OdxQ-DZE2_0I3dte7bjqDwV58sRhyF4H-1B6aABk9N82toC58 [Lied vor der Arbeit, Jason Tomas alto saxophone, Orlando Drums snare/cymbal]

https://soundcorset.com/r/YY1EV9Ca9v?fbclid=IwAR3EGlq8YUy8RS5CD-uQ5y_pN_8dHPB8ZVlJE-RnYuCw59hvBg8SFrA5oic [Heavy Blues, Jason Tomas alto saxophone, Orlando Drums snare/cymbal]

https://soundcorset.com/r/9h-WEVEeqY?fbclid=IwAR16sa_MTa_bTMNB1QB4OHp_xNf_IdH4gM1G9pJ2HSx5p2I4JP-ewoQC4_g [Speculation Band, Orlando Drums, Mike guitar/vocals]

https://soundcorset.com/r/xYrrAAMYzj?fbclid=IwAR3VQLFUG1s4TYwTQ5F2hpqfEYRDNtKZEF61AEzN1iXa7p9SZ-_CBRUhvUY [Johnny B Goode, Orlando drums, Mike guitar/vocals]

https://soundcorset.com/r/7G3QFABqpH?fbclid=IwAR2D_p8xWSDmkZ3GFn-mFQxoUbHMHeFu8nEACLfpBMtM78CnmSyvHC-H-T8 [Drum Solo No.6]

https://soundcorset.com/r/YD6jYoTvHY?fbclid=IwAR133ioMCOqmhwupUJ2dx_7nmIqRgqhxr-9hMpjI-nvX_HUb4Q4Pl6HGFYo [Drum Solo No.7]

https://soundcorset.com/r/wv-fdYamiA?fbclid=IwAR3xxxCtf60UwdXrL4KkPAR23ndtGvGFZfVCFe40_LvCTJ7k4Ae7v4tpefM [Drum Solo No.8]

https://soundcorset.com/r/SPu6MIMlIP?fbclid=IwAR0TvY_2mnwx8FPefmPBfYLVpvFSfIZ-tVQAcoqAdO5hKfVnOA95TCejBWI [Drum Solo No.9]

https://soundcorset.com/r/1c5NoDpC3s?fbclid=IwAR1gVYHefRTtI5BegNW1x_MZ0I9_KkTRdlF2HZCOhmB3yy4xQy_zwE0fWCA   [Drum Solo No.10]

https://soundcorset.com/r/J8UoWUwkXo?fbclid=IwAR0oW-ABFdVeeKtcq-0XFwY36MhMBUNK8QVxsLDtGniU1jqh4rWFokqyZZY [Drum Solo No.11]

https://soundcorset.com/r/4jPHRMv-BY?fbclid=IwAR3AnGuyh8OTxxVggJisiYTMzu2qXiKPUgN8oD6_5orL0LToBNm8pDw6q6M [Drum Solo No.12]

https://soundcorset.com/r/CFSBQa8QrM?fbclid=IwAR25qpVKJqY6zDvl8EBg_lLmXlmMVidjmOZcBKnpUxo1eA5XcQGuL67fNT4 [Drum Solo No.13]

https://soundcorset.com/r/C377XapOKq?fbclid=IwAR3QP0ZJHA6l4ktscExanaAMKvBGTvHv9A0TUataYSduK3MAdnA0YlR1pBs [Drum Solo No.14]

https://soundcorset.com/r/-8jaSCZnW3?fbclid=IwAR3-Qp56bHGzIByZ82ZzJZ8NU7oT9PWkueNxOiVPpz_SF9uv2vpAozp_oJI [Drum Solo No.15]

https://soundcorset.com/r/QPlLp2yXoB?fbclid=IwAR06W3w9tnhjM_5GURYYOBshDVLzlHPygq-SibqRAJ2qCLRoMazGnsmu5rM [Drum Solo No.16]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeIJ94gG3js [Live Jazz jam session 12/15/22]

https://soundcorset.com/

image ai generated with stable diffusion 

The Summer Drum

Summer's almost gone, you Doors fans, dang hippies!

The summer is almost over. And what a hot summer it was. Too hot. The planet is experiencing the worst global warming ever. But that's not the point of this blog. 

Today I went to guitar center to play some real live drums, a real drum set. The first week or so I've only had a practice drum pad, which was too expensive, 30 bucks! For wool. 

Okay, so I've been intimated by drums forever. 

In fact, when I first played drums the first day at guitar center I was so self conscious that when people came into the room I stopped the cymbals and silenced them with my hands like Bill Bruford LOL.

But you can learn to get confidence on a new instrument. I just started playing the best I could and somehow they were impressed. The guy even asked to hold my stick to see if there was magic in it. He tried it and he wasn't that good. 

Two weeks later I went back more determined but when I sat on the kit I was still self conscious and fearful. 

Then I remembered some rock song with a 16th note hi hat pattern, it was like a Zappa thing or something. Or like Deep Purple's Ian Pace. So I hit the 16th note pattern on the hi hat, then copied it across the entire kit, from the hi hat, to snare, to toms, to cymbals, and walaaaaaaaaaaah, polyrhythms are born! 

Then suddenly I was playing lighter and faster, and I was starting to get more jazzy. 

Just goes to show you that you need practice really to have the confidence. They go hand in hand. 

I don't have much time to practice, what with working 48 hours at the retail gig, but the time I do use, is spent with great listening and patience, that I sort of can copy things somehow. Must be all the practice from guitar. 

Get me a different drum for every different emotion, it's go time. This is like therapy lol. Cathartic. 

Focus Pocus Part II: A Philosophical view

Howdy yall, what's up? I thought I'd write a bit more about what I discussed in the previous post, which can be viewed here. I explained how I was in a funk after vacation and how I couldn't get anything done, mainly my reading and guitar playing, in a lull. 

Well its been almost a month since I've been back, things have been going good for me. Work has been pretty insane, retail, over 40 hours a week. I'm working from today (Thursday) until next week (Friday) with no days off in between. The crazy thing is that although the thought of that is a little depressing, I'm actually getting a lot done in the sense that I've divided up all my time for rest and only the essentials. What's that pray-tell? 

The essentials for me is reading, writing, and music. Once I realized that I have no time to play video games probably ever! it was a pretty hard thing to observe, and then to get over. I used to love video games but now there's simply no time for it if I'm going to become a better writer, keep reading great science fiction (The Difference Engine) and philosophy (Adam Smith), and learn more classical and jazz guitar pieces (so much practice). Its a full time job all on its own, forget about the retail job, this is my job! 

There's a philosophy to this. Breaking everything down in your life to just the bare essentials. What do you want to accomplish in one day? What do you want to accomplish in a lifetime? Practice it one day at a time until you achieve complete and total mastery. 

My job gets in the way but if I take away the video gaming and stop spending so much time procrastinating on Facebook or playing video games, I can actually get a lot done in a day. Because I stay up very late (sometimes till 4 or 5, reading on my Kindle, which I got from a co-worker for free, retail is great sometimes) I can get a lot of reading done late at night after my late night shift. Everything's turning up Millhouse.

Happiness is a very tangible thing. Happiness is practicing guitar every day, reading, and writing. Find your passion and stick to it. Work is a necessary by-product of monetary situation, but it doesn't dictate who I am or who I will be. The future is ours to decide! 

Experimenting with jazz standards

So when I was in Chicago I took a music lesson from my dad's composer friend Frank Abbinanti, a really great pianist, composer, musician working in the avant-garde classical (we call it new music) scene. He's worked a lot with this really great clarinet player named Guillermo Gregorio, and they've both played a lot in Europe. Anyways, since he taught me some stuff I've been thinking about music in a different way and I'd like to jot down some of these new ideas mainly for fun and so I don't forget them.

So one of the things that's new when I look at standards when I play the chords is that if there's too many changes in one measure I'll default to just using one chord for that measure. Instead of just playing a root position voicngs I'll also play first and second inversion of that chord but with some extra melody notes on top (adding a melody that isn't there in the sheet music). This gives the music a much more original and modern sound than what I was doing before, which was more basic.

For example in the past if a measure was 4/4 with Gmin7 I would just play Gmin7 with maybe first inversion but it would always just be stock Gmin7 notes rather than adding a melody on top.

Another thing I've been doing is playing triads when comping through a standard. For example if it says Gmin7 for a 4/4 measure I would just play Gmin and first and second inversions in a jazz rhythm more akin to piano. This simplifies things and makes it a lot easier to focus on the changes of the song. However, this is also really limiting because there's no melodies or voice leading happening on the top, just bass notes and important notes of the chord. Its a simple way of thinking about jazz guitar comping. Good for practice.

Yet another thing I've been working on is bebop phrasing and improvising through changes. I've realized that as long as I always hit the important notes of the chord and you always come back to it you can go as far out as you want-to a point. For example if its 4/4 and measure 1 is Cmaj7 and measure 2 is G7 I can start on a c note and play lots of chromatic legato stuff and as long as I hit a g when measure 2 comes around it will always sound "right". For this example my old method was always to play something like Cmaj scale through Cmaj7 and then when measure 2 comes around I would play G7 dorian or something like that. Pretty basic and standard way of thinking about it. However, now I've realized that as long as I hit one or two important tones in the chords, even if they're just passing tones, I can fake my way through it and it will still sound right. I can't just play anything but there's a lot of open possibilities to the way I'm thinking about it now which is still based on the harmony given but I can go out and then come back much more easily. Before I was a lot more buttoned down when it came to soloing through changes.

Lastly, I'm also working on improving my tone, particularly jazz guitar tone. Typically this would mean more of a Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall kind of modern jazz guitar sound but I play on solid body guitars (not a hollow or semi-hollow body guitar) its harder to achieve this. But I try to make do by turning my bass sound higher, medium treble, and medium mids. I also roll down the tone knob on my 7-string Jackson to produce a more round richer and dark tone. I also use a chorus pedal too that gives me quite a bit of sustain without a distorted effect. It sounds nice but I think I can get a closer traditional jazz sound if I just played a semi or hollow-body guitar. They ain't cheap though so I'll have to make do with what I  have. You don't have to play on a hollow-body to play jazz. After all I'm playing on a 7-string Jackson most of the time but I can get a really traditional jazz sound out of my Hagstrom Les Paul because of the Jazz/Blues pickup in the neck on that thing. Now that one can get really close to say Jim Hall.

These are all things I'm thinking about. Good to share with other musicians. 

Band Practice Going Good

So I had a rehearsal last night with my band that I haven't played with for the last two weeks because I was in Chicago. It turned out really well. It actually turned out to be our best rehearsal we've ever had. I'm starting to understand the capabilities of the guys in the band.

Me and Martin, the drummer usually play together every week at local bar's jam night so we're constantly improving and evolving our rhythmic dynamics. At first we were having a super hard time locking in with each other but now I'm listening a lot more and using his timing as an anchor. Sometimes he still makes mistakes, especially after trying a technical fill but I know how to anchor the chords down to speed up or slow down accordingly perfectly now and even making it sound musical in the process. Sure he needs work but right now keeping time and locking in with the chords is the most important thing. I gave him some advice last night after practice. I told him he should practice all the rudiments and learn to read drum music. If he does this his "rolls" as he calls them (I call them fills) will start to sound much better and he'll always get back to the music in time as opposed to falling behind the beat and stuff. Important stuff to know. I hope he takes the advice to heart and starts shedding more. As of right now me and him are probably the most important pieces to the band. We now know five songs together that we can play pretty well and because our timing is locking in so well it sounds really good. Rock and roll, metal, with hints of jazz in my harmonies.

Our friend Dmitri actually started off playing bass for the first couple rehearsals. The first rehearsal he played guitar but it was so out of tune (both him and myself, we've since resorted to using the famous Snark tuner) that it was mostly a progressive art rock kind of improvisation. Our timing was so off but the improv was unique. After that first initial jam he started bringing his bass along to our practices and we thought he was going to play bass. The problem is that he isn't a disciplined bass player meaning he lacks the focus to play the same things twice for the song. We aren't playing jazz so its important for the bass to stick to the same harmonies all the time. So before practice I texted him to leave the bass and bring his guitar just to see how it sounds. It ended up sounding really great and its the way we're going to move forward as a band. We'll play without bass. The timing with my guitar and the drums is so good I feel like we don't need bass. Plus the extra harmonies and doubling of the guitar gives the music a stronger and more melodic sound, even if its just Sunshine of Your Love. The way I see Dmitri's purpose in the band is that he's adding colour around what me and Martin are playing. As long as me and Martin sound good anything Dmitri plays sounds good. He's not the best musician either but his guitar playing is much better than his bass playing. Bass takes a lot of timing and not all guitarists can do it very well. However, his guitar playing is quite evolved compared to his bass playing. I noticed he understands harmonies and hears the sounds I'm going for although he's usually always using more of a distorted guitar tone. At first we were practicing with him doing vocals and I would do some too but now I've come to the realization that it sounds better if we go on with myself on vocals. It's just a more rounder voice and tone, even if its rock and metal. More musical. 

And of course I see my role in the band as a songwriter, time keeper, singer, and soloist. If I keep all these things in check it will sound good. I'm really happy that the band is evolving and becoming better. If we really need bass I could always record bass and we could play with a bass track live or something. That actually sounds like a great idea because right now I really love the idea of a three piece with two guitars and drums. I stole the idea from Animals As Leaders but of course because our music isn't as technical or complex we can really steer the music in various directions without getting lost too easily. It's nice.

Pretty soon we'll be ready to gig. Sounds exciting.
Picture is Animals as Leaders, really inspiring band

Musical ideas to work on and pontificate

So I thought I'd jot down some more musical ideas.

I would become the drummer for the potential punk/metal band that friends wanna start. I really like drums and I was even thinking about buying a kit some months ago but ended up not doing it. I was supposed to buy a drum machine but I haven't done that yet either. Even the drum machine would be great to keep time because we have a bass and two guitars already.

Start a project with my drummer friend. This guy seems to be super into music and perhaps hes dedicated as as drummer as well. I'm not quite sure but what I do know is that he travels to a lot of shows. I have no idea as to what his musical skill level is at but I am curious. I had this great idea for a two man band just me and him where I do vocals and play guitar, something like the Black Keys or the White Stripes.

Jam with another guitarist. I know a guy that I met through a mutual friend that wants to jam with me. I'm shooting for a jam with him on Wednesday. All I know is that he sings and plays a stratocaster but he said he's down to play some jazz standards when we jam. Should be interesting. That same night I'll probably go to the open jam this week.

Open jam night attendance. I should definitely attend the open jam this week. I've been missing them the last few weeks and I want to play out, perhaps even sing a song while playing guitar. I was thinking something like George Harrison's My Sweet Lord. Or another simple easy Beatles tune like Come Together. If not I am also down to just jam out.

Contact the bass player I was working with a few weeks ago. I was actually working with a talented bass player but it seems I haven't been able to contact him for weeks after we got together and jammed a few times. It's a shame because he's probably the best bass player I've ever played with. I'll continue trying to reach him but at this point it seems like he doesn't want to work together.

Work on and write original songs with lyrics. I have been working on songs. A non-musical friend of mine wrote three songs of a pretty dark nature and sent me the lyrics and he wanted me to add music to it. I've been edited the lyrics to make the songs make more sense and have some kind of theme to it. I'll probably be done editing those songs soon and I'll try putting music to it. Then I'll record it with myself doing the vocals.

Listen to new music. I was thinking I could write more original and cool sounding music if I learn more about pop music. I want to start listening to rappers, pop singers, even country and bluegrass, and more indie rock stuff.

Record original stuff and learn Ableton more. I've taken a bit of a break away from recording because me and the producer I was working with finished one song and then I'm going to finish a short guitar solo for this other tune than I'm going to be done working with him. I was doing it all at night and I realized I'm not really at my best playing guitar and recording at night, especially because sometimes my dad is listening to other music or watching the news around that time. Trying to figure out good times to record during the afternoon but lately I'm either hanging out with friends or at work. Should be back at it soon though. I've still been practicing a lot of guitar everyday.

Play more acoustic guitar. Lately I've been getting into more acoustic guitar playing. Maybe further down the road I'll even buy an acoustic electric guitar. So much to do, so little time and money.

Ideas for guitar practices

Warm up, chromatic exercises-5 min
Scales/arpeggios/sweeps/alternate picking-15 min
Study new chord shapes from Ted Greene's Chord Chemistry Book-15 min
Practice reading/sheet music from Real Books-15 min
Improvise off the changes of tunes from the Real Books-10 min
This could be a good practice if I only had about an hour to practice. In addition, I would throw in playing along to recordings, or learning songs off recordings by ear. Lastly, I would throw in writing or recording my own tunes. Guitar practice, the less you do of it, the more you suck.