I got another three tracks for my RPM 2020 project done yesterday. If you remember the Ramble track that I posted last weekend, performed on a resonator guitar, I mentioned that I had plans to try it on different instruments.

Firstly, I had figure out what I’d played, and then relearn it on something else. First up was banjo (tuned ADGBD – the song is in D so I used a cut-down biro lid to fix the high string a tone up from normal). I did takes with both strumming and finger-picking and decided that they worked well together:

My original version was semi improvised and performed without any backing. For this one, I set up structure in Logic and created a couple of scratch tracks (a drummer, as a more inspiring metronome, and a keyboard outlining the harmonic structure) before doing my takes.

One of the good things about doing this project is that it accelerates learning how to use Logic as a tool. For this one, a trick I had to figure out was how to add a rallentando to slow down at the end. It turns out to be pretty easy, using a tempo track.

I’ll post more about the other new tracks in the coming days.