I’ve been posting flute videos here for like two years. In the beginning, my wife didn’t even know I had a flute.
When she found out I was learning the flute it was still fairly early on, and her basic sentiment was that I should stick to the guitar - she was like Nala, trying to get me to return to the pride lands, and I was like a young Simba, all “Hakuna Matata, lemme play my flute” and whatever.
Since we moved to Wilmington though, she’s continued encouraging me to get back into playing open mic nights and getting bar gigs - and I’ve finally been sparked with the desire to regain some if my old chops. I guess I’d begun to convince myself I couldnt do it anymore. Anyway, some of you have seen my alternate account (what I call my professional account), @rorykl - where I’ve been building a platform based on practicing songs and using Hive as a tool to motivate myself to regain my dormant skills.
Originally, I used to keep a handwritten notebook to hold the lyrics and chords of my “go-to” covers. I started putting it together yesrs ago, thinking if i could build a book with maybe 4-5 hours worth of songs, and get all my notes in the book down to such perfection that I could play from the book, any time any place…then I wouldn’t have to commit the kind of time it takes to actually maintain a rock-solid set list, but I could potentially be solid enough to commit to a 2-3 hour performance.
The book idea is still cool. I still like it as maybe the golden reference or something, but really it’s difficult to grow new songs into it at the pace I’ve been keeping lately.
I usually write the lyrics in pencil to make sure I can play the song without turning pages. If they fit, i ink them and then put the chords down in pencil. I won’t ink the chords for usually a year or more because I like to make sure I can really trust their placement, even if ive forgotten how the song should sound or where I should transition…but when I do, I use red ink to help them stand out from the lyrics.
Recently, because of my new @rorykl Hive account, I’ve been wanting to play lots of new songs - but I can’t record video on my phone and read lyrics/chords. Since it takes too long to get things into the book, I’ve begun printing the chords and lyrics and taping them together.
I’m following the same format with them all, and thus I got this sweet new folder to help manage them!
Not long ago, whilst digging through the attic for something unrelated, I found the last remaining evidence of my old songwriting days. All old recordings have been destroyed (long story), so these orinted chord/lyric sheets are all that remains of the old days.
See those sheet protectors in the back? ;)
Now that I’m using printed sheets in an accordian file - occasionally using a clipboard to hold the sheets down - I started to think, I should make a small bag that could hold these things, for convenience! It should be big enough also to hold a guitsr atrap, tuner and phone tripod - and the it hit me…pretty sure a company called Jansport and a lot of others have already begun creating these products…
Thanks for checking out some more of my work! As always, I hope you enjoyed witnessing as much as I enjoyed creating!
© Photos and words by @albuslucimus, except where otherwise indicated.
If you enjoy my content, check out the Albus Index!
Here you’ll find links to various post-groupings, so you can find all posts related to a specific topic quickly. Topics include lists of brewing recipes, flutes, crypto talks, rucking posts and an index of all acoustic covers. The lists are updated as new content is added, so they can always be used to quickly navigate my content.
@albuslucimus has officially hard-forked. @rorykl is now the home for pretty much all acoustic singer/songwriter work.
I created a second account (@rorykl) in May 2023 to be my professional side. It’s a totally separate thing, strictly acoustic playing and singing. Because I don’t want to post duplicate material from two accounts, this account is now the home for all my acoustic singer/songwriter type stuff.
I’ll be using this as my account to share with bars and venues etc., so it will be a home for acoustic covers, live performances and auditions…pretty much, if I’m playing a stringed instrument amd singing, this is where I’ll be doing it…unless I’m doing it while operating a motor vehicle ;)
Click or tap the profile banner below to check it out!
