Here’s an instrumental that I wrote and recorded back in 2015…or maybe it was 2014,…(I’d have to check my recording diary). I recorded this in the basement of the house my girlfriend and I were renting at the time. The basement ceiling was approximately 6’ 10 or so (2.0828 meters) (208 cm), so the overhead mics for the drum kit were quite limited to how high I could raise them. I was thinking of including a pic of the recording space and the drums but I don’t have any immediately available on this laptop. 
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Wow, can you still play like that. ha ha Yes I really enjoyed this. I can see this in a movie on a scene leading up to an attack. Pretty lame description. I can’t pick out any mix problems as you know, but I think personally this is just very good. congrats
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Great sound and playing here @Wicked, kind of Spanish flavor to the main riff. The change to the backing riff at 1:55 is cool, I could hear more of a break happening after that but it’s a short tune so you don’t really need it. Exceptional chops!
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Yes, it’s like riding a bike.
I used to assume I wouldn’t lose guitar playing skills if I stopped playing for a long while but in recent years I do notice some decline in some aspects of my playing if I don’t play for a long time. The basic skills and moderately technical skills don’t decline to any noticeable degree but the very most difficult part of my skillset tends to suffer. Other people don’t recognize when I decline but I definitely notice it. This song is in my moderate skill set, so these licks and rhythms wouldn’t be much of a problem playing still.
When I take a break from guitar playing, I’m either working on practicing drums, bass, vocals, songwriting, acoustic guitar, or very occasionally keyboards. Usually it’s a combination of a few of these things. That’s when I stay away from electric guitar and the more technical aspects of the instrument. So my drumming, singing and bass playing improves at the detriment of my guitar skills….There’s just not enough time in the day!
I hadn’t thought of that but now that you mention it, I can imagine it. 
Thanks, @feaker, Paul !
Thanks @ingolee! I was thinking it sounds a bit Arabic, but I can hear a bit of a Spanish vibe too.
Glad you like it. I think I made this song as an exercise and test to see how well I could record the acoustic drums. The whole song revolves around the drum beat and groove, and the choppy rhythm that starts the song. Later in the song I wanted to changed the groove and kick it into a more intense gear.
Thanks for listening and commenting, guys!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.
I guess there’s a lot of similarity there between the two from what I’ve heard. The Moors (Arabs) took over part of Spain at one time. Some Arab music has 1/4 tone stuff too which gets pretty weird, I guess some heavy bands are doing that?
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Yeah, there’s probably a lot of mixing of cultural styles within music and other arts. I often solo using a Spanish style, particularly when playing acoustic guitar. I also like to solo in what I tell myself is Egyptian and/or Arabic. I think one of the scales or modes I use is Phyrigian. I often enjoy weaving around those styles within the same solo. It’s fun to mix them with the pentatonic or some chromatic notes. I find the Spanish, Classical , Arabic scales are very moody and a bit dark. I like that sound and they’re very fun moods/ scales to incorporate in rock music.
Yeah, it seems like heavy bands like that sound. Richie Blackmore was one of the first to use some of that stuff. He also had a bit of a Classical style to some of his solos. Similarly Rhandy Rhoads and Eddie Van Halen adopted those types of scales to some degree.
Whoah! Bo-Diddley joined Deep Purple, and they replaced Blackmore with Satriani as he explored the Phrygian mode! This is great, Mr W! I like the nice fat snare tone too. Great playing. No criticisms here.
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Haha 
Yeah, there’s a little hybridization happening here. Variety is the spice of life….and music! 
Thanks Andrew, @ColdRoomStudio! I like the snare sound, but I don’t know what the hell I did to achieve it. 
I’ve recorded other songs with the same drum kit, in the same room, with the same mic’s, in virtually or maybe absolutely the same position but for some reason the snare and the other drums don’t always sound as good as they do here. Sometimes the drums sound good and sometimes they sound bad. I wish I could remember what I did to get that snare sound.
I want this in my playlist! 
Drums sound great and punchy, so mission accomplished.
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I really enjoyed your instrumental! The Spanish and Arabic influences did remind me a little bit of the song in the video posted below. Of course it’s quite different and no comparison intended, but if you didn’t hear this back in the late '80’s I thought you might find it interesting and enjoy it.
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I remember this guy now that you mentioned him. I don’t recall any of his songs though. He seemed to be one of those musical artists that was gone as quickly as he arrived. I guess many of those late 80’s, early 90’s bands were finished after they got a modest but decent amount of attention. They were the “almost famous”. I can think of so many bands that were on the cusp of being a big success. They might’ve had one or two moderately successful singles but then they seemed to fade away quickly.
Thanks for listening, Stan ! @Stan_Halen
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Yeah, similar story with Mark Slaughter. He was destined to greatness, but probably nobody heard of him after these 2 really cool songs.
“In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” - Andy Warhol
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That’s a singer/ band that I’m very familiar with. I have the album/ cassette that contains those two songs. I don’t know who gave it to me but I’ve had it for a long time. I wasn’t a big Slaughter fan but I always thought “Fly To The Angels” was a really good song and I think they had a few other decent songs.
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