Revolution and uprising in Egypt. Winter storms rage across the American landscape. Family members and friends  in emotional and physical crisis. Homeless vagabonds sorting through my garbage. Public servants fighting for their lives while the psychopath who unleashed his fury waits for his day in court.
     The processing of all these stories and images came out in an improvised guitar performance I recorded directly to my computer today. It was a rainy, dreary day filled with dark news stories and it all made better sense once I strapped on my Stratocaster, plugged into some distortion and delay pedals and let my confusion and angst come out in a good solid power chord progression that left plenty of room for some good psychedelic noodling.
     As easy as it is to record killer tracks right onto your computer with programs like Garage Band and Pro Tools and even mobile devices like iPhones and iPads, I love the idea of keeping a sonic journal, an audio diary. Today my entry was loud and aggressive but the other day I was watching my wife sleep and thinking about my mom and sisters and mother and sisters in law. I had a real peace and calm and recorded a soft acoustic piece dedicated to my mom and the important women in my life. 
     Anytime you can hear yourself play you learn and grow. Recording is an amazing tool and easier than ever to do. I challenge you to keep a guitar journal and record something new everyday for a month. I challenge you to compose and/or improvise something on the guitar everyday and record it. It can be short or long, loud or quiet, fast or slow, simple or complex. Just like a writer's journal this audio journal is private. For your own use and reference. Fill it with the musical secrets you've always wanted to try. Who knows? You may extract something from it and use it someday but the idea is that the recordings will be private and for your own development as a guitarist and songwriter or composer. 
     The thing to remember when you hit record is that you just want to paint the day with sound. Let the way you feel come out in your playing. This is how you will learn great lessons about dynamics and chord colors. Don't worry if you don't come up with a full structured song. Maybe you will just come up with a simple melodic line or a rhythm that you'll explore. Start with a simple chord progression. Perhaps a blues. Then lay down a second track and play lead over your progression. You will even learn a lot from just playing a one or two chord progression and really stretching out and using your scales and arpeggios to play lead over it. Remember it's not just a dull exercise. You want to reflect the day and how you feel about it. Don't overplay, but play with feeling and emotion.
     If you decide to take me up on the recording challenge be sure to leave us a link to a sample of your recording in the comment section if you're brave enough.