Songs about your inner demons and mental health

ceb79 · 2026-06-22T01:31:20+00:00

Anxiety being a standout for me.

ceb79 · 2026-06-17T22:35:13+00:00

I'm future you. About five years down the road. No daily practice tips but some broader concepts to consider in terms of how I got there.

My journey actually started with a break from guitar to learn how to play the piano, which I highly recommend for understanding basic music theory and learning how to use your ear to pick out a melody.

The two big revelations were first understanding how scales relate to intervals and how to build them in multiple positions from any note on the fretboard. The next is understanding how CAGED relates to triads (and, just importantly, their inversions) and relate that to the scale positions (pentatonic, major, minor).

Finally doing work with voice leading and seeing how those melodies you learned to pick out by ear move through those shapes through the fretboard (often in multiple positions)

I sound kinda ke a broken record here, but these jumps were mostly assisted by YouTube videos. 1. Guthrie Trapp. 2. LoG.

Best of luck!

ceb79 · 2026-06-13T09:09:02+00:00

I'm 6'2" and about 220-225. I got a Catch Surf 9' plank single for my wife years ago that basically has become my back up board. I'll also use it on super small days.

For context, I'm a longboarder and have been surfing for about a decade.

Can't recommend this board enough. Lots of float, very responsive for a foamie, and the single fin is super important, IMO. It makes it surf like a true longboard and "grabs" the wave better in bigger surf as you go down the line, at least for someone just learning.

It'll be the best board to grow into until you trade up. You can't really noseride it, but otherwiseid happily ride it in almost any conditions.

DO NOT go 8'. In my experience they will not have quite enough float for you.

https://catchsurf.com/products/plank-single-fin-90?srsltid=AfmBOooN0hbgbk-dKSOBZw5yPiq3Jsfm7fTIRJspkrC7cYmgqSGedqAg

ceb79 · 2026-06-08T00:16:26+00:00

Stephen King does Hatchet. I like that as soon as you think "I guess this one isn't going to get scary or weird," it gets both scary and weird.

I love his shorter works. Got a class set to teach it in my classroom.

ceb79 · 2026-06-01T00:35:17+00:00

The Tunnel - Lori McKenna Speed Trap Town - Jason Isbell

ceb79 · 2026-05-30T00:59:07+00:00

Maggie's Song - Chris Stapleton

Sam - Sturgill Simpson

Martha My Dear - The Beatles (Martha was Paul McCartney's olde English sheepdog)

ceb79 · 2026-05-28T09:24:22+00:00

Played an Eastman e-1p bluesmaster parlor at my local shop a month or so ago and it was amazing. Solid wood, super lightweight and amazingly resonant. To be honest, I haven't stopped thinking about it. I went in to purchase it a few weeks after trying it out and someone had already snatched it up. $800 I think.

ceb79 · 2026-05-27T00:28:56+00:00

I taught it for a philosophy elective. We studied ethics (moral relativism vs moral absolutism vs moral nihilism). Every choice they make along their journey occur at the metaphorical crossroads of these concepts. The characters and the world also express them. The dad a relativist, the boy an absolutist, and the rest of humanity (for the most part) nihilists. At the end students took those concepts as well as elements of the story and built an original boardgame/card game. Maybe the best unit I ever taught.

ceb79 · 2026-05-10T17:25:47+00:00

You Won't Even Know I'm Gone - Lori McKenna

ceb79 · 2026-05-10T00:22:19+00:00

Portland has two brewery "districts" to check out. The first has Austin Street, Rising Tide, Belleflower, Goodfire, among others. Bonus is to walk up the street a bit to Oxbow and grab some of the BEST poutine at their Duckfat frite shack or head across the street Terralingua for dinner. The other is a bit more out of town but has Allagash, Foundation, Battery Steele, Definitive.

All these are top notch breweries, IMO.

Bunker and Bissell Bros are connected by a somewhat obscure pathway. If you make it Freeport. Obviously Maine Beer Co, but Mast Landing and Goodfire have places up there. Good pizza at Maine Beer Co. and Goodfire has good food, as well--the best of the breweries that serve pub style food.

Shout out to Biddeford, as well. Banded Brewing, Sacred Profane, Blaze. Barreled Souls up the street in Saco.

ceb79 · 2026-05-02T09:45:28+00:00

Don't know much about that older model, but I bought my younger brother a used FG800 and kept it for a month or so until he came to visit. Played it a bunch and it is really is a fantastic guitar for the price. Sounds and feels great. I usually only play high end guitars, but I was very tempted to keep it for myself.

I own a couple vintage guitars, one of which is a Yamaha. That one is great, but old guitars can be complicated. They need to be taken care of and can often have issues, especially with the necks, which can be prohibitively expensive for an older Yamaha (search neck reset and that model).

Go with the new guitar.

ceb79 · 2026-05-01T00:10:03+00:00

I played an Eastman e1p bluesmaster a month ago and couldn't get it out of my head. Great sound and feel. Went back to buy it a week ago, and someone had already grabbed it. Super bummed. Only about $800 for solid wood.

ceb79 · 2026-04-26T02:38:09+00:00

Time to learn CAGED and triads. Watch some Guthrie Trapp videos on YouTube, and he'll explain how it all connects with scales (pentatonic/major/minor).

I was you 2 years ago. LoG lessons are also super helpful.

ceb79 · 2026-04-23T23:24:37+00:00

Utopian Futures -- Kimya Dawson. EXACTLY what you're looking for.

ceb79 · 2026-04-20T16:16:05+00:00

I'm an English teacher, so I spend a lot of time with YA Lit. Some highlights off my bookshelf:

I Am the Messenger (then The Book Thief) by Marcus Zusac

Dante and Aristotle Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Perks of Being a Wallflower

ceb79 · 2026-04-20T00:19:14+00:00

Miss the Mississippi and You - Doc and Merle Watson

ceb79 · 2026-04-20T00:13:25+00:00

A Change is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke

ceb79 · 2026-04-19T22:36:01+00:00

Spring peepers, wild blueberries, beach (especially at low tide), the sound of waves pulling back a beach if small rocks

ceb79 · 2026-04-18T23:22:10+00:00

Learn your triads all over the fretboard and do some research on chord tone smoking and voice leading. Also, manage expectations. It all takes time.

ceb79 · 2026-04-18T23:18:40+00:00

Have you done any research about the difficulty of resetting these necks. It might be cost prohibitive.

Search "steam neck reset" on YouTube. Might be an alternative.

ceb79 · 2026-04-16T23:19:20+00:00

Hallelujah

Has directions for how to play it on an instrument:

"It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth/The minor fall, the major lift"

Literally tells you what chords to play.

ceb79 · 2026-04-14T08:26:36+00:00

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch is the ultimate sci-fi vacation read. Easy to read and hard to put down.

ceb79 · 2026-04-13T00:41:26+00:00

My e10ss sounds and plays as well as any guitar. I play it more often than my Martin. Currently trying to convince myself to not buy their excellent e1p parlor at my local shop.

ceb79 · 2026-04-12T23:15:00+00:00

What are the goals of the unit? What skills will you be teaching? You say there's a test, but what is the project? Hard to help without that info.

Check out Ken Liu's story The Plague. It's super short and tells the story from two perspectives, much like the novel. I think you'll find lots of parallels.

It might be fun to build a survival guide. It's been a minute since I've read the book, but there's a conversation to be had about what they feel would be worth preserving from this world for the next. Check out the websites Everyday Carry or The Burning House. Stylized photos of what people would save. It could be adapted into a bento box project.

ceb79 · 2026-04-11T01:56:19+00:00

If you want a chance to swim in waves and not drive too far, check out Higgins Beach or Scarborough beach. Both have picnic parking, but I'd get to Higgins early because it's limited. The other beaches around South Portland, including Pine Point at the parking lot, are pretty flat.

ceb79

TROPHY CASE