Day 1: So what's it all about?

Hi, my name is Alex, I'm a 23-year-old postgraduate student living in Bath, UK. I've been playing guitar since I was 15, took up bass 4 years ago and started taking singing lessons 2 and a half years ago. I've owned (and for the most part, still own) ten guitars, one bass, four amplifiers, seven stompboxes, one multi-FX, one soundcard, one MIDI keyboard, two DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations), one amp-modelling software package, and many, many sets of strings and plectrums in that time. I've spent pretty much all the money I've ever made on these.

And now I want to spend even more.

This beautiful bastard is the PRS Custom 24. It goes for roughly £2-3k. I've wanted one since the first time I saw it. And now I'm almost in a position to buy one. Great news right? Not really. Looking at what I've done with all the gear I have already, it's not much. Sure I've played in a few bands, recorded a couple of EPs, even won a Battle of the Bands competition once. But there's nothing I can put on a CD or MP3 player and say "that right there is all me".

That's got to change. Before I allow myself to indulge myself even further, I need to actually do something with what I have.

I'm going to record a full-album cover of Mastodon's Crack the Skye, with me on vocals, guitar and bass.

You probably have some questions:

Why not write your own album?
Baby steps. If I can't record an album's worth of material with a clear vision of what I want it to sound like I'll never get past the first riff of my own stuff.

Why Crack the Skye?
It's probably my favourite album right now, and it's just complex enough to provide a challenge whilst not so intimidating that I'm scared to try.

Surely you've been playing so long that this must be easy for you?
Yes but I'm very very lazy. My guitar playing is probably about half as good as it should be by now, my bass is terrible and I barely practice my vocals outside of lessons. Believe me, if I actually get to the end of this I'll be as shocked as anyone. And also delighted, because I'll have a lovely PRS Custom 24 to fondle.

Tomorrow I'll go over my basic guitar practice routine that I've been doing over the last few weeks to start building up to this. I can't do it today because I broke my top E doing a warmup, so off to the music shop I go!