The Shades of JP Weidemoyer

A Dark Portrait of Life Painted in Color

musician

Riff-O’vember I.

jpweidemoyer

Whatever song receives the most points by December 21st will be the winning riff. The points system is as follows (the same weighted system will be used across Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube):

  • 1-point per each view
  • 2-points per each like, heart, etc.
  • 3-points per each comment

I’m going to release the song “Riff I.” by Christmas as a gift back to all the bands that inspired me during this past month of writing.

But for now, for the first rendition of Riff-O’vember, I present the bands that inspired me throughout. See if you can spot an influence on each of these riffs…

  1. Earthship
  2.  Slipknot
  3. Whitechapel
  4. The Ocean
  5. Silver Snakes
  6. Cult of Luna
  7. Klone
  8. Hypno5e
  9. Hyenas
  10. The Bled
  11. Every Time I Die
  12. Lamb of God
  13. Deftones
  14. Korn
  15. System of a Down
  16. Scars on Broadway
  17. Between the Buried and Me
  18. The Black Dahlia Murder
  19. Carnifex
  20. Ice Nine Kills
  21. Memphis May Fire
  22. Atreyu
  23. August Burns Red
  24. Architects
  25. Heaven Shall Burn
  26. Caliban
  27. Vampires on Tomato Juice
  28. Viza
  29. Mastodon
  30. Baroness

Now that I’ve laid out the contest in further details, what is Riff-O’vember? Riff-O’vember is an idea that came to me when looking through different photos on Instagram during Inktober. What better way to challenge me than to try to top myself each day by creating a more “badass” riff? So, (nearly) every day I wrote a riff that was inspired by one of my favorite bands via listening through their catalog, watching live videos, and even watching interviews for inspiration. I wanted to improve my riffs, while also improving my tone, and experiment with several camera angles to show off the riffs as well. With all three categories, I am pleased with what I landed on with all three by the end of the thirty days.

I had an awesome time trying to come up with the riffs. Sometimes they would come instantly, other times I would be noodling for nearly an hour before a riff would come.

However, I recalled something by the end of this – I remembered that once I hit the record button, I’d only have to do about three takes before the riff I was looking for came. There’s just something about hitting record, that sets something off in my brain that pushes itself. I commented on this before, but I nearly quit playing while in college until I began recording myself, and could then see that I was actually improving and not just at a stalemate with my instrument.

I learned a lot about myself through this experience, and I can’t wait until next year. I already have big plans on how to spread the #riffovember movement to many other musicians across the globe.

\m/ JP \m/

jpweidemoyer

I’m a father, musician, artist, writer, photographer, designer, and storyteller – among other things. I graduated from Central Columbia High School in 2006, and from Pennsylvania College of Technology in 2008. I’ve worked primarily as a CAD Design Technician since graduating, holding a couple of odd jobs in-between employment in my field of study. I’ve lived in just about every region of Pennsylvania, having grown up in Berwick, my secondary education held in Williamsport, and then moving for work back to Williamsport, then to Jersey Shore, to Lebanon, and finally to Cornwall, where I live in my home with my son, part-time. Feel free to reach me at jp (at) jpweidemoyer.com. Thanks, and be well.