<![CDATA[Q.U.A.C.K.'s Substack]]>https://www.quack.househttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!byiS!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb53e353c-9b2f-426a-8d68-bc38a18574c4_400x400.pngQ.U.A.C.K.'s Substackhttps://www.quack.houseSubstackWed, 06 May 2026 02:05:22 GMT<![CDATA[I got one of those Audigo doodads]]>https://www.quack.house/p/i-got-one-of-those-audigo-doodadshttps://www.quack.house/p/i-got-one-of-those-audigo-doodadsTue, 28 Apr 2026 23:22:26 GMTHi friends! Welp, I gave into peer pressure and bought one of those Audigo doodads because the social media ads made me feel like I absolutely needed this thing in my life. (This is not an ad/sponsorship by the way). I recorded a quick sample so you could hear what some guitar + singing sounds like:

The Audigo screws right into a regular mic stand, so maybe at my next gig I’ll get a live recording and share bits of it here - would that be of interest?

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Thanks,
-Brian

]]><![CDATA[Sailboat]]>https://www.quack.house/p/sailboathttps://www.quack.house/p/sailboatMon, 09 Mar 2026 21:52:33 GMTHey friends, last week I went with my family to the Ben Rector: Symphonies Across America show at Orchestra Hall and O. M. G. it was fantastic. There’s something magical about hearing Ben’s tunes - but instead of the backing of a rock band, he had the support of a symphony! It put my mental health into a really positive gear, and got me even more excited about finding more gigs and trying to write some new songs. Hope you enjoy today’s snippet of Sailboat, one of my favorite Rector tunes.

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-Brian

]]><![CDATA[I'm About to Come Alive]]>https://www.quack.house/p/im-about-to-come-alivehttps://www.quack.house/p/im-about-to-come-aliveTue, 03 Mar 2026 16:13:33 GMTHey friends, this week I’m covering I’m About to Come Alive. In the video I mention that I thought Train made the song famous, but somebody else wrote it. I was wrong. Google told me I was an idiot and that it was indeed Pat Monahan and the band that created this great tune. Enjoy! And while you’re here, why not…

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Got a place in the Twin Cities where my vibe might be a fit?

Thanks,
-Brian

]]><![CDATA[The Greatest Showman medley]]>https://www.quack.house/p/the-greatest-showman-medleyhttps://www.quack.house/p/the-greatest-showman-medleyTue, 24 Feb 2026 01:02:18 GMTHey friends! After having such a blast putting the Rascal Flatts medley together, this week I started a new musical mission: creating a medley of some of my favorite tunes from The Greatest Showman. In the mix so far:

  • Rewrite the Stars

  • Never Enough

  • Tightrope

I definitely want to get A Million Dreams and maybe even This is Me baked in yet, but I think the medley is off to a decent start! Hope you enjoy it.

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Thanks,

-Brian

]]><![CDATA[Rascal Flatts medley - part 2]]>https://www.quack.house/p/rascal-flatts-medley-part-2https://www.quack.house/p/rascal-flatts-medley-part-2Mon, 16 Feb 2026 23:08:15 GMTHey friends, today I Frankenstein even MORE Rascal Flatts hits into my Rascal medley that I eventually want to perform live. The full medley will be:

  • These Days

  • Movin’ On

  • My Wish

  • God Bless the Broken

Hope you like it!

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-Brian

]]><![CDATA[Rascal Flatts medley]]>https://www.quack.house/p/rascal-flatts-medleyhttps://www.quack.house/p/rascal-flatts-medleyTue, 10 Feb 2026 02:20:28 GMTRecently I shared that my wife and I saw Rascal Flatts in concert (it was awesome)! That inspired me to start working on a Rascal mashup of some of my favorite tunes, so today I share a clip of These Days + My Wish + God Bless the Broken Road. Enjoy!

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-Brian

]]><![CDATA[Heart of the Matter]]>https://www.quack.house/p/heart-of-the-matterhttps://www.quack.house/p/heart-of-the-matterTue, 03 Feb 2026 22:32:29 GMTI played in an acoustic duo for a number of years, but now that I’ve been doing more solo gigs, it has made sense to “steal” songs that my partner used to sing lead on, and bake them into my repertoire as well! One of them (that’s quickly becoming a favorite) is Heart of the Matter, by Don Henley. Enjoy!

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Thanks,

-Brian

]]><![CDATA[These Days]]>https://www.quack.house/p/these-dayshttps://www.quack.house/p/these-daysMon, 26 Jan 2026 17:45:47 GMTHey friends. My wife and I saw Rascal Flatts this past weekend. It was a phenomenal show, and they performed one of my favorite tunes called These Days. So I recorded a little snippet of it for you in today’s post. Also, hang out until the end of the video where you’ll see a clip of my wife hugging one of the Rascals!

Thanks,

-Brian

]]><![CDATA[Faithfully]]>https://www.quack.house/p/faithfullyhttps://www.quack.house/p/faithfullyWed, 21 Jan 2026 02:45:41 GMTHey friends - I’m happy to report that my gig this past weekend at Chankaska Creek Ranch went really well! I think we got the sound mixed well, and folks shared some really kind feedback during my break. I hope to play there again - ideally when it’s not in the negative temps and snowing :-)!

I also wanted to share a little clip of Faithfully (by Journey), one of the tunes you’ll absolutely hear if you come see me live sometime (did I mention I’m looking to book more gigs in 2025? Hit me up!).

Thanks,

-Brian

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]]><![CDATA[Come see me play...TODAY!]]>https://www.quack.house/p/come-see-me-playtodayhttps://www.quack.house/p/come-see-me-playtodaySat, 17 Jan 2026 15:02:48 GMTHey friends, please come see me play TODAY (Saturday, January 17)! I’ll be at Chankaska Creek Ranch, playing music from 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. at this gorgeous venue. Very excited! Oh btw did I mention we’ll definitely be indoors? :-)

]]><![CDATA[The Look That Says You Love Me]]>https://www.quack.house/p/the-look-that-says-you-love-mehttps://www.quack.house/p/the-look-that-says-you-love-meTue, 06 Jan 2026 04:39:54 GMTHey friends, please don’t forget I’ve got a fun gig coming up on Saturday, January 17 (more details here). I’ll definitely be performing one of the (few) originals I’ve written called The Look That Says You Love Me. It’s all about how my screw-ups make my wife love me even more (I assume, anyway). Here’s a sample of the lyrics:

When I have the day off from work, and you leave me with some jobs to get done
And you come home later to find I haven’t started even one
I’m still on the couch, I’m not even dressed
Eating potato chips off my chest
And you look so mad, like you’re gonna blow
And that’s when I know

You love me, love me, just can’t get enough of me.
So glad that you married me too.
You love me, love me, can’t stop thinkin’ of me.
Stuck to me like paper to glue
When you said I do, I bet you didn’t know your dreams would come true
I love that look… the look that says you love me.

Hope to see you on January 17!

-Brian

]]><![CDATA[Livin’ on a Prayer / I'll Be Waiting mashup]]>https://www.quack.house/p/livin-on-a-prayer-ill-be-waitinghttps://www.quack.house/p/livin-on-a-prayer-ill-be-waitingTue, 30 Dec 2025 01:07:18 GMTReminder: I’m playing at Chankaska Creek Ranch on Saturday, January 17, 2 p.m. - 5 p.m. - more details here!

Hello friends, today I share one of my favorite mashups: a combination of Livin’ on a Prayer (Bon Jovi) and I’ll Be Waiting (Cian Ducrot). This mashup is a perfect example of a situation where I love two songs independently, but don’t think it would be super interesting to play either one solo in its entirety on just acoustic. Hope you enjoy it!

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Thanks,

-Brian

]]><![CDATA[Time After Time]]>https://www.quack.house/p/time-after-timehttps://www.quack.house/p/time-after-timeMon, 22 Dec 2025 15:18:26 GMTWhen I started doing solo gigs (after years of being part of a duo), I thought one way I could work smarter and not harder would be to learn some of my musical partner’s songs (where she sang lead). After all, I’d played those songs a jillion times in the past and could do the guitar parts in my sleep. All that was left to do is tweak each song’s key to make it more singable for me.

Today’s song, Time After Time, is a perfect example. It was a staple song in our set and a crowd favorite. All I had to do was move the capo around to a more comfortable vocal range (and stop myself from singing harmony!) and boom - the song’s pretty much good to go!

What do you think?

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-Brian

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]]><![CDATA[Come and Listen]]>https://www.quack.house/p/come-and-listenhttps://www.quack.house/p/come-and-listenTue, 16 Dec 2025 03:51:28 GMTOne of the first worship songs I learned that had guitar “picky picky” stuff in it was Come and Listen by David Crowder. I think this is the version I’m thinking of:

Although I feel like I’m very much a hack guitarist, I think I’m getting decent at working within my limitations and finding a way to play a song that fits my skills. Today’s video shows off some of the guitar “diddles” (hammer-ons and pull-offs) that I think Crowder has injected into the acoustic version of Come and Listen. I’m sure I’m not matching his finger work exactly, but for a hack job I think it’s sounding decent!

Enjoy!

-Brian

]]><![CDATA[More fun with DADGAD]]>https://www.quack.house/p/more-fun-with-dadgadhttps://www.quack.house/p/more-fun-with-dadgadMon, 08 Dec 2025 15:21:44 GMTLast week I shared that my guitar teacher introduced me to the alternate guitar tuning of DADGAD (instead of the standard EADGBE). It sounds so beautiful! As I was tinkering around, I ended up playing something that kinda sounds like one of my favorite tunes ever: Lead of Love by Caedmon’s Call:

So I hacked together a version of that song and am going to start practicing it up - potentially for a church special music piece in the near future.

Hope you like it!

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Thanks,

-Brian

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]]><![CDATA[This dad loves DADGAD]]>https://www.quack.house/p/this-dad-loves-dadgadhttps://www.quack.house/p/this-dad-loves-dadgadTue, 02 Dec 2025 04:08:54 GMTI had my second guitar lesson with Jacob Davis last week, and just like my first lesson, it was a blast! We went over some music theory and then explored alternate guitar tunings (I’d never done anything with alternate tunings except tune the whole guitar down one step to make a particular song easier to sing).

Jacob had me bring the guitar into D-A-D-G-A-D tuning and then tinker around with melodies that can be created using just one finger. It sounds so cool! One challenge Jacob left me with was to find one song from my repertoire that I’ve played a jillion times and play it in DADGAD instead of regular tuning. I accept the challenge and will start working on it in coming weeks!

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Thanks,

Brian

]]><![CDATA[God Bless the Broken Road]]>https://www.quack.house/p/god-bless-the-broken-roadhttps://www.quack.house/p/god-bless-the-broken-roadMon, 24 Nov 2025 22:43:05 GMTI’ve been a huge fan of Rascal Flatts since high school. When they released God Bless the Broken Road, I about burned a whole in the CD listening to that tune (kids, just Google “compact discs”). And once YouTube was a thing, I probably accounted for about 500 listens of Rascal’s live performance of the tune:

During Carrie Underwood’s season of American Idol, she did a medley of songs with the band, finishing with God Bless the Broken Road. Their voices blended so beautifully! Check it out if you haven’t seen this:

When doing live sets of music, I love to open with God Bless the Broken Road because it’s a “picky” song that warms my fingers up and gets the calluses activated, and I also put it in a key that’s super comfortable to sing. I mean sure, I’d give my left eyebrow to have the super-power tenor chops of Gary LeVox. But the more I play live, the more I’m ok with molding a song into something that works for me, rather than beating myself up and comparing my version to the original.

I’m still looking for gigs in the Twin Cities metro area, so if you know any where my vibe might be a fit, please let me know!

Thanks,

-Brian

]]><![CDATA[At the Cross]]>https://www.quack.house/p/at-the-crosshttps://www.quack.house/p/at-the-crossSun, 16 Nov 2025 16:12:31 GMTHello everyone,

Hope you’re having a great weekend. I first heard the song At the Cross a few years ago in a “big band” configuration:

As much as Hillsong rocks, I’m a super big fan of hearing songs like this performed in a solo or duet configuration. An acoustic duo I played in for a number of years had this tune as a staple in our church music repertoire, so I thought I’d dig it out, dust it off, and sing a solo sample of it for you today.

Thanks,

-Brian

]]><![CDATA[Fun with D]]>https://www.quack.house/p/fun-with-dhttps://www.quack.house/p/fun-with-dThu, 06 Nov 2025 00:52:13 GMTI mentioned that I recently started taking guitar lessons again after a way-too-long break. That first lesson was such a blast, and I wanted to show you one of the new things I learned! I tend to love songs with a walk-down progression in the key of D. My teacher Jacob showed me a new way to play the progression that, in my opinion, is more interesting to the ear and also easier to play. Enjoy!

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]]><![CDATA[My first guitar lesson in almost 30 years]]>https://www.quack.house/p/my-first-guitar-lesson-in-almosthttps://www.quack.house/p/my-first-guitar-lesson-in-almostFri, 31 Oct 2025 19:22:28 GMTI always wanted to play the guitar, and during the last semester of my senior year in high school, the music department offered a guitar class for the first time. My future wife and I took the class and loved it (well, I did :-). I also had some buddies who played guitar and I leeched off their knowledge.

Fast forward (mumble mumble way too many mumble mumble) years, and I’ve hacked together enough skills to play at a competent level. However, lately the musical midlife crisis inside of me says it’s time to up my guitar game, finally learn some proper theory and habits, and be able to take my playing to the next level! I had a conversation about this a few weeks ago with my wife, and sure enough my always-spying-on-me phone offered this video into my feed:

After reviewing Jacob’s site, I learned he gave private guitar lessons - so I signed up for one immediately.

This week was my first lesson, and I’d give it a musical/fun score of 11/10. He did an awesome job of just talking with me for the first part of the lesson to understand where I’ve been as a guitarist, and where I want to go. I told him that essentially I wanted to make my playing more “interesting” by being able to play in different keys, play up and down the neck, etc. We talked theory at a high level, and he helped me answer questions like “Why do I gravitate towards arrangements with the same handful of chords?”

Towards the end of the lesson he had me play a few things that I would play for fun or to get my hands warmed up. Interestingly, I’d picked a few tunes starting in D with a walk-down progression in them. He then showed me how to play this same progression up and down the neck - which I’ve now done about 10,000 times and will play for you in an upcoming video.

Once I got more comfortable with the progression I thought “Wait a minute…this sounds very close to the way one of my favorite bands, The Civil Wars, play their cover of I Want You Back:

So suffice to say that lesson was extremely satisfying and I can’t wait to get signed up for lesson #2!

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-Brian

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