#16
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Hi Neil, I've had the good fortune to work with you via zoom, and I know that you are a very talented songwriter.
That doesn't come to order. I feel that songs, like vegetable seeds need the right conditions. (one of my other passion is growing our own food). As a friend once said to me -plant seeds don't grow as written on the back of the packet, they grow when the soil is warm, and fertile, and the weather is right. Everything being right and exciting in your world isn't necesarilly the right conditions. New car, new career, new life for you currently. Perhaps you are in the "now", rather than in the neverwhen of fantasy and imagination. I don't believe that there is any formula for making the conditions right for writing, however, as I've always been an insomniac, I tend to make up short stories as I try to doze off to distract me from the thousand other thoughts, worries and concerns always whirring around my brain. Kieth Richards used to keep a cassette recorder by his bed in case he gets an idea. You have your phone. Just a thought. Otherwise, just get on with the "now" and the songs will come, when the soil is warm, and the weather is right.
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Silly Moustache, Just an old Limey acoustic guitarist, Dobrolist, mandolier and singer. I'm here to try to help and advise and I offer one to one lessons/meetings/mentoring via Zoom! |
#17
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Last edited by foxo; 04-25-2022 at 05:10 PM. |
#18
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I'm wondering, as you say you write lyrics before music, whether it would help temporarily to try and collaborative song. It sounds as though basically it's the lyrics you're stuck on. Maybe get someone else to write lyrics, then you compose a tune to the words?
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#19
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I'm wondering, as you say you write lyrics before music, whether it would help temporarily to try a collaborative song. It sounds as though basically it's the lyrics you're stuck on. Maybe get someone else to write lyrics, then you compose a tune to the words?
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#20
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No harm in trying it the way you suggest but I think lyrics are my strong point over melody. |
#21
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I switch to alternate tunings then I convert that piece into standard tuning. We often have our own patterns, licks and riffs that we gravitate to in standard and it can get boring after a while.
By switching to a different tuning, it forces me explore different voicings and patterns. I also have to re-learn the fretboard which is both time consuming but also fun. Right now I'm re-learning an Andy Mckee song that I learned in my beginning years and transposing that into standard tuning. The piece doesn't need to have the same exact feel and rhythm which is the whole point. It's also really cool to finally understand what's going on in that piece since playing it in standard demystifies it. I'm also playing around with Michael Hedges' Aerial Boundaries but using effects and a looper with my electric guitar. My goal is to keep remixing these pieces (in standard) until it doesn't sound like the original anymore. In the end I'd like to just have the chord voicings down, but the melody and rhythm should be different. The process feels like learning and un-learning a piece. Last edited by hatamoto; 04-27-2022 at 10:43 PM. |
#22
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If you are a writer, then you have to be writing. Inspiration isn't that much of the formula. It's a craft or skill. Peoples best work comes from drudgery. The best songs come from rewrites. And all songs can benefit from being rewritten. Well, almost there are one or two perfect songs. A real song writer can tell what works and doesn't work and the whys and hows of any song. The key to writing good songs is to write songs. Many, many, many songs day after day for weeks and months. Years ago, I did it for a job for awhile. So if you want inspiration it will come while you are writing. If it comes while you're not writing it doesn't matter anyway, right?
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Waterloo WL-S, K & K mini Waterloo WL-S Deluxe, K & K mini Iris OG, 12 fret, slot head, K & K mini Follow The Yellow Brick Road |
#23
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#24
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For me, the hard part about writing music is finding a subject that I think anyone else would find interesting or appealing. But for me, coming up with original music has generally been the easiest part of writing.
When I have been writing a lot and feel that I am just repeating myself musically, using the same ideas too much, I look for songs written by others that really appeal to me. By analyzing someone else's composition to see what makes their music work, I can then use some of their ideas to generate new compositions using similar techniques. Of course, a person has to be careful that he/she is not just copying someone else's composition. But I have found that when I understand a technique someone is using, I can apply that to a new composition and come up with something new that sounds unique and doesn't sound like a simple clone of someone else's ideas. For ideas on songs, sometimes just looking through lists of idiomatic expressions can give you ideas for a hook. To me, that is where a song needs to start: the hook. Once you have that, you build ideas off that hook, write down as many phrases as you can think of, and then build the song from those phrases, or new ones that pop into your head during the writing process. Poetry can also suggest ideas for songs. Poets have the same challenges as song writers. Looking through lists of poetry titles can give you all sorts of ideas. - Glenn
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#25
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