Tag: fiftyninety

47 Songs Down, Three to Go

It’s almost 2:00am. I went to a wedding tonight and when I got home I couldn’t sleep so I finished this mix. I don’t know if it’s any good. I’m too tired to be able to tell.

46 Songs Down, Four to Go

The triumphant return (not really, this song is a turd) of Florida Man. This is a story about a guy who called 9-1-1 to ask for a ride to the store. Awesome.

The music is kinda weak. It’s not bad, but it’s not A-list either.

45 Songs Down, Five to Go

This isn’t the 50th song finished, it’s 45th, but it did start out as idea #50. I thought somehow that a goofy swing thing with sappy lyrics was fitting. Do you agree?

What’s Left to Do

There are 14 days left in September. That means I have two weeks to finish up 50/90.

What do I have left to do?

As I kick off each new idea, I have been giving it a number. When lyrics are written, the number gets replaced by a name.

Songs 1-37, and 42-48 are done.

  • 38 needs lyrics, melody, and vocals.
  • 39 needs lyrics, melody, and vocals.
  • 40 needs lead guitar, lyrics, melody, and vocals
  • 41… Not sure what the hell happened with this one, but it needs almost everything. It’s just 4-5 short bass and drum parts with no actual song structure at all.
  • 49 is complete, but hasn’t been mixed yet.
  • 50 needs all guitars, lyrics, melody, and vocals.

So I have one song structure to piece together.
Two rhythm guitar parts to record.
Three lead guitar parts to record.
Five vocal parts to write and record.
Six songs to mix.

As usual, the vocal stuff is the hard part. I worked on song #49 this morning and it’s bad. For everything else, it’s just a matter of finding a little time.

I may just see this stupid project finished. Can you believe that?

Part of the fun for most participants of 50/90 and FAWM is working on challenges within the overall challenge. Each week there is a songwriting challenge posted on the home page. Lots of people get into that. There are also challenges posted on the forum. I generally haven’t gotten involved in any of that, unless something I’ve already done falls under the right description. For example, some one recently posted a challenge to write a song about the weather. The first song I finished back in July was about Hurricane Arthur. That fits, right?

Early on some one posted the challenge to write an album each month. I have been doing that anyway, so I just kept up with it. In July I started and finished 14 songs. That’s one. In August I started and finished 13 songs. That’s two. Any songs that had work done across two months do not count. When September started I was up to 41 songs in progress in total. By RPM Challenge rules, 10 songs are required for an album. That means, if I am going to meet this challenge for September, I will need one extra song. It is entirely possible that I might try to go out with a bang and try to work out something in the 15-20 minute range. I probably won’t do it, but the thought is in my head and won’t go away.

50/90: 44 Down, Six to Go

Only six more songs to go, and I have six songs in progress. There are still 17 days to go. I’m not feeling confident yet, but I will say I’m thinking about trying to get to 51 songs. We’ll see.

5090: 43 Down, Seven to Go

The idea was to have a hectic verse and a simpler chorus. It sort of worked at first, until I swapped out my simple iPad drums for the GarageBand Drummer function. Now the chorus feels pretty hectic too. Somehow that’s all right with me.

50/90: 41 Down, Nine to Go

I went into 50/90 thinking I’d do some simple guitar/voice things just to pad my numbers. I haven’t done that at all, although this one might sound that way. It’s just two guitars, a bass, and one vocal. I wanted it that way though. The verse part is something I noodle on all the time, and have been doing it for decades. Emin7 – Dmaj7. Real simple. I just thought I’d use it in a song. I’ve probably already used it in a song somewhere, but I just can’t think of one off the top of my head. That’s what happens when you write song after song after song without ever having to rehearse them again… you end up repeating yourself when you are sure you’re not repeating yourself.

40 Down, 10 to Go

I was supposed to post this last night but I fell asleep. I mixed two songs. The first is a big dumb slow rocker with lyrics that even I can’t figure out what they’re about.

The second is a quiet little strummy guy with lyrics about how pointless these stupid music challenges are.