Tag: Songwriting

RPM Challenge Day 5/28 — #RPM2017

Where did I leave off? I don’t remember.

Here’s the status… Seven riffs or groups of riffs still in the idea stage. One of them has the rhythm guitars already recorded. It will take some big time copy and paste to bring it into a song, but it’s a start. One more song sketched out and ready to record rhythm guitars. Two more have guitars already and are ready for vocals.

So effectively, three and a half songs that are more than just ideas.

The really cool thing is that the amp I bought last week has a line out that includes a digital speaker simulation. That means you can use the tube amp, bypass the speaker, and record without annoying the hell out of the family on a Sunday afternoon. Much to my surprise, it actually sounds good! I never thought I’d live to see an amp with a line out that actually still sounds like the amp. I am pleased.

RPM Challenge Day 3/28 — #RPM2017

Last night I put together a file on my iPad that has three eight bar phrases. That’s it. Not really a song form yet, but a start.

Today I did something totally different, for me at least. I bought a new amp and as I was putting it through it’s paces I had the iOS Music Memos app open. I put down four little licks or phrases. Most are sort of similar, but they all count as the start of an RPM song idea. There was also that video that I posted earlier today. That has another riff that seems useable.

That’s eight ideas so far. Only two are ready to start actually recording, and some of the music memos might be combined together into one song, but who cares. The ball is rolling. The ideas are coming. The game is on, brothers and sisters!

RPM 2017

I just signed up for the 2017 RPM Challenge. I’ve been playing the game since 2007, and playing it successfully since 2012.

Given the political climate in the United States these days, I think we can safely assume there will be a lot of songs about hating fascism. I can’t say for sure that will be the case (last year most of the songs were about how the Earth is not flat…really) but if you are a betting man/woman…

I have already decided that my Fender amp and my pedal board are staying at home until March. If I’m going to do this, I want to do it right.

The musical chaos begins on February 1st.

Vocal Explosion

50/90 isn’t quite over yet though my chances of reaching 50 songs is long over.

When I woke up this morning I had seven songs finished. Four others were lead guitars and a mix away from being done.

This morning before work I wrote the lyrics and melodies, and recorded the vocals for five songs. Wow! At lunch I squeezed in another, and then after work I added two more. That’s eight vocal parts written and recorded today. That’s insane! I bet when I listen back all of the melodies will be identical. Heh heh, probably.

50/90 — An Update

You all remember 50/90, right? Write 50 songs in 90 days? July 4 through October 1.

I haven’t done anything in a couple of weeks (at least). I rocketed up to 27 ideas in progress, recorded guitars for 13 of them, and vocals for three. Then I just lost the umph, as it were.

My rule is, a song isn’t complete until there is a full demo. My other rule is that I wanted all the guitars to be recorded with a real amp instead of a sim in GarageBand. Today, though, I decided that if I was going to get any more work done (finishing is kinda out of the question) then I would have to go back to amp sims and headphones instead of making real, actual noise.

So if I get some sleep tonight I might spend my pre-telecommuting morning in the cellar plugged into my computer, listening with headphones, while trying to not wake my step son who will probably sleep really late because he’s a teenager and that’s what teenagers do.

Rock.

50/90 – Day 13

When I woke up this morning I had 22 songs in progress, four with rhythm guitars recorded, and one with a vocal idea sketched out.

At this moment I have 24 songs in progress, eight with rhythm guitars, and still just the one vocal idea.

I don’t feel too terribly well today though, so there’s a good chance all the stuff I did today will need to be re-done.

We’ll see.

Untitled

Untitled

Untitled

Left Overs

For this year’s RPM Challenge I worked on 23 songs. One was just too awful to keep alive and I dumped it. One other never got further than one or two bass lines on the iPad. Of the remaining 21, 10 made the final cut. Eight were completely finished but I put them on the B list. Three others were pretty far along in the process, but I ran out of time before I could finish them. Those three might have been good enough to make the final submission, but now we’ll never know.

I made a playlist for the left overs, including the three unfinished songs. I will finish them in the coming weeks, but for now they are just rough mixes of instrumental nothings.

I think if you listen to both playlists you will see that dropping the songs on the B list was the right thing to do. At least I hope so. Either way, I got a ton of new tunes.

Finished

Finished.

Done.

Complete.

…and with a little over an hour to spare!

This makes five years in a row for me. Feels like quite a milestone. I had 18 songs and dropped eight of them for the final album. Are the 10 that I kept the best songs? I think so, but I feel way too close to this right now so I can’t say for sure.

I zipped up all of my mp3 files and a jpeg with the cover art and shared it with RPM via dropbox. Hopefully that works and they get it. My profile has been updated with the 2016 submission, but I’m way too tired to deal with any more than that tonight.

For now, here’s a soundcloud playlist with my 10 goofy songs. Hope they don’t suck too bad.

Dazed

When I left work on Friday I think I had six songs mixed, two songs ready to mix, and a whole pile that were a guitar part away from being ready to mix.

Here we are on Sunday afternoon and I have 15 songs mixed. My head is spinning. I’m not done though. I have to stop for tonight so I can go to band practice and then eat dinner with the love of my life and watch The Walking Dead (priorities, right?).

I still have to mix one more song tomorrow night, and like a moron I actually added a song last night at about 10pm, and then added another one this morning at about 7am. I only need to add vocals to those two and then they’ll be ready to mix too. Vocal tracking will happen tomorrow before work in a great bonanza of get-it-in-one-or-don’t-get-it-at-all.

Beyond that, there are still four more unfinished songs that will have to wait for another day. One or two of them are just awful and were abandoned by choice. At least one of the others was working for me before, but I just ran out of time.

So I expect to have 18 songs available for the finished product tomorrow. I’ll probably drop at least four of them, maybe more. I really want to try and trim the fat for the album I submit this year. Not to imply there’s greatness here or anything like that. I just want it to be less crappy than some of my previous submissions (looking at you, 2015).

Five!

Simple song. Nothing special. I had an idea at one point earlier in the month of making a double album with 10 songs focusing on electric rhythm guitars, and 10 focusing on acoustic guitar. This was written late in the month, song #17. The lyrics were improvised, obviously. It sort of fits into both loose themes for this year. The Earth isn’t flat, and Trump is a clown. The title might still be changed to “It Ain’t Just a River in Egypt.” This is one of the songs with a vocal recorded during this week’s killer of a cold. It shows.