Tag: Songwriting

Random Monday Thoughts

Here are a couple of random thoughts for a pre-work Monday morning.

The drive from Methuen to Canton today took less than an hour. We are firmly in the summer traffic lull. Two weeks from now cities and towns will be starting up their school years and the 55 minute drive I made today will take 90+ minutes. I know how bad it gets, but seeing how good it can be (not that 55 minutes is really that good) just makes September through June that much worse.

I indirectly gave my step kids the weirdest compliment they are ever likely to get. I was in my room getting dressed and that cat jumped onto the bed where I was sitting and got all affectionate. I tend to baby talk to the cat when I am petting her. I was saying goofy things about how the kitty loved her mummy and her big sister and her big brother. Then I said that kitty’s sister and brother love her too because they have good taste in kitties.

I told the cat that the kids have good taste in kitties. What the hell is wrong with my brain? How did that sentence even form in my head? Good taste in kitties? Please!

I played a lot of guitar this weekend. On Friday I finished (except for vocals) one song and started another. On Saturday I finished two songs (except for vocals) and started another. On Sunday I started four songs. That’s nine songs worth of guitars recorded. I was not physically prepared for so much playing and today my finger tips are literally on fire. Oh the pain!

50/90 is Now 34/57

I finished two songs tonight. This one comes from a floridaman story. Read it here.

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The second song… I have no idea what it is about. Maybe sort of about not wanting to go to work or something like that.

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The music for both of these turd burgers was written while on vacation. I was just out of control crazy like that. Must have been the proximity to the birth places of all three members of Rush.

7/8 and 5/4

The only negative to my 50/90 workflow of starting new ideas using GarageBand foe iPad is the lack of flexibility with time signatures and tempos. You can’t change them mid-song, and there are only three time signatures built in. I could easily work around that, but then I’d lose the cool segment functionality. Fortunately GarageBand for Mac has more flexibility and options.

Hence the two things I pieced together on the Mac tonight that are both in odd times. Ah, a Prog Rock wannabe.

Three New Songs

I finished three songs tonight. None of them are particularly good, but what can you do?

This one was the first idea I came up with for 50/90. I literally woke up, grabbed my iPad, and jotted this down in GarageBand. Why then did it take nearly a month to finish? Well, maybe because I don’t particularly like it. Perhaps.

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The second song is only interesting in that it’s in 6/8 time. GarageBand for iOS is pretty limited in time signatures. I expect I’ll be using the Mac version to get myself some 7/8 and 5/4 before long. Prog babie. The lyrics are about a universal topic for those of us in Greater Boston… Traffic.

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The third song is kind of about Market Basket. Who would have thought that if you stand by your people, they will stand by you. It’s just amazing to even consider it.

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There you have it. 50/90 is now 36/62.

Pre-Work Music Update

Today is my telecommuting day, which means I had a nice chunk of time for music.

When we left for vacation I had 10 songs mixed, one ready to mix, and three ready for vocals. While we were away I finished the one that was ready to mix. This morning I finished the vocals on the other three. If I can mix them before I fall asleep tonight that will be fourteen songs from July. That’s three behind the pace for 50/90, but I also have eight additional things that were started after we left for vacation. So maybe I’m really ahead of the pace. I don’t know. It’s too early in the morning for this type of math.

Regardless, I will probably be posting some more bad music tonight. You’ve been warned.

A Music Update to Bore You All

I know how popular these music project updates are, and I know you’re dying to know what I did yesterday. Here you go! A music project update!!

50/90, or fiftyninety as the twitter hash tags say, has seen 10 songs completely completed. There are six more on top of that. One is ready to mix. Three need vocals. Two need guitars and vocals. If you look at 50/90 in terms of monthly projects, you would need to have two months with 17 songs each, and one with 16. It’s only been two weeks and I’m already at the 16 mark.

Why did I push so hard out of the gate? Well, because it’s a whole ton of fun for musical nerds like me. Also, on top of that, is the little fact that there is going to be a week plus in July where I am going away. That starts as soon as I get off work tonight. I’ll have my iPad with me, so I can still make progress by creating bass riffs and drum grooves and what not, and I should probably have my old MacBook Pro too which means we might even see that one song that’s ready to mix get itself finished during the trip as well. Not likely though.

More likely is that I won’t do anything at all until we come home. Hopefully a little time off will recharge my creative batteries (hehe, as if I had creative batteries) and I’ll come home guns blazin’ and crank out ideas as fast as I did during the first weekend. Probably not, we’ll see. For all I know, I might lose interest entirely.

Like I said (like, two sentences ago), we’ll see.

10 Down, 40 to Go

There was a post on the 50/90 forum where one user questioned the artistic integrity of everyone else, saying that none of the songs he heard were pushing any artistic boundaries.

My response was, how do you know? Why do you think the pushing of boundaries is going to be audible for anyone? Take me for example. I’m actually letting people listen to my god awful singing voice. I’m writing lyrics! Every once in a while I actually try to express an opinion or, even worse, a feeling! Hell, I am a Gibson guy playing a Strat! Is there any bigger artistic wall to climb than that?

Not that I consider the garbage I write and record to be anything even resembling art. I’m not that self deluded. You get the idea though. I record all of this crap because it’s fun, but that doesn’t mean sharing it is easy. I mean, there is a reason I wait for the house to be empty before I record myself singing, you know?

Nine Down, 41 to Go

Tonight’s entry in the 50/90 post pile is a schmaltzy little sucker with lyrics inspired by the Red Sox cutting A.J. Pierzynsky.

Yup, I sure can come up with those groovy ideas, eh?

Eight Down, 42 to Go

The first idea I had for 50/90 turned out really heavy. So heavy that I haven’t really felt like coming up with a vocal and finishing it off. In reaction to Mr Heavy Song, the second idea I came up with was this goofy little funk fest.

Even a redhead like me wants to get funky now and then. All of the guitars here are the ES 335.

Seven Down, 43 to Go

I mixed two tonight. One was a mostly instrumental pile of dung that was meant to be Pink Floydish, but was instead down right utterly awful. The other is here for your listening pleasure (assuming having your ears tortured by bad music is pleasure).

The idea was to have one guitar riff for the whole song but use a combination of the melody and the dynamics to differentiate between the verse and the chorus. It sorta worked.