Wish me luck

[stubhead]

Good luck! Umm, why are you wasting time reading this on the internet.... :evil4: Don't answer. Ack! Pbthhh.

 

[hannaugh]

Update:

Day 4.  I've written 3 complete song sketches and 4 incomplete parts, so I've worked on 8 songs total.  I'm planning on finishing one of those incompletes later tonight.  I've used my voice, 2 guitars, my keyboard, and my ukulele... and my steering wheel as a drum while driving.  I have no idea if any of it will turn out well after I get some home studio time to flesh them out, but there is one that I think is cute, it's a little old school country-ish kind of song. 

The only thing that is driving me nuts is not listening to cds in my car. 

 

[Return of Guitlouie]

Hey, Hannaugh, I just started yesterday, and i'm not exactly stricly following ALL of your rules, but I am trying to work on one new song everyday.  Yesterday, I came up with two .  They are not complete, but they are also not based on any riff or idea that I already had worked on in the past. 

 

[line6man]

The only thing that is driving me nuts is not listening to cds in my car. 

Am I the only person that prefers talk radio shows to music when in the car?  :doh:

 

[hannaugh]

Hey, Hannaugh, I just started yesterday, and i'm not exactly stricly following ALL of your rules, but I am trying to work on one new song everyday.  Yesterday, I came up with two .  They are not complete, but they are also not based on any riff or idea that I already had worked on in the past. 

Awesome!  If any of us come up with anything good, we should record it when this whole experiment is over.

The only thing that is driving me nuts is not listening to cds in my car. 

Am I the only person that prefers talk radio shows to music when in the car?  :doh:

I can't listen to that stuff.  I grew up with it on constantly because my family liked it and would never let me turn it off, and they pretty much only listened to the "scream and yell as loud as you can at people" type of talk radio rather than the "whisper into the microphone like you're on valium" type of talk radio (like NPR).  I like music, it cuts down on my road rage. 

 

[line6man]

Hey, Hannaugh, I just started yesterday, and i'm not exactly stricly following ALL of your rules, but I am trying to work on one new song everyday.  Yesterday, I came up with two .  They are not complete, but they are also not based on any riff or idea that I already had worked on in the past. 

Awesome!  If any of us come up with anything good, we should record it when this whole experiment is over.

The only thing that is driving me nuts is not listening to cds in my car. 

Am I the only person that prefers talk radio shows to music when in the car?  :doh:

I can't listen to that stuff.  I grew up with it on constantly because my family liked it and would never let me turn it off, and they pretty much only listened to the "scream and yell as loud as you can at people" type of talk radio rather than the "whisper into the microphone like you're on valium" type of talk radio (like NPR).  I like music, it cuts down on my road rage. 

Try some of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLTYS032Abg

BTW, do you get Frosty, Heidi and Frank where you live?
I'm never listening to a radio at 9am to 12pm, so I don't hear it too often unless I download a podcast, but everytime I listen to that show, I'm laughing until it hurts.
Definitely crass and immature people, but they discuss the most hilarious things. I love it!

It depends what mood you want to be in though.
Nothing beats good classical music when you want to mellow out.  :icon_smile:

 

[erogenousjones17]

The only thing that is driving me nuts is not listening to cds in my car. 

Am I the only person that prefers talk radio shows to music when in the car?  :doh:

Yes. I think you are.  :icon_jokercolor:

 

[dbw]

i know over the last 20-some years They Might Be Giants have tried to write a song a day

TMBG rocks  :headbang:  Anyone remember Dial-A-Song?

 

[dbw]

The only thing that is driving me nuts is not listening to cds in my car. 

Am I the only person that prefers talk radio shows to music when in the car?  :doh:

My dad prefers talk radio.  A lot of people's dads prefer talk radio.  Come to think of it, you have some kids, don't you?  :toothy10:

 

[AprioriMark]

i know over the last 20-some years They Might Be Giants have tried to write a song a day

TMBG rocks  :headbang:  Anyone remember Dial-A-Song?

I feel like a hypocrite talking to you

and your racist friend.

-Mark

 

[hannaugh]

My ex-boyfriend looks exactly like the really skinny guy from TMBG, except he has blonde hair. 

 

[line6man]

The only thing that is driving me nuts is not listening to cds in my car. 

Am I the only person that prefers talk radio shows to music when in the car?  :doh:

My dad prefers talk radio.  A lot of people's dads prefer talk radio.  Come to think of it, you have some kids, don't you?   :toothy10:

Nope, can't stand kids. (No offense to the proud parents on the board, don't get me wrong, they're just not for me at all. :dontknow

My father actually doesn't listen to much talk radio. My mother OTOH, LOVES to listen to Dr. Laura these days, which is a show that both my father and I always despised. :blob7:

 

 

[BigBeard]

Nope, can't stand kids. (No offense to the proud parents on the board, don't get me wrong, they're just not for me at all. :dontknow 

I felt that exact same way till 12-3-1998, when we had our son. 

I still have a hard time with other people's kids, especially some of my boy's smart ass friends.  The one the other day said to me, "Wow Mr. K, your wife is a MILF!!"......  Did he think I didn't know what MILF meant?  This officially makes me old at 33!!  Cause I told him how disrespectful it was to say that about my wife and his friends mom.  The kid has a punk older brother, so I am guessing that is where knowing what a MILF is and what-not.  IDK, I hope my boy doesn't go around telling his friends dad's how he'd like to, well you know!



Anyway back to the subject....  I've never claimed to be a songwriter.  I prefer to play other people's music.  So that being said, if any of you that are taking Hannah's challenge and come up with something good, I'd gladly play it!!

My problem when it comes to original stuff is this:  I will noodle around and come up with some really awesome riffs, then I forget them an hour later.  I can go back to the really cool riff, but somehow it changes here or there.

My wife and I were playing last night, and we are getting a lot better at playing together.  Problem is that I have never pictured myself as a solo guitar player so to speak.  I always liked to play in a band, and my playing reflects that.  When I play with her singing, I tend to try to be a whole band, playing chords and trying to make the sound of a few musicians playing together.  I honestly think it's time for me (and her if she wants) to maybe think about putting a project together.  The last band I was in that I refer to as "Kurt and his three chord cowboys" was a really bad experience for me.  We were all friends that liked to jam in my buddies basement.  It went pretty well till we started playing out.  We had a rotation of about 30 songs, sort of......  As long as those songs had the chords G, F, and C, Kurt was good. (it didn't matter what order the chords were in, and sometimes Kurt would change them up mid song)  Throw in a song with Bm, and forget it, he refused to learn anything new...... And nobody could sing.  I mean, I can sing a little backup, but that's it, and there I was singing some difficult and wordy Dylan songs!!!!  They decided that 'Tangled up in Blue' would be a good song for us to cover, but nobody but me knew the words... Hence they put a mic in front of  me and wow I'll admit that I sounded terrible singing and trying to play the bass.  I have a hard enough time playing guitar and singing little backup lines, let alone to sing a song with I don't know like 45 verses while playing an instrument that I was just learning.......  Anyway............  I still am pretty good friends with the rhythm player (who can acutally play more than 3 chords)  we have talked about putting something together, but we are both interested in putting together a big band, Grateful Dead style, you know, two or three guitars, a bass, keys, maybe some horns and definately at least two drummers.  Not one who plays congos and tamborine and a drummer, but two full kit drummers.  I love the sound of two drummers and more importantly I love to play with two drummers.  It's like having a freight train of percussion behind you!!  And with two drummers, I can turn my amp way up and not have to hear that I'm playing too loud, in fact when I did play with two drummers on a few occcations, I kept having to turn it up so I wouldn't be lost in the drums!! 

Sorry for the mini hijack, I was on a roll and didn't want to make a new thread.  OK, back to talking about writing songs!

 

[hannaugh]

Update!  Almost 9 days in.  I've written something every day.  I've had one or two days where I didn't quite finish one thing or another, but on those days I got multiple song fragments that might lead to something better once I can get them into the computer and start layering them a bit more.  I think I have 10? song sketches and several more partial songs. 

I've discovered thus far that the Loop Station can be very helpful at times.  I've come up with a few things by improvising and layering what I'm doing. 

The thing I'm finding the most difficult is that I come up with vocal melodies, but I have no idea what the song is going to be about.  These two weeks aren't really about lyrics, so I have only written one song with them, and unfortunately that makes remembering the vocal melody oddly difficult.  I have a feeling when I get to the lyrics part, that will be the biggest challenge for me. 

I have completely broken my rule about not listening to music in the car.  I had a couple of looong car rides the last week, it was too hard to resist. 

How is everyone else who is working on this doing?

 

[mayfly]

Got 10 tunes, all with lyrics.  No arrangements yet.

Some of them are pretty good, and some are, er, not my best efforts.  This is how it goes with song writing.  You have to write the crap before you write the really good stuff.

and that garbage can really is your friend.  :headbang:

 

[mayfly]

Here's one of the better ones that popped out.  It will have it's debut at GreenFields pub this Sunday at a Haitian Benefit concert: http://www.ottawatonite.com/2010/05/team-canada-healing-hands-new-promotional-video/#respond


Your Car’s still in the parking lot
Under the Ice and Snow
That’s how I know you’re not coming home

I never made it to your funeral
I was afraid of what I’d find
Aint it funny how people avoid eyes

Saw your picture in the paper
And you just looked the same
Couldn’t conjure tears in your name

When the shaking stops
and the rubble’s all cleared
Aint it funny how people avoid eyes

And now I’m
Free from. Freedom.  Again
Free from.  Freedom. Again.

There’s candles in the park
And a shrine at your door
But the coffee tastes as bitter as the cold

Sometimes I get angry
Sometimes I’m out of my mind
Aint’ it funny how people avoid eyes
Aint’ it funny how people avoid eyes

And now I’m
Free from. Freedom.  Again
Free from.  Freedom. Again.


Oh - and here's a bit of the backing story.  Yes it's a sad song (but it still will have a screaming country-fried b-bender tele solo at the end)

http://thereview.ca/story/katie-hadley-confirmed-deceased-haiti

 

[mayfly]

Update - just did the gig.

The song went over very well.  Still need to tighten it up a bit in rehearsal though - the ending was a bit rough.

Overall though, it got a pretty good ovation.

Oh - and an on-line magazine video taped the entire gig!  Footage coming....

 

[hannaugh]

Sweet! 

 

[mullyman]

Here's another cool story to boost your confidence.

Back in 1998 I was talking to Gary Cherone (Extreme, Van Halen). We were actually sitting down talking. He told me that he had gone over to Nuno's house one day and Nuno was sitting on the porch playing this line he had in his head that he couldn't get rid of, but didn't really have anything to add to it either. He was just stuck there with that one little phrase if you will. So, he played it for Gary and Gary started singing over it and Nuno then started expanding on it. He said within like a half hour they had the entire song down, lyrics and all. But, Nuno wasn't really thrilled with the outcome. When they were in the studio there was one spot open for a song on the album and Gary said "What about that thing we knocked out on your porch that day?" Nuno wasn't overly thrilled about it but he figured what the hell, it's a filler anyway. So, they recorded it.

That song was "More Than Words" and if I'm not mistaken, probably the biggest hit they ever had.

I guess what I'm saying is even if you think your songs suck everyone else may like them.
MULLY

 

[hannaugh]

Bon Jovi thought Livin' on a Prayer was terrible, and it ended up being one of the biggest hits of the 80s.  Maybe not the best example, but I always thought it was funny that he didn't think it would go anywhere.