Word Box Wednesday #1

As I mentioned yesterday, I have a new feature that I'm introducing to ASWS today and it's called Word Box Wednesday. (Imagine a loud, dramatic echo as you read it.)

If you're unfamiliar with my Word Box you can learn the history from my post, "The Word Box", that I wrote back in January. In a nutshell, it's a technique that I use when I'm struggling for lyrical material. The box is simply a box, full of words that I've cut out of newspapers and magazines. I reach in, pick a word, or two, or three, and see where it leads me. Sometimes that word or phrase becomes the title, a line in the song, or a basic concept for the lyric.

So that is where WBW (My abbreviation for Word Box Wednesday, try to keep up with the acronyms.) comes in. Every Wednesday I'm going to feature a new word pulled directly from the Word Box, that is unless the previous weeks ideas carry over, I don't know how this is going to work out completely, let's just see how it rolls.

I'm going to post that word (quite literally) and give my readers the chance to take part in their own writing process. You can simply comment on what the word means to you, how it makes you feel or what it makes you think about, and how you might use it in a lyric. I want to get everybody involved in the whole process so you'll have a greater appreciation for what songwriting is all about. It might also be a good chance for my fellow songwriters out there to get some ideas and work on their craft.

Everyone will be able to post their comments, ideas, lyrics, etc. I will also post lyrics or even vidoes of what I've come up with surrounding each week's word.

This isn't just some ploy for me to cheat and steal other people's ideas, I couldn't help but think about that as a concern, I just really want people to see what songwriting can be all about from a songwriter's perspective. Hopefully you'll be able to create your own perspective as the Wednesday's roll by.

So let's get it started. I'm reaching into the box (drum roll, please) and this week's word is:

missing

Comment below or just think about what the word means to you, how it makes you feel or how you would use it. Have fun with it. I already have some ideas myself. Check back next Wednesday to see the first results from this songwriting experiment. Rock on!

Destressifier #3 - Nothing Video

If you've been following A Songwriter's Sanctum over the past week, (I was just going to abbreviate the title of the blog and just now realized that it spells something, I think you can figure it out.) you've probably noticed that I've been on a video kick. It's been an attempt to spice things up a little as well as settle my stress level a bit.

As I know I've said before, I unnecessarily stress myself out when I write and record new tunes because I want to get things done pronto and I want it to be as perfect as I can make it. So dropping these videos gets me all settled, gives me a chance to share and gives me a sense of accomplishment. Hey, whatever does it, right?

The song I'm playing in the video below is called "Nothing". It is one of the first songs I ever wrote and is also the very first song I introduced to my now former band Now Transmission. We ended up making two full band versions of the song for two separate EPs and I'd say it was probably one of our most recognizable tunes. You can check out the full band version at NT's Soundclick page.

Beside my screaming near the end I think the vid came out pretty well. Let me know what you think. I have a new Wednesday feature that I'm starting tomorrow so make sure to come back and check it out. Rock on!

Another Destressifyer - Only Apart Video

I know I already made a recording of "Only Apart" (which you can listen to in the player top right if you haven't already), but things have been stressful and pretty slow lately so I made a quick video of me rockin' it solo with my acoustic. No bells and whistles, just me and my guitar.

I plan on doing this every once in a while just like I did with my old tune "Nowhere to Fall". I try to keep them raw as if I were just playing a show so you'll see me mess up sometimes and my voice may not be top notch, but I think these vids get the job done for the most part. Overall, I'm just looking to share, show off my mad guitar skills, flex the golden pipes and hopefully get myself out of this stupid rut.


Enjoy and rock on! And yes, that's a lobster holding a guitar pic. Why, I have no idea. Just go with it.

College, Solos, Blisters and New Songs

I have another "new" tune for you. I thought I'd keep the ball rolling. Heck, why not? That was my goal, to work on more songs.

After wrapping up "Only Apart" I went perusing through some old songs that never got the justice they deserved. I stumbled upon a straight forward rock tune called "Done With This". Some people on my inner circle may remember this one. I made a semi-decent recording of it what seems like ages ago. (Listen to the new recording in the player on the top right of the screen. And yes, you'll hear me cuss. I just couldn't find a way to take the s-bomb out, it just worked too well.)

This song came into existence before the black, hard cover Moleskine days, back when I used these simple 80 sheet, Ampad, 1 subject notebooks with the 12x6 pages, wired binding and flimsy cardboard covers that don't do much covering now-a-days. (Made in the good 'ol USA unlike it's Italian, Moleskine counterpart.) I'd pick them up cheap at the campus bookstore and they did the job.

I had a bad habit of forgetting to jot down a date back then but this one happened to be dated 12/16/04, the last day of the fall semester. It was common in those days to bust out a song or at least a simple idea while sitting in my achingly boring classes, most usually the very large ones so I could fly under the radar. But even in the small ones, the lyric jotting was most likely seen as note taking and I liked it that way; killing two birds with one stone, writing lyrics and getting on the professors good side. The only major issue was if I was in a good zone and a question came flying at me from the front of the room. Luckily that wasn't a common occurance.

This tune came about on a particularly exruciating night. It was finals and we were forced to sit through every groups presentation regarding a specific market research study that took most of the semester to complete. With my groups presentation out of the way, it was made especially frustrating as it was past 8:00pm and this was the only thing in my way between this class, winter break and my final semester of college. With my emotions boiling, the song came out like a hurricane. I rushed home after the presentation and recorded it down, guitar and all, start to finish. It was probably the quickest song I ever wrote.

The recording that I finished up today is more or less the same basic form as it was when it flew out of my head that day. Of course, I updated it a bit with some extra guitar pieces and back up vocals. Even the blistering solo is basically the same. And when I say blistering, I mean it.

To round out this already too long story, you must know that I'm terrible with guitar solos. I've never been the lead guitarist type and solos are definitely not my forte. But I can stay in key and bust out a simple one like any other guy. You can witness my work in Now Transmission's song, "Drained Down". Ray rock-tweaked it a bit but my original idea is still there.

The solo in "Done With This" took quite a few takes. I lost count so we won't go there. My fingers are proof enough. I know it's not a good picture to the left but the blisters are there and annoying, believe me. I can feel the tiny bastards as I type this. Surprisingly, these are my first guitar blisters in the 8 years I've been playing, that I can remember anyway. By busting out this solo, I broke my golden rule: if the fingers are hurting, give 'em a break. But the rock couldn't wait.

I hope you enjoy the tune, killer solo, college angst and all. Sans drums as usual. Your feedback is definitely appreciated. Rock on....next.

New Tune, In spite of Stanley Steamer

As I promised (I like living up to my promises), I posted a "brand new" song today. You'll find out why the quotation marks are necessary later. The tune is called "Only Apart". (I know you're anxious. ;-) Listen to it in the player in the top right of the page.)

It's safe to say that this song has been a-round. These words first appeared in my original black Moleskine and were dated 4/20/05:

We're only apart/Not broken or torn/I'm only away/Not gone not far

They sat there, all by their lonesome (their only friend a catchy guitar riff that I couldn't stop playing) for who knows how long. The rest of the page was a myriad of crossed out words and phrases that came much later, just before the song reappeared in black book #2, which was dated 7/10/07. This entry came after the unsuccessful attempt to make the song a part of Now Transmission's repertoire, only months before we split. Good friend and guitarist Ray and I hashed out many different lines for the non-existent verses and chorus and the one thing that really stuck was Ray's line "blow me away".

That line became the creative starting point for all of the chorus lead ins for the whole song. As for the rest, it wasn't until 5 days ago that the song finally saw it's final, written down form. Stuck together from random phrases and ideas that lingered between the multiple versions, as well as some new ideas that I had been waiting to pop into my head for 4 years.

But once the song finally existed as a complete tune, the issue was recording. That's where Stanley Steamer comes in.

I decided that Friday the 30th was going to be the day I sat down and finally recorded the song. I'd been procrastinating for 2 weeks. Actually, it had been since I wrote the message "New Year, New Goals, New Tunes?" So Friday morning I said the hell with any work I should be doing, chilled out with the Wii for a half hour or so and then sat down with Siggy and started recording.

I planned on doing it in pieces. So I got the first chunk done. Then all of a sudden I hear this low, drone in my headphones. I have nice Bose headphones that block out most sound, but this one cut through like a knife. I ripped the headphones off, ran to my bedroom and looked out the window to see a bright yellow Stanley Steamer van parked across the street. If you've ever heard one, those mothers are loud when they are doing their deed.

Honestly, I was pissed. There's no sugar coating it. I had procrastinated so long only to have to wait at least another hour before I could get going again. I don't exactly have a fancy, sound proofed recording studio with all that expensive equipment. This room is my office and I record using the internal mic from my girlfriends iMac G5 and GarageBand. Not exactly high tech and it comes through in the final product, but I deal with what I have. Needless to say, the mic picks up everything, including everything that I don't want it to, whether it be the heat kicking on, the dog snoring, or the annoying drone of the Stanley Steamer van across the street.

So I fired up the Wii again and rocked some drums with Guitar Hero to settle myself down a little. Once Stanley left, everything else fell into place; section after section, layer after layer (I love layers!). I got on a roll and laid it all down within the next 3 hours, minus any drums of course, something I'd love but I don't currently have that skill. (A couple more months of Guitar Hero and I'll be set.) The recording isn't perfect and being the perfectionist that I always consider myself, it's hard to call it done, but if that were the case I'd never finish a song and that's no fun at all. That way I could never share!

So that's the creation of "Only Apart" in a nutshell. A very tiny nutshell. So make me happy and listen to the song already. Let me know what you think. Rock on to the next!