One At A Time, Please

It's nice when things get rolling creatively. I really can't complain. Sometimes I'll go months without writing down anything significant in my book or weeks without jamming out a riff on the guitar. But when the gates truly open, there tends to be a flood and I'm helpless to stop it.

In some ways the creative avalanche that rarely comes my way is just as bad as no idea coming at all, mostly because I can never lock anything down. I'll be lying in bed and a great melody comes bouncing through my brain for one song. The next day, the bridge for another song hits me like a ton of bricks and I have to get it down.

But no matter how much work I get done, the constant song hopping is always my downfall. Before I know it I have a lyric book full of a scribbled mess of pages (the scribbled part for me is good, it's means I've been writing and rewriting and putting down lots of thoughts) but also a GarageBand folder on the computer packed with random recordings which in the end, never make much sense.

So what's my problem? I think it's focus. At the songwriting stage that I'm in, I feel I should be able to sit down and work on a song (one at a time) and bust it out. I've done it before. But here especially, there's always a distraction. Whether it's the dog needs a walk, I get an email, the tv gets turned on (the World Cup has me hooked), I think of a blog post idea and feel guilty for not posting in a month (like right now) or I simply don't feel comfortable playing as loud as I want in my apartment building.  (I get a little self-conscious,  most definitely in the early stages of songs when half the time I'm screaming nonsense words and fumbling on the guitar to get melodies and rhythms down.)

I have some ideas of how to be able to focus more and concentrate on one song at a time so I actually accomplish something, the most notable being getting out of this apartment. But otherwise, I'm not sure what to do. I really want to get these songs rolling. Anyone have any suggestions pertaining to focus and concentration, whether it be for songwriting or any other project you need to get done?

Rock on!

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.