Songwriters

Comment

Comment by Paul Stoddard on April 4, 2012 at 2:43pm

Michael

I just visited your page and listened to some of your songs.  Very nice.

Are you happy with the website you are with regarding sales of your music, etc?

Paul

Comment by Andy Getch on March 29, 2012 at 6:05am

My phone will record 10 seconds of audio, hope to get an new one soon to try the video idea. I've filled up a bunch of notepads. This summer I hope to start going back through them to put some ideas together.

Comment by Edward Sparks on March 29, 2012 at 5:42am

Hey Bob,

I know what you mean...creativity begets creativity...I think that was in the Bible! ;-)  Edward

Comment by Bob Crain on March 29, 2012 at 2:08am

It is very interesting how things get from the head ..... to the song. I have just finished a new CD....it should come out of the replicator tomorrow, I will put a song up here and a few on my myspace....it is not being "released" for a couple of months but I'll flash a few of the numbers here and there. It will eventually be available via some online system and through my website.....once I get a website - next project. In the mean time since I started the process of producing a CD.....I have written enough material for another.

Comment by Tom H on March 28, 2012 at 8:10am

Bob, my songwriting process is almost exactly like yours. The only differences are that I use Resoph Notes (basically a free-form note editor) on the computer to get all my ideas, songs, and bits down. It allows me to search all my notes for words and phrases and it is interesting that things I entered on completely different occasions often go together. I use a handheld recorder to record all musical ideas, melodies, chord progressions, and sometimes lyrics. I also use the recorder as I am developing a melody when I have a complete set of lyrics, in case I come up with something extemporaneously and want to listen back.

Comment by Edward Sparks on March 28, 2012 at 7:57am

Not a problem, my wife knows that I am crazy like that...besides she didn't listen to the answering machine, that was my job!  I too carry my pad, but I often get the lyrics coming at me with a tune...not always the tune it ends up with, but the meter and pace keep the words coming...I just love it!  I actually am working on a new album and recorded rough strings for relatively new song called "My Old Coat."  I will post the MP3 of it soon as a discussion...I have done this in the past, including the lyrics, and appreciated the creative comments I have gotten back.  Thanks,  Edward 

Comment by Bob Crain on March 28, 2012 at 7:26am

I'm old school ..... when a song or a "song bit" comes to me I stop whatever it is I am doing and write it down....I carry a note pad in my pocket and I have a bigger one in the car. 100% of my songs come lyrics first so it's important I get them down as they pass through. Sometimes it's a complete song, a verse, a bit of a chorus or even just an idea for a song.....I write it down.

When it comes to melody's sometime I just work with a finished set of lyrics and a key I can sing in or sometimes I am just fooling around with stuff and a chord progression comes through that I like .... I write that down or I might record it if its intricate then it either might fit a set of lyrics I have or it sits around till it does or morphs into something else.....what is most amazing to me is that they (melodies) almost always fit on to lyrics I have awaiting music, without thinking about a particular song.....it's odd there must be a cadence in my head that is looking for the right chords.

It's not always that easy .... but I like when it is.

Love the call the answering machine trick though....what happened when the wife came home and listened to the messages and you were singing Lucille...or of some other lost and long forgotten love.....oops sorry dear.

Bob

Comment by Edward Sparks on March 28, 2012 at 3:48am

For years I had "written" a song in my head...usually a little melody and lyrics.  But, as happened with you guys, by the time I got guitar in hand I had forgotten the lyrics and/or the melody...sometimes I was recording a song and had down the guitar part and the melody and I would be somewhere and begin to "hear" other parts in the arrangement, like strings or bass of a backup harmony, but again by the time I got to my studio and got everything fired up, I had lost it!  Needless to say it was very frustrating.  I then got the idea...I have a perfectly good answering machine at home...I started stopping what I was doing when I started getting these ideas and calling home from where ever I was and recording myself onto the answering machine...then when I got home it was all there!  Then cell phones came about as common items and so I used to call home with the cell, saving me from having to find a pay phone (remember those) to leave my musical messages.  I thought I had found an incredible answer...then my next generation of cell phone became an audio recorder that I had with me all the time...I now record my ideas on the cell phone and when I get home I just used the headphone out jack to transfer my ideas to a scratch track within the file of the song I am working on, or a new song, and then it is right where I need I when I am back in my studio...as you said Rick..."ain't technology great!"  Edward

Comment by Bob Crain on March 28, 2012 at 1:54am

There is a cute little tool around called a personal digital recorder....they have been around for a few years. I have a Zoom H2, they are very simple to use, very convenient to use and download, save, organize etc etc. I do use it sometimes to record a melody that I might put to use at a later date but mostly I use it to record prototypes of songs that other players are adding to. I used to use the phone but it was a pain....the PDR is much simpler and more handy.

Having said that I usually remember a song once I have put it together.

Comment by Rick Lally on March 27, 2012 at 8:22pm

Today I realized an invaluable tool! A lot of times I sit down and play then before I know it then I'm into something new. A new song forms and I'm working it. In the past if I was really busy, when I get back to it I would find that I forgot it altogether. In Sept 2011 I got an iPhone (not an endorsement). When ever I would have something new brewing I set my phone up to record a video draft of what I was working on. Today I reviewed 5 song that I had totally forgotten. Before I would use my computer sometimes to do the same thing, but if I wasn't at my computer or if it wasn't convenient, then I would lose it! I almost always have my phone with me so now I'm not writing more song then I used to, I'm just remembering more song that I wrote! It's key that I record the fretboard so I can see what I'm playing. That way I know the feel, the chords and all I need to polish it up! I'm an IT guy and sometimes technology drives me crazy! In this case I say '"Isn't technology great!".

Rick

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