The Song Garage

Top 10 Ways to Engage Your Audience

2011-11-03T12:02:00.001-07:00

Performing is more than simply having band practice in front of people. Just like mastering your instrument, the skills required to become an engaging performer must be practiced and perfected over time. Here are my ten simple rules to get you started.

1. Smile

2. Smile

3. Single out one random individual in the audience and make eye contact with them. Smile at them, or give them the "rocker-face". Repeat.

4. Single out one band member per song and interact with them in some way. Stand next to the other guitar player during a guitar harmony part. Sing your backups into the lead singer's mic. Stand next to the bass player and "groove-dance". Head bob with the drummer. Act like they are all your best friends in the world, even if the drummer just talked trash about your mom. While doing all of the above, smile.

5. If nothing else, do something to accentuate punches; head-bobs, rocker-poses, and knee-to-an-imaginary-opponent's-groin all work well.

6. If you mess up, smile. If you are tired, ill, or bored, smile. Act like you are having the time of your life, even if you aren't.

7. Charisma is mostly a matter of conveying emotion through the face. Exaggerate your facial expressions...way beyond what you think of as normal. You aren't acting normal...you are performing.

8. Make your body movements big and dramatic....beyond what feels normal. You aren't acting normal...you are performing.

9. Smile.

10. Don't forget to smile.

Volume Wars

2011-07-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

Man I'm tired of loud music. I'm not talking about the "get out of my yard", "kids these days" kind of loud. I'm talking about music with no dynamic range, that sounds like crap and is impossible to listen to without three ibuprofen. This video perfectly illustrates what I mean:

The process of increasing the overall volume of an audio clip as described in the video above is achieved through a technique call "hard limiting". If an audio engineer raised the volume of the waveform above, the loud drum peaks would exceed 0 db, and you would hear nasty digital clipping and distortion. Hard limiting basically chops off all those loud drum peaks that stand above the rest of the waveform, thus allowing the rest of the track to be turned up without digital clipping.

Hard limiting destroys the dynamic range of music, creates ear fatigue, and makes music much less enjoyable to listen to. I don't want to name any names, but some of the worst offending recently released albums include: Supernatural by Santana, Vapor Trails by Rush, and Death Magnetic by Metallica. I can hardly listen to them in their entirety - they are just too loud. By contrast, listen to original mixes of Led Zeppelin or the Beatles (or anything mixed before 1990, really) and notice how much easier it is to "understand" everything, and how much more enjoyable and less tiresome the listening experience is.

LET ME PUT IT ANOTHER WAY: BRICKWALL LIMITING HAS THE SAME EFFECT ON YOUR EARS AND BRAIN AS READING WORDS IN ALL CAPS HAS ON YOUR EYES AND BRAIN. WHEN YOU READ TEXT TYPED NORMALLY THE EBB AND FLOW OF CAPITAL AND LOWER CASE LETTERS ALLOWS YOUR BRAIN TO YOUR EYES RECOGNIZE THE "SHAPES" OF THE WORDS. YOU CAN SKIM TROUGH A BLOCK OF TEXT FASTER, WITH LESS EFFORT, AND WITH BETTER COMPREHENSION. YOU DON'T HAVE TO CONCENTRATE AS HARD TO INTERNALIZE THE MESSAGE, AND YOU CAN RECALL IT LATER WITH MUCH BETTER ACCURACY. WHEN YOU LISTEN TO MUSIC THAT IS HARD LIMITED, YOU ARE ESSENTIALLY LISTENING IN ALL CAPS. THERE IS NO "SHAPE" TO THE AUDIO. EVERYTHING IS JUST AS LOUD AS EVERYTHING ELSE. IT IS VERY FATIGUING TO THE EARS AND TAXING ON THE BRAIN.

My Guitar Toolbox

2011-06-02T08:25:00.000-07:00

There aren't many pieces of musical equipment you can buy for two dollars that will last more than forty years. My guitar toolbox is one such item. It is the first thing I ever bought with my own money...and I still use it every day.

Come with me now as I reminisce about the origins of my oldest piece of gear.

When I was a kid it was my Grandpa's tradition to hand out silver dollars to the grand kids at each visit. The dollars he handed out weren't like the dollar coins of today. Those Eisenhower dollars were, big, heavy, and felt significant, especially to a kid whose hand's were barely big enough to hold them. When I think about it I can still feel the weight of two or three of them in my pocket. Grandpa was also an avid fisherman. It's no surprise to me that the first thing I ever bought with a couple of those silver dollars was a plastic tackle box. I'm sure my collection of fishing lures, weights, and bobbers was fairly small, but owning a tackle box made me feel like part of the club.

I was only around 5 years old when I got it, but I can still remember several details about that day. My cousins and I walked the few blocks to the store from Grandpa's house. It was a blistering summer in Nampa, Idaho, and the store's air conditioning felt positively chilly as we walked in the door. I already knew what I wanted, so it was just a matter of finding one in my budget. I scanned the aisles, and there it was: bright orange, and only two dollars. I remember plunking those heavy dollars on the checkout stand and walking out the store with it, feeling very satisfied that my money had been well spent. I had no idea.

That was nearly forty years ago. In truth I only used the tackle box for its intended purpose a few times. It very likely would have been lost and forgotten if not for a stroke of good fortune: at age fourteen I started playing the guitar. In an environmentally conscious move well ahead of its time, I "repurposed" the tackle box into a guitar toolbox, and it remains in service as such to this day. For twenty-five years it has stored soldering irons, string winders, wire clippers, screw drivers, and other assorted tools used for adjusting and repairing guitars, and every day I open it and think of my grandpa and those heavy silver dollars.

Two dollars well spent indeed.

How To Steal Like an Artist

2011-04-11T14:06:00.000-07:00

In an old Song Garage post entitled Developing Creativity, I posited that most creativity is simply copying. To support my idea, here is an awesome post from Austin Kleon's blog called How to Steal Like an Artist. He says it better than I did.

Damn him.

In Defence of Britney Spears

2011-04-08T09:27:00.000-07:00

Say what you will about her and her music, but at least one successful songwriter is defending Britney Spears' artistic integrity.

Interestingly, this supportive songwriter is not mentioned by name anywhere in the article. I could make an educated guess as to his/her identity by perusing the writing credits in the liner notes of the new album, but oh ya....I don't own it.

Song Switch Engage

2011-04-05T10:06:00.000-07:00

I just auditioned for and got a spot in an awesome cover band. I'm totally psyched to be a part of this band, but I now have to learn about 40 songs in a month. I'm feeling a little bit of pressure, my personal songwriting time has vaporized, and I can't stop thinking like a songwriter. I'm a little stressed.

I wish there was some kind of musical switch that I could engage: Writing UP, Performing DOWN.

Learning covers is almost the exact opposite of writing original songs. Instead of prepping your brain to be creative and explore new possibilities, you instead have to memorize other artist's songs by rote. I'll admit I'm having a hard time adjusting to this new mentality. Every time I try to learn a new part, I instead start thinking of cool ways to harmonize or rearrange it.

It's kind of annoying.

Songwriting is the practice of capturing fleeting ideas surfacing for air, before they return to the depths of your musical ocean. It is short-term memory management. On the other hand, preparing to perform a song is more about committing it to your long term memory in a way that lets you recall it at will.

I'm finding it's really tough for me to flip the switch. I imagine it will get easier as I go along; the creative part of my brain will become dormant. Problem is, that scares me too. I don't it to shrivel up and die; stop working altogether. I'm going to have to find a balance I guess. If nothing else, learning all these cover tunes will give me plenty of "inspiration" for new songs of my own.

OK. Head down, shoulder to the wheel. I'm going to learn these 40 songs, and then we'll see where my brain is.

* photo by somegeekintn

Thoughts on Bass Lines

2011-03-16T09:20:00.000-07:00

One of my students recently asked me how to write a great bass line. I told him there was no easy answer. The truth is, a good bass line is a moving target, totally dependent on context and intent. The way bass lines are crafted is what really sets the bass apart from other instruments and defines its role in a band. It's what separates a good bass player from a "guitarist playing bass".

And no one wants to be one of those.

A good bass player can craft a line that leads a listener through the changes smoothly, create a groove that works with the drums to support the song, and never distract from the melody. A good bass player makes everyone else in the band sound like they are doing more than they really are, but never sounds busy himself. He can make the guitar player sound like he is playing something different in verse 2, even when he isn't.

The bass line defines the genre of the song. In other words, the bass player is the one that gets to decide if a song is country, funk, rock, or disco. If the chords are C, F, G, and the bass player plays a classic root/5 country groove underneath it, it's a country song...no matter what anyone else is doing. If the bassist plays slams home the root on the 1, and syncopates a line through the rest of the measure, it's funk. If he rides the root with eighth notes, suddenly it's a rock song. The rest of the band is helpless to change it, no matter how much they turn up the distortion or pile on the sixteenth notes.

That's the awesome power of the bass.

Of course there are all kinds of ways to mix and match genres, and exceptions to every rule. Listen to different genres and listen to what makes them distinct. The most important thing to remember is that the bass in NOT A LEAD INSTRUMENT. That is not it's role. The fun part of playing bass is locking in with the drummer and creating a groove that supports the song and moves booties.

*Photo by dcJohn

My Top 10 Favorite Lesser-Known Pop Melodies (Today)

2011-03-12T09:34:00.000-08:00

When you talk songwriting, there are certain names and certain songs that come up over and over again. Fore example: the Beatles. Eventually you have to purposely exclude them from every conversation, or they are all you'll ever talk about. In that spirit, here are 10 of my favorite lesser-known pop melodies.

By "pop" I mean music written in the last 50 years or so, that is not classical. These songs don't all follow the accepted "craft" of songwriting. They're not all "eligible" for radio play. They all move me emotionally, however, and that's the surest sign of a good melody.

So, without further ado I give you my top 10 favorite lesser-known pop melodies of all time. (Ask me again tomorrow and I'll give you 10 different ones.)

10. Always With Me, Always With You - Joe Satriani.
9. Mother, Father - Journey
8. That is Why - Jellyfish
7. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite - The Beatles (see what I mean?)
6. Tragedy - The Bee Gees
5. You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive - Brad Paisley
4. Hollywood Nocturne - Brian Setzer
3. The Maker - Daniel Lanois
2. The Summer - John Denver
1. Falling Down - Tears for Fears

Beefing up a Mexi Strat

2011-02-26T18:30:00.001-08:00

About a year ago my wife gifted me this made in Mexico Stratocaster that she found while perusing the local pawn shop. She got it as an el-cheapo to take camping or whatever, but after tweaking it for a while it has turned out to be my #1 player, over some more expensive instruments. I figured I'd share my super-secret recipe.

The first thing to go were the pickups and electronics. I went with a DiMarzio ProTrack in the bridge and DiMarzio True Velvets in the neck and middle position. ($165 for all three.) At the same time I upgraded all the electronics, including new pots, caps, switch, and wiring, ($40) and lined the control cavity with copper foil to help tame the hum. ($20) I installed all the aforementioned in a new tortoiseshell pickguard. ($45... and purely cosmetic...I likes the tortoiseshell.) These upgrades to the electronic components made a bigger change in sound than anything else I did.

I also added a GFS Brass Tremolo block. ($30) I tried both the brass and steel, and ended up liking the brass much better. I didn't try any of the popular Callaham blocks, but I'm not convinced I would have seen double the benefit for double the price.

Lastly, I installed a new American-style string tree. ($5) My strings kept getting bound up on the old-school bent-steel type, and the rounded US type made a big difference. I've thought about replacing the tuners as well, but honestly I just don't see the need. I keep my tremolo decked, and they hold tune just fine. (If I were using the trem bar I would almost certainly upgrade to locking tuners.)

I've thought about new Callaham bridge screws and saddles. I will probably try this in the future....the next time I have an extra $50 burning a hole in my pocket. Anyway, like I said...it's my numero uno now. Who woodu thunk? The fact that my wife gave it to me as a gift makes it even more special.

Want to hear it? Check out my Space Love Navigator and Subliminal Killer in the purple playlist. Every guitar part in both songs was recorded with my li'l Mexi Strat!

Contrast: The Power of Shock and Awe

2011-02-16T12:04:00.000-08:00

Which do you think doctors and nurses find more interesting: a heart monitor with a steady rhythmic pulse, or one that suddenly careens from 140 bpm to a flat line? I can guarantee it’s the latter. I mean, just look at how excited they get when that happens.

You see, steady and stable is boring, but contrast…..now that’s interesting.

Black vs. White

Contrast is one of the most important tools in any artist's toolbox. It guides the eye or the ear, creates interest, and highlights what is important. Nearly any part of an artist's work can be made more dramatic or impactful by exaggerating its contrast; moving things quickly from busy to sparse, loud to soft, complex to simple, high to low, and on and on. Using contrast in your songs, in both the writing/ arranging and recording phases, is crucial to engaging listeners and keeping their attention.

How much contrast is enough? At a minimum each section of song should stand apart from the others. This gives listeners the sense of progression through the song and helps maintain interest. Vary the rhythm of the vocal melody between sections. Change the rhyming scheme. Add or change instruments in the accompaniment. Whatever it takes to differentiate the verses from the choruses, and all parts in between.

Loud vs. Soft
Dynamics. In today's world of hyper compressed audio, this has almost become a lost art. That's too bad, because following a really quiet passage with a thunderous one is a guaranteed way to turn some heads. That goes for live performances too. The best live bands I've seen were ones that new how to use dynamics as part of their music. If you have ever seen Stevie Ray Vaughn bring a song down to a barely audible whisper, and then come raging back to full volume with a screaming guitar solo, you know what I'm talking about. Brought people to their feet every time.

The best recordings also use dynamics to hold control over the listener. Recordings can use contrast in other ways as well. For example, you can make verse sections narrow and choruses wide, or verses "dry" and choruses "wet". You can also make certain sections acoustically dense and others sparse.

Thunderbolt and Lightning
While contrast doesn’t always have to mean wildly careening changes, sometimes it's the perfect prescription. Have you ever noticed it's almost impossible not to bang our head during the reprise of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody? That's because it is a masterpiece of contrast. Freddy and company utilize dramatic changes in mood, rhythm, range, dynamics, and intensity. The opening verses are a loungy piano ballad, the bridge section features quirky, operatic vocal harmonies, and then they blow your socks off with a loud, infectious guitar riff. That's how it's done.

If your song is flat-lining, it might be time to warm up the defibrillator paddles and shock it back to life with a little contrast.

Clear!

* photo by Marie.joy

Music in The Cloud

2011-02-10T08:44:00.000-08:00

Just a few days after writing my Collaboration in the 21st Century post, I found this: Google's new Audiotool app.

Holy crap...that is way too cool...in a scary way.

Anonymous, open source songwriting is knocking on the door, people. I'm predicting now that copyright laws will not be rewritten fast enough to keep up with this technology.

I can see the album credits now: "All the Ways I've Love You", words and music by 73 people whose names we don't know.

* photo by Fuzzcat

Guitar Hero.....The Final Curtain

2011-02-10T08:16:00.000-08:00

Activision announced today that they are discontinuing their popular Guitar Hero series of video games.

Guitar Hero = good, in my book.

It interested a whole new generation in guitar-centric music, and also generated a lot of new guitar students for me. It also introduced me to a lot of modern music my kids liked, but that I hadn't heard. Total win, IMO.

Collaberation in the 21st Century

2011-02-07T06:20:00.000-08:00

My romantic vision of a co-writing session looks something like this: two people sitting in a room, one with guitar in hand, one at a piano. The lights are dim. There’s a cigarette in an ashtray.

So cool.

But as interconnectivity become more accessible it looks like I’m going to have to re-imagine things a bit.

Come Together
In the early days of the internet many people feared it would rob of us our social connectedness. Instead of interacting with one another in the real world we would spend more and more of our time staring through a screen into an artificial one. As the internet has matured it seems to me the opposite has happened: people with unique or specialized interests (like songwriting), who once felt isolated by geography and distance, are connecting, sharing, and creating with one another in ways never before possible.

Songwriters and musicians have benefited as much as anyone, and in the last few years sites like kompoz, myonlineband, and indaba, have begun making it easier than ever to create music over the internet. Starting an account allows you to manage individual song projects. You can allow only those you invite to contribute tracks to the song, or you can solicit help from total strangers. Want an organ track, but don't have a keyboard, or don't know how to play? Make your project public and you'll soon have keyboard players knocking at your door.

Creating music this way also has a huge creative perk: the end result is often unique and completely unexpected. Remember those activities where three people each draw part of a person – head, body, and legs – without looking at what the others are doing, and the reveal a completed drawing that combines everyone’s work into something unique and original? It’s sort of like that…but cooler.

With a Little Help From My Friends
Over the last few years I have had a few unusual collaborations with songwriters that I have never met in person. One was with a guy from Norway. We “met” in a BBS forum site, drawn there by our common interest in recording. In a thread on songwriting one member threw out the idea of writing 26 songs, each based on a letter of the alphabet. Every word in the lyrics of each song could only start with that song’s letter.

It was an interesting challenge, and the two of us decided we would give it a try. I began working on the lyrics, and posted them in the thread as I completed each song. Then my newfound Norwegian friend would take my lyrics and write music around them. Over the course of a few months we completed all the songs (we fudged a little, combining X, Y, and Z into one song). The project yielded some really creative stuff that I don’t think either of us would have come up with if not for the collaboration, and the challenge of a third forum member. We titled our album The AB-CD.

Another was for a song I had already completed, but needed keyboards for. I posted it on ReverbNation, where it was heard by another musician who created weird soundscapes via keyboard. He contacted me to let me know he liked the song, and when I heard his music I thought it would be a perfect fit. I asked him if he would like to contribute tracks for my tune, and he was happy to oblige.

Not exactly two guy sitting in a smokey room.

Fixing a Hole
In places like Nashville, where every diner table is bussed by a budding songwriter, this "global community" approach is not always needed. For the rest of us, however, finding and creating with fellow songwriters via the internet has been nothing short of revolutionary.

Sitting down in a room face-to-face with another songwriter will always be a great way to write. The internet can never match the vibe and spontaneity that exists in a situation like that. More and more, however, I'm becoming convinced that the internet is sparking it's own kind of creativity. It is essentially allowing writers to offer up their song's code as "open source", to a community of like-minded contributors that can create something two people sitting in a room never could.

And that's cool too.

*photo by Jessie Lynn McMains

Bohemian Rhapsody on Ukulele

2011-02-04T08:02:00.000-08:00

Fact: One sign of a great song is that it can be interpreted in many different genres, and on many different instruments.
Fact: The ukulele is experiencing a huge resurgence right now, thanks in part to artists like Isreal Kamakawiwo'ole and Jason Mraz.
Fact: Jack Shimabukro has complete master over his chosen instrument.

With all that in mind, I present to you: Bohemian Rhapsody on the ukulele.

*photo by uketeecee

Writing Instrumental Songs

2011-02-01T14:17:00.000-08:00

So…you’re a hot-shot guitar player that wants to write instrumentals, and you’re wondering how all this songwriting crap applies to you. Well grab that axe and warm up those tubes my friend, ‘cause this post is about to make all your wildest dreams come true.

The real question for guys like you is: are there any differences in approach and structure between vocal songs and instrumental songs. Answer: yes, and they mostly have to do with the strengths and limitations of various instruments (of which the human voice is one). Let's check them out.

Melodic Approach
First off, the human voice is a monophonic instrument (Tibetan monks notwithstanding). It is incapable of performing a harmonic piece the way a single guitar or piano might. Obviously, a composer would need to take that into account.

Furthermore, instruments such as electric guitar and keyboard have a much wider range than the human voice. Melodies composed for them can take advantage of that. There are also musical passages idiosyncratic to various instruments that are impossible to sing - phrases that are too quick or which contain gigantic interval leaps, for example. Lastly, there are often quirky noises or instrument characteristics (pick slides, pinch harmonics, whammy bar dive bombs, e.g.) that can define instrumental melodies, that the voice cannot duplicate.

To better illustrate the ideas above, I challenge you to sing the lead guitar part to "Cliffs of Dover" by Eric Johnson. Let me know how it goes.

Form and Structure
Structurally there can be differences too. It really depends on what we are including within our definition of "instrumental". If we restrict our definition to short, contemporary "songs" without vocals, I would say there doesn't have to be a difference at all. Verses, choruses, bridges - all the standard building blocks of songs - can be manipulated and ordered just the same in both cases.

The one big caveat I can think of is the hook. In vocal songs the power of the hook is strengthened and reinforced by lyrical rhymes. Without the benefit of rhyme, instrumental hooks have to be musically memorable, which is why they often depend on instrumental idiosyncrasies, as mentioned above.

The bottom line is: write to put your melody in its best light. Take advantage of the capabilities of your lead instrument, whether it is the human voice, a saxophone, or a screaming guitar.

*Photo by eclecticlibrarian.

Reaper

2011-01-27T10:42:00.000-08:00

It's not every day I find a product that moves me to write about it, but after using Reaper multi-track recording software for a few years now I am not just a fan...I'm in love with Reaper! Deeply.

Join me now while I wax poetic about this incredible piece of software....

Reaper, How I Love Thee.
Before Reaper I was a die-hard Cakewalk Sonar user. I had been using it since the ancient (1980's) Twelve-tone Cakewalk 3.0 days...back when it was MIDI only (there was no such thing as computer audio recording back then). I remained loyal as the software grew, through all the version of Pro-Audio, and then Sonar - up to version 6.0.

Then Reaper came into my life.

I tried the fully-featured, non-crippled, non-expiring trial version. (That's right...Reaper trusted me, right from the start.) So small. So responsive. So stable. I had never known an audio program could be this way. I was in love. I held tightly to Sonar for a while, tried to deny my feelings, but as time went on our relationship turned cold. The flame was gone. I left Sonar and followed my heart, and I've never been happier.

Reaper gave me all the things Sonar did, and so much more:

Fully-featured, pro-level multi-track audio recording.
MIDI Functionality.
Tight coding - small, stable, and spry.
Great routing capabilities.
Tons of free VST plug-ins.
Copy protection and dongle-free operation.
A purchase that gets your free upgrades through two versions.
A large user-base with a very helpful forum area.
Super frequent updates and bug-fixes.
A responsive development team.

And then I learned the cost: $60 for a non-profit user, or $225 for a commercial license. I was beside myself. Finally, an audio program that understood my needs. Reaper, I love you forever.

A Poem for Reaper
And so, as a token of my love, I compose this poem to Reaper:

In those dark days, before you existed
I cast my affections upon another
I doted

Then you showed me, through gentle trust
That my current software was slow
And bloated

And you so quick, so nimble and spry
With winged feet as Mercury
Won my heart.

And now it beats, anew, aflutter
With each new project
Reaper starts.

In Conclusion
This could be my stupidest post ever. Just check out Reaper...it rocks.

The Power of Negative Space

2011-01-21T14:18:00.000-08:00

Any physicist will tell you that everything in our world – from a steel girder to hunk of granite – is made up of mostly empty space. We never notice it. To us all these little bits of space and matter combine to form larger objects that appear sturdy. Can you see where I’m going with this? If you want to write a solid song, fill it with space.

Unwriting
Songwriters write, right? We feel like it’s our job to fill staves with little black dots. But our creative impulse can also become our downfall. Too often we gnash our teeth and wring our hands over trying to mark every beat and measure with some creative combination of notes, when instead we should be doing nothing.

Well, not really nothing. Writing space into a song is as conscious a decision as writing notes, but it often goes underutilized because it doesn’t seem as…hard. It’s a shame, because it’s the use of space that really defines a song. All those little holes in songs invoke drama, contrast, and groove, and go a long way towards making arranging (not to mention recording and mixing) easier.

Anti-Matter
Now, I’m not talking measures and measures of awkward silence. I’m talking small rests and pauses purposefully placed to create negative space between the notes. Try to use this negative space the same way an artist does in a painting: to highlight the important positive spaces. If you want a listener to really notice something in your chorus or hook, surround it with silence. If you want a listener to relate to an emotional lyric, give them some quiet time to think about it.

AC/DC are masters at using space. The opening guitar riff to “Black in Black” is a perfect example: three chords and a simple blues lick separated by a whole lotta nothing, and catchy as hell. Sting is another proficient and practiced purveyor of pause. Listen to “Walking on the Moon”. Ironic that the song is about space, because there is almost enough of it there to fit in a whole ‘nother song.

A few other songs that I think use space well:

"You Shook Me All Night Long" (and most of the AC/DC catalog)
"Black or White", "Smooth Criminal" – Michael Jackson
"Another One Bites the Dust", "I Want to Break Free" – Queen

What else you got? Let's hear 'em.

* photo by karlequin

10 Great Albums You Don't Own

2010-12-13T08:32:00.000-08:00

Shame.

You should feel it if you don't own all ten albums in this post.

OK...I'll cut you some slack since you've probably never heard of any of them. If you haven't at least sampled them all by year's end, however, you have no one to blame but yourself.

Khronos - Maktub
The Man Who - Travis
On My Own Two Feet - Granian
Mawell's Urban Hang Suite
Rauol and the Kings of Spain - Tears for Fears
Target Practice - Unknown Hinson
Liquid Skin - Gomez
Colour Moving & Still - Chantal Kreviazuk
Preservatives Affirmative - Pfilbryte
Ghost Stories - Amanda Ghost

*photo by jamelah

Fight Club: Lyrics vs. Lyrics

2010-12-08T10:47:00.000-08:00

This edition of Fight Club is the kind of match-up that only exists in the world of fantasy sports… or science fiction. It’s a man vs. himself battle royal pitting lyrics against…lyrics. It’s like Tyson vs. Tyson. It’s like regular Captain Kirk against the evil Captain Kirk from Episode 27.

This month’s Fight Club match-up is: How Lyrics Sound vs. What Lyrics Say…and it’s time to throw down.

The Red Corner: What They Say
Words with no substance are just empty calories; quick energy but no staying power. Fast food. As an artist you should strive for more. Have something compelling to say. It’s the content of your words that elevate your art from shallow pap to something significant and meaningful.

Songs are powerful. They can lull a baby to sleep or lead an army to battle. They can spark a social revolution and literally change the world. Make your words count. Metaphor, simile, alliteration, rhyme….these are the ingredients in a songwriter’s cookbook. Why settle for mac and cheese when you can have filet mignon?

The Blue Corner: How They Sound
Meh. Screw “deep meaning”. This isn’t Shakespeare. This is pop music; it’s supposed to be sweet. It’s supposed to feel good. We’re not writing poetry here. Lyrics are meant to be sung. As such, their “singability” is of supreme importance. You really want people to remember your words? Then you better make sure each one feels as good on the tongue as chocolate chip mint ice cream.

If a lyric makes no sense but is fun to sing anyway, I say mission accomplished. You got people singing along? Mission accomplished. Does this hurt your artistic pride? Get over it….unless you want to survive forever on the mac and cheese you seem to hate so much.

No Quarter
Fight Club is not about touchy-feely “everybody’s a winner” scenarios. We want to watch somebody’s ass get kicked. We want a champion. In this bout, I say the winner is clear: How Lyrics Sound.

You think meaningless syllables went out of style with “Beebop-a-loola”? Try the lyrics from this mega-hit on for size:

          Rah Rah ah ah ah ah
      Roma, Roma, Romama
          Ga Ga Oh La La

You think nonsense verse ended with Jabberwocky? Take a gander at these lines, penned by a pair of semi-well-respected songwriters from Liverpool:

          Sitting on a cornflake waiting for the van to come
          Corporation t-shirt stupid bloody Tuesday
          Man you been a naughty boy, you let your face grow long
          I am the egg man, I am the egg man, I am the walrus
          Goo-goo gajoob.

Is it fair to say that in a perfect world every lyric would be equal parts style and substance? Sure. In reality perfect rhymes, alliterations, metaphors, and other poetic devices don’t jive with every set of lyrics. If I’m forced to opt for one or the other, I’m going with singable, memorable lyrics ever time.

*photo by PetitPlat Food Art

That's What She Said

2010-11-22T09:00:00.000-08:00

It sounds like it's about a girl...but it's not. Or is it? Ahh....the double entendre. Where would popular music be without it?

In that spirit, here is CNN's top ten songs you thought were about women, but aren't......or are they?

*Photo by Felipe Morin

Digital Macaroni and Cheese

2010-11-15T09:11:00.000-08:00

Yellow death. Edam elbows. Cafeteria gruel.

It's cheap, it keeps you alive, and it's what musicians will be eating for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if they are forced to depend on digital downloads as their main source of revenue in the future.

Check out this chart that shows how much artists earn from digital sales of their music.

I hope you have a strong stomach.

* photo by ahhyeah

How Many Songs Does it Take to Get Rich?

2010-11-11T08:19:00.000-08:00

The answer: one, if it's the right one.

I've heard it, you've heard it, we've all heard it....like a million times. Here is Franke Previte's income from "I Had the Time of My Life".

Right place, right time, right song = set for life. Franke was definitely on board the Luck Bus that year!

Fight Club: DLS vs. Super Sport

2010-11-03T11:15:00.000-07:00

About the only pedal type as ubiquitous as the Tube Screamer is the Marshall-in-a-box. Everybody loves ‘em, everybody likes to compare ‘em. Last week I got a chance to test two popular MIAB type pedals head–to-head: the Catalinbread DLS (version 2) and the Barber B-Custom Super Sport.

The Test Gear
I tested the pedals by running them in front of a Budda SD18. Test guitars included a Fender Stratocaster, Ibanez JS1000, and Ernie Ball MusicMan Silhouette.

Looks and Vibe
I don’t like the way Barber pedals look. Utilitarian and drab. Fortunately the Super Sport, with its sparkly blue finish and racing stripe, bucks that trend to a certain degree. The DLS is still more my style. The smaller footprint, distressed graphics, unique square status light, and RAWK switch evoke a nice design aesthetic.

Gain
The first and most obvious observation is that the Barber has more gain. WAY more. Even at its lowest settings there is still a decent amount of gain happening. The DLS, on the other hand, maxes out at what I would call heavy overdrive…maybe ½ of what the SS has on tap. This can be good or bad depending on your needs. If lower gain Marshall tones are what you’re after, the DLS offers a much wider range to sweep through. If you are after the higher gain Marshall mojo, SS all the way.

However, the more I played with the Super Sport the more I discovered that though there isn't a huge range of low OD available, what is there is very dynamic and clear. I found that I preferred it as a low gainer over most of my Tube Screamer style overdrive pedals.....I just had to get used to turning the drive knob in teensy-weensy increments.

The Knobs
Both the DLS and SS have the standard three knobs on the outside, and they all do what you would expect them to. It’s worth noting that the SS has perhaps the most useable tone knob I’ve ever encountered in a distortion pedal. It yields useable tones throughout its entire sweep. The DLS’ tone knob is more typical, with most of the useable stuff falling between 10 and 2.

Additionally, the SS has five internal adjustment knobs. No fluff here….all are valuable for altering the tonality. Thus the SS win hands-down in the flexibility department. Unfortunately, every internal knob is also…ummm…. internal. Booo. Massive points deducted for this. That said, spend some time with the Harmonics and Note Shape knobs. Cool stuff.

Character
Tonally the DLS has a resonant peak in the upper mids that is impossible to dial out. The SS’s emphasis is centered more in the lower mids, and is equally impossible to dial out despite the internal adjustments. Beyond that, I would characterize the DLS as having a “harder”, dryer tone, while the SS is more “saturated”. The DLS wants to piss of the neighbors, and the SS wants to invite them over for a beer.

The Reveal
I kept the Barber and sent the DLS back. Lots of people love the DLS, and for lower gain AC-DC type tones it is fantastic. I got tired of the dry nasal quality of it, and opted instead for the warmer options the Barber offered.

Recording Guitar: To Reamp or Not.

2010-10-24T10:37:00.000-07:00

In the beginning, electric guitars were recorded the old-fashioned way: by plugging a guitar into an amp and sticking a mic in front of it. Then re-amping came along. Re-amping is the process of recording a clean or direct guitar signal, and then applying amplifier simulation plug-ins to that signal later. It's popular among audio producers because it allows them the freedom to change the basic characteristics of the guitar's tone during mix-down. What could be cooler than that? Well....I'll tell you what.

Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing
These days there are more ways to tweak a mix than you could ever have time for in a 1000 years, and nothing kills a song faster than tweaking a mix. Whenever I try to play it safe - create tracks that I can massage later - everything always gets worse. I get stuck in "analysis paralysis", tinkering with everything a thousand different ways like I'm George Lucas.

I'm not wired that way. I'm a vibe guy to the bone. I like to make decisions in the "now", while there is real energy in the air, while I'm in the zone and things feel right. I always try to get the sound I'm after straight out of the speakers and into the mic. If something comes up later, I will work with what I have and find a way around the problem. If there's no way around, I'll re-track.

Bear in mind, I'm only talking about core guitar tone here; the basic character and tone of the guitar, including overdrive and distortion. There are certain other things I always add later in the mix: a little more compression or EQ when necessary, sometimes reverb or delay. For things like chorus, vibe, or flange it really depends. When you track them live with a pedal in front of a real amp the two interact in a certain way that I don't think you can ever capture with plug-ins at mix time. Think of the flanger or phaser sounds on some of the early Van Halen tunes. I don't think you could get that tone by surgically adding a phaser in at mix time.

Get Off My Lawn
I think the idea of "real-time" decision making in audio recording is something sadly missing from much of today's music. No life, no character, no warts. It is music polished to a high gloss by teams of producers that have the talent and tools to make every beat and measure unattainably and artificially perfect. I prefer to take the opposite tack: make real music. Commit. Take chances, and move forward boldly instead of constantly playing it safe and hedging your bets.

Too much of what we hear on the radio today is audio plastic. It is music performed by machines. And while a machine might be able to create a more perfect Mona Lisa, it can never reach out and paint a mustache on her. That's what artists do.

When Good Songs Go Bad

2010-10-08T12:13:00.000-07:00

It’s a common tale: as a youngster your song was full of promise and potential. But as it grew it lost its way. Too many bad influences, too many poor choices. Drugs. Booze. A neck tattoo. Now it’s got no job and no prospects. Your beautiful youngster didn’t become the productive song you envisioned it to be. What are you supposed to do now?

Send it to Military Camp
Most great songs are not written…they are re-written…and re-written…and re-written. They are forged into hits by people that have dedicated themselves to the craft. People that have sung melodies into their answering machines a thousand times, given up parties with friends to hammer out second verses, and lost sleep over single lines. To write like they do you must become disciplined. Constant. Strong, and willing to sacrifice.

If your song has lost its way, put in the hard yards. Songwriting is, after all, work. Set aside time every day to write, and defend it with vigilance and passion. Refuse to accept anything but your best effort. Correct your misguided song by putting it in an environment where it will become the best it can be.

Help It Find Its Own Way
Accept that not every song will end up the way you thought it would when you started. We’re not following a recipe here. We aren’t baking cookies. We are trying to tap into that great cosmic connection called Creativity and discover something new. This means we must be open to crazy ideas and unexpected inspirations that take us in new directions.

Every song is different, and has different needs. When your song needs to follow its own path, prepare to be patient - sometimes for years. In the mean time be observant. Think like a songwriter. Wait for the proper influences and guidance to arrive. Most of all, don’t judge. Just because the song isn’t turning out like you expected doesn’t mean it’s bad. In fact, the opposite is probably true. You are pushing your boundaries and breaking new creative ground.

Let It Go
Sometimes a song is simply a lost cause. If you’ve nursed one along long enough to become personally attached to it this can be heartbreaking. It’s an “Old Yeller” moment. It feels like failure. It is not. Every song, good or bad, has its own lessons to teach. In fact I would argue I’ve learned more about the craft of songwriting from my failures than my successes.

The more songs you write, the easier it will become for you to recognize the bad ones early on. You will learn to spot the tell-tale signs like words in key places that don’t rhyme well, or melodies that refuse to go anywhere. When you do, you will be faced with a choice: use your knowledge of the craft to redirect the song (or perhaps salvage the parts and use them in something else), or simply abandon it. If your song has completely lost its way, let it go. Release your ideas back to that great cosmic connection called Creativity, and have faith that more, better ideas will come your way in the future.

*photo by Traj-

DiMarzio True Velvet and ProTrack Pickups

2010-10-05T11:08:00.000-07:00

I've done my fair share of slagging DiMarzio's Virtual Vintage pickups. I've tried every model and HATE them. In the interest of fairness, I just wanted to post a quick shout-out for the DiMarzio Pro Track and True Velvets. GREAT humbucker and single coil tones for Stratocasters!

I recently replaced all three pickups in my Mexican Standard Stratocaster with a DiMarzio ProTrack (PT) in the bridge, and True Velvets (TV) in the neck and middle positions. I was worried that the PT's higher output and warmer tone would be a mismatch with the TV's more "vintage" output and tone. I shouldn't have been.

The TV's provide plenty of single coil snap and quack. When switching to the PT in the bridge position there is a nice, but not exaggerated or annoying, boost in output. It's warmer EQ turns a Strat's dreaded bridge position in to a warm, friendly "humbucker-ish" tone that is a joy to play. In the number two position (the middle position TV paired with one coil from the PT) there is still plenty of quack for my tastes.

I've owned Strats at every price point, and I've owned pickups at every price point. I can say without hesitation that this is the first Stratocaster I've ever had where I truly loved every pickup position.

Great stuff!

Songwriting: a Pachyderm’s Perspective

2010-09-10T13:14:00.000-07:00

There’s an old fable in which seven blind guys argue about what en elephant looks like. They disagree because each of them is feeling a different part of the elephant – the tusks, the ears, the trunk, and so forth. The morale is that a single thing can come across many different ways depending on how it is presented. So, do you want your song smooth and pointy, or flat and leathery?

Elephant Parts
Just like an elephant, a lyric can be presented from many different points of view. Let's run them down:

First person is when a speaker refers to themselves as “I” (or “we”). First person is popular in song because it gives a singer the chance to convey the emotions of the lyric as if they were their own. They come across with immediacy, intimacy, and honesty. "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by The Beatles are both in first person. First person is also useful for “emotional songs” that have no real plot, but instead express feelings or ideas. “Dust in the Wind”, recorded by Kansas, is such a song.

Second person is when a speaker addresses one or more people directly, using the word “you” (or perhaps “y’all” if it’s a country song). Few songs are written in second person, because speaking directly to the listener often comes across as pushy or preachy. Don't let that scare you off. Sometimes lyrics in second person are just what you need to involve a listener in the action. An example of a well known song in second person is “Santa Clause is Coming to Town”. There's also this mildly successful song called "Beat It", by Michael Jackson. Maybe you've heard of it.

Third person is when a speaker refers to another individual or individuals as “he”, “she”, or “they”, or by proper name. It is perfect for “story songs” that involve more than one main character. By writing in third person a single singer can tell each character's story. The Bon Jovi hit “Livin’ On A Prayer” is a great example. Actually, now that I think about it, that song switches between third person in the verses and first person in the choruses. Whatever. Let's go with "Copa Cabana" by Barry Manilow instead.

A Fourth Point of View
If you are pitching your songs, one point of view you should never overlook is the singer’s. Put yourself in front of the microphone and ask "why would I want to sing this song?". Singers want to look good to their audience, and usually aren't interested in songs that put them in the wrong demographic.

A young female artist probably isn't interested in songs about life from a grandma's perspective. If you’ve written such a lyric, however, you may be able to make it work for her by getting creative with the point of view. Instead of making the grandma the main character, tell your story through the words of a young woman who is relating her grandmother’s experience.

A dazzling example of this is “Waiting on a Woman”, written by Don Sampson and Wynn Varble, and recorded by Brad Paisley. The song is about an old man, told from the point of view of a young man that strikes up a conversation with him while their wives are trying on clothes at the mall. It is a poignant love story that probably wouldn’t have been recorded if not for the brilliant way in which the writers made it sing-able for a young artist.

Some songs can make the singer look like a schmuck. In some genres this may acceptable, but not all. If you've written a song with characters that have undesirable qualities, consider writing it in third person instead of first. This way the singer is not forced to assume their role, and instead simply tells their story as an outside observer. Once again a Brad Paisley song, “Whiskey Lullaby” (written by Bill Anderson and Jon Randall), serves as a perfect example. By telling the story in third person, the writers don’t force Brad into becoming a suicidal alcoholic. They also avoid making him a ghost, since both characters are dead by the end of the song.

The Right End
As a songwriter it is useful to get into the habit of imagining your stories told from alternate points of view. When doing so, think about how a listener might perceive your song when told in, say, third person instead of first. The results might surprise you. A story you initially imagined in third person might take on the perfect sense of urgency in first person. Your first-person song about a war protester might be better told in an accusing second-person.

Elephants are big. Each end looks very different from the other, and serves a very different purpose. Make sure you pick the right one.

*Photo by digitalART2.

Aiming for the Edges: The Un-hit.

2010-09-03T12:40:00.000-07:00

As songwriters we strive to write hits; songs that are marketable, memorable, adaptable, and above all enjoyable. But aiming solely for hits can become creatively limiting. There’s a whole lot more to the target than the bull’s eye, and sometimes what we need to write ourselves out of a rut is a song that casts aside all sense of marksmanship and aims for the edges. In other words, an “un-hit”.

Independent songwriters want every song to be a hit, especially in this digital era where we seem to be moving away from the album and towards the single as the standard unit of musical consumption. The problem is it puts songwriters in a position of constantly having to shoot at only what the public wants, expects, and will pay for – a very small dot in the center of all musical possibilities.

Adjust Your Aim
Albums are cool. When songwriters write for albums they are concerned with the flow of the album as a whole, and between the bullet-proof singles they often insert songs that serve the overall context but might not stand well on their own. Un-hits. Songs that would never have happened if the songwriter had been sighting at a target audience and gauging market fluctuations. All us songwriters need to write like that sometimes – reverse our usual limitations, and allow ourselves to hit anything but the bull’s eye.

Any dart player will tell you that there are often better places to hit than the bull’s eye. Experiment with these new targets. Pick a crazy limitation, and own it. Write a song with no chorus, or two choruses. Write one that has three bridges and no verses. Write a song you don’t think will sell in a million, trillion years. Write a song that uses nothing but swear words for lyrics, or doesn’t have a single rhyme, or has only one word in the whole thing. Write one that modulates through every key.

Missing the Mark
Aiming for the edges takes creative courage. You expand your chances of finding new artistic territory, but you greatly reduce your chances of financial success. That is not to say that un-hits can never be hits. You never know when the public will seize on some off-the-mark song and embrace it. “The Bed Intruder Song” is a current example. Talk about not aiming for a target: the lyrics were written by Antoine Dodson, a guy who didn’t even know he was writing a song. It is currently #35 on iTunes Charts, in front of songs by Lady GaGa, John Mayer, and Carrie Underwood.

Sometimes the whole target becomes a bull’s eye, and other times if you keep hitting wide to the right long enough, the target will readjust itself to accommodate you. Whatever you write, do it with conviction and purpose. Make your single arrow on the edge more memorable than the multitude in the middle.

My List
Listed below are some of my favorite un-hits. These aren't from obscure prog or heavy metal bands. Each song is from a band, album, or writer that is/was actively charting songs. I've only included songs that did not chart, but it should be stated that the list of un-hits by bands like The Beatles and Queen that have charted is a long one. Have some favorites of your own? Let's hear 'em!

Back Talk – Journey, from the album “Frontiers”
The Millionaire Waltz - Queen, from the album "A Day at the Races"
Because – The Beatles, from the album “Abbey Road”
Ode de Toilet (The Toilet Song) - Brad Paisley, from the album "Time Well Wasted"
Straight Cold Player – Lenny Kravitz, from the album “5”
Mother – The Police, from the album “Synchronicity”
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite – The Beatles, from the album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”

*Photo by M i x y

Songwriting for Dummies, 2nd Edition

2010-08-26T09:39:00.000-07:00

The new book "Songwriting for Dummies, 2nd Edition" dropped last week, and guess who is in it. That's right....yours truly: Aaron Cheney of The Song Garage blog. I never miss an opportunity to toot my own horn, but the truth is there are many horns to be tooted in this new edition.

Jim Peterik, a writer of songs you know by heart, like "Eye of the Tiger", "The Search is Over" and "Vehicle" (one of my all-time fav's), along with co-authors Dave Austin and Cathy Lynn, impart songwriting smarts that go well beyond the basics. I really dig the fact that this book isn't as country-centric as many songwriting books are. Rather than focusing only on the Nashville songwriting style, they offer up a heaping helping of tasty suggestions, advice, and insight that apply to a wide range of styles and genres.

The book also features a forward by certified hit-writer and American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi. And of course, there's my favorite page....the "C" section of the index:

Be sure to check this book out..it's good stuff!

Track Order in an MP3 World

2010-07-28T12:06:00.000-07:00

Up until a few years ago the most popular unit of musical consumption was the album. On albums individual songs were components in a larger artistic vision, and artists very thoughtfully chose the order in which they played. But in today’s MP3 world, where consumers have the ability to cherry-pick individual songs, is track order still even relevant? Why yes…yes it is.

The B Side
The dawn of popular music was actually quite similar to today in some respects. In the ‘50’s the “single” song ruled. With the ‘60’s and the advent of album-oriented-radio (AOR), artists began to combine songs into albums, and the album became an art form all its own. The dominant format of the time, the LP, was two-sided and forced artists to arrange albums in two halves – almost like two acts of a play. As a result, songs were ordered as a musical journey, with an ebb and flow.

During the AOR era an album’s best songs often appeared on the side two. Two great examples: “Beat It” and “Billy Jean”, from Michael Jackson’s Thriller, and “Back in Black” and “You Shook Me All Night Long”, from AC-DC’s Back in Black. Both are tracks 1 and 2 from side two of their respective albums.

Have you ever noticed that when you play the above CD’s today it feels a little awkward that their benchmark tunes are in the middle of the track list? That’s because the newer CD format lends itself to a different song-order philosophy. CD’s don’t need to be flipped. As a result, artists ordering songs for CD’s put their best songs right at the front of their albums – often in a “baseball lineup”, with the biggest hitters in positions 1 through 4. Most everything beyond track 5 is the "B" material.

The A Side
As physical album sales wane and sales of single songs online becomes the standard, why continue to worry about track order? Because everywhere your songs appear, be it iTunes, ReverbNation, MySpace, or SoundClick, they appear in a list. And just like the CD format, what’s at the top of the list is what people will listen to first, and most. You want to put your best foot forward.

This is especially true for bands or songwriters creating websites to sell themselves and promote their songs. When trying to catch a publisher or promoter’s ear you don’t have time to arrange songs in a creative journey of tempos, keys, and moods. You need to come out swinging by putting the great stuff right up front. Sad but true: songs past track 4 in a playlist are almost never listened to.

Another aspect of human behavior to keep in mind is that people are attracted to things that other people are attracted to. Nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd, right? On websites that display “counters” you can take advantage of this by posting your most-listened-to songs a bit lower in the track order, and putting new songs that you want to get feedback on in the number 1 or 2 slot. People will still listen to the popular songs simply because they display a high hit-count, while also being more likely to check out the new stuff.

The Run-Off Groove
I really hope that as this new era of digital music distribution evolves there will still be bands for whom the album remains the primary artistic expression. For me music is most enjoyable in this context. Songwriters achieve greater creative depth and scope when they aren't writing every song to be a hit single. Listening to one track from Abbey Road is not the same as listening to the album in its entirety.

*Photo by JohnBurke

Think Like a Donut

2010-07-16T11:01:00.000-07:00

How can you tell if your multi-track recording is good? Simple – if you can hear everything, it's good. None of the elements should be competing for space and there should a pleasing balance between them. Next question: how do you create a pleasing balance between a dozen (or more) different instrument and vocal parts all playing at once? The answer: think like a donut.

Glazed
Components in a mix compete with each other in many ways. They compete for musical space, volume, range, and frequency. In order to make room for everything we need holes…and lots of them. When you create and exploit holes in problem areas it becomes easier to craft a mix in which all the parts can be heard. So…think like a donut.

For the purpose of this discussion let's assume you’ve already written a good song, and that you’ve already made the “big” arrangement decisions. What we’re looking for now are ways to sweeten things up. Some are “small” arrangement or performance decisions, and others happen during recording and mixing. Let’s dig in…

Powdered Sugar
First rule of thumb: learn to “play where something isn’t”, both musically and rhythmically. Rather than slathering a bunch of parts on top of each other, look for ways to make musical space. Write parts with holes, and interlock them with each other like puzzles pieces.

When composing parts, keep range in mind. If there is already a horn part in a high range, don’t clog up that area with additional instruments. Instead, write new parts in a lower range. When multi-tracking guitars use different chord inversions or voicings on different tracks. Two complimenting guitar parts will almost always sound bigger and fuller than ten parts of the exact same thing tracked over and over. AC/DC has proven this to be true for the last 30 years.

While mixing, watch for competing frequencies. If you find your vocals are being drown out by your guitars, don't automatically reach for the volume faders. That quickly becomes a shouting match. Instead, use EQ to carve out a hole in the guitar’s upper mids that lets the vocals through. Similarly, if you find your bass guitar is smothering your kick drum, try EQ'ing a hole around 55-60 hz.

Vanilla Candy Sprinkle
Of constant concern in digital recording is overall volume. A common question is “Why don’t my mixes sound as loud as commercial mixes?” A large part of the answer is using a compressor or limiter to cap the volume spikes (usually from the snare and kick drum) that keep you from raising the song’s average volume. Beyond that, the answer is: you need more holes.

Here's why: In the real world there is no overhead limit. Each time you add an instrument to a group of other instruments, the volume simply increases. In the realm of digital recording, the opposite is true. There is an abrupt volume ceiling at 0db. Anything above that results in digital distortion. Thus the more simultaneous elements there are in a mix, the quieter it must be overall to avoid exceeding the 0db threshold.

Here is one example of how to use this principle. There is an old saying among bass players: If you want a song to groove, give the “two” and the “four” to the drummer. In other words, make a hole for the snare. In addition to magnifying the groove, giving the snare this extra space means that it does not require as much volume to cut through the mix. Less snare volume (in other words, fewer volume spikes) in turn allows you raise your recording's overall volume without distortion.

Maple Bars
Sometimes there is no way around it - parts have to be concurrent. Background vocals and doubled guitars are two great examples. Learn to think of these parts as a cohesive group, and make sure they mesh together tightly. Multi-tracked guitars should work together rhythmically and harmonically to create a cohesive single “guitar part”. Treat background vocals similarly. And remember: “tracks” does not equal “parts”. Two dozen tracks of Def Leopard style vocals should still sound like one “part” in the mix.

Also, (and this is important) make sure the bass guitar works cohesively with the kick drum. This is where the energy of a recording comes from. Together they should sound like one part.

Coffee
We’ve only dunked a little into the myriad possibilities for using holes to improve a recording. There are thousands more. Experiment. Succeed. Fail. Learn. Think like a donut, and let your good taste be your guide.

*Photo by jordanpattern

Crow's Feet - Rediscovering Your Old Songs

2010-06-10T09:58:00.000-07:00

Last week Paul McCartney was awarded the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. At a press conference prior to the ceremony he was quoted as not being able to recall how to play many of his own songs. “There’s just a few that I’d do if I’m at a party,” he said. “There are certain ones that I can conjure up but really, the truth is people say, ‘Go on, do that one!’ and I say, ‘Sorry, I have no idea how it goes.’”

Rejoice with me, fellow songwriters – our secret shame is no more.

Losing Touch
Like Sir Paul, I too have suffered the silent scorn and the mocking laughter. I have shrunk from the accusing whispers. “How can you not remember a song that you yourself wrote?” they say, and then throw their discarded respect at your feet.

But they don’t understand. Each song is like a child - birthed, nourished, raised to ultimately live its own life. In the end they leave you, and though they will always remain your songs, without day-to-day contact your familiarity with them withers. You lose touch. Before you realize it, years have passed. You can remember the feelings you had at the time, but the details have gotten fuzzy. It is like trying to remember what you were doing on an exact date a decade ago. No matter how hard you try, it’s just not there. The specifics have become diluted in an ocean of impressions and generalities.

Thank-you, Sir Paul for reminding us that there is no shame in this. If it's OK for you, then it's OK for songwriters everywhere. We can look confidently into those beseeching eyes around the campfire and say “Yes, I created this song, but it’s been a while. We’re strangers now. Give us some to get to know each other again.”

Reunited (And It Feels So Good)
You see, the art of creation and the art of performance are not inextricably linked. Each requires effort and its own kind of preparation. Creation is about letting go of your instincts, inhibitions and preconceptions. It is the process of finding something new and unfamiliar. Performance, on the other hand, is all about familiarity; about knowing something well enough that it becomes instinctual.

In order to perform them, the songs you have created must be practiced often. Old songs must be relearned. And therein lies one the best aspects of being a songwriter: the joy of rediscovery - the bittersweet realization that absence has indeed made the heart grow fonder. As you become reacquainted with an old song you sense that you both have changed since you saw each other last, but behind the crow's feet and the wrinkles is a face you recognize and love.

Milking The Metaphor
Over the years your songs will multiply, and there will be more and more to keep track of. You will find that you are closer to some than others at different times in your life. You will do your best to have reunions once or twice a year. You will continue to love each of them differently and wish them all a good life - and will secretly hope that somehow, some way, at least one will make enough money to take care of you in your retirement.

* Photo by ::Wendy::

Fight Club – Lyrics vs. Melody

2010-05-28T11:22:00.000-07:00

Pick up any songwriting book, or participate in any class and it is likely the majority of questions asked and instruction offered will revolve around lyrics. Most online forums are deluged daily with “Critique My New Lyrics!” posts. It would indeed seem that, as the old Nashville saying goes, “lyric is king”….but is it really? I’ll bet Melody would have a few things to say about that. I say, let ‘em fight.

In The Red Corner
Lyrics are the story, idea, or the central theme of a song. They are what the song is about, for cryin’ out loud. The title and chorus-lyric are the hub that the entire song revolves around. When you open up an album and look at the liner notes, what do you see - lyrics or melodies?

If one believes lyrics aren’t that important, why even both with them? Why not just sing “la, la, la” or hum the melody to every song? I’ll tell you why: because without lyrics a vocal melody gets boring. A vocal melody is not like an instrumental melody. A vocalist doesn’t have near the tonal range as a piano or guitar, and lacks the ability to incorporate huge interval jumps or other instrumental techniques. A vocal melody needs lyrics to develop it and sustain interest.

One must also acknowledge the power of actually having something to say. Can you imagine the music of the ‘60’s without lyrics? Just as a pen, a microphone is mightier than the sword. Why waste that power with “la, la, la’s”?

In the Blue Corner
Sorry Charlie, but it’s the melody that people sing….even when they can’t remember the lyrics. What could be more important than that? It’s a fact that people can retain words when set to music much better than words alone, or even in poem form. It follows that if you want people to remember your lyrics you better have a darn good melody leading the charge.

So if the melody of a song is where all the memory power lives, why so much attention on lyrics? Easy - it’s because lyrics are easy to quantify. As songwriters we can all sit around and scrutinize them seven ways ‘til Sunday. We can analyze their meaning, and discuss how clever or droll they are. Instructors can offer very specific tips on how to manipulate and improve them. In short, we can all geek out about them.

Melodies are more mercurial. They’re slippery, tough to teach, and difficult to talk about in absolute terms. People get scared. No component of songwriting is as important or feared as the melody.

We Have a Split Decision
A melody gives greater depth of feeling to a lyric and enhances a listener’s ability to remember the words. A well-written lyric, on the other hand, gives specific meaning to, and creates a sense of musical development for a melody. If I were forced to choose, I would have to say a song's melody is more important, but the truth is that a great set of lyrics paired with a perfectly complimentary melody is a total greater than the sum of its parts.

* Photo by Hoggheff aka Hank Ashby aka Mr. Freshtags' photostream

The Chorus Chameleon

2010-04-29T14:09:00.000-07:00

The chorus is the home base, the anchor, the returning-point of any song. It has to be memorable, and it has to be catchy. It only stands to reason that it should be the same every time. But what if I told you there was a way to keep every chorus in a song exactly the same, while simultaneously making each one completely different? Well move over Boy George, and make way for the Chorus Chameleon.

Kaleidoscope Colors
The chameleon has the unique ability to change colors depending on its surroundings. The Chorus Chameleon works in much the same way. Though its words stay the same, its meaning changes depending on the context.

The key to creating a Chorus Chameleon is choosing words or phrases that can be interpreted in several different ways. Words with many definitions, like “shot” or “run” are prime candidates. Clever phrases and double entendres can be just as effective. By building a story around them that takes advantage of their multiple meanings, every verse can paint its accompanying chorus a completely different color.

Smoke and Mirrors
In the lyrics below, each verse (written in plain English) alters the meaning of the chorus that follows it. Check it out:

V1: Guy sees a cute girl in a bar
Girl sees the guy is interested, but nervous
Girls says - If you ever want to win a girl like me you’re going to have to:

Chorus 1: Take a shot, don’t be shy

Step right up and give it a try

Be a man and show me what you got,

Take a shot.

V2: Girl’s boyfriend comes back from the john just in time to see first guy flirting with his girl
He puts up his dukes, ready to fight
First guy threatens to pull out a gun, so the boyfriend says:

Chorus 2: Take a shot, don’t be shy

Step right up and give it a try

Be a man and show me what you got,

Take a shot.

Bridge: First guy wakes up lying on the floor with a black eye
Bartender tries to console him by offering him some strong whiskey, and says:

Chorus 3: Take a shot, don’t be shy

Step right up and give it a try

Be a man and show me what you got,

Take a shot.

Obviously, the pivotal phrase in the song above is “take a shot”. In the first chorus its meaning is akin to “give it a try”. In the second the interpretation becomes “shoot your gun”. In the final chorus we understand it to mean a “drink some whiskey”. The words never change, but the meaning does. Cool, huh?

In Its Natural Habitat
Seeing animals in a zoo is alright, but seeing them in their natural habitat is always more thrilling. Here are two places you can easily spot the Chorus Chameleon:

“Concrete Angel” by Stephanie Bentley and Rob Crosby (and performed by Martina McBride). Through the first two verse/chorus cycles the “concrete angel” is a young girl who has hardened herself to neglect and abuse. In the final, heart-rending chorus it becomes the literal embodiment of the statue on her grave

“Grampa’s Still” by David Norris. In this clever tune the meaning of the choruses shifts between Grampa’s alcohol-making still, and Grampa hiding from the law by staying motionless on the porch. Brilliant!

Practice Blending In
The beauty of this technique is that it lets you invoke new interest in a listener every time the chorus comes around, while still maintaining that memorable quality that is so important in choruses.

As an exercise to get your creative juices flowing consider the phrase:” I’ve gotta run”. How many different interpretations can you generate for that phrase? List them all, and then create a story that includes two or three of them. Relate them all to a chorus that includes the words “I’ve gotta run”, and see what you come up with.
Take a shot!

*Photo by LaertesCTB

Get Your Freak On

2010-04-16T12:48:00.000-07:00

Gorgeous super-models with perfect bodies - blah. Soap-opera hunks with manicured nails - lame. Blindingly beautiful pop divas with flawless features - boring, boring, boring! Sometimes it’s the odd things that fascinate us the most. Things like side-show performers who can lift 400 pounds with their eyelashes, or family portraits so ugly you can’t stop looking. It’s time to celebrate the odd...odd time signatures, that is!

Odd time signatures occur fairly regularly in musical styles geared towards musicians, like jazz and fusion. They give artists in those genres complex and unusual rhythmic canvasas to create music over. Oh, I know what you're thinking. You're saying to yourself "that's all fine and good for jazz, but odd time signatures ain't gonna fly in pop music, pal. Pop is an art form where simplicity is king, and odd rhythms ask way too much of an untrained listener." I contend, however, that every now and then it is possible to use odd time signatures to create a killer pop song. Let’s figure out how. (For an explanation of time-signatures and how they work, go here.)

Getting Odd
3/4, or “waltz time”, is the least odd of all the odd time signatures; it’s the nicest looking kid in the ugly family photo. It pops up quite commonly in country and folk songs. "Alcohol" (Brad Paisley), "I’d Love You All Over Again" (Alan Jackson), "Heroes and Friends" ( Randy Travis), "Scarborough Fair" (Simon and Garfunkle), and "Annie’s Song" (John Denver).

It also gets used in many rock and pop ballads, such as "I’m With You" (Avril Levign), and "Open Arms" (Journey). In such tunes the time signature is often disguised as 4/4 by drums that play in a half-time feel. In a two-measure cycle, the kick drum plays on beat one of the first measure, and the snare plays on beat one of the following measure.

Other 3/4 pop songs include "Kiss From a Rose" (Seal), "Manic Depression" (Jimi Hendrix), "Come Away With Me" (Norah Jones), "Daughters" (John Mayer), and "She’s Always a Woman" ( Billy Joel).

Downright Freaky
Once we move beyond 3/4 things start to get really freaky. Time signatures like 5/4, 7/4, or 9/8 each impart their own sonic stamp on a song. Time signatures with short lengths (5/4, for example) have the strongest flavor. There is no way to get a listener around it – something weird is going on. Those with longer lengths (9/8, 11/8, etc) can sometimes be disguised as 4/4 until the end of each measure, at which time there is a little stutter-step as the beat comes back to the “one”. This can go a long way towards helping listeners feel the groove a little better.

Regardless of the time signature, creativity is the key. Using one just for the sake being clever is often a mistake. At best it sounds too obvious or contrived, at worst it becomes a distraction. The trick is choosing a time signature that sets up a groove that supports the song’s lyrics and mood. Sting is a master at this. Listen to songs like "Seven Days" (5/4), "I Hung My Head" (9/8), and "I Was Brought to My Senses" (7/8), among many others. Other songs in the super-freak club include "Dreaming in Metaphors" (Seal , 7/8), "The Dreaming Tree" (Dave Mathews, 7/8), and "Nothing Yet" (Tracie Chapman 5/4).

Bumping Uglies
Sometimes one time signature just isn’t enough. Using multiple time signatures within one song raises a whole truckload of interesting possibilities. One thing which can work well is using an odd time signature for a song’s verses, and blasting into 4/4 for the choruses. It sets up a feeling of tension-and-release that can really propel a chorus. Examples of this include "Love is Stronger than Justice" (Sting, 7/4 to 4/4), "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds" (The Beatles, 3/4 to 4/4), and "Spoonman" (Soundgarden, 7/4 to 4/4).

A song’s bridge is normally the place for some unexpected plot twist or musical change. As long as you are springing a trap on an unsuspecting listener, why not insert a few bars in a different time signature? "Black Hole Sun" (Soundgarden) is a great example of this. The song is in 4/4, but shifts to 9/8 during the bridge. Another one is "Best I Can" (Queensryche, 4/4 to 7/4).

"I Love Rock and Roll" (Joan Jett) is a great example of a tune that seems very basic, but uses a sneaky shifting time signature to create a monstrous hook. It is a butt-simple 4/4 tune, but at the end of every chorus there is one bar of 3/4 that throws in kind of a stagger-step. Along with the scream that follows it, it is the catchiest hook of the song. Just to make sure you didn't miss it she repeats it several times at the very end of the tune.

Digging the freaky side? Here is more suggested listening:
"All You Need is Love", "Good Morning, Good Morning" – The Beatles
"Black Dog", "The Ocean" - Led Zeppelin
"Freewill" , "Limelight" – Rush
"Money" – Pink Floydd

and of course:
"If You Say We’re Through" – Aaron Cheney (follow the link and look for it in the song player).

Still want more? Here you go, you superfreak!

* Photo by kReEsTaL

Center Stage With David Norris - Part 2

2010-04-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to my epic interview with David Norris, of Norrisong Productions. David knows what it takes to draw the best performance out of an artist, and make a great recording. In part 1 he talked to me in depth about what a producer's job is. Now he focuses on getting the most out of a recording session, and how to increase your chances of getting a song cut.

Why would an artist hire a producer?
One of the main reasons is to have somebody they trust behind the glass to give a professional and educated ear. But the other, as you have read is that it’s a HUGE project. The artist needs room to breathe and be an artist so he will delegate the responsibility to a qualified producer who gets the vision. Another main thing is that any good producer knows the dynamic and the pulse of where things are headed and understands the formula of being cutting edge but commercially viable.

How do you draw the best out of an artist?
The biggest way to get an artist to perform beyond their means is to lighten up the room with good vibes and laughter. I truly believe that you can capture a smile on tape and if the singer is having fun while they’re singing it, the listeners will have fun listening. When there is a strong comradery in the room and the air is light, time flies and before you know it, you’re done with great results. But of course you still have to give an amazing amount of guidance, patience, and professionalism.

How do you draw the most out of a song? Is it a matter of arrangement? Vocal delivery? Instrumentation? Finding the right instrumental talent?
The answer is all of the above. Every ounce of energy should be dedicated to groove, tone, pitch, direction, and dynamics.

How do your songwriting, producing, and recording, engineering skills overlap?
Everything you have accumulated in life up until now is apparent in your skill set upon playback. Simply put, the more creative you are as an individual, the better it’s going to be in the end.

How much of your job happens after the recording is finished?
It really isn’t the obligation of the producer to try and get the artist a deal unless otherwise stated in the producer/artist contract. However, it does make sense for a producer to put his best foot forward before, during, and after as there is a point scheme on the intellectual property of the master tracks. So if the artist wins, the producer wins.

When you are selecting songs for an artist, what are you looking for?
Theme, believability, commercial appeal, different angles, well crafted, no holes in the lyrics, fresh melodies etc.

How do you select the songs that make the final cut?
It’s a combination of things really. Ratio from upbeat to mid to slow tempos, and do they sound like they actually belong on the same album. But mainly, could any one of these songs be a single?

How do you think songwriters should go about writing songs for, and pitching songs to artists?
Get to know the producers and/or the artists, and what they are looking for. Record label A&R employees are also a great inside as well as publishers and song-pluggers. But I would never suggest to anyone to write for an artist unless an opportunity has arisen and they have the inside scoop. Main thing is to just keep writing a lot and write from the heart. You have just as much of a chance to win as the next guy, so give the world a song through your eyes and don’t settle until you think you would actually buy it.

What advice would you give independent songwriters trying to get their songs to artists?
Keep on keepin’ on and network like the wind. Co-write as often as you can to develop not only another angle, but another avenue at pitching your material. And last but not least, listen to the greats and get a true sense of the working formula. Then be yourself.

What do you think is the greatest strength in the Nashville songwriting world today?
The underground, believe it or not. There are so many terrific writers and bands in this town and the talent flow is overflowing. Today’s underground is tomorrow’s sound.

What do you think is most lacking in songwriting today? What could new songwriters bring that isn’t already there?
I truly think that radio is squashing art by only allowing a certain amount of singles to be released. Everybody is trying to rewrite the same song to ride this very narrow minded wave, and frankly there is better out there in my humbled opinion. I think Nashville could take some more risks and excite the scene again. If children CAN listen to good music, children WILL like good music. Problem is, they are force fed what the radioheads think are good for their pre-recorded programs. New songwriters bring a whole fresh angle to the scene and hopefully one of these days we all start a revolution of true art.

What is your philosophy on networking, or expanding your list of contacts?
Simple, the more connections you have, the easier it is to get where you’re going through influence. Nobody can win this thing alone, it’s much too big. Finding like minds and alternate disciplines in this business is a very strategic move to furthering your career as well as the friends that are in your circle. Mutual respect and having a strong likability factor is essential in this industry.

Is there anything else about you or what you do that you want people to know?
Well, I couldn’t really see myself wanting to do anything else for a living. I’ve been wired like this since I picked up my first guitar about 35 years ago. I have seen a lot on my journey, the trials and the successes and either way, I wouldn’t change a thing.

To learn more about Norrisong Productions and listen to David's songs, go to:

Norrisong Productions website
Norrisong Production Myspace page

Center Stage With David Norris - Part 1

2010-03-31T10:19:00.000-07:00

David Norris of Norrisong Productions has produced some of the brightest young talent in Nashville. He is also an extremely gifted songwriter, with a laundry list of awards and cuts to his name. Despite these accomplishments he remains a friendly, approachable guy who immediately makes you feel like an old friend. He is a walking Who’s Who of the songwriting world, and his enthusiasm for music is infectious.

When David agreed to speak with me about his role as producer and songwriter, I was excited about the interview. I had no idea that he was about to uncork what might be the most insightful look into the world of music production that I’ve ever received. So fasten your seat belts kids, and settle in for a long ride, ‘cause you’re about to get smacked upside the head with some serious knowledge!

Describe what you do…in 20 words or less.
I produce albums for a living as well as write songs with the intention of having them recorded by mainstream artists and artists I work with.

Tell us about some of your current projects, and a few of the past projects you are the most proud of.
As of right now, I’m in the midst of producing three separate artists, all from different musical backgrounds. Cool thing is, I respect all of them greatly and feel their musical directions deeply. Ranging from old school Rock/Americana (Stacey Blood) to straight up rowdy southern style Southern fried country rock (Nick Nicholson) to Alt/Country (Vickie Raye). They all have their own sound and set of convictions.

As far as saying what my favorites are...wow, that’s hard….I couldn’t do it. That’s like asking me which one of my kids I like better or something. But I am very pleased with the three I mentioned as well as several others. Jennifer Lynn was a really strong project. Kristi Warner’s album kicked butt, and I really enjoyed working with Mark Smith. He was just left of center and we co-wrote a ton of songs for the album. So in a nutshell, I just enjoy what I do and am blessed to work with such cool and talented individuals.

From a monetary standpoint, I guess I would be lying if I didn’t say that one of my favorite gigs was composing music for Midway, a video game company in southern California. My wife would probably say the same. Not so much the music, but the fact that she could stay home and raise the kids and not have to worry about bills. Haha

What is a producer’s job?
Wow, this is probably going to get a little lengthy, as most people may think that it’s only about being a creative coach. But in all reality, producing an album is the most responsible role of any recording session. It takes an amazing amount of organizational skills to do it right. It entails having a fine creative detail from beginning to end. Starting with finding great songs that are cohesive with one another (if the artist isn’t a writer), to helping an artist/songwriter choose the material that fits together like a puzzle to create a theme and a musical roller coaster ride for the listening audience.
Knowing the balance between tempos, to understanding the sweet spot for the vocalists range is another key element before ever hitting the studio. Once all of that is in order, a good producer will understand the nature of the project and cast the session players and engineers accordingly. Understanding the dynamic of each individual player’s strengths and weaknesses is vital in predicting the outcome of a session. (i.e…whether a drummer is known for playing behind the beat and bluesy or if he plays on top of the beat and more pop laden, then casting the right “in the pocket” bass player for that drummer) and the list goes on.

There is also an educated decision in a professional production that requires mapping out the actual instrumentation. What instruments are going to go on what songs? With this in mind, you have to factor in what is known as cartage. Cartage is the rental and set up and tuning of gear prior to the session. Most studios have many instruments, but you need to know the ins & the outs of the studio you are tracking in to make sure you are taken care of in that department. Hiring a professional piano tuner as well before the session is a common thing many people may forget and can’t ever take back once it’s been recorded.

Communication is another must for any producer. He must be able to relay his ideas efficiently to the band before tracking, and possibly after tracking if there will be another take or full a band punch somewhere in the song where you may be dissatisfied. In Nashville, we use the number charting system to communicate the arrangement and direction of a song. It’s a wonderful method of working, especially when it comes to transposing on the fly.

The list goes on and and on…..making sure the recording levels are right, making sure the headphone mix is inspiring, making sure the vocalist realizes that during tracking, it’s only a scratch track, and that if he makes a mistake, to just find another good entrance point and resume. Stopping the band kills the mojo. So it’s imperative in a high dollar studio that artist is fully aware of that. After tracking is wrapped up and the band is paid, strong rough mixes are worked on to get everything in a real close vicinity. The better the mix, the more inspired the vocalist becomes.

Next step is tracking the vocals. This is where the producer shines in the artist’s eyes. He is the captain of the ship & the hard scrutiny of the main focal point of any song. He is a phrase Nazi if you will. He is dedicated to bringing out the artist in the singer. Delivery, strong diction, melodic phrasing, pitch, hard consonants, microphone placement & proximity, and last but not least, being a psychologist. Understanding when the vocalist has had enough, breaking them free from frustration, encouraging them to set their own bar, etc. The vocals are a tedious process, and it’s up to the producer to make it lively, upbeat, and fun to press on. Once this is completed and everyone is happy, the producer will analyze the tracks and see if there may be any graphical tuning that is needed to make a great performance a flawless one. Then it’s off to the races with background vocals. This is yet another tedious step in the making of a great sounding album. During this process, as well as many of the other steps explained earlier, the producer has to have a great creative flow and a strong ear for pitch, phrasing, tightness, and warmth. Background vocals can make or break an already great sounding album, so it’s up to the producer to really handle this element with kid gloves.

Once all the vocals are completed, it’s then onto mixing. Normally any producer is well versed in many facets of the entire recording process (i.e. plays multiple instruments, vocals, composition, arrangements, etc.), and this is no exception. A great producer knows what he wants and how to achieve it. But even being knowledgeable in sonic fidelity, a producer’s job is to see it through at its finest, and will find it very useful have an engineer that he can trust to turn knobs while he makes his decisions. This is one the most critical steps in any album project and must be taken very seriously. Everything you worked so hard to achieve up to now is hinging on the mix. By now, the producer knows the tracks inside and out and can communicate what to ride and what to audition. Once all of the tracks are panned, processed, and in their vicinity, track automation is the next step to polishing it up. Making sure that all instruments are dynamic and level with one another and that every word is understood without looking at a lyric sheet. Then it’s off to the mastering house. Mastering will give your already stellar sounding mix the final sheen and make it competitive for the radio in loudness and clarity as well as tagging the audio, spacing between tracks, and preparing it for the duplication house.

The producer’s job is mainly to see the entire recording process through, but artwork is another key factor to the presentation. Normally before the recording session even begins, the conceptual ideas are already in the works. Professional photographers will have already taken pictures and graphic artists will have already been hired to give samples during pre-production meetings. If all goes well, the artwork and the final master will be complete at approximately the same time.

So now you see, producing an album is a little more involved than just saying “hey, can you make it sound a little more like George Strait?”

You see? I wasn't kidding! Stay tuned for Part 2 of my interview with David Norris, in which he actually answers more than three questions!

To dig David, peep his productions, and meet his music, go to:

Norrisong Productions website
Norrisong Production Myspace page

Catching The Luck Bus

2010-03-23T14:02:00.000-07:00

There is no getting around it: success as a songwriter requires luck. It is the X factor, the big mystery, the leap of faith. Thinking about it can make you feel helpless, as if your success or failure is in someone else’s hands. But take heart, my songwriting brothers and sisters - this is only half true.

The Luck Bus
Luck is the bus that sits at the intersection of Preparation and Opportunity. If I were giving someone directions to catch the Luck Bus, they would go something like this: Head north on Preparation. Keep going straight until you reach Opportunity. Right on the corner you will see a big yellow bus. Don’t waste time…get on it immediately, before it drives away.

Here is a list of helpful tips as you prepare for your ride:

Carry a map, and know where you want to go.
The power of goal setting is real, when done right. Goals that are not written down and measurable are just wishes. I am convinced that when you purposefully set goals your subconscious mind will find opportunities you may not have recognized otherwise.

Buy your bus tokens ahead of time.
Be prepared. Work hard at your craft. Write every day. Have demos ready to go. Carry business cards. Have your songs posted where people can find them. Participate in online songwriting forums and attend songwriting workshops and clubs. Show up to the bus without these things and you will not be allowed to board.

Help other people find the bus.
I dislike the term “networking” because it implies that you are collecting “friends” to accomplish some selfish objective of your own. Instead, work on building long-term, expectation-free relationships with people. Don’t ask for or expect anything from them but their friendship. Never approach them with ulterior motives. Instead of looking to other people for the things you want, look for ways to give them what they want. When someone does help you out in some way, acknowledge it, and pay it forward.

Count on the bus to be there.
Be positive. Positivity attracts people and opportunities. Don’t be arrogant, but don’t be too humble either. Have confidence in yourself and your songs, and be ready to promote yourself when it is tactful to do so. Accept criticism - even harsh, rude criticism - gracefully. Be fiercely passionate about what you do, and make decisions as if success were a foregone conclusion.

Play chicken with the bus.
Many people won’t board the bus because they are afraid to take risks. Calculated risks are essential to learning, success, and luck. Don’t let fear of the unknown or feelings of inadequacy keep you from taking advantage of opportunities that come your way. Make decisions thoughtfully, but quickly, and when you see the bus, run for it!

Have your transfer ready.
One bus almost never takes you exactly where you want to go. Be ready to catch multiple buses to keep moving in the right direction, or to switch buses if you get off track. Remember: the bus is luck, not success. Once it has dropped you off at your destination you will quickly realize you're at just another street corner. Make the choice to keep moving forward, from wherever you find yourself. Start heading north on Preparation again, until you reach Opportunity.

Enjoy the ride.
Take in the view, and get to know the people around you. Buses stop often, and are prone to breakdowns. If you lose your ride, be thankful you have your transfer ready, and that you helped as many friends onto the bus as you could…they will be your best bet for catching another ride. Go back to Preparation and head north, collecting more friends as you go.

Get Creative
As artists we pride ourselves on being creative thinkers. In order to succeed, we need to apply some of that creative thought to finding ways to get lucky. People are often at their most creative when faced with limitations. Feeling that your success is at the mercy of others is a position of weakness. Recognizing that you need other people, and gathering them around you as you head north on Preparation lets you approach the Luck Bus from position of strength.

Time to get lucky.

Photo by hz536n

Center Stage with Galen Breen of The Gator Hole - Part 2

2010-03-15T06:51:00.000-07:00

Galen Breen of The Gator Hole has gained a reputation for producing some of Nashville's finest demos. In Part 1 of my interview with Galen we talked about his studio and the process of recording a demo. Here in part two we focus on the songs themselves, and what it takes to make yours stand out.

You’ve seen a lot of songs come through your studio. What can a songwriter do to make their song stand out?
To be honest....I think the one thing many writers lack is a good groove to their song. You really can't rock too hard for Country music anymore these days....AC/DC style grooves are part of the terrain and I don't see that changing. Most of my writers know that if the groove in their worktape isn't there that they can tell me “I want a Jason Aldean / Montgomery Gentry rocker” and I can deliver on that request because of my background as a guitar player...even if their worktape doesn't sound remotely like that style. I'm not sure every studio would feel safe to do that but it's how I've always done business and I almost never have a dissatisfied customer when I've dramatically tweaked their song groove for them.

What are some common submission mistakes you see people make that slow down the demo process?
Probably the biggest one is just not having proper song-form. I really don't want to waste someone's money by recording a song that won't pass muster with an artist or publisher just because their verses are out of whack or there are dropped beats throughout the song making it unlistenable. Fortunately the vast majority of my clients belong to songwriter groups like NSAI or SongU and they already know the basics...it's actually rare that I come up against song-form problems in comparison to the first decade I spent in the recording business.

What are some common songwriting mistakes you see people make?
The most common mistake is lack of editing...some people just write too many verses or make their bridge too long....or even add a bridge where they don't need one. You really need to try to keep a song under 4 minutes...anything over that and you're really bucking the system. The other big mistake is over-complicating your melody. That includes writing a melody with an overly-exuberant vocal range. People have a basic need to sing along with songs...even people who are tone-deaf want to sing along with songs they like. The term I always tell songwriters is to make your melody “accessable”. By that I mean that the average “Joe” driving down the road in a pickup truck should be able to sing along by the time they hear the second chorus in your song. If you make the listener do vocal gymnastics you're gonna lose a lot of people in the process. You can build dynamics by adding harmonies to your song...there's really no need to overdo the vocal range with the lead vocal alone. I guess basically what I'm saying is use a musical K.I.S.S. approach. Simple is rarely bad in the music business. If you think about some of the biggest hits in music history you'll see how catchy and simple those songs really are...follow that pattern and you'll do well.

What things do you think a songwriter can do to improve their chances of getting a song cut?
Always write your songs with your target audience in mind....that means making the melody as "singable" as possible....especially your choruses. Like I said earlier, don't put too much melodic range into your songs...an octave and a third (15 notes etc) is a good barometer. Think about some of the biggest hits in music history and how easy they are to sing for non-musician listeners. People love to feel connected with songs so make that connection as easy as possible for them. Artists naturally gravitate to these type of songs also because they're really no different than the average listener in that regard.

What is the single most important part of a song?
I believe melody is king...after that the groove and THEN the lyric. A great lyric won't overcome a mediocre melody or groove. I could pull up dozens of examples of huge hits with nonsensical lyrics but catchy music or even just a great chorus that's so singable it propels the song to iconic status. In Country music the lyrics tend to be more important than pop of course but the rule still applies for the most part. A great signature guitar riff can go a long way in making a song because it's the first thing people hear...first impressions and all. There's a reason Sweet Home Alabama is still a hugely popular song 36 years later...people hear that riff and they feel like they're “home” again. So much of our collective memories are tied into moments and the music that went along with those moments.

What is the single most important part of a demo recording?
For me it's easily the vocal performance because if that isn't engaging then there are very few people who'll look past it to hear anything else involved with the song. Music is like food...no one wants good food served in poor fashion...it ruins the meal. If your singer isn't happening then you've pretty much lost the battle for attention from your listener. I'm very adamant about choosing vocal artists to sing on my demos. The last think you want is some vanilla singer performing a “safe” vocal because you're afraid to offend some artist's sensibilities. You should always allow leeway for the singer to impart their own style into the song...even to make some melodic changes if need be to suit their own bag of vocal tricks. The other thing you never want to do is hire a sound-alike singer for the artist you plan on pitching the song to...very bad form...and probably an instant turnoff for the artist to boot.

How does a songwriter know when a song is ready to demo?
Well....you can drive yourself crazy second-guessing every part of your song so there's a personal line there everyone has to find where than can finally rest their mind. If you send a song to be critiqued you will almost assuredly get changes suggested no matter how many times or how many people you send it to....that's human nature. I think it's uber-important that the lyric lines are very singable...nothing should sound awkward or rushed just to make it grammatically correct. If you hear a problem like that then you need to rewrite until you find something that sounds good...after all....none of your listeners are going to have a lyric sheet in front them (outside of maybe a publisher) so it's what they're hearing that counts...not what you'd score from the english teacher in high school. Some words just don't sing well....you need to avoid them and find an alternate way of getting your point across. Again...if your song is over four minutes long I'd take a long, hard look at it and try to figure out where you can trim to get it under four minutes.

Is there anything else you would like people to know about Galen Breen or Gator Hole?
Well....music is all I've ever done for nearly 35 years so I'll be around until I'm not around I suppose. I just try to make the music for my clients as full of life and energy as I can because that's how I believe music must be. I'm also very upfront with writers on my opinions if I think there's a way to improve their song and/or the subsequent demo. I'm not much for partonizing people just to get them out the door...I take music very seriously because I love it that much and I also realize how important these songs are to their respective writers. Most of them know their songs will be around long after they're gone...with their friends and children, etc. With that in mind I try to make the recording as vibrant as I can. That formula has worked for over 20 years now and I don't see any reason to change.

Galen Breen offers top notch demo recordings for a song. To contact him for more information, visit The Gator Hole Studios website.

Center Stage with Galen Breen of The Gator Hole - Part 1

2010-03-10T11:18:00.000-08:00

Songwriters need demos to pitch their songs, and the world (that is...Nashville) is full of studios ready to make them. Being a good demo studio, however, means more than having the ability to make great recordings. It means having the ability to translate a songwriter's rough ideas into a performance that sounds honest and genuine. It takes an experienced demo producer to do that - one who understands how songs tick, and knows how to milk them for all they're worth.
Galen Breen is one such producer. For nearly a quarter-century he has been crafting top notch demos, and giving his studio The Gator Hole a reputation as one of Nashville's finest demo facilities. He graciously took a few minutes in between sessions to give The Song Garage the lowdown on all things demo:

In just a few words, describe what you do.
I take songwriter worktapes and turn them into professional recordings to pitch to
publishers, artists and A&R people.

How long have you been doing demos?
I bought my first recorder in 1987 and did my own song demos for a few years before moving to Nashville in 1989. I really came here to write songs but ended up doing a few demos for fellow NSAI members and pretty soon via word-of-mouth I ended up in the demo business.

How has the songwriting world changed in that time?
Mostly in the format of the recording process and delivery melthodology. Everything is digital now...no cassette duplication and you can deliver songs via mp3 using the internet or your phone now. The basic requirements for the songs themselves haven't changed much...people still want short, catchy, universally-themed songs.

Describe your process. What order do you do things in? What recording gear do you use?
I've been digital since around 1995. I had ADAT digital tape machines for a few years and then switched to a digital hard disk system in 1999. I've never had more than 16 tracks...which is more than enough for song demos...heck...more than enough for major album work if you ask me. I am getting ready to make the plunge into computer-based recording though...just for the convenience sake of swapping files etc. My basic process is to chart the song...find the tempo...put down a static drum pattern as a click track and then add either a guitar or piano part. Then I record the vocals and build the rest of the song around that...usually creating the drum program next...adding the bass....then keys, additional guitars, instruments etc. I've done it this way since day one. I think it's best to have that vocal down before judging what will work best to compliment it. Your track definitely needs to revolve around that vocal performance.

How much of a demo do you do yourself, versus hiring talent?
I'm pretty much a one-man show unless I need fiddle, steel, banjo or some other more exotic instrument. I learned to play 5 instruments in my early teen years....piano, guitar, harmonica, saxophone, and clarinet. By the 80's I'd dropped sax and clarinet and learned electric bass and I added mandolin in the 90s. Although I do sing I rarely add my own voice to demos...outside of the occasional harmony part. The vocal talent in Nashville is so impressive I'd be foolish to do so.

Who are some of the people you hire? Drop some names.
Well....my main male singers are former WB's / Big Machine recording artist Dusty Drake, former CURB artist Jeff Carson, longtime demo standout Ronnie Kimball and a newer guy named Jason Eustice from KY. My main female singers are Julie Burton, Melissa DuVall and Shawna Thompson. I've had the pleasure of working with a multitude of great singers over the past 20 years...Les Taylor & Mark Gray from the band Exile, cajun artist Jo El Sonnier, Buddy Jewell was a main singer of mine for over 10 years 'til he won the initial Nashville Star contest, local greats Jonelle Mosser, Lance Miller, Donna Ullisse, Robin English, Shelly Rann....too many to name really. The amount of vocal talent in town is staggering.

How long does it take to complete a demo, from submission to finished recording?
It can vary quite a bit depending on my schedule and mostly the singer's schedule. I try to get songs back within two weeks.....but it can go longer or much shorter depending on when I have that singer booked. I try not to make my singers drive around Nashville to do one song...I try to have 2-3 songs ready to go for them. The winter months can be particularly trying since colds spread like wildfire through the musician community. Singing isn't one of those jobs where you can just “push through” the workday if you're sick. The vast majority of my clients are extremely understanding under those circumstances. Only on rare occasions do I have to hire a substitute singer to fill the void. As for turnaround time I always try to accommodate writers if they have a rush-pitch for a song. I'll work a weekend if need be to fill that request...as will many of my singers.

What do you think is right about the songwriting world these days, particularly the Nashville scene?
I think that musically it's never been more open to different styles and approaches than it is right now. That's a good thing for sure. No one should feel hemmed-in musically. You still have to follow some lyrical rules of the road of course but even that is loosening-up a bit.

What do you think is wrong?
I'd like to see less co-writing really. While most of the great songs in Nashville come via co-writing I think in the long term it tends to water down the individual style of the music in general.....which is why some folks can only take Country music in small doses at times. You can only hear so many songs about barbecue chicken and Sunday morning before you lose interest. I really dig artists like Aston Shepherd who write on their own a lot and just personalize every iota of their music with style and attitude. But....the co-writing system of the past few decades has made Nashville a gabillion dollars so it's not gonna change anytime soon...I just think we give up a little bit of sincerity at times because of it.

Do you think a song can get any traction these days with a simple guitar/voice or piano/voice demo, or is a fully produced demo the baseline now?
I think it really depends on the song but I'd never suggest a simple single-instrument demo for an uptempo song. If you have a great song like Broken Road you can pull that off with a piano/vocal because of it's lyrical content and melody. Most songs benefit greatly from the signature riff on guitar and a driving rhythm section. Generally the person with the most weapons wins the battle....everything else considered equal. That's not saying every demo should have a 7-piece band but it sure helps to have drums and bass to propel a song along it's way.

Stay tuned for part 2 of my interview with Galen, where we get down and dirty on what it takes to write a great song, and make it stand out from the crowd.

Galen Breen offers top notch demo recordings for a song. To contact him for more information, visit The Gator Hole Studios website.

Legs: The 200 Year Marathon

2010-03-02T14:08:00.000-08:00

Recently I was asked by a friend to name my top 10 favorite pop songs of all time. I compiled a quick list. After reading it, my friend asked me why I had not included Nickelback’s song “How You Remind Me”, which had just been named the top selling song of the 2000’s by Rolling Stone Magazine. That got me wondering - what exactly does it take for a song to become one of the best of all time? My answer: legs.

Get Legs
For a song to be recognized as one of the greatest of all time, it must first become hugely popular, and then remain so for an extended period. In other words, it must have legs. I’m not talking about gigantic, muscular sprinter’s legs. I’m talking about tawny, skinny marathoner’s legs. Most songs on the radio these days have sprinter’s legs. They are designed to go really fast for a short amount of time. To become one of the greatest songs of all time, however, a song has to be in it for the long haul.

When qualifying songs for a “best of all time” list, I like to run them through the “200 Year Test”. In other words, I ask “will people still be performing this song in 200 years?” Very few songs make that cut. Those that do always seem to have a few things in common.

Know How to Use Them
Not everything required to give a song legs falls within a songwriter’s control. On the other hand, many things do. Here are a few ideas to keep in mind while trying to write your greatest song of all time:

Keep it simple. That is, simple enough for the average person to sing. Have you ever wondered why so many people can still sing really old songs like "Silent Night" or "Three Blind Mice"? It’s because their melodies are simple. In the days when those songs were written there were no recording devices, and sheet music was not widely available. Simple melodies where necessary so that people could remember them. How ironic then, that they have lived longer lives than untold hours of modern recorded music.

Make it memorable. See above; simple equals memorable. Making a song memorable also means filling it with emotional content - it must move people. Emotional content is invoked when a powerful lyric is paired with a perfectly complimentary melody. A memorable song must have that unquantifiable characteristic commonly known as “it”. When a song has “it”, people remember it. Having “it” also gives a song license to ignore conventional songwriting wisdom, and still work.

Make it widely accessible. People must be able to relate to the song. Not just musicians, or other songwriters, but people. Unusually complex songs with dense chord changes or odd time signatures are not accessible to most people. Neither are lyrics that focus on things that are too personal, arcane, or unpleasant. In order to be compelling, lyrics must approach a ubiquitous, widely-experienced subject from an angle that is unique enough to be interesting.

Make it adaptable. Songs that are too genre-specific limit their opportunities for wide exposure. You know you have a winner when country, pop, R&B, and heavy metal acts can all cover the same song with equal legitimacy. All songwriters are eager to write a “crossover hit”. For a song to become one of the greatest of all time, it must have this quality in spades.

Make it timeless. Songs about transient things like events, dates, or technology have a limited shelf-life. For example, when was the last time you heard someone perform the Buckner and Garcia hit "Pac-Man Fever"? (It reached #9 on the Billboard charts and was certified Gold in 1982.) For a song to have legs, it must be as relevant in fifty or two-hundred years as it is today.

Get really lucky. There are scores of incredible songs written every day that the world at large will never hear; beautifully written gems that won't happen to be in the right place at the right time. Becoming one of the greatest songs of all time definitely requires a healthy helping of good fortune, unlikely coincidence, and serendipity. Despite this fact, it is important to remember that luck is only partially out of your control. Luck is the bus that sits at the intersection of Opportunity and Preparation…but that’s a topic for another post.

My List

1. Yesterday
2. Somewhere Over the Rainbow
3. Stairway to Heaven
4. What a Wonderful World
5. Bohemian Rhapsody
6. Every Breath You Take
7. Imagine
8. Hotel California
9. Billie Jean
10. Don’t Stop Believin’

*photo by sergis blog

Coyotes, and the Value of Music

2010-02-17T14:15:00.000-08:00

I lay awake last night, listening to the coyotes. Their strange melodies and conversations left me wondering why I couldn’t be more like them; content with my own voice, my own music. All the usual doubts surfaced: Does anyone care about my songs? Will they ever come to anything? Why this ache to be heard and acknowledged in the midst of suffocating obscurity? Does my music have any redeeming value at all? This post is my answer to myself.

MIA: Fame and Fortune
I’m not anywhere close to being rich. I have file folders bulging with lyrics sheets, song contracts, association memberships, instructional articles, and songwriting awards, but my wallet isn’t any fatter than the next guy’s. Add up my income from royalties, teaching gigs, session work, and performances, and when it comes to earning money I’m afraid my songs are worth very little. No value here.

I’m not anywhere close to being famous either. The last time I went out in public, no one recognized me. I was not asked for a single autograph. I don’t have a song burning up the charts today, and I probably won’t tomorrow either. In all likelihood, my songs will never equal the value to humanity at large that other works of music will. On that value scale, my songs aren't even in the same weight-class as works by Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Debussy, Copland, Lennon & McCartney, Elton John, John Denver, Page & Plant, or the Gershwins. Not much value to be found here.

Will I still strive for both? Yes…but that is not why I write.

Why I Write
Obscurity and poverty be damned. I write because I feel compelled to, because I must. I write because I love the rush I get from putting words to music, and coming away with a message more powerful than either could have been alone. (Whoever coined the phrase “words are not enough to express how I feel” clearly never put them to music!)

Just as some people enjoy getting lost in a good book and losing all sense of time and place, I enjoy becoming lost in the work of songwriting - twisting and bending lyrics and melody lines until suddenly I come across a perfect combination of angles. All at once everything snaps into place - as if it could have fit no other way. It is the song revealing itself to me; showing me where it wanted to go all along. At that moment it takes on an existence of its own, and its heart is an emotion, an idea, an experience, or a feeling that came from me. It is something only I could have created. I write songs to experience that singular moment of clarity, that epiphany.

Value Found
I remain convinced that the exercise of creating music is equally valuable to anyone that undertakes it, at any level. I'm not talking about the quality of the music; I'm talking about the value of the creative experience. In this way, all songwriters are equal - the unknown amateur and the lauded professional alike. I consider myself equal to any songwriter or musician in terms of the joy I get from the experience of creating music.

The Benaroya Hall is home to the Seattle Symphony. Emblazoned on its side, in giant, recessed letters, is this quote by the late Aaron Copland: “As long as the human spirit thrives on this planet, music will accompany it in some living form, to sustain it and give it expressive meaning.”

That is the real value of making music - the outward expression of some inner emotion.

Even coyotes know that.

*Photo by sighlobo.

Lyric Sheet Telepathy

2010-01-15T11:18:00.000-08:00

Mental telepathy, telekinesis, Dr. Frankenstein’s lab, Dumbledore’s pensive, and the Vulcan mind-meld – all valid ways to transfer information between two brains without speaking. For those of us not born with pointy ears, giant brains, or magical powers there are a few other options: body language, googley-eyes, and of course, the lyric sheet.

The Laboratory
Creating a pro quality demo recording is the first step towards pitching a completed song. For most independent songwriters this means hiring a demo producer to record it for you. A typical demo session usually involves bringing in a certain musician, say a pedal-steel player, who will record their parts on a batch of four or five songs in one sitting. Recording sessions with vocalists are similar – the singer will come in and cut the vocals for several songs in one session. When your song comes up as part of a session, the singer will see your lyrics and hear your song for the first time just moments before recording it. As the songwriter, you need a way to stream messages directly into their brain; instructions on exactly how you want your song performed. I recommend mental telepathy or the Vulcan mind-meld. As a third choice, you can use a lyric sheet.

Beginning the Transfer
A good lyric sheet is much more than words typed out on a piece of paper. Achieving complete brain-transference means properly formatting your lyric sheet with visual clues that make it easy for the singer to understand what you want. Let’s start with the obvious: use an easy font to read. No cutsie crap. Times New Roman works best. Center the title at the top, in bold, and put your name and contact info in a footer at the bottom. Every single lyric sheet you make (every single piece of correspondence you send, for that matter) should include your contact info. In the hustle and bustle of a working studio it is not unheard of for a lyric sheet to be misplaced. Make it obvious which song it is, and who should be contacted with questions.

Begin the first verse by aligning the text to the left. Use proper spelling, capitalization, and punctuation (IOW, no txting , k?). Also, avoid getting artsy with line breaks – we’re not writing poetry here. To a singer, a line break means a pause, a chance to take a breath. Therefore, each line of text should end where the vocal phrase ends. Dividing your lines up any other way leads to confusion.

At the end of each song section, leave a space before the following section. If there is a pre-chorus or build section, indent it one tab-space to the right. This is a visual cue that the song is building towards the chorus.

Indent chorus sections two tab-spaces to the right (or just one, if there is no pre-chorus), and italicize the entire thing. At this point in the song, the vocal performance is climaxing. The singer is thinking about their breathing, diction, and emotional delivery, and needs to be able to glance at the page and spot the choruses without searching for them.

Mind-Lock Complete
One recurring point of confusion for demo singers is prosody. Having heard the lyrics only a few times, they are unsure of which syllables to stress. Of particular importance is the first stress of each line – or in musical lingo, the syllable that “falls on the one”. If the singer can land on this syllable correctly, the rest of a well-written line will usually unfold itself properly. Underlining this word or syllable gives a vocalist the cue they need to get it right. If a line is particularly tricky, you can underline others syllables as cues, but avoid this if you can.

Lastly, limit the length of your lyric sheet to one piece of paper. Make the singer’s job as easy as possible by not forcing them to flip pages. If you have hired a demo studio to record your song for you, chances are you’re looking to pitch it. Therefore, your song should be short enough that this shouldn’t be a problem.

A well-formatted lyric sheet is your best bet for getting the performance you want from the demo singer that records your song. In the meantime, keep trying to bend spoons with your mind.

For you visual learners, here is an example of a lyric sheet formatted as described above:

*Photo by Darkumber.

Learning to Think Like a Songwriter

2010-01-08T10:31:00.000-08:00

A few years ago my family and I had a chance to go white-water rafting near Jackson Hole, Wyoming. At one point along the river our guide told us we were about to enter a series of rapids that would drop us into a calm stretch called “Champagne Canyon”. What he didn’t tell us was that he was about to teach a very valuable lesson about songwriting.

The Art of Understanding
After running the rapids we found ourselves drifting placidly through a deep gorge. Looking down we noticed the water around us filled with millions of tiny bubbles, creating the illusion that we were indeed floating on an effervescent river of champagne. We asked the guide what made such an interesting phenomenon possible. It had to do with the way the water spilled over a rock formation under the surface, trapping air and then spitting it out in violent jets that then rose to the surface as tiny bubbles.

As with anyone who is passionate about their work, our guide was eager to “talk shop” with us, and continued his explanations for the duration of our trip. It was fascinating, and as I listened I came to realize something: where my family and I saw only a beautiful river, our guide saw cause and effect. He knew how the underlying geology would determine the condition of the river. He could identify dangerous formations hiding just below the surface by watching the water move past them. He knew how the river’s behavior would change depending on the season and the water level. In short, he was looking at the river through different eyes than my family and I were - the eyes of understanding.

Listen With New Ears
As songwriters we should be not be passive, but active listeners, continually engaged in understanding the forces at work just under the surface of the music we hear. Why did the songwriter choose this form? Why forgo the bridge? Why does the last chorus sound so powerful? What makes this particular melody evoke such strong emotion? As you listen with purpose you will begin to recognize the rocks and boulders of songwriting, and learn to use them to direct the flow of your own songs.

Watch With New Eyes
A large part of developing your skill as a songwriter is becoming a keen observer of life in general. Every day you come across hundreds of people, situations, and objects that are the stuff of songs, but they don’t present themselves as such; you have to recognize them through the whitewater of everyday hustle and bustle. Don’t be a casual observer - learn to see past the obvious. Live in the moment and be aware of the world around you. There is a basic human tendency to only see what you expect to see, even if that is not what you are seeing. Just ask any trial lawyer. It’s often worth the effort to be more deliberate in observing your day to day affairs. You’ll be surprised.

We are told again and again which car to buy, which clothes to wear, what gas to use, and that life with brand X will be a never-ending party at which every invitee is a super-model. Learn to reject the common media definitions for words like love, success, fun, or beauty. Learn to think for yourself and trust your intuition. The greatest songs ever written are those that connect with people on a deep, real, profound level; a level that exists below the surface of casual observation.

*Photo by QuiteLucid

Rewriting - The Hat Trick

2009-12-11T10:38:00.000-08:00

You’ve just finished a new song, and you think it rocks. Unless you are a veteran songwriter, however, it probably doesn’t - yet. Completing a song - getting all the pieces assembled - is only half a songwriter’s job. The other half is writing the song again. And again. And maybe again. You see, great songs are not written; they are re-written.

The Illusion
Great songs sound so simple - like they must have been written effortlessly. This is almost never true. A great song sounds that way because a writer somewhere put in the hard yards, working and reworking it until it was perfect. Let’s get this out in the open right now: everybody hates rewrites… amateur and pro alike! It’s akin to finishing the drywall on a new house, only to find the plumbing needs fixing. The good news is, for those who press on there is a better song just up ahead.

The Hat Trick
We’ve already talked about your creative hat, your editing hat, and how they don’t work together well. This is your editing hat’s chance to shine, but there’s also a third hat that people sometimes wear during the re-writing process. It’s called the “ego hat”, and it doesn’t play well with the editing hat at all. When your editing hat (or a co-writer) says, “this needs to be fixed because it isn’t working”, your ego hat will immediately jump in with, “What are you talking about? I worked on that for hours and it’s perfect!” It’s time to take off the ego hat and throw it in the closet; and trust me… it won’t go without a fight. Don’t give in. Your ego hat doesn’t care about your song; all it cares about is itself. If you acquiesce, your song will suffer.

In order to judge their work more objectively, artists must distance themselves from it. Painters do this with distance, by standing back from their easels and squinting. Songwriters must do it with time. Give your song a day or two, and then approach it with fresh ears.

If you’ve been performing or listening to your song arranged a certain way for a while, it may become difficult for you to hear it any other way. If you find this is the case, try this: rewrite Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Mary Had a Little Lamb, or Happy Birthday. Changing the melody to a song you’ve always considered unalterable is a good ice breaker. It also lets your mind get started without the pressure of working on something that “really matters”.

It's a Juggling Act
Don’t be in a hurry, and trust your intuition to know when it’s perfect. Many times there will be one line that just bugs you every time you hear it. That’s your intuition trying to tell you that that line needs more work. Don’t ignore it. If your song gets left that way it will haunt you every time you hear it for the rest of your life. A bad song cannot be fixed later or “in the mix”, and it’s important to make sure everything is just right.

Strive to refine your song to a point where all its elements are doing their part, and not a single note or lyric seems out of place or odd. Rewriting is both the most difficult and most rewarding part of the songwriting process. It is the refiner’s fire. Don’t sell your songs short by accepting the first draft.

*Photo by Lorrianne DiSabato

Home Recording - Lead Me Not Into Temptation

2009-12-06T08:02:00.000-08:00

Twenty years ago, who could have imagined a time when a person could write, arrange, record, duplicate, and distribute music to entire world...all from a little grey box no bigger than a house-cat? We songwriters now live in an era of unprecedented creative freedom, with a wealth of capabilities and audio tools at our disposal. Why is it, then, that we can’t finish a dang song?

Original Sin
We got into trouble because like Eve in the Garden of Eden, we bit the apple without first reading the fine print. Our newly found knowledge and freedom has come with a price: we must now work for ourselves. Not only must we be songwriters, but producers, engineers, engineer’s assistants, multi-instrumentalists, and bright-eyed interns willing to fetch coffee for free. We have to worry about mic placement, signal routing, monitoring schemes, levels, processing, and effects. Is it any wonder the creative energy needed for songwriting often gets burned figuring out why the new driver for the sound card isn't working?

The Siren Call
Audio recording is very seductive; maybe even downright sexy. Every day new plug-ins, soft-synths, gizmos, and widgets are introduced to tempt and delight. Songwriting today requires the self-control of a saint. Just as the mythical explorer Odysseus was lured by the Sirens, so many musicians are lured by lushly chorused walls of layered guitars and angelic, multi-tracked vocal harmonies…only to be dashed upon the rocks of an unfinished song.

Deliver Me From Evil
So how do we avoid these temptations? How do we ignore the wily serpent, or lash ourselves to the proverbial mast? How do we write good songs using today’s technology? The answer is quite simple: we write good songs by making crappy recordings.

While writing, forget about all the things that make a good recording: finding a good guitar tone, setting your levels perfectly, capturing the best performance, or figuring out what the heck keeps squeaking in the background. Don’t work out vocal harmonies. Don’t experiment with instrumentation. Concentrate instead on getting your ideas into your computer as quickly as you can, and finding only the chords, melody, and lyrics.

Once the foundation of your song is built, you can begin to arrange it - try different harmonies and voicings, experiment with instrumentation, and develop the musical themes. All the concerns of making a great recording, however, should still be secondary.

Absolution
All who resist temptation while writing songs will find themselves doubly blessed, for not only will their songs improve, but their recordings as well. With their songs already written they will be free to try different microphones, experiment with EQ settings, and double-track guitars during the recording process, without killing the spontaneity of the songwriting process. They will be able focus on capturing good performances without worrying that they will have to trash them later because they don’t fit an adjustment that must be made to the song’s basic form.

Such is the proper order of things.

Fini.

*Photo by pierrepapul43.

Breaking the Law

2009-11-25T11:22:00.000-08:00

The most common phrase uttered by budding songwriters: "Rules are meant to be broken." Wow… it sounds so dangerous! In that outlaw spirit, I've compiled a list of my ten favorite rule-breaking songs....a Rouge's Gallery of the ugliest offenders in all of songdom. Proceed at your own risk.

The Lineup
Breaking rules should be a product of understanding, not inexperience. Make sure that any time you break the rules, you do so because it works for the song. Each of these songs is a rule-breaker for a reason. Listen to them and figure out why they still work despite their “flaws”.

10. Rocky Mountain Suite (Cold Nights in Canada) – John Denver
Two verses, a pre-chorus, and one chorus…followed by a short coda.

9. The Gambler – Kenny Rogers
Three long verses precede a chorus which does not contain the title. In fact, the word “gambler” only occurs once in the entire song. #1 smash hit.

8. The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner – Iron Maiden
I know this song doesn’t really belong on this list. It was never intended as a “pop” song. Still…it is 13-plus minutes of 100% pure awesome. This song is opera rock at its finest.

7. Something – The Beatles
Sort of an AABA form with no clear chorus…just kind of a refrain followed by a repeating guitar lick, with a bridge stuck in just to make sure you cry.

6. When Doves Cry – Prince
This is a pop/dance song with no bass line. At all. Anywhere. Cajones – Prince has ‘em.

5. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
A six minute single with no chorus. ‘Nuff said.

4. Every Breath You Take – The Police
No verses. The song starts with the chorus, goes to a bridge, then back to the chorus. Later a second bridge appears.

3. The Eagle and the Hawk – John Denver
This Denver gem is completely devoid of traditional song form. A single melodic phrase is repeated three times, followed by another melodic phrase. Epic!

2. Eleanor Rigby – The Beatles
It goes a little something like this: bridge 1, verse, bridge 2, verse, bridge 2, bridge 1, verse, bridge 2. WTF?

1. Escape - Journey
The lyrics switch between third person and first person. It’s almost a “Siamese song” - two songs stuck together at the hip. There are two different sets of verses and two choruses, connected to each other by a long instrumental section. The crazy thing is….it’s catchy as all heck!

Jail Bait
There are tons of other well known rule breakers out there - Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana), American Pie (Don McClean), and America (Simon & Garfunkle), just to name a few. It is important to remember that ninety-nine point nine percent of the time, “rule-breakers” are written by the artists that perform them. Rule-breakers are a tough sell for independent songwriters. That said, a good song is always a good song.

Go write one.

*Photo by mr • p

Copyright - Shout if From the Roof Tops

2009-11-10T10:03:00.000-08:00

I’ve heard it in classrooms. I’ve seen it posted on songwriting forums. It comes up in workshops, associations, and club meetings. It is the question that never goes away: “How do I copyright my songs?” Let’s stop fiddling around and answer it once and for all.

The Law
According to the Copyright Act of 1976*, your songs are copyrighted the moment you record them in some fixed medium. This can be a digital file, a CD, or a piece of sheet music. Therefore, registering your copyright with the US Copyright Office is not a matter of getting a copyright - it is a matter of protecting a copyright. So how is it done?

If I Were a Rich Man
Protecting your copyright requires that you have it registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. Doing so is easy and relatively cheap. First, you need to get your hands on the “paperwork”. You can find the forms and all the information you need here:

http://www.copyright.gov

In the last few years the US Copyright Office has simplified the forms needed for most works. Old forms such as PA and SR have been replaced with the single CO (or eCO for electronic filers). Using form eCO is the recommended method. It is cheaper, faster, and offers other benefits such as online tracking. The fee for form eCO is $35.

At first glance $35 per form would seem to mean $35 per song. Not so! Here’s the trick: the Copyright Office allows you to group songs together as a “collection.” A collection can be any group of songs you define - an album, a soundtrack, or just a bunch of songs you lump together and name. For example, each January I register all the songs I wrote the previous year. On the copyright form I group them as a collection, and name them something like “The Aaron Cheney 2010 Collection.” Every song in the collection gets registered, and I only pay the fee once. Cool.

Though processing can take several months, it is important to note that your copyright is officially registered the day the US Copyright receives your application.

If I Were a Poor Man
One widely-held notion is that a valid copyright can be registered very inexpensively by mailing a copy of one’s songs to oneself. This is commonly known as the “Poor Man’s Copyright”. In this fantasy, the songwriter stands at the front of a courtroom, boldly displaying a sealed envelope that bears a dated government postmark. He then rips it open to reveal his original sheet music, thereby proving his copyright. The audience gasps. The perpetrator is lead away in hand-cuffs. The songwriter triumphs.

I’ve heard this idea propagated by budding and experience songwriters alike. I have even heard college professors advocate it. They are all full of crap. This technique is purely a myth and will not work to protect anything. The truth is you can’t even bring suit in a U.S. court without a properly registered copyright.

Deedle-Deedle-Deedle-Deedle-Deedle-Dee
Though the process of properly registering a copyright may seem daunting at first, it is actually relatively simple and painless. As far as raising the $35 a year necessary for a "Rich Man's Copyright", here are my top 10 suggestions:

1) Collect aluminum cans.
2) Busk.
3) Paper route.
4) Mow your neighbor's lawn.
5) Skip one visit to Red Robin.
6) Crawl around on theater floors.
7) Metal detector. Beach. Become that guy.
8) Join a pyramid scheme. Earn $35. Quit.
9) Ask your Grandma.
10) Two words: bake sale.

* This post pertains only to US Law. If you are seeking a copyright in other countries your laws will be different.

*Photo by Thwaites Theatre Photos

Practicing Inspiration

2009-10-16T11:01:00.001-07:00

Where do ideas come from? From the cosmos? From some higher plane? Perhaps. There is a popular feeling among many artists that ideas arrive only in the form of an unsolicited epiphany – that inspiration cannot be learned or practiced. I call BS.

Prepping Your Brain
Inspiration is something you put yourself in a frame of mind to discover, and there are many ways to practice it. They may seem unrelated at first, but each plays a role in "formatting" your brain for inspiration. Let’s talk about a few:

Write Every Day
It is critical to write every single day. If developing that habit is difficult for you, limit yourself to ten minutes and no more. Never give yourself an excuse to slack off subsequent days by binging. Once writing daily is a habit, extend your sessions.

Write Lots of Songs
Once you’ve disciplined yourself to write every day, your song output will naturally increase. This is a good thing, because if you want to write great songs – not good songs, but really great songs – you’ll have to write lots and lots of songs. Quality only exists in the midst of quantity.

Do Something Different
Doing the same thing over and over yields the same result over and over. Learn to purposefully change. If you normally write on guitar, try the piano. If you normally write in your living room, try the back yard. If you normally write on paper, try writing with chalk on the sidewalk. You get the idea. Force yourself to experience the process differently.

Stop Trying to Work With Nothing
Nothing will kill your creativity like a blank page. Never, ever stare at one. That's like a sculptor staring at a table waiting for clay to appear. Put some words on your page, even if they mean nothing. Record some notes. Give yourself something to manipulate. Don’t think…start.

Stop Editing
Never write and edit at the same time.

Stop Whining
The truth is that songwriting, like any art, is mostly about work. Commit to it. Put in the hard yards. Anyone can write songs when it is easy. Great songwriters keep writing when things get tough. That’s when your most original thinking occurs.

What Happens to Your Brain
When I was a kid I had a Rubik’s Cube. I worked on it every single day, and after much thought and diligence I managed to solve the top layer. Then something strange happened: I solved the second layer in my sleep! I woke up and worked it out as if I had known it all my life. Years later I had a similar experience with the video game Tetris. After playing it for a few weeks I found that any time my mind wasn’t busy, it was fitting shapes together!

Writing songs is no different. When you constantly engage your mind in working out the puzzles of songwriting, you will find that “inspiration” comes easier and easier. There is no lack of material to inspire human creativity. It is literally everywhere. The key is seeing it for what it is.

What helps you find inspiration?

*Photo by Capt. Tim

Song Form - The Great Puzzle

2009-10-08T12:37:00.000-07:00

Once a songwriter is familiar with the various components of song and how they function, the challenge becomes fitting them together to form a cohesive song. Every song is different, and what worked for one may not work for another. It is a little like a puzzle whose pieces fit in a different order each time you put them together.

Edge Pieces First
Music is an artistic puzzle, and no solution is ever necessarily right or wrong. Over time, however, songwriters have learned that certain combinations of verses, choruses, and other song sections seem to work the best. These orders are called song forms. Different song forms lend themselves to different types of songs, and can be used to create predictable results. Listed below are some of the most common song forms, along with an example or two of each:

A = One section that does not repeat. Frere Jacque, The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot. This form usually has the feel of an old English air.

AA = Two sections that repeat the same melody using different lyrics. This Land is your Land by Woodie Guthrie, Skip to My Lou.

AAA = Three sections that share the same melody with different lyrics. Annie’s Song by John Denver. Many traditional blues songs also use this form. In this case, the last line of each section is usually the title/hook.

AABA = Three sections that all share the same melody with a bridge to provide a break. Heavy Cloud, No Rain by Sting.

ABAB = Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus. Wind Beneath My Wings by Henley and Silbar.

ABABCB = Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus. Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now by Warren and Hammond; That’s the Way It Is by Martin, Lundin, and Carlsson.

Middle Pieces Next
In modern popular music, the ABAB or ABABCB forms are the most popular. The verse sections in these forms may also contain a build, or pre-chorus section, that transitions into the chorus. Either form may also incorporate a third verse or instrumental secion. In ABABCB form this usually occurs after the bridge, or “C” section. If you choose to add a third verse, make sure it is adding new information that further develops the story and doesn’t make the song seem longish.

View the Complete Picture
Some songwriters feel that using standard song forms is giving in to commercialism. While it is true that many great songs eschew standard song form, it also true that most successful songs adhere to them. The purpose of your song dictates the kind of song you should write. If you prefer to write songs outside the conventions of song form because you will be performing them yourself, or for satisfy your artistic ambitions, by all means do it! If, on the other hand, broad commercial appeal is your goal, sticking to standard songs forms is your best chance for success.

Conventional song forms are not a limitation. Any gifted songwriter can be just as creative within their framework as without. Spend some time learning to understand the various forms and how they work. Once you are armed with this understanding, your gut will tell you when it’s appropriate to take that left turn instead of the normal right!

*Photo by emdot.

The DNA of Songs

2009-10-02T09:14:00.000-07:00

Like people, songs come in all shapes and sizes. Some are long, some are short. Some are happy and some are sad. Some are fast and some slow. Though they may vary widely in appearance, all songs share the same basic DNA – the same building blocks. Each building block carries out a specific function. It is vital for a songwriter to understand these functions, and recognize when and where they are needed - and when they are not.

The Repeating Parts
The verse tells the story and moves the plot along. A common misstep by budding songwriters is saying the same thing with different words in each verse. Remember: each verse should contain new information. The melody during a verse is often busy, while the harmony and accompaniment remain subdued. Here, listeners are trying to follow the story. Don’t distract them! The vocals are generally in a lower range, making it easier for a singer to enunciate and speak clearly.

The last line of a verse preceding a chorus is especially important. The lyrics in this line should return the story to its central theme or idea in preparation for the chorus. The melody will often rise and the harmony will begin to build. Some songs will magnify this sense of excitement by extending this section to two or three lines. These lines are referred to collectively as the build or pre-chorus.

The chorus is where the title goes, and its job is to state (and restate) the song's central idea or theme - to say what the song is about. It should be the same or nearly the same every time. During the chorus the melody becomes simpler. Meanwhile, the harmony and accompaniment get more complex for maximum dramatic impact. The chorus is also generally sung in a higher register than the rest of the song. The chorus is a restatement of the song’s theme, and the music should help drive that idea home.

The Non-repeating Parts
An intro begins a song and could almost be considered a repeating part. Its primary function is to set the tone for the song and usher in the first verse, but often its musical theme is identical, or at least similar, to that of the chorus.

The bridge, or middle eight as it is sometimes called, is the place for a plot twist or other new information that takes the story somewhere unexpected. New chords or musical themes are used here to accentuate the fact that there is something new going on; to remind the listener to pay attention. Bridges usually end in one of two ways: they return to the chorus or they precede an instrumental solo.

An outro is a musical tag that ends a song. As with intros, outros are often musically identical to the chorus. Since the advent of modern recording many producers have opted to replace a song’s outro with a volume fade. Such fades usually occur while the musicians repeat the chorus. In songs that spotlight a musical soloist, the fade can also occur over an extended solo.

Instrumental solos in most pop songs should be kept short, especially if you intend to market the song to other artists. Don’t let them run longer than eight measures at most. Obviously, if the intent of your song is to spotlight a soloist you should include extended solos.

Mapping the Genome
From these musical building blocks - this song DNA - arise an infinite number of possibilities, from the most common popular song forms to the craziest avant-garde opus. Not every song needs every block, and not every song puts the blocks in the same order. Therein lies the beauty. As songwriters we each can act as creator or mad scientist, shaping, changing, or mutating the very substance of song to create something unique and interesting. It is this endless variety that makes music so wonderful.

*Photo by mknolwes.

Sticky Melodies

2009-09-22T10:09:00.001-07:00

It’s no secret that music has a memory-enhancing effect on the human mind. Of all the components in pop music, melody is the one most easily remembered. It is an interesting fact that people can more easily remember a melody without lyrics than vice versa. That does not mean that all melodies are equally memorable. We’ve all experience having a melody stuck in our brain. Writing such melodies is every songwriter’s goal, but how is it done?

Bite Size Pieces
A melody can be broken down into “phrases”, which usually correspond with one line of the lyric. Each phrase may contain several “motifs”. A motif can be as small as one or two notes. As an example let’s examine this line from Get Back, by the Beatles:

Get back…get back…get back to where you once belonged.

In this phrase, the notes to the words “get back” are the first motif. The second motif contains identical notes and lyrics. The notes that accompany the words “Get back to where you once belonged” are the motif that completes the phrase. See how easy it is to remember? It’s broken down into two catchy, two-note motifs that cling to the brain like superglue. They are “mini-hooks” that interest and engage the listener. The third and final motif begins with the same notes as the first two, before adding the remaining notes that resolve the phrase. It should also be noted that between each “get back” the song is punctuated with a musical hook played by the guitar and drums - a hook so integral that it’s almost impossible to imagine these lines without it! The Beatles were indeed masters at loading their songs with hooks!

Bubble-Gum Pops
You should also strive to write melodies that make it obvious where the title goes, even without the lyrics present. There are many ways to accomplish this. Try altering the range of the melody during the title phrase. Inserting a dramatic pause directly before or after the title is also very effective. You can also alter the rhythm of the title phrase to set it apart from the rest of the melody.

Cinnamon Twists
Pop melodies are generally linear (without too many big interval skips) because that makes them easier for most people to sing. However, linear melodies are often emotionally neutral. When you arrive at a point in the lyrics where you want to really provoke a powerful emotion, throw in a big interval jump - works every time. The Christmas Song and Somewhere Over the Rainbow are great examples of this. The first two notes of both songs are an entire octave apart! The writers of those songs new that using such a large interval skip would make them difficult to sing. They chose to do it anyway, and to great effect! In both songs there is an immediate sense of drama and emotion. The listener is immediately engaged, and anything that engages a listener is a hook! Remember:

Linear note progression = emotionally neutral
Big interval progression = emotionally powerful

Salt-Water Taffy
Another way to make a melody more memorable is to follow cues contained in the lyrics. For example, if the lyric contains the words “higher and higher”, you might consider writing a melody that does just that, ascending in pitch with each successive word. In the Garth Brooks hit I’ve Got Friends in Low Places the word “low” is the lowest note in the line. Of course, in the song Ring of Fire, Johnny Cash sings the words “I went down, down, down…” but the notes go up, up, up. Lesson: don’t rewrite a great melody just to appease a few words in a lyric.

Got any ideas of your own for making melodies more memorable? Let’s hear them!

*Photo by coba.

Geurilla Songwriting

2009-09-17T13:20:00.001-07:00

The hook. All songwriters have heard the term. It is a musical passage designed to “grab” a listener. At their most basic (and boring), hooks are just phrases repeated enough times in a song to be remembered. However, good hooks are far more sinister. They lay in wait to surprise and shock. They grab the attention, engage the ear, and imprint themselves on the subconscious. They are a musical ambush.

Baiting the Trap
A good ambush is always hidden; you don’t see it coming until it is too late. The obvious place to hide hooks is in a chorus, but don’t hesitate to plant them in other parts of a song as well - the more the better. They can be lyrical or musical. Heck...hooks can even be unusual sounds or samples - the "pop" in Lollipop by the Chordettes, for example. Regardless of what type of hook you are using, the key is for it to be unexpected.

Bait your trap by making the listener think they know where a song is going. Let them hear a simple chord progression once or twice. Give them a melody that would seem to have a predictable resolution. Feed them lyrics and rhymes that seem obvious. Lull them into a false sense of security. Then pounce.

Surprise Attack
Boom! Bend their ear with an unexpected note. Bam! Rattle their brain with a crazy rhythmic twist. Whoosh! Throw in a beat or two of complete silence. Do something that refuses to go unnoticed; that forces a listener to sit up and listen.

Once you’ve sprung the trap, use it again and again. The most beautiful thing about a musical ambush is that once it is sprung, the listener looks forward to hearing it again the next time around. Let them. The idea is to surprise them, and then make sure they remember it.

Take the following four-line chorus for example. I’ve only revealed the first three lines. Can you guess what the fourth line will probably be?

I love you.
I love you.
I love you…

Yep, you guessed it: “I love you.” Yawn. The only hook here is the Vaudeville hook coming out from behind the curtain to drag those crappy lyrics off the stage! Unfortunately for music fans, there are literally hundreds of thousands of choruses out there written just like that. Remember: in order to engage your listener you must surprise them! Let’s try the same chorus again with a slight change:

I love you.
I love you.
I love you.
‘Cause I’m stupid.

See how much more engaging that chorus is once it contains a surprise? Musical hooks should be surprising as well. Set the listener up with three similar melody lines and then use the fourth line to a deliver a rhythmical curve, a surprise note, or a big interval jump, and then resolve it.

Be a Warrior
Don’t be afraid to try things that at first glance seem stupid. Often those are the most effective hooks of all, because they are the most unexpected. Set your trap, and be brave!

So…has guerilla songwriting ever worked for you?

*Photo by atomicShed.

An Open Letter to Jason Mraz

2009-09-12T08:43:00.000-07:00

A while back I got the chance to meet one of my favorite songwriters, Jason Mraz. When he learned I taught songwriting, his response was a skeptical “Hmm…I didn’t know you could teach songwriting.” This post is my response…my rebuttal, if you will.

Consider it an open letter to Jason Mraz.

Dear Mr. Mraz,

You are awesome.

When we met in Seattle you questioned whether songwriting could be taught. I’ll admit I was a little star-struck at the time. My words abandoned the ship of my brain, and looked on from their lifeboats as it rolled on its side and sank. As is so often the case, it was some time later when I thought of what I should have said. I would like to say it now.

I think I can explain my point best by comparing songwriting to painting. Envision painters in an art class. There they will learn the rules of perspective, the rules of light. Of color. Of composition. Such things are the ideas and techniques that form the foundation of their understanding.

Understanding can be taught. But…

You cannot teach them to be M.C. Escher, who took his understanding of perspective and turned it into art that only he could have created. His perspective-bending works were not accidents. He understood perspective. Deeply.

You cannot teach them to be Pablo Picasso, who took his understanding of form and turned it into art only he could have created. His form-altering works were not the product of chance. He understood form. Intimately.

You cannot teach them to be Claude Monet, who took his understanding of color and turned it into art only he could have created. His impressionist works were not random dabs. He understood color. Profoundly.

So, can songwriting be taught? Yes. You can teach someone the rules of rhyme, alliteration, and prosody. You can teach them about song form, and what the function of a verse, chorus, and bridge are. You can teach them how to write a sing-able melody. You can give them understanding.

But...

...you cannot teach them to be Paul McCartney and John Lennon. You cannot teach them to be Tim Rice. You cannot teach them to be Elton John, Desmond Child, Cole Porter, Barry Manilow, or Jason Mraz. Each person has to gain an understanding, and then use it to find the art that exists inside themselves…the art no one else can make.

As children we are taught to write cursive by following a template, but as our understanding grows our handwriting becomes uniquely our own. So it should be with songwriting.

And though we may disagree on this, I still think you are awesome.

Love,
Aaron

So what do you think...am I right?

Song Wars: Revenge of the Demo

2009-09-04T11:41:00.000-07:00

Before an independent songwriter can pitch a song they must record a demo of it. The function of the demo is to introduce the song to interested parties – publishers, artists, and producers. It stands to reason that the demo should portray a song in its best light, but now that demos are taking on a life of their own a rebellion has begun...

I Was But a Learner
Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, demos could be as simple as a guitar or piano and a voice. Over the last several decades the competition to get songs heard has increased. At the same time the affordability of professional recording has decreased. For both reasons, the quality of demos has gone up dramatically. Today they nearly always include a full band and arrangement. They are often produced at recording studios that specialize in demo creation, and the talent these studios hire is some of Nashville’s best. In fact, many demos today sound almost “radio-ready”.

The result of all this is scores of songwriters, armed with professional sounding demos, looking for ways to exploit them. This scenario raises some new questions and issues for songwriters, among them “What happens when someone wants to use my demo just the way it is, in a TV show or movie for example?” Well, here’s the answer:

Now I am the Master
Let me first say that even though most demos today are very high in quality, they are usually still a long way from the big-dollar recordings of national acts in terms of production value. That said, many times demos do end up getting used in movies, TV, etc. Once a demo crosses this line - once it is being used to make money - it is no longer considered a demo recording....it is now considered a master recording.

At that point the problem isn't so much the level of performance or production, but securing the rights. When you hire a studio to record your song demo, it is with the understanding that the demo will not be publicly released or used for profit. Often (...as in almost always) the singers and other performers on these demos are only doing demo work while waiting for a big break of their own. Sometimes they are musicians who are already performing and recording with national acts, doing demos for some extra income between tours. You can't just go around selling recordings of their performances without their permission.

Does this mean you’re out of luck? Not necessarily. With luck, some interpersonal relationship skills (and perhaps a little Jedi mind-persuasion), you may still be able to use your recording. First, however, you’ve got some footwork to do.

Bringing Balance to the Force
You have to go back and check with the studio that did the demo, and get permission to use it as a master. You will have to check with the talent - in particular the singer - and make sure they have no problems, contractually or otherwise, with it. Usually the producer or studio will do this on your behalf. If everyone gives you a green light, the producer should provide you with a master recording contract that you can go over with a lawyer. Bottom line: everyone involved is going to expect to be a part of the new revenue stream.

Have you ever been part of such a scenario? I would love to hear how you handled it, and what became of it.

Time to Rhyme

2009-08-24T11:39:00.000-07:00

Though rhyme is now considered an integral part of poetry and song, the concept is relatively new in the Western world, first appearing in the Middle Ages. It probably originated as a mnemonic device - a way to help people remember things - and has been a tool in the hands of poets and songwriters ever since.

Types of Rhyme
There are many different types of rhyme. Listed below are those I’ve found most helpful and interesting from a songwriter’s perspective. They are as follows:

• Perfect rhymes are just that: a word pair in which the ending consonant and vowel sounds and are spelled exactly the same. “Same” and “blame”. “Brute” and “absolute”.

• Imperfect rhymes are similar; the final consonants and vowels sound the same but they are spelled differently. From a songwriter’s perspective this difference is moot. “Cane” and “plain”. “Become” and “numb”.

• False rhymes are those in which the ending vowels of two words sound the same but consonants do not. “Done” and “come”. “Plain” and “change”.

• Masculine rhymes are two rhyming words that stress the final syllable. “Subtract” and “intact”. “Believe” and “receive”.

• Feminine rhymes are two rhyming words whose last syllables are unstressed. “Number” and “lumber”. “Mother” and “brother”.

• Conglomerate rhymes are created by combining multiple words or fragments of words which are adjacent to one another. “Compass” and “bump us”. “Benefit” and “then if it”.

• Inside rhymes are rhymes of any of type that occur within a line rather than at the end.

Finding Rhymes
The first step in songwriting is finding a title and checking it for “rhyme-ability”. Writing the individual lines of the lyric can be approached in the same way. If you have blocked your song out, you already know what you need to say; the challenge is finding the right words to say it. The obvious first step is to look for perfect rhymes. Trouble is, there are only so many out there, and most of them have been used to death. This is when you must outsmart your rhyming dictionary and try looking for false rhymes.

Speech and song are really a series of sustained vowels and transient consonants. Therefore, it is the vowels that are of paramount importance when it comes to rhyme. As long as the ending vowel sounds in your false rhyme are the same, the consonant sounds can be surprisingly different and still work when sung. Don’t ever hesitate to use them if it helps you say what you need to say; powerful words always trump a perfect rhyme.

As you search through your rhyming dictionary you will no doubt come across lots of words that rhyme but have no direct relationship with your story. Don’t dismiss them! You can create a relationship via a simile or metaphor and put those words to good use.

Using Rhymes
Because masculine, feminine, conglomerate, and inside rhymes can also be perfect, imperfect, or false, these types of rhymes are not differentiated by their mechanisms of rhyme, but by their usage.

For example, it is always best to avoid rhyming a masculine word with a feminine one; “become” with “venom” for example. It always comes off sounding awkward. Because feminine rhymes leave the final syllables of their words unstressed, you can also use them to “sneak in” an extra syllable after a rhyme, like so:

But if push comes to shove
Find yourself another lover.

Conglomerate rhymes are the cleverest type, and the possibilities are virtually limitless. They are especially useful as inside rhymes, but they can work at the end of lines as well. Take this brilliant example found in "Gaston", lyrics by Tim Rice (from Disney's Beauty and the Beast):

As a specimen, yes I’m intimidating

The pairing or “specimen” and “yes I’m in…” is both a conglomerate rhyme and an inside rhyme. Inside rhymes serve two purposes: they make lyrics easier to sing, and they increase the pace of the lyric. If you have a verse section that is starting to feel a little longish (often the case in the second verse), sometimes a carefully placed inside rhyme can help to speed the pace up a bit going into the chorus. Be careful to not overuse them, however, or your lyrics may come off sounding too clever. Remember: lyrics should be conversational.

*Photo by bassettsfarm.

Publishing in a Nutshell

2009-08-18T12:15:00.000-07:00

Confused about the difference between publisher’s rights and songwriter’s share? Still think that someone exploiting your songs is a bad thing? Here’s a quick and dirty post that explains in laymen’s terms what publishing is, and what’s in it for a songwriter.

Salted
When you write a song, the ownership of that song belongs to you 100% - lock, stock and barrel. You own the right to make money from the song any way you can, and the right to keep it all. In other words, you own the publishing rights.

When you sign a contract with a publisher for that song, you transfer ownership to them 100% - lock, stock, and barrel. In essence, you give away your song for free. Every dime that is made from that song now belongs to them. Every decision made regarding what to do with your song now belongs to them. Now they own the publishing rights.

Unsalted
Why in the heck would any songwriter do this?

They do it because they believe the publisher has a better chance of making money from their song than they do….that the publisher has the connections and cache to get it cut by an artist, placed in a movie, used in a commercial, and so forth. This is called exploiting the song. It’s a good thing.

Here's what’s in it for the songwriter:

In consideration of the songwriter assigning 100% of the ownership of the song over to them and allowing them to exploit it, the publisher agrees to pay the songwriter a percentage of any money the song earns....usually 50%. This 50% of total revenue = 100% of the songwriter's share. If there are multiple writers then they all split the songwriter's share.

The Nut of the Matter
So....to sum up....when a songwriter publishes a song they are giving it away because they feel that 50% of something is better than 100% of nothing.

A caviat: Signing with a publisher is not the best option for every songwriter. Changes in communications, technology, and the music industry are making it possible for independant songwriters to do their own networking and song pitching. Songwriters that perform their own material will also want to think long and hard about signing away the publishing rights to their music.

*Photo by steffenz.

The Two T's

2009-08-14T11:44:00.000-07:00

Think about the last time you rode in the passenger seat of a car. You may remember the destination, but what do you remember about the drive? If it was like most rides, you probably don't remember much. That's because nothing distracting happened. Every driver you encountered that day was at least following the two most basic rules of driving: stay on the right hand side of the road (or the left, depending on where you live) and stop at all the stop signs. Get these right, and your drive will usually go smoothly. Get them wrong and everyone notices - and the entire journey may be ruined.

In some ways a live musical performance is like a car ride. The musicians are driving, and the audience is in the passenger seat. The performance is a journey, and though the journey should be memorable, it shouldn’t be full of distractions that detract from the destination. Fortunately, most musical wrecks can be avoided by following the two most important “rules” of live performance. I like to call them the “Two T’s”: tuning and timing.

Tuning
Nothing – no amount of practice, technique, or fancy equipment - can overcome an out-of-tune instrument. Every note, chord, phrase, and strum will elicit cringes from audience and band-mates alike. Like a single drop of black ink in a bucket of white paint, it contaminates every part of a performance and cannot be removed.

Learning to tune your instrument is as important as learning to play it, and takes just as much practice. While electronic tuners are convenient, learning to use your ears is vital. You should be able to hear when your instrument is in or out of tune with itself and with other instruments. On loud stages use an electronic tuner. Get in the habit of tuning carefully before every performance, and intermittently between songs….and always use the device's “silent tune” mode.

I know what you’re thinking: poor tuning can be overcome with modern pitch-correction technology. In response, I give you this video of Billy Joel singing the Star Spangled Banner through a pitch correction device. (Be aware: I love Billy Joel. This is not meant to be an indictment of him or his abilities, but rather a demonstration of the shortcomings of pitch correction technology.) Pitch correction also cannot tune individual notes within a chord, say from an out-of-tune guitar. Even if the technology were perfect, the best practice is always to tune properly in the first place.

Timing
Rhythm is the heartbeat of any musical performance. It is the foundation on which every other part of a performance is built. Flub a few notes but maintain the rhythm and no one will notice. Break the rhythm - stop that heartbeat – and every audience member’s head will immediately turn to see what went wrong.

We’ve all seen youngsters at a piano recital who stop to work through a mistake. It can be uncomfortable. The good news is that they still have time to do what we all should have done: practice with a metronome. Doing so not only gives you a good sense of time, but teaches you the most important of all musical performance skills - to play through a mistake without breaking the rhythm. To further develop this skill, do what our young pianists do: perform.

*Photo by twenty ninth of december's photostream

Singability

2009-08-12T10:25:00.000-07:00

Brace yourself. Grab hold of something and make sure you know where the barf bag is, because I’m about to deliver some news so shocking, so life altering, that your world is going spin backwards. Here it is: songs are meant to be sung. Oops…here’s the bag. There you go. Get it all out. Take a moment to clean yourself up, and when you’re ready we’ll continue…

The Hard Truth
Yes – songs are meant to be sung. It seems obvious, yet I hear songs all the time that don’t seem to have been written with “singability” in mind. Remember – we’re writing songs, not poetry. How your words “sing” is just as important as their meaning. For this reason it is vital that you always check your lyrics by actually singing them. The sound of every line and every word should support the melody and aid in the vocal delivery.

Following are a number of techniques you can use to help to make your songs more singable.

Assonance
Assonance is the repetition of a vowel sound in a series of words. Basically, it is a string of false rhymes. Assonance makes a lyric easier to sing and speeds up the pace of a line. Read this line aloud:

1. It’s lucky for me to be free when you leave in the morning.

2. It’s lucky for me to get back while you’re here in the morning.

See how the repeated long “ee” sounds in the fist line give it a smoother flow? Line 2 doesn’t roll off the tongue nearly as well.

Alliteration
Alliteration, or “head-rhyming”, is the practice of grouping words with similar sounding beginnings. It is a great device to pick up the pace of a lyric and make it easier to sing. Compare these two phrases by reading them aloud:

1. A little bit ‘o lovin’ lasts a long, long time.

2. A small amount of lovin’ goes for one or two days.

Did you notice how much easier the first phrase was? Alliteration facilitates speech and singing because fewer mouth and tongue changes are necessary to complete a phrase. Beware: take them too far and alliterations can turn on you, becoming tongue-twisters, (as in “Peter Piper picked….”).

Prosody
Prosody describes the patterns of stress and intonation in language, and the practice of arranging words in a lyric according to their natural pronunciation. If that’s too much to wrap your brain around, just remember this: you have to sing it the way you say it. To quote Mike Meyers, don’t put "the em-PHAS-is on the wrong syl-LAB-le.” When you are writing you will often find that the word you want to use stresses a syllable that doesn’t jive with the meter of the lyric or the melody. Your options are: rearrange the line so that the word you want to use can go elsewhere, or find a different word. Don’t become so married to a word that you use it anyway - it will always sound awkward.

Melody Lines
Vocal melodies are often linear. In other words, they ascend and descend on adjacent or nearly adjacent notes in a given scale. This is because big intervals are tough for most people to sing. A classic example is Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Arlen and Harburg. The opening two notes are an entire octave apart; a tall order for even experienced vocalists. (Note to reader: Arlen and Harburg broke this rule for a very good reason - to create emotion in the melody - but that’s a topic for another post…)

Key & Range
When an artist cuts a song they will generally transpose it to the key that works best with their voice. Still, you should try to compose (and record demos) in keys that are easy for most people to sing in. More importantly, keep the melody within a reasonable range; don’t stray too high or too low. You want your song to be marketable to as many artists as possible, and most are not blessed with a Mariah-Carey-like range. Obviously these ideas don't apply if you are writing for your own (or a specific artist's) voice.

Vowels
Singing is a process of transient consonants and sustained vowels, and certain vowel sounds are easier to sing in high ranges than others. For example, the sounds “oh” and “ah” are easier than “ee” and “oo”. As you mate words to notes, keep the vocalist in mind. Use “open" vowels sounds on difficult high notes and “closed” vowel sounds in lower registers where they are not a struggle. Don’t pair a word like "mood" or “dear” with the highest note in a climactic chorus.

*Photo by brtsergio.

Catch a Train: Metaphor and Simile

2009-08-07T08:49:00.000-07:00

Metaphor and simile are mainstays of poetry and lyric. They are freight trains of description that work by drawing a comparison between two seemingly unrelated things (like freight trains and descriptions). They are infinitely better at getting your message across than simply describing something...and it's time you got on board.

Leaving the Station
We were all taught in school that you can tell similes and metaphors apart by looking for the words “as a” or “like a” in the phrase - similes use them and metaphors do not. See the following examples:

Similies:
Dry as a bone.
Sly like a fox.
Or more interestingly:
His face was as wrinkled as a trombone player’s sleeve.

Metaphors:
She cried an ocean of tears.
Turn the pages of my mind.
Or more interestingly:
I’m a prisoner in the chamber of your heart.

However, for us songwriters there is a more important difference between similes and metaphors. Because similes use the qualifiers “like a” or “as a”, they always seem literally true and leave the phrase feeling resolved. This makes them good for one-time use in a lyric without distracting from a different central idea. Metaphors, on the other hand, are always literally false and may consequently feel unresolved. Often this means they require further explanation. It is not uncommon to see a metaphor used as the central theme for an entire song, as in the Kansas classic Dust in the Wind, by Kerry Livgren.

Building up Steam
Creating interesting metaphors and similes is something many songwriters struggle with. Once again, it is paramount that you leave your editor’s hat in the closet during this process. If yours is on, it’s going to tell you that every metaphor you come up with sounds dumb. Editing hats just don’t understand that some of the best metaphors are between the two most disparate things imaginable, like a heart and an anvil, an old man and a question mark, or an improper fraction and an SUV. After all, what on earth could an anvil and a heart have in common? Well…they can both be heavy. An old man and a question mark? They are both hunched over. An improper fraction and an SUV? They are both top-heavy. The key to creating good metaphors and similes is conveying the unexpected third thing which the first two things have in common. The more unexpected that thing is, the more interesting it will be. Oddly enough, creating metaphors is easiest when you start by knowing the first thing and the third thing, and then look for the second thing. It’s like solving a maze… it’s often easier starting from the end. Let me show you what I mean:

Let’s say you want to create a metaphor for the moon. Your first object becomes: the moon. Now, decide which of the moon’s qualities it is that you want to describe. Maybe it’s brightness, or it’s roundness. Maybe it’s texture, or it’s revolution around the earth. Whatever the quality is, it will become the third, unexpected element in your metaphor or simile. So let’s say it’s the roundness that we want to describe. Great! Now… forget about the moon completely! Put it out of your mind and list only words that describe "round". Possibilities might be: a wheel, a hub cap, an old 78 LP, a tennis ball, a pizza, a zero, a donut, a man-hole cover, or the rim of a coffee mug. I’m sure you could go on listing things that are round all day. Once you have your list, pick the one that seems most unusual. Ever hear the following line?

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza-pie that’s amore.

That’s how Harry Warren and Jack Brooks chose to describe the moon in their classic song That’s Amore. You could also say:

The moon rolled across the sky like an old hub cap.

or:

I spent the night under heaven’s man-hole cover.

Both comparisons are so unusual that they immediately get your attention and make you think about the similarities. Also notice that because “heaven’s man-hole cover” is a metaphor, it begs further explanation, whereas the simile “the moon rolled across the sky like an old hubcap” is more self-contained.

The Caboose
Creating metaphors and similes is one of my favorite songwriting activities. You can sneak them into your songs like a hobo in a box-car and then turn them loose. They out-describe adjectives or adverbs with ease because they don’t just tell a listener what to think… they prompt each listener to search their own experiences for a description. I love a good metaphor.....got any?

*Photo by 844steamtrain

Fight Club - Lyrics vs. Poetry

2009-08-04T10:42:00.001-07:00

Poetry and lyrics are like a brother and sister - similar features, but with some very important differences. Understanding those differences can have a huge impact on the quality of your writing. So....before I say anything else I'm going to give you two untitled passages to read. One is a poem and the other is a lyric. Can you guess which is which?

In the Red Corner
With you at the diner working from nine until seven
And me working nights at the factory and quitting at dawn
It’s lucky for me to be home when you leave in the morning
I try to be early but most days you’re already gone.

So I crawl into bed, I can smell your perfume
I can still feel the warmth where you lay
And it kills me inside to be living our lives this way.

We’re like the moon chasing the sun
Somehow we’ve become
Intimate strangers.
And as the stars fade in the light
We both know it ain’t right
To be alone every night
Like intimate strangers.

You’ll be home by now, reading the note that I left you
But “Darling I love you” was all I could think of to say.

Because I miss you much more than four words can explain
And I don’t really know what to do
When the weight of the world comes between me and you.

We’re like the moon chasing the sun
Somehow we’ve become
Intimate strangers.
And as the stars fade in the light
We both know it ain’t right
To be alone every night
Like intimate strangers.

Why don’t you quit at the diner - we can make it on just my pay
I’d rather give it a try and barely get by
Than keep living life this way

Like the moon chasing the sun
‘Til somehow we’ve become
Intimate strangers.
And as the stars fade in the light
We both know it ain’t right
To be alone every night
Like intimate strangers.

Copyright 2003 Aaron Cheney

In the Blue Corner
The seeds lay cast on stony ground
In ragged rows of red and brown
And yet he knew the field was good
Despite the stones he understood
And let the seeds fall where they would

He stayed to work the empty field
And in those days the clay did yield
Just blood and tears and weathered hands
And whisperings of barren land
A tired but unbroken man

Like tides the seasons came and went
The years in fruitless labor spent
While sickles languished in the dust
In somber hues of cankered rust
As every tool unneeded must

But still he toiled with endless passion
Tilled each row in loving fashion
And left his lonely benchmark there
Untiring and earnest care
Until at last an answered prayer

And now I see the crop he grows
For golden wheat stands in the rows.
The harvest of a lifetime’s plea
Now finally at the end I see
The seed was him, the field was me.

Copyright 2002 Aaron Cheney

Ready….Fight
So...can you tell which is which? I'll bet you can. The first is the lyric, and the second is the poem. More importantly, can you explain why you know which is which? Can you pinpoint the differences? Understanding and leveraging the subtle differences will help you write stronger lyrics (and better poetry). Let's examine them one at a time:

1. Songs have a repeating word or phrase that all the other lines lead back to, and poems do not.

Look back at the lyrics. Can you guess the title? I'll bet you concluded it is "Intimate Strangers", and you are correct. You know that because that phrase appeares six times over the course of the song. The rest of the lyrics were important as well, but they were merely orbiting one central idea: the title. Now, what’s the title of the poem? Haven’t a clue? Could it be "The Farmer"? Nope. How about "Seeds"? Nope. The actual title is "Empty Fields", and that phrase is only mentioned one time.

2. A person should be able to identify the title of a song after one listening.

The repeating word or phrase is usually the most prominent part of the chorus. The job of the other parts of the song - the verses and the bridge - is to lead the listener back to the chorus, where the title is again repeated. There are always exceptions, of course; Poe’s "The Raven" comes to mind. You’ll notice, however, that even though the word "nevermore" is used repeatedly throughout that poem it is not the title. A good song is memorable, and that begins with the title. Make it prominent, and return to it often. Make sure every line of your lyrics is working to bring around the title again.

3. Modern lyrics are conversational.

Lastly, look back again at Empty Fields. You’ll see a few phrases like “the years in fruitless labor spent” and “as everything unneeded must”. Lines like those are another dead giveaway: poem. That isn’t how anyone living today talks. Modern songs don’t use arcane language. If you want your song to be successful in today’s world, you have to sing it like you say it. No "Yoda-speak"!

Let's Call it a Draw
Lyrics are to poetry what a fiddle is to a violin - the same instrument played differently. Though closely related in appearance, each manipulates words in unique ways that are only appropriate in the right context. Always work to ensure your lyrics make the title obvious, work back to the chorus, and use conversational speech. No one goes to a hoe-down expecting to hear Paganini.

*Photo by RobHelfman

Developing Creativity

2009-07-31T07:59:00.000-07:00

It’s shocking but true: at its genesis creativity is simply copying something you like. Artists usually express it with words like “inspiration” and “influence”, but it means the same thing. True artistry, however, is taking those germs of borrowed “inspiration” and turning them into something only you could have created. Inside you there are thoughts and ideas garnered from your life experiences that are completely unique and interesting. Learning to recall those things and express them in ways that are both understandable and widely relatable is what developing your creativity is all about.

Writing vs. Editing
There are two phases to any artistic endeavor: the creative phase and the analytical phase. For us songwriters, that equates to the writing part and the re-writing, or editing part. One of the most valuable things any artist can learn is that these two phases do not work well in tandem. During the writing phase your “writing hat” should be on and all those unique and wonderful ideas inside you should be roaming freely and unchecked. This kind of creative latitude is only possible if during that same time your “editing hat” is hanging in the closet behind a rack of old coats. The minute your editing hat starts to make its way out of the closet and towards your head you need to stomp on it, kick it, and put it back in the closet. If it tries to come out again nail it to the wall in the back of the closet and lock the door. It is not the editing hat’s turn yet!

During the creative phase you should capturing your ideas as fast as they come to you, without scrutiny or judgment. Just as a sculptor can’t begin his work until he has a lump of clay before him, a songwriter can’t begin without a page full of words or musical ideas; so let them come, no matter how silly they seem. (And by the way, if they seem silly it’s because your editing hat has gotten loose again…) Give yourself words, lines, notes, and melodies to manipulate before letting that editing hat out of the closet!

Discovering Your Unique Lyrical Ideas
Once you’ve learned which hat to wear and when, you will find yourself writing things you’ve never had the courage to write before. Ideas that once seemed too ridiculous to even make the journey from your mind to your pencil will suddenly appear on your paper. These are the very ideas we are after! At first they may be hard to find, but you can nurture your ability to locate them by writing for a short time everyday. Just 10 minutes or so of simple prose with no boundaries. Just pick some ordinary object or situation to muse on. No lines. No rhymes. No pressure. Just write. It might help to pick something funny, quirky, or weird the first few times to trick your mind into thinking that what you’re writing doesn’t matter. Once your creative juices are flowing, switch to something serious.

As you write, don’t tell your story…. show it. Your lines will come alive and others will be able to relate to them like never before. Why say “The attic was dusty”, when instead you could say “I was blowing brown boogars for a week”? See how much more descriptive the latter phrase is? See how much more quickly and deeply you understand? That’s because it hits us all where we live. I mean, let’s be honest… who hasn’t had this experience at least once? The minute a listener hears that line they are immediately taken back to their own experience, and they understand. They relate to your lyrics on a deeper level.

The Same Goes for Music
As with lyrics, discovering new musical ideas requires that you discard your editor’s hat for a while. A wise guitarist once told me that each time I pick up my guitar to practice, before I play a scale or even warm up, I should play something I’ve never played before. Just a few notes or a phrase that my fingers don’t know by rote.

The reason is obvious: as humans we tend to fall into patterns and habits that are familiar and comfortable. We’re like the bobcat or the badger at the zoo, following the same circuit through our pen until we’ve worn a path into the ground. As a person looking in from the outside we just want to shout “Snap out of it you silly badger! For once would you just turn right instead of left!” As you write your songs practice turning right once in a while. Finding something unique requires us to alter our own well-traveled routes and break new ground.

*Photo by tacoekkel.

Building Your B(r)and

2009-07-30T14:54:00.000-07:00

“Building the brand” is such a corporate sounding phrase, isn’t it? Unfortunately, reading this post is a lot like saving all your gear receipts and keeping track of your mileage – it’s a necessary evil if you’re taking your music career seriously. I know it’s unpleasant….I’ll try to keep it short.

The Band Brand
Your band is a brand, whether you have made a conscious decision to make it one or not. Your fans are your customers, and based on things like your music, artwork, website, and appearance, they have a perception of you. This perception is your brand.

A brand is much more than a logo. It is the sum total of a customer’s (or fan’s) experience. In the corporate world this can include things like how the phone gets answered, what color a uniform is, or the look of a delivery vehicle. In the musical world it can range from website and album artwork to how a band dresses and acts on stage.

Building your brand is about making conscious decisions to create a customer experience that is unique and memorable; that motivates your customers to consume more of your product – your music.
To build your brand, you must:

1. Make your message consistent. Your visual image should match your music…and itself. Don’t make the artwork on your website grungy when your flyers look sleek and futuristic. If you’ve built a brand on serious love songs, don’t wear a duck costume on stage (unless you’re Elton John). Your music should be consistent too. If you you’re a metal band, save your zydeco songs for a different project…or perform them in a way that incorporates them into your sound. Always make your music and marketing material immediately identifiable as you. And remember: you will get tired of your brand long before your “customers” do. Don’t flip flop every time something new catches your eye. Keep your message consistent.
2. Be unique. What do you do that is different from everyone else? Is it your epic 15 minute songs? Your bicycle horn solos? Your elaborate light show? Do you do reggae versions of Elvis songs? Find your niche and exploit it. In the white-noise of modern music, this is what makes you worth paying attention to.

Your Logo and Beyond
A good logo is a critical first step. It should be a visual representation of what your music and band are about. Designing a good logo goes beyond just being able to draw. Important considerations include:

1. Relate-ability. Does it represent your music well?
2. Legibility. Can you read it at a glance? (Don’t get me started on 80’s heavy-metal logos!)
3. Size-ability. Does it look as good on a giant banner as it does on a tiny MySpace icon?
4. Recognize-ability. Can a fan identify the logo by its shape alone? (A fact: customers don’t read logos…they recognize them.)

Sometimes a “non-logo” can become a logo. The shape of the Volkswagen Beetle is as much a logo for Volkswagen as the “VW” on its trunk. Examples in the music industry include Journey’s “winged scarab”, Slash’s top hat, and Eddie Van Halen’s striped guitar. Each is an instantly recognizable symbol of a brand.

Build on your logo by thoughtfully creating marketing material that has a common look and feel. If you maintain a presence on multiple website be sure that they match as much as possible. Make sure you use the same profile picture on each of them – it’s how people recognize you. Your printed matter should echo what you have established online. Use the same colors and fonts. Set the same tone. A fan should be able to recognize your “look” at a glance.
Branding in Action

Below is an example of a well-branded musical act. When you visit the websites pay close attention to the consistencies in look, feel, and tone. Notice how the graphics and videos support the music, and how they all work together to make this band unique.

Unknown Hinson Website

Unknown Hinson MySpace

So what do you think? Agree? Disagree? Let’s hear it.

*Photo by Gregalicious

The Heavy-Weight Title

2009-07-29T15:23:00.000-07:00

Great songs usually start with great titles. Writing a lyric without a title in mind is like looking for thumbtacks in a giant home-improvement warehouse store that doesn't have its aisles labeled. A title gives direction to, and becomes the returning point for, every single line in your song. Nothing is more fun that writing a plot around a great title. Here's how to find one.

Where to Find Them
So where do good ideas for titles come from? Everywhere! You should always be on the lookout for an interesting turn of phrase, a glib play on words, or a twist on an old cliché. Every magazine, billboard, commercial, or conversation is loaded with possibilities. When something strikes you, write it down in your notebook immediately! What? You don't have it with you? Then write it down on your arm and transfer it to your notebook later! (Before you take a bath.)

Title possibilities will literally come up anytime or anywhere. Not too long ago I was reading an essay written as a legal briefing. The defending lawyer was trying to establish that his client's accusers weren't as familiar with the situation as they claimed to be. He concluded by sarcastically calling them "intimate strangers". Bam! What a clever contradiction! I wrote those two words down right away, and they sparked the idea for a new song. The lesson? Always be observant. (And always have your notebook handy!)

Effective Titles
Certain phrases make better titles than others. A good title should make someone want to listen to your song. Titles such as I Love You or What You Mean to Me are certified yawn-fests. They are tired, overused clichés that have lost their emotional power. Instead, look for something people haven't heard before. Coin a phrase of your own, and make it dynamic, clever, expressive, or active. The following are just a few ideas for effective titles:

• Use a contradiction in terms or a spin on something familiar. Eight Days a Week, If He Were Alive Today (He'd Probably Be Dead), Boy Named Sue
• A phrase with a deceptive double meaning. Muscle of Love (you know....the heart)
• Have all the key words in the title start with the same letter (this is called alliteration). Winter Wonderland, Mean Mr. Mustard
• Leave the door "half-open" by using an incomplete phrase that begs further explanation. Ain't Nothin' Like, If
• An intersting name. Eleanor Rigby, Roxanne, Billy Jean
• An evocative color. Brown Sugar, The Green Green Grass of Home, Blue Skies
• Use and active verb. Jump, Beat It
• Encapsulate the entire story in one short phrase. The Night the Lights Went out in Georgia

The Pre-Flight Check
Once you've decided on a title, don't write yourself into a corner by not checking your title for rhyme-ability. Spend some time listing rhymes, near rhymes, and related phrases for your title. Make sure you've got plenty of options before committing to it whole-heartedly. Sometimes you'll find you have an interesting phrase that ends with a word that is very difficult to rhyme. Knowing that before-hand gives you the option of re-wording it, inserting it in the middle of a line rather than the end, or just deciding that it's not worth the effort, before you've wasted time building a story around it.

Sometimes as your song develops you may find that another, better title suggests itself. Don't be afraid to make the switch if your song is improved by doing so. Check your new title idea for rhymes and so forth just as before, and then move forward.

One last note: titles cannot be copyrighted, so don't panic if you find that your song shares a title with someone else's. There have even been instances where two songs with the same title have shared space on the charts at the same time - remember "Jump" by both Van Halen and the Pointer Sisters? Even so, you probably wouldn't want to write a song entitled say, Eleanor Rigby…it is too uniquely identified as a Beatles song and too uncommon a phrase to be interpreted any other way.

*Photo by lowjumpingfrog

The Freedom of Limitation

2009-07-23T13:15:00.000-07:00

For artists the battle has always raged between the desire for complete artistic freedom and the need (economic or otherwise) to work within a limiting set of rules. While some insist that creativity and limits are mutually exclusive, I would argue the opposite: people are never more creative than when forced to work within limitations. Limitations generate their own kind of creative freedom. They force original thinking - the wellspring of creativity.

As musicians and songwriters we face limitations all the time. They fall into two broad categories: those that are thrust upon us, and those that are self-imposed. In both cases musicians and artists have used these limitations as a springboard to new avenues of thought and art.

Those Thrust Upon Us
Inadequate equipment, musical ignorance, commercial necessity, and popular expectation are examples of limitations that are often beyond the immediate control of an artist. A poor guitarist may only be able to afford a budget instrument. A musician with a love for jazz may need to perform pop to find an audience. A beginning recordist may only have a single dynamic microphone. Within each of these challenges lies the opportunity for creative thinking. Perhaps the guitarist can develop a new technique or sound to exploit his less-than-ideal instrument. Perhaps the musician can find a way to incorporate jazz into his pop songs. Perhaps the recordist can discover new sounds by using his single microphone in ways others have never tried before.

The lesson is simple: if you are faced with limitations that you cannot easily overcome, work around them. Don't waste time pining for an expensive microphone, the newest VST plug-in, or a better keyboard. Instead look for creative ways to use what you have now. Don't wait for the public's musical tastes to change. Instead, find a way to merge your personal musical goals with what an audience wants. Limitless creative freedom is not necessary for you to make good music today. Exploit what you have now, while looking for ways to move towards your end goal.

Those Self-Imposed
Often you can enhance your creativity with a self-imposed set of rules. A limitless number of choices can sometimes cause an artist to freeze up - a condition sometimes called "option anxiety" or "analysis paralysis". Limiting your creative options allows you to focus more keenly in a specific creative direction. Sometimes this can be as simple as writing in a specific genre or song form. Other times the limitation itself becomes a creative choice.

Here are two examples of self-imposed creative limitations:

Alphabetic Africa by Walter Abish is a book in which the first chapter consists entirely of words beginning with the letter "A". Each successive chapter ads words beginning with the subsequent letter of the alphabet, until at last the author is free to use all words. Then the chapters begin a backwards progression, until finally the author is forced to conclude as he began; using words that begin only with "A".

Three Thieves' Tale by...well....me, is a poem I wrote using a similar alliterative constraint. With a lot of thought I was able to create an entire poem that made sense, told a cohesive story, and even rhymed (loosely), using only words that began with the letter "T".

Creative Problem Solving
We're all artists, right? Artists are supposed to be creative thinkers, right? Let's embrace our limitations as an opportunity problem-solve creatively. I maintain that looking for creative solutions to "limitations" is where some of man's greatest art has come from. I've already shown how I used a limitation to come up with something cool. How have you? Bring it.

*Photo by And-rey

The Bass - Building a Musical Bridge

2009-07-23T13:03:00.000-07:00

I recently auditioned for the bass position in a new band. It started off a little rocky, but fortunately ended well, and the whole experienced helped to reinforced some of the lessons I’ve learned over the years about the role of the bass in a rock band.

The Audition
One day prior I had been given a list of songs to learn. I concentrated on the more difficult pieces first, banking on my ability to “fake it” through some of the simpler IV-V-I songs if I ran out of time. This strategy paid off – sort of (more on this later). There were a few songs I had never heard before, and I spent some time tracking them down and running through them once or twice. In just a few hours I had managed at least a passing familiarity with the set list. I knew the band would be somewhat forgiving, given the short notice. Still, I wanted to be as prepared as I could.

When I showed up, the band had a space cleared for me between the guitarists and vocalists…and across the room from the drummer. I set up, tuned up, and we set about going through the first song. I was nervous, but despite everything the song went OK. Another time through, and things went….OK. It was at this point that one of the band members asked me if I would feel more comfortable setting up next to the drummer. I eagerly said “Yes!”, and in a few minutes time I was standing just a couple feet away from the kick drum.

We went through the song a third time, and what a difference! Being next to the drummer made it easier to lock in rhythmically, and brought a whole new vibe to the music. Everyone in the room felt it. Now we were rocking! To make matters even better, all of the drummer’s shells and heads were transparent. I had an unobstructed view of his foot, which allowed me to follow it like a homing beacon. Sheer bass bliss! From now on, I told myself, I will always ask to stand next to the drummer.

Because I had practiced the more difficult pieces I was able to impress the band enough to keep me around for the full two hours. Eventually we got to one of the easier pieces, a simple IV-V-I that I figured I could rumble through. We tried it once, and though I managed to get through it by plunking out the roots, it sounded pretty sterile. One of the guitarists graciously pulled me aside and showed me the simple walking bass line that normally went under the chords. We went through it again, and suddenly the listless IV-V-I sounded like the blues-boogie song it was supposed to be.

So what did I (re)learn?
Lesson #1: Be Prepared. The bass, along with the drum kit, forms the foundation of the band. Shaky foundation = shaky band. Know the songs, and play them confidently.

Lesson #2: Guitars are harmonic instruments. Drums are rhythmic instruments. The bass is both. Its role is to form a bridge between the rhythmic and harmonic elements of the band. Stand next to the drummer, and lock on to his foot like a laser.

Lesson #3: The bass line dictates what kind of song the band is playing. When a guitar plays C, D, G chords, the bass can turn those chords into a rock, country, or reggae song, simply by changing the bass line underneath them. But remember: with great power comes great responsibility. Plunking on the roots will only get you so far.

I ended up getting the gig, and left with some great reminders about my new job description.

Center Stage with Aloud

2009-07-23T11:40:00.000-07:00

Jen de la Osa and Henry Beguiristain have been writing, singing, and playing guitar together since they were young. Today they are the core of Boston-based Aloud. The songs on their sophomore album Fan the Fury are an engaging collection of observations, each expressed with urgency and true emotion. Though currently in the midst of writing their third album, Henry and Jen took a break to discuss their music with me.

Describe your songwriting process.
HENRY: It's a little different each time, but normally the way it works is Jen and I will have stuff we work out on our own- an idea for a song, something nearly completed, and everything in between- and at least once a week we set aside time to finish the song together until we have something. It works wonders on quality control having an extra set of ears!

JEN: Lately, we've been a bit more organic about letting the song lead the way. Before, early on at the writing session we'd work out guitar parts and really end up leaving little space by the time we took it to the band. Now it's more like strum it and we'll figure out in the studio what the instrumentation will be. That gives it more time to get its own character.

Your lyrics seem to straddle a line between rebellion and contrition.
HENRY: When Jen and I were writing the songs for that around 2006, 2007, we were reading a hell of a lot of news and trying to be more aware of what was going on in the world. We were definitely reacting to things that were happening.

JEN: Yeah, I just think the whole state of the world was unavoidable. It was everywhere you looked, invading your home, so we wrote about it. "Fan The Fury" was the first track we wrote with that in mind and the second we wrote for the record. I think it encapsulates the whole record.

I noticed a reference to Rita in "Hard Up in The 2000s". Tell me about what the Beatles mean to you.
JEN: The Beatles and their catalog of tunes... it's just everything a musician aspires to. The way the songwriting developed over time, how it became more subtle or abrasive or artistic or rocking... it just changed all the time. And the way they attacked the studio, refusing to fail in getting the sound heard in their heads. They made plenty of mistakes, undoubtedly, but the songs and the attitude were brilliant. And most of the clothes weren't bad either.

HENRY: The Beatles are my youth, they're the reason I picked up a guitar and plucked away on a piano. More than the mythos, though, the approach to the music and how they wrote it and recorded it is what really gets me going. Hell, even when they were angry at each other or when they were downright lazy, they still managed to get something really interesting out of it all.

What are some of your other musical influences?
JEN: The Clash, especially on this last record. The Arcade Fire, Bob Dylan, Kasabian, Motown was huge for me. As of recent Metric and Feist. Just got into Elvis Costello.

HENRY: The Who's another big one for us, and Oasis is one of our all-time favorite bands for sure, U2... I could go on forever. I just really love music. Lately, I've taken to searching for random stuff on Blip to see if anything interesting pops up. Music is alive and constantly evolving. The last thing we want to do is get stuck harping on one thing all of the time.

Describe your recording process for me.
JEN: We get a live take that we then begin overdubbing parts on top of. That's how we did Fan The Fury. I think that retains the feel while you put on the guitar, bass and drum overdubs. Then you've got vocals and then what I call the "fun stuff" - which is anything else under the sun. That's my greatest joy in the studio. That being said that process could all change on the next release.

HENRY: With some of the stuff we're currently working on we're doing everything backwards and adding things like drum and bass at the end of the process. It's working out surprisingly well, and it's forcing us to think of this stuff differently than in the past.

Are you selling more downloads or physical CDs of Fan the Fury?
HENRY: Downloads, for sure. In fact, I think we've only sold CDs at live shows recently. Even at our level, things are changing.

JEN: Digital sales are by far in the lead. It's certainly an eye opener to approach any future pressings or albums in a totally different way as far as reproduction. Maybe you make a small run for shows, or maybe you go all digital and have special limited edition packs the hard core fans can buy. What's apparent, though, is that doing the same old thing as far as pressings isn't really worth it.

So what is working?
JEN: The internet is certainly an important tool. Twitter is a very easy way for us to keep folks updated. Henry is a great blog writer and will regularly post on our website. He also runs the site and keeps it as user friendly as possible. We're on Facebook and MySpace, of course. And I've mentioned our YouTube page. That and Twitter are the big ones for us in terms of social networking sites and the like.

HENRY: Yeah, YouTube and Twitter are great, great tools. When we're on the road we like taking movies and uploading them as soon as possible. I've had a lot of folks come up to me and talk about how they're living vicariously through us while we travel, so I like to get those videos and blogs up about our time on the road.

I loved the video for Julie. It reminded me of Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer".
HENRY: I'm so glad you mentioned Peter Gabriel! His video for Sledgehammer was mentioned quite a bit while we were filming. The take we wound up using was filmed twice as slow as the actual recording, so when we sped it up to the proper speed it had have a very stop-motion, jerky quality to it. The first day of filming was fun, which is when we did the main shot with the red background and green screen. Jen and our friend Justin- the pair of hands on the right- as well as Chris March (the director) and Annie kept coming up with ways to torment me. Those kitty whiskers that Jen painted on my face were completely unexpected and we nearly lost the take because I started laughing, but it's the take we ultimately used. It was one long shot with no cuts through to the middle eight of the song, so I had to wash my face and dry my hair so many times. I have to say, I was very clean that day. But yeah, we had a lot of fun with this video and working with Chris. Behind the camera, Annie and Chris kept egging me on to ham it up. We were all in good spirits, and it felt more like a big group project. The whole idea was kind of silly and it was a really, really fun video to shoot. It's my favorite Aloud video so far.

How much of your time is spent running the business end of the band, versus making music and doing the fun stuff?
HENRY: It's a constant tightrope act, because you can't neglect either. Our manager, Annie Burns, is an enormous help to us and does what she can to ease the burden of the business end of things. But, yeah, sometimes the business side can get very overwhelming. It's difficult sometimes to focus on writing music you actually care about when your weekly schedule keeps distracting you.

JEN: It can be difficult. The main thing is to be creative with all of it. That's tough to do all the time of course. If we're ever taken with a flight of inspiration we stop all we're doing and work on the song. You also have to set aside time during the week to hang out with friends, do new things or what will you ever have to write about? Generally, idleness is a good thing. It's where you have space to be creative.

What else do you want people to know about Aloud?
HENRY: Well, we're planning on another tour by the end of the year, we're working on writing and recording new material, playing CMJ in October... just generally keeping busy. And who knows, we may even be lucky enough to sneak in a quick vacation in there!

Do it now - check out the Aloud website.

*Photo by Mick Murray.

Center Stage with Ed Degenaro

2009-07-23T11:34:00.000-07:00

The world is full of great guitarists. Spend just half an hour on Youtube and you will be convinced that every bedroom in the world now houses an unknown prodigy. Standing apart from this crowd has become no small feat, but Seattle based guitarist Ed DeGenaro has managed to do it by blending an unusual approach to the guitar with a bottomless musical imagination. The result is tasty jazz-fusion, seasoned with Latin, country, and rock, and topped with a dollop of humor. It is a musical flavor that is uniquely his own. Recently I got a chance to chat with Ed about his guitars, his music, and his new CD "Less is Seldom More".

Congratulations on the new album. “Less is Seldom More” is a great record - a great progression from “Doghouse”.
(Laughs.) That’s because it cost me about five times as much as “Doghouse”. It also has some great musicians on it.

Yes, lots of great playing! I have to say that the bass part on Ave. D is just smoking.
That was Ric Fierabracci. He really hit that shit out of the ballpark.

I’m curious about your writing process.
Well on “Less is Seldom More” I did such a small part of the writing. Much of it was done by other people for me. Like Ave. D was written by Chris Taylor. And the way that started was Chris sent me a loop - you know - a drum loop and a bass line, and I just improvised over it. And he would cut it up and go “Oh, this sounds like a great melody,” and then I would record it.

I was curious about that….it sounded like there were loops….
No, no, no, no…they started out as loops. There are no loops in the final product.

Are there samples? I cracked up the first time I heard Yes Man. I noticed that the vocals aren’t credited. Are they samples you found somewhere, or what?
The munchkin vocals?

Ya. Did you do that?
No, those are actually samples. Same with the voice on Ave. D. The only samples are the spoken voices.

Tell me about your recording process. Digital? Analog?
The first part of question, yes, the second part no. I use something called Sequoia. It is German software that’s total high-end…it’s used for classical orchestra usually. And what happens is we just transfer, bounce.

You have a lot of different guitar tones. You must use quite a range of amps and guitars.
(laughs) Actually, after I was done recording I sold about 16 amps, because I realized out of all the amps I used about 3 on the album, out of the 20 set-ups I had.

Which ones?
The majority of the album is the Axe-FX direct into the recorder. I’d say about 75% Axe-FX, a couple of little bits are an old Marshall or an old Fender, and the majority of the gain tones are the Axe-FX into the VHT Deliverance.

You are really known for your fretless guitar playing. How much of your playing on “Less is Seldom More” is your fretless guitars, versus standard fretted guitars?
You know what – “Less is Seldom More” really doesn’t have all that much fretless on there. I think there’s a little bit of fretless on Ave. D, and then there’s some on Monkey Bawls, Matt’s Bible Camp is all fretless on the distorted guitar, Yes Man has some fretless in it. Confirm Walk Forward has some fretless in it. Id say about 1/3 is fretless.

And Neck Bone is a nod to your country influences. Are you still playing with your country project?
Yeah….I gotta eat. (Laughter.) I’ve only sold about 100 copies in the last two months of “Less is Seldom More”. But then again, you know, it’s readily available on your favorite download site for free.

Do you have to deal with a lot of piracy?
Of my stuff? Yeah! I’d say I spend a day a week chasing down blogs that host my album, like on Rapidshare and those kinds of sites, just to have that shit shut down - and a week later it’s up again. Like last week I came home, and I ran my weekly Google search for pirate downloads, and it just had gone up just a half an hour before. I contacted Rapidshare, to take it down. By the next morning they had it up on Rapidshare again. I contacted them again, and they took it down in like three minutes, which was awesome, and then they put it up on, you know, on some MyFiles or some other file hosting site. So we took it down there, and then finally Google took the listing off. I mean it’s a frikkin’ headache-and-a-half!

It sounds like an ongoing nightmare.
I mean there are people who think it’s good advertising, but where will I make that money? At a gig where I charge $5 dollars? I don’t think so.

Going back to the country thing, have you managed to incorporate your fretless guitars into that, to imitate pedal steel or something?
Everyone once in a while I’ll bring it out if I’m bored, but there are so many guitar changes and it’s so fast paced, that it’s….I’m pretty stuck with Tele’s and Strat’s. At my own gigs I use the fretless for an hour, before I go back to fretted again.

You have some amazing guest musicians on the new album. Are these all guys that you have musical relationships with, or do you contact them just for this recording?
Short answer: yes. (Laughs.) Some of them I’ve played a million gigs with. Others I found when I started on eSession.

I notice you have become a member of eSession. Have you managed to find work through that service? What do you think of it?
Work? Yes. Much? No.

Is that something you think will be growing in the future?
I hope so, because the concept is really a great idea.

I think so too. I write a lot of country tunes for pitching in Nashville, and it’s sometimes tough to find good musicians to record parts.
Yes, it’s cheaper and a hell of a lot easier than going down there.

The song Joe Z was on your last album, “Dog House”. Why did you decide to record it again for “Less is Seldom More”?
It was very simple. When we did it on “Dog House” Joe was still alive. When we did “Less is Seldom More” Joe had passed, and I thought - you know what? I was never happy with the fact that it didn’t have bass and drums - that it was programmed. We redid it for the bass and drums.

And I have to ask because I don’t know…who is Joe?
Joe Zawinul the keyboard player from Weather Report, among other things. And in Miles Davis’ band

So…to honor Joe and to get some live musicians on there?
Yep. To make it the version that it should have been in the first place.

This CD gets the Aaron Cheney stamp of approval! Go buy "Less is Seldom More"....now! If you are a fan of fusion or just love great guitar you won't regret it.

Ed Degenaro Website

Buy "Less is Seldom More"

Tools of the Trade - The Notebook

2009-07-23T11:23:00.000-07:00

Just as with any artist or craftsman, songwriters use a certain set of tools in their trade. Standing head and shoulders above them all in importance is the notebook. Ideas are fleeting. Capturing them before they are gone is crucial, and nothing is faster than a notebook. Even in a world where computers and other electronic gadgets are as ubiquitous as sand at the beach, the notebook still rules - it never has to boot up, never has to wait for an app to load, and never needs to be recharged.

Get It In Writing
The type of notebook you use is a personal choice, but I can offer one piece of concrete advice: don’t get a spiral-bound! They are messy and don’t store or stack well. Don’t get one that’s too small either. Notebooks that are too narrow make writing uncomfortable and also make it difficult to fit one line of your song on one line of notebook paper. I find that the 9 ¾” x 7 ½” Mead Composition notebook (College Ruled) is perfect for me. It’s sturdy, side-bound with stitches, and just the right size.

Your notebook is your songwriting database. Remember the old saying “the shortest pencil remembers longer than the longest memory”? It has never been more true than when it pertains to songwriting. Don’t ever depend on your brain to remember a good turn of phrase or song idea. Write it down! The world of music is full of anecdotes about such-and-such artist writing down the idea for their new hit song on a bar napkin or funeral program, and there is a good reason for it: they understood that the idea that doesn’t get written down gets forgotten. Sure, your idea may seem easy enough to remember when inspiration has just struck, and you are certain the idea you’ve come up with is so memorable - so groundbreaking - that it is impossible to forget it. Trust me - it isn’t.

Carry your song notebook everywhere, and write an idea down the minute it comes to you! If you get caught somewhere without it, write your idea down on whatever is at hand (or maybe even on your hand!) and transfer it to your notebook later. You’ll thank me.

How to Use It
Over the years I’ve developed a way of writing in my book that seems to work pretty well. First, I write my name and contact info on the first page. (Ever lose your notebook? I have.) Then I flip that page and begin my first set of lyrics on the first right-facing page. This would be page three, for those of you who are following along. I use that page for my lyrics, and the left-facing page (Page 2) for any notes, rhymes, or other thoughts that occur to me as I’m working. For all subsequent songs, I simply follow the same pattern: lyrics on the right, notes on the left. This technique allows me to see my lyrics and my working-notes at the same time, without having to flip pages.

I also keep a running list of title ideas starting on the very last page of my notebook. This is where I jot down any song titles, catchy phrases, wordplays, or metaphor ideas I happen to come across. As those ideas begin to fill pages I work backwards through the notebook. Eventually my lyric pages and my title ideas will meet somewhere in the middle, and it’s time for a new notebook.

I then file that notebook (I wouldn’t dare throw it away!) neatly in with all my other songwriting notebooks (good thing I didn’t buy a spiral bound), making sure to label the front of it with a few notes about what’s inside. Why? Because filing your notebooks is not about storage, it’s about retrieval. When properly notated, old song ideas can be easily found when new inspiration arrives.

So…what kind of notebook do you use? What’s your method for capturing your ideas?

*Photo by Sancho Papa

More Songwriting Tools

2009-07-23T11:04:00.000-07:00

Now that we’ve covered a songwriter’s most important tool - the notebook - let’s talk about some other tools no songwriter should be without.

The Rhyming Dictionary
Writing lyrics is hard work. Why waste time looking for rhymes when someone else has already done it for you? Remember, however, that rhyming dictionaries are not fool-proof. Sometimes no perfect rhymes exist. Use your own smarts and look up near-rhymes or false-rhymes. Other times you’ll find words that rhyme but have no relationship to your lyrics. Solve this by making them part of a metaphor. Rhyming dictionaries won’t help you come up with conglomerate rhymes either. (Rhyming “benefit” with “then if it”, for example).

Despite its shortcomings a good rhyming dictionary is an absolute essential to any songwriter. I recommend The New Comprehensive American Rhyming Dictionary by Sue Young. There are also some great rhyming resources online, my favorite being rhymezone.com.

The Dictionary and Thesaurus
Words are power. As a songwriter, you owe it to yourself to have a wide, working vocabulary. You can’t use words you don’t know. Even worse, you can misuse a word you only think you know. For a songwriter there is no greater humiliation. When you come across a word you don’t know, use your dictionary.

Have you ever been stuck trying to cram a word with too many syllables into a line, like somebody over-packing a suitcase? Enter the thesaurus – an instant list of new words and phrases with similar meanings.. Call me weird, but I just love to peruse mine from time to time, trolling for new phrases. I particularly like editions that randomly highlight a group of words and detail the subtle differences in their meanings. Ever wonder what the differences are between stories, tales, fables, anecdotes, and allegories? I have… and now I know.

Musical Instruments
The guitar is the most popular instrument of our time, followed by the piano. Each has advantages and disadvantages. Experienced songwriters will tell you that the instrument you choose to write on will have a profound effect on your songs. Writers often switch between them to break up their songwriting routines and spark fresh ideas. Become a student of your instrument. Just as a large vocabulary will help you write better lyrics, a knowledge of theory (the vocabulary of music) will help you write better music.

Hand-held Recording Devices
Once, long ago in the 1980’s, people used mini-tape decks to record quick bits of audio. Nowadays everything is digital. Almost every phone or personal electronic gadget has a recording function, and they trump notebooks in one aspect: they can capture sound. Carry one. An emergency alternative: phone home. I’ve sung my share of song ideas into my answering machine. My wife always gets a chuckle out of replaying my quirky, off-key, and sometimes rambling “notes-to-self”.

Computers
When I first started making music way back in the olden days, the thought of having a recording studio in your home was unheard of except for the super-rich. Now, thanks to the computer, everybody has one! We live in an amazing time, when musicians can write, record, design, duplicate, and market their music to the world, all via one little gray box.

Writing lyrics on a computer has distinct advantages: your writing is always neat, blocks of text are easy to manipulate and rearrange, and when you’re finished you can easily make multiple copies or email them to someone. My songs may begin life in a notebook, but they all end up in a computer sooner or later.

A word of warning: writing music on the computer should be approached with caution. It’s fine to sing a melody or strum a guitar part into a computer for memory’s sake, but resist the temptation to fully record a song until it is written. The allure of the studio, with all its tempting bells and whistles, can be a real song killer! Make sure you stay focused on songwriting and not recording.

After some trial and error you will find the tools and methods that work best for you. Whatever your approach, the goal is to capture your ideas the instant they occur to you. I would love to hear your tips and advice - what have you found that works for you?

*Photo by gadgetgirl.

2008-10-01T11:15:00.000-07:00

Saturn

Top Image

2008-05-10T07:37:00.000-07:00