Guitar
I've recently embarked on a singularly ambitious composing project with a couple of dear friends of mine, Joe and Glynis Burke. Glynis has a stack of lyrics dating back twenty years or so, about fifty songs worth, so we're sitting down, drinking coffee and smoking too much, and tackling the book.
Co-writing is always an interesting challenge, regardless of the partners involved (although I expect it was pretty much second nature to Lieber and Stoller). This project is easier than most in that we aren't sitting down cold and trying to drum songs out of our skulls on cue, but rather composing music that suits the lyrics that Glynis has written, and when at all possible, trying to come up with something that fits with Glynis' vision of the song.
Glynis has fairly specific ideas for some of the music, in terms of influence, tempo, lyrical cadences and general atmosphere, but Joe and I have a fair bit of latitude in composing specific chord changes or melodies. Most of the lyrics have strong imagery which makes it relatively easy to find a musical setting to place them.
Joe and I have very different approaches to song-writing/composing, and it's really helped to keep the ball rolling; the three of us have been averaging about three compositions for every two hour session. Although Joe and I don't always agree one hundred percent on everything, we avoid log jams by bringing in our unique approaches, and allowing whomever's 'hot' that day (or that tune) to take the lead. We're trusting enough friends not to sweat the little things and get behind each others ideas, and we're dividing some of the labour by picking certain compositions to work on individually.
I've really enjoyed the freedom to explore some different avenues through this project. To date I've demo'd out three songs individually: the first, a sort-of-soul tune based on the changes to Pachelbel's Canon, the second, a somewhat epic Pixies-esque indie-rock rave up, and the third, a pretty jazz ballad with acid-etched sarcastic bitterness for lyrics. This is FUN! I've always found composing and arranging to be second nature, but writing lyrics is extremely difficult for me, so a project like this one is a real treat.
I really make an effort to get to the essence of a lyric before I start trying to compose around it, but sometimes a particularly strong opening line will write the melody and their subsequent chords without you doing much but finding them. Sometimes its effective to set a dark lyric against a lighter musical setting and highlighting the irony of the story, sometimes the opposite works well. Sometimes a line in the lyric will give a hint towards it's appropriate musical accompaniment. And sometimes the magic just isn't there, and it's time to look at a different song, or take a break, or just try again another day.
We've had a pretty good balance of 'wow, that was easy' to 'that's a troublesome tune' so far, and I'm confident we'll be able to press forward and get ready for the next task: recording it all for release.
- A Les Trem Ii For My Jaguar Special Hh
I added a Duesenberg Les Trem II vibrato to my Jaguar Special HH (my concert guitar) and I'm very happy with it! Never been a big whammy bar user, but lately I started to feel the need for it, either for improvised music (can't work...
- More Sketches
Here is a little bit of anything - headstock ideas for the prototype to be built, ergo-headless designs for a friend, and funny designs sketched on a picnic table in the sun (hence the bucolic branch model)... Today I'll start working on...
- Ephemera And Updates
Garnet Stencil head. 4x10 open-back cabinet comes this week! Lookout Vancouver! Hello everybody. Once again I have let a significant period of time go by without posting anything new. I know how much this makes me crazy when I'm...
- Toss A Wrench In The Works
Taking up lap-steel was both edifying and terrifying. Perfect! In every player's life there are times of creative plateaux: boring, insipid, frustrating periods of limited growth and discovery, usually accompanied by crippling self doubt. You've...
- Look Ma, No Hands!
Just gotta' photoshop out the guitar... Some years ago, I was in a touring band that ranged all over Canada and the mid-western states for three months at a go, twice a year. We did some long drives...I'm talking eighteen, twenty hours...
Guitar
Adventures in Co-writing
 |
| My very-busy-of-late, crowded-as-hell workspace. |
Co-writing is always an interesting challenge, regardless of the partners involved (although I expect it was pretty much second nature to Lieber and Stoller). This project is easier than most in that we aren't sitting down cold and trying to drum songs out of our skulls on cue, but rather composing music that suits the lyrics that Glynis has written, and when at all possible, trying to come up with something that fits with Glynis' vision of the song.
Glynis has fairly specific ideas for some of the music, in terms of influence, tempo, lyrical cadences and general atmosphere, but Joe and I have a fair bit of latitude in composing specific chord changes or melodies. Most of the lyrics have strong imagery which makes it relatively easy to find a musical setting to place them.
Joe and I have very different approaches to song-writing/composing, and it's really helped to keep the ball rolling; the three of us have been averaging about three compositions for every two hour session. Although Joe and I don't always agree one hundred percent on everything, we avoid log jams by bringing in our unique approaches, and allowing whomever's 'hot' that day (or that tune) to take the lead. We're trusting enough friends not to sweat the little things and get behind each others ideas, and we're dividing some of the labour by picking certain compositions to work on individually.
I've really enjoyed the freedom to explore some different avenues through this project. To date I've demo'd out three songs individually: the first, a sort-of-soul tune based on the changes to Pachelbel's Canon, the second, a somewhat epic Pixies-esque indie-rock rave up, and the third, a pretty jazz ballad with acid-etched sarcastic bitterness for lyrics. This is FUN! I've always found composing and arranging to be second nature, but writing lyrics is extremely difficult for me, so a project like this one is a real treat.
I really make an effort to get to the essence of a lyric before I start trying to compose around it, but sometimes a particularly strong opening line will write the melody and their subsequent chords without you doing much but finding them. Sometimes its effective to set a dark lyric against a lighter musical setting and highlighting the irony of the story, sometimes the opposite works well. Sometimes a line in the lyric will give a hint towards it's appropriate musical accompaniment. And sometimes the magic just isn't there, and it's time to look at a different song, or take a break, or just try again another day.
We've had a pretty good balance of 'wow, that was easy' to 'that's a troublesome tune' so far, and I'm confident we'll be able to press forward and get ready for the next task: recording it all for release.
- A Les Trem Ii For My Jaguar Special Hh
I added a Duesenberg Les Trem II vibrato to my Jaguar Special HH (my concert guitar) and I'm very happy with it! Never been a big whammy bar user, but lately I started to feel the need for it, either for improvised music (can't work...
- More Sketches
Here is a little bit of anything - headstock ideas for the prototype to be built, ergo-headless designs for a friend, and funny designs sketched on a picnic table in the sun (hence the bucolic branch model)... Today I'll start working on...
- Ephemera And Updates
Garnet Stencil head. 4x10 open-back cabinet comes this week! Lookout Vancouver! Hello everybody. Once again I have let a significant period of time go by without posting anything new. I know how much this makes me crazy when I'm...
- Toss A Wrench In The Works
Taking up lap-steel was both edifying and terrifying. Perfect! In every player's life there are times of creative plateaux: boring, insipid, frustrating periods of limited growth and discovery, usually accompanied by crippling self doubt. You've...
- Look Ma, No Hands!
Just gotta' photoshop out the guitar... Some years ago, I was in a touring band that ranged all over Canada and the mid-western states for three months at a go, twice a year. We did some long drives...I'm talking eighteen, twenty hours...