Jeff's Songwriting Blog

Engage kids with songs

2011-05-03T20:15:00.000-07:00

Julie and I play music for the youth (up to 4th grade) at our church once a month. Over the Easter service, we played three services with about 150 kids at the largest service. The big challenge was keeping the kids engaged for 30 minutes. A few things that we have noticed that help keep kids engaged:

· Providing an opportunity to add to the song. We do Karen Drucker’s song “Thank You For This Day” and we ask them what they are thankful for? We then do the verse with their suggestions. To close the song out we do a final verse and ask them to just shout out their responses, everyone participates. Another opportunity was having them add sounds like on “All God’s Creatures,” with verses that end like “the old coyote (howls)....”

· Using hand motions – We always play Barry Ebert’s song “Growing With Spirit.” Most of the kids know the sign language parts for the song. We also do “This Little Light of Mine” where the kids hold up their finger as a light. Lately we’ve added “Give Yourself to Love,” and we made up hand signals for the chorus. It helps the kids remember the chorus and they have something to keep their hands occupied.

· A one line chorus with a simple melody – Barry Ebert wrote the song “Gingerbread Man,” and the chorus goes “run, run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man.” This repeated numerous times throughout the song and the kids sing it without you.

· No more than a four line verse – In almost all these songs, there’s never more than a four lines verse before some sort of engagement.

Having kids clap along hasn’t worked that well for us since we both have instruments and can’t lead them in the clapping. A dangerous way for engagement (sometime good or something bad) is having them dance along to a song. Potentially out of control....

If you have any other tips or suggestions for engaging kids in the songs, please leave a comment.

Musical treat - Leonidas Gonzalez

2011-04-09T08:39:00.000-07:00

We were in a hotel in Quepos, Costa Rica and heard outside a band playing "Knocking on Heavens". It sounded great and we headed to the bar to hear more. What greeted us was a solo guitarist, playing a classical guitar, with a Boss drum machine. There were only two other folks in a very large room. Being happy hour we figured what do we have to lose and sat down to listen. What a great decision! The guitarist, Leonidas Gonzalez. was amazing. He played a few Latin tunes and realizing that we were Americans started playing Eagles, Bob Marley, Bob Dylan and a host of others. We asked for Santana and he not only nailed all of Carlos's licks but added more on top, all on a classical guitar. What was especially impressive was his blending classical, rock, and Latin styles. Clean, fast, and improvising while keeping to the melody. We ending up being captivated for almost two hours. I think he was equally thrilled having an appreciative audience. As we finally said our goodbyes and left to eat dinner, I realized how lucky we were to have had the opportunity to listen to him play. I can't help wondering, how many amazing musicians there are around the world, who are happy to play no matter the size of the audience.

Tapping into the creative process or waiting for the cosmic two by four

2010-08-29T07:55:00.000-07:00

Some days an experience triggers a song and it just comes out. Many of these are experiences that I could do without. How many heartache, got hit by a train songs have we heard? It’s like this cosmic 2 X 4 hits you on the head providing all the content and emotion needed for writing a song. The challenge is tap into the creative process, whenever you want, even if everything is going great, possibly ducking that 2 X 4.

I was in a class on the creative process the other night. Just learning something new sparked creativity. Here are some other thoughts.

· Creation is going on all the time. New ideas and thoughts are everywhere. At times you are either drawing things in or pushing them away. (Ernest Holmes). The challenge and opportunity is being open and receptive to new ideas.

· “Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it is the only one we have” (Emile Chartier)? “The best way to get a good idea, is to get a lot of ideas” (Roger von Oech). The number of ideas and your ability to generate new ideas is unlimited.

· In the presence of some people or experiences we are inspired, uplifted to great things. From where do your ideas flow?

· There are infinite perspectives on an idea or experience. People have been writing about love for thousands of years and can still find a unique perspective.

These are great concepts, so how do I use them in songwriting?

· To get inspired, I need to have lots of new experiences. This means getting out of the house, going to the mountains, being around interesting people, reading a good book...

· When I write, I often write one verse, go for a walk or do something else. The next verses come when I can tap into that stockpile of ideas hidden within the clutter in my mind.

· Take a concept or word and find multiple meanings. Here’s one example, I took the word “Cup.” Some of the ideas were - full or empty, large or small, cold or hot, steamy, hot chocolate, open or with a lid, right side up or upside down, cracked, water/beer/wine, part of a set, dusty, lipstick on the rim, spots left by the dishwasher, ....

The last point inspired me, now off to do the dishes.

The Singing/Rapping Poet

2010-05-15T08:05:00.000-07:00

At songwriter's group last night, Jim treated us to two poem-rap songs. I and another member had just gotten through extolling the virtues of a 3-4 minute song, when out came this 8-10 minute long "song." My only saving grace was there's always an exception to every rule, and this was one of them.

What he did was to set a groove on the guitar, sing a short verse, kept the groove going, and start speaking. He would then alternate between the poem and singing. It went on for quite a while and I still wanted more.

In our discussion/critique a few points were raised about the songwriting

1. The sung verses were an opportunity to relax - After the hard hitting rap/poetry, I could feel myself breathe again when he started singing. Once sufficiently rested, I was ready for the rap message again.

2. We can relax in the familiar - In one song he changed the verses and the other kept it the basically the same (chorus-like). The chorus-like version was much more effective in getting us ready for the rap.

3. Changing dynamics - Even though he played basically the same chord progression for a long time, he would play hard, soft, or modify the picking pattern (while keeping time) to emphasize points. He changed vocal expressions (angry, sad, joy ...). and from rap to singing. These dynamics were what made the song interesting well beyond 3 minutes.

4. Attitude is melody - He mentioned that he really needed to be in the mood to perform these songs. He had to feel these songs in order to perform them. A big component of poetry/rap is attitude and expression. Attitude is the melody, otherwise it sounds like a flat one note song.

Finally, his lyrics were outstanding. His only challenge will be to remember them all to be able to perform without his notes.

Getting out of the songwriting rut

2010-02-18T11:26:00.000-08:00

We had been noticing that all the songs with the kids in SongCamp were sounding pretty much the same. To do something different, I brought my new Boss loop pedal. Not only can I record my guitar and add a lead, it also comes with a number of prerecorded drum tracks. The result, two totally different sounding songs.

In applying this to songwriting, I made the following observations:

1) Change the energy - Just adding something new to the mix, immediately changed the energy of the room. We were in uncharted territory. I've had this experience before with a new guitar, plugging in my guitar, or adding a capo.

2) New rhythm - A new rhythm, changes the landscape. Inspiration came from seeing something new. It pushed me outside of my typical safe comfortable patterns into a whole new world and a totally different song.

Can wait to see what we do different next week.

SongCamp - Part 2

2010-02-14T18:56:00.000-08:00

Based on last year’s experience with SongCamp, I signed up for another 9 weeks. Over half of the kids from last year signed up again and there continues to be a waiting list. Working with these 3-5th graders is a continual learning experience. Some of the lessons have been:

Write from where you are – After the earthquake in Haiti the kids wrote, “I don’t know what to think about Haiti, but I am thinking about you every day”.
Adding a second opinion – When writing about the Superbowl, the group sang the verse “AFC and NFC make history.” One voice responded, “some don’t care, like me.”
Start with a structure, but be ready to throw it out the window – For Valentine’s Day, we were struggling with names. So after two verses, we had the kids shout out names while Walt played the chords. Everyone got involved and there were lots of laughs and smiles. This may eventually be a bridge or just a great memory during the writing process.
It doesn’t need to be perfect – The best thing about kids ages 8-11 is that they don’t judge every line. The key is the writing flow and you can always come back and revise.
Collaboration/co-writing is essential – We have three adults that work together with the kids. Some of my best comments came after I was in the listening mode. Mary and Walt have jumped to my rescue when the group bogged down. Probably the best thing is that we have different strengths and styles that add to each song.

The biggest lesson for me has been just to have fun. I’m looking forward to the next six weeks of creating new songs.

Song Camp – Next Generation Songwriters

2009-10-11T12:33:00.000-07:00

I have the pleasure to assist Walt Lofstrom and Mary Morrissey in Song-Camp, a program that writes songs with 9 to11 year old kids. Each week, we have two groups of around 15 kids, each writing a song in one hour.

Last week was great example of the success of the program. There was a boy, who from his body language, looked like a bomb ready to explode. Another boy said something to him and he said that he’ll “see him outside later.” When we asked the group for a word about some activity at school, he said “fighting.”

At the start of the songwriting process, he held back. Then he proposed a first line and suggested that we do the song as a rap. Everyone quickly agreed. Lyrics flowed quickly and when it came time for a melody, he drummed a complex rhythm using his hand and magic marker on the table. No question, it was perfect for the rap. The group circled around him and mini-studio to record the new song. At the end, accolades flowed and a smile emerged. When asked if he was a drummer, he said "no, this was his first time.” To that Walt responded, “You are a drummer now.”

These kids with no formal training continue to amaze and inspire me. They’re not crippled yet by judgment. They let ideas flow and are willing to try new things. They are all songwriters!

Songwriter - Hayes Carll

2009-09-15T11:59:00.000-07:00

I heard this great song with the hook, "She left me for Jesus." I haven't been able to get it out of my head, so today I tracked it down on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyxEO9dqi44. I also searched for lyrics and discovered Hayes Carll.

I ended up going through a number of his songs and have become a huge fan. A few things that really impressed me:

1) Great hooks - Another song was "A Bad Liver and Broken Heart." Need I say more?

2) Simple chords, but memorable melodies - After hearing once, I can remember the melodies.

3) Each verse gets better - At Song School, Peter Himmelman talked about making the second verse better than the first. Hayes Carll has that down, with the best in the third verse.

4) Short but sweet - I didn't check the timings, but I'm sure they are around 3:00 minutes.

I've now got three Hayes Carll songs that will make it round the campfire.

Songwriting - Coloring your song

2009-08-30T09:28:00.000-07:00

At Song School, I had the opportunity to work with Maggie Simpson in taking one of my songs to the next level. Maggie uses a process from acting to "color" a song.

There were a few steps, but one that I remember most is singing a song three ways, with sadness, anger, and then joy. I was singing to Maggie and she mirrored back each emotion . What I wrote as a happy, fun song took on a new dimension as I explored the dimensions of sadness and anger. I realized that the joy rose from these other dimensions and they now had a part in the song. I understood more of what the song was about and added it to my performance.

Another student sang a very sorrowful song. When she sang it with anger and joy the song expanded to a whole new level. The transformation in the song and performance was plain for everyone to see.

This is an amazing process for exploring behind the original emotion that we have when songwriting. It adds new depth and helped me as a songwriter better understand my own muse.

One tip, don't do this right before getting on stage. I was so wrapped up in the joy of the song that I forgot the ending. Luckily the band pulled me out...

Capos for songwriting - Part 2

2009-08-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

Over the last week, I've been exploring one capo position - partial capo, down from top, second fret. At this point, I have guitar parts for four songs and melodies for two. Now all I have to do is get motivated for lyrics.

To create these parts, I use a number of different processes -

1) Try familiar chord shapes until I hear something that I like
2) Explore the key of E scale and let different notes ring through
3) Find the 1,4, 5 chords in different places, add the 6th and 3rd or flat third.

Each one of these processes, has yielded the verse, chorus, and bridge for a song. I'm going to spend another week or two (or until I get bored) with this capo position before moving on. If I get really crazy, I may try DADGAD and a partial capo...

Capos for songwriting

2009-08-17T18:19:00.000-07:00

I just returned from the 2009 Song School. Again an wonderful experience that I'll try to recap over the next few weeks.

I took classes with Justin Roth and Bill Nash on using capos and partial capo. Want to open up your playing, take a class from either one of them. Below is a place to start.

1) Changing the voicing - Using a normal six string capo, you can easily change the voicing of your song without changing the key. For example start playing a E A B pattern with no capos. Move the capo up 2 frets and play D G A. Move it up another 2 frets and play C F G. Same key of E, just different voicing and more flexibility in the fingering.

2) Drop D without re-tuning - You can use a drop D capo, standard capo covering only 5 stings (leaving the low E open), or a 5 string banjo capo to get the drop D sound. If you place it on the second fret, you are really playing a drop E tuning.

3) Short cut or partial capos - If you place a three string partial capo down from the top (A,D,G strings) on the second fret, you can stil play around in E with some open strings open to play with. Hint: With partial capo on two, you need to cover the base on 2 to use the Em shape. Using a Shubb capo (that is not in the way), you can also put it on the bottom (D,G, B strings).

Things get really interesting when you try alternative tunings and partial capos. Bill demonstrated a full sound and some amazing complex songs using Travis picking and just one finger. I won't try to explain, just experiment!

I immediately took our song Saturday Morning and applied this. I had been playing A, Bm, C#m without a capo. With a partial capo on 2, played G, Am, Bm. I then experimented leaving some strings open for a fuller sound. Originally the sound was OK, but using partial capos things really opened up. It was also easier to play. Thanks, Justin - I'm sold!

I see capos as a way to change the landscape of the guitar. New landscape, new possibilities for songwriting.

PS - You can see Julie and I (my best side, with purple shirt) in the front left corner of the picture on Planet Bluegrass' site http://www.bluegrass.com/. I really was there!

The English language is not universal but music is

2009-05-17T21:02:00.000-07:00

Rob Roper in his blog wrote an interesting comment in his blog about playing music in the Netherlands.

“Almost all the Dutch speak English--some very well. But I could tell when I was singing my songs that, for many of them, they missed the nuances of the lyrics-- slang words, metaphors, etc. So in choosing which songs to play, I started using the songs where I created a good melody, and/or had an interesting rhythm. The English language is not universal but music is”

Rob hits the nail on the head here and I think his statement holds true at home. People connect with lyrics and rhythm. I've noticed the same thing playing out. A few of my throw away songs lyrically (songs that I put placeholder lyrics until I came up with the perfect words), are some of the best crowd pleasers.

As songwriters we are always in search of the perfect lyrics. Maybe instead we should search for the perfect melody and rhythm?

The importance of songwriting

2009-04-23T16:44:00.000-07:00

A friend forwarded me a link to the welcome address to freshman at the Boston Conservatory by Karl Paulnack. If you ever wonder why its so important to be a songwriter read this!

It talks about how music "has a way of finding the big, invisible pieces inside our hearts and soul and helping us figure out the position of things inside us." To help understand this, read the article.

I judge the success of my songs when it touches someone. I will always remember the faces of individuals that one of my songs impacted. Like when I received the comment "thanks for putting words to what I feeling" and "it made me feel as if I was there." I'll also remember the silent tears and the smile when there wasn't one before.

Songwriting - Dynamics

2009-04-11T06:45:00.000-07:00

The other night, we got into the discussion on songwriting dynamics. When listening to a friend's song, he started out strumming and singing loud and kept the same pace and volume throughout the song. While the song itself it was good, it was missing dynamics that would make it interesting. In 2007, I posted techniques for changing the dynamics, in songwriters, take your listener on a journey.

A good place to study dynamics is American Idol. Last year's winner, David Cook, was the master at what I call the "American Idol build." He would start quiet, build to full out rock, and then drop to almost a whisper on the last line. His recent CD went platnium in three weeks, so he must be doing something right.

I saw another good example of a different kind of build watching the Blue Canyon Boys, bluegrass band. In bluegrass they change the tempo, speeding it up with each verse. By the last verse, they've got your pulse racing!

A comment I heard the other night was I'm just playing the song the way I wrote it. It's true that every song I write starts out with almost no dynamics. The dynamics come in the polishing phase, between writing the song and getting ready to play it for someone. I'm constantly tweaking my dynamics for the room I'm playing in, the audience, or my mood.

Songwriting - You've got the song, now what?

2009-04-05T15:07:00.000-07:00

Stopped by and saw a friend that I had talked with a few weeks ago. At that time he was struggling with lyrics. Today he played two newly completed songs. Pretty impressive and what was even more impressive is that they are both good musically and lyrically. It's amazing what happens when you get the internal critical out of the way and just write.

Now that the songs were done, I gave him a few suggestions on what to do next. My first suggestion was to make a recording and ask these questions?

How long is the song? My general rule is shoot for around three minutes. Over 4 minutes look for a place to cut.
How does it flow? Think about a journey, where do you build, where do you get quiet?
Do you play you're favorite riff too often? Where would it have the most effect?
How often do you play the chorus, can you get to it quicker? Lately I've become a big fan of concentrating effort on the chorus, giving people a place to sing along. I try use a chorus three times.

My final piece of advice was to not consider the song finished, instead think of it as evolving. The last few months, I've been going back and reworking some of my older song and actually applying some of the comments above. It's much easier to give advice that to do it yourself.

Songwriting - You've got the music now what

2009-03-21T20:00:00.000-07:00

I was working with a friend that has the music and melody for a number of songs, just no lyrics. He's has guitar skill that I wished I had. He made two comments that I hear a lot, "I really want the perfect lyrics for this song," and "I don't want my lyrics to sound ____ (childish, goofy, sappy, conceited ....)." These self judgments limit songwriters more than any negative feedback they will ever receive.

The best advice I ever got was, "to write crap." To write and write a lot is the key. Get yourself out of the way. Self judgement keeps your lyrics prisoner. Almost every writing class I've been in has some variation on free writing, where you write as fast as you can, whatever pops into your mind. If you wait for the perfect phrase, you end up with a blank sheet of paper or music and no lyrics.

Another comment I heard was "that if I actually finished this song, I would have to play it for someone and expose a part of me."

No doubt about it, singing your songs for other people is a scary thing. Face it! That's what's so cool when someone shares a song they wrote.

StereoFidelics - Energizing

2009-03-21T09:16:00.000-07:00

Needing to get reenergized about music, I went out with Rob Roper to listen to music at the Meadowlark, a place for up and coming songwriters. As usual, the first three acts were good. I was about to leave when I saw the last act walk in, the StereoFidelics. After setting up the drums, the drummer started tuning a violin and I thought this should be interesting. The guitarist had an electric and acoustic guitar. He also had way to play a base pad with this foot and an array of electronics. Sound interesting? It was!

I guess I would classify them as a jam band, for lack of a better term. What was amazing was the speed in which they played and the amount of music they were able to create. To tell you the truth, I couldn't remember one of their songs until I listened to their music today. But who cares, I remember the music, fast, clean, high energy... I could go on and on.

In a lot of discussion about songwriting, there's talk about structure, form, melody and lyrics. Seeing the StereoFidelics reminds me to throw all that out the window (on occassion). Could I tell you the form of their songs, no? Could I tell you what they are saying in the lyrics, no. Would I listen to them again, probably tonight if I can drag Julie out.

By the way, I will be performing a new song for kids at church on Sunday. Maybe I'll add in a few riffs (or maybe not).

Two Paper Town

2009-02-27T07:23:00.000-08:00

In Denver today, sad news that one of our major newspapers, the Rocky Mountain News was shutting down. In hearing the news I remember hearing this same story and emotions expressed in a song, Two Paper Town by Steve Seskin.

I've gone back and listened to this song. Steve in 2007 wrote the story for today and if folks would have listened then... That to me is the essence of songwriting.

Songwriting and video to tell a story

2009-02-14T09:10:00.000-08:00

I was asked by Allee Willis, a Grammy winning songwriter, to post a link to her newest video, Hey Jerry. What’s so interesting about the video is how it captures the life’s work of 91 year old, drummer, Jerry Thrill. In 3 minutes and 41 seconds you get numerous clues about Jerry’s life and the music she played and still is playing. I was tempted to fly out for their video release party just to meet this interesting character and hear more about her life story.

This video is a great example of how different media; song, film, and art can combine to create a fuller picture of what you are trying to portray. Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYZkFOZoP-o

House Concert Surprise

2008-11-23T07:58:00.000-08:00

I’ve wanted to go to a house concert, but never did I expect hosting one as a first step. Here’s the story.

We had scheduled a surprise B-day party for Julie at a local bar. Julie always wanted her family and friends to hear her play, so I invited at least 40 friends and family and a great line up of local songwriters. The only requirement was that Julie had to sit in on one of their songs.
On the Monday before the Saturday show, Rob Roper went to the bar for lunch (it’s also a restaurant, no he wasn’t drinking his lunch) only to see a sign “closed for renovations.” After verifying that it was truly closed, we went in frantic search for a venue. You’d figure, great musicians and a crowd would entice some bar owner, but no luck. Finally as a last resort, we decided on a house concert in our basement. The next challenge - how to keep it a surprise? I got the family to come to a surprise dinner at a local restaurant, while Rob and friends rearranged our house (yes, I was feeling brave). The surprise at the restaurant was good, but having an additional 20+ people back at the house was great. They did an excellent job with rearranging our house.

Now to the concert, Julie and I played an opening 3 song set. What a perfect setting. We had a full room (actually packed) and attentive audience that we could see. We were then followed by Rob Roper, Ken Morris, and Eddie Wesslhoff. What talent in our house, so cool! I remember sitting on the basement stairs listening to Ken Morris. I couldn't imagine music sounding any better.

Thanks to all who helped pull it off and sorry to any who didn’t receive my emergency change of venue e-mail.

Memorable Performances

2008-08-16T09:56:00.000-07:00

We were sitting around camp at Song School and a reporter stopped by to ask “what was our most memorable performance of past festivals.” Being a little flip, I said Big Joe Kinser, She Only Loves Me When She’s Drunk. I went on to tell the reporter that the best music happens at Song School, not the main stage.

Two days later, I see it in print. There’s a photo of me, Joe’s names, and a bunch of names you’d instantly recognize. However, I still stand by my choice. Here's the story,

It was the last day of Song School 3 years ago. We had a night filled with great performances. The last performer of the evening comes up, a big guy, small guitar, cut off shorts, etc. I remember thinking here’s a person out of his element, first time at Song School, and he has to follow all these great acts. However, he captured me from the first line, “She only loves me when she’s drunk, when she’s drunk I’m a bar room hunk...” I went home singing that line and to the dismay of my wife for the next year. Three years later, I still remember that song and moment. I just found it on UTube - check it out.

Another moment I remember is Paul Reisler getting up on stage and singing, “I can’t remember, what I forgot.” He never sings on stage but his vocalist was a no show. You could see his hesitation until the first words came out. An incredible performance that brought tears to my eyes.

I guess my point is, it’s not the production, it’s the emotion. Emotion of the performer and the listener. It’s being your authentic self on stage and with your song. It’s a magical blend of right place, right time, right song ...

Directed writing – add depth to your songwriting

2008-08-15T14:09:00.000-07:00

I found myself in the unenviable position of having to sing an original song in 20 minutes and having only two verses, no melody, no chorus, and no final verse. Amazing as it sounds, I wrote a bridge, another verse and even shaky melody, and gave a performance that wasn’t awful.

This was the experience of day four of Paul Reisler’s directed writing course at Song School. The first three days we went through a process of developing the concepts and ideas for a song. As Paul stated, “premature writing destroys creativity,” “many songs suffer from a lack of depth.” In this class, we went to the bottom of the ocean.

The process was:
1) The story – We had a partner tell us a story about an event that transformed their lives. We were to listen and use this as the genesis of a songwriting idea. We were not tied to the story and had full liberty to change the event, add a different ending or write about something totally different.
2) Concept – Identify the transformation in one sentence and outline some points for a story.
3) Mind mapping – Taking the points identified, we then used a non-linear outlining technique called mind mapping to further define and describe.
4) Clustering - Circle key concepts that emerged and underline key images.
5) Free writing – We then went through a process of free writing (writing for a set time period with no editing, letting the pen flow) around an image or concept identified in the clustering exercise.
6) Identification of key points – We went back and highlighted key items that emerged in our writing.
7) Fairy Tale – We then transformed the key points from the free writing into a fairy tale, i.e. “Once upon a time...”
8) Creating metaphors – Taking key words from the fairy tale we then went through a mind mapping process to create a metaphor. This was a really cool process that hopefully I find time to describe later.
9) Putting it together - Writing and performing the song.

If this sounds like a lot of work, it was. It reminds me of the line that good songwriting is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.

The interesting thing was how easy it was to write the song after all the upfront work was done. For someone who typically writes with a guitar in hand and looks for words that rhyme, this was totally out of character. Also the song that developed was different from anything that I had written. Cool... Many of the others in the class had the same experience and some amazing performances were given on day 4.

Will I use this whole process again, maybe? Will I use some of the components, yes!

Would I recommend this workshop, definitely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Song School 2008

2008-08-15T12:37:00.000-07:00

I just returned from my third year at the Lyon’s Song School sponsored by Planet Bluegrass. Having skipped last year, I'm once again blown away with the expereince.

Over 4 days, I had a chance to study the craft of songwriting, vocals, guitar, and even native American flute from talented instructors that included Paul Reisler, Annie Wenz, Arthur Lee Land, Josh Ritter, Susan Werner, Steve Seskin, Moira Smiley, and Rebecca Folsom. The hardest part was picking which sessions not to attend.

I learned as much from the other “students” during evening impromptu song circles and general discussions. Many of these "students" are already performing musicians and teachers themselves, an amazing assembly of talent.

As I get a chance to digest the material, I will try to share some tidbits here. I may also just say the heck with it and write for the next month

Open stage on vacation

2008-07-11T08:48:00.001-07:00

We were on vacation in NJ and amazingly enough ran into this guy Hugh at the Garden Tour who knew my blog and actually said he enjoyed it. When he invited us to play at an open stage, I couldn't resist.

With a day to borrow instruments and practice, we set off. I was using my nephew's guitar and Julie played our daughter's 3/4 sized violin. It turned out to be a fairly good crowd (including many of our family) at Finn's retaurant in Brick that night and we managed to have fun. What was great was that Hugh and another guy performed their own songs, songwriting alive in my hometown, cool.

Check out hugh's music on myspace.

American Idol - A lesson in performance

2008-03-11T20:20:00.000-07:00

Yuk! I hate to admit it, but I've become an American Idol fan. What an amazing place to launch your career. It's also a great place to study song arrangement and performance.

On song arrangement - First, all songs short are cut short. I didn't time them, but I'm guessing around 2 minutes per song. The singers then arrange them however they like. What becomes very clear is those that build to somewhere and those that stay pretty flat. After watching a few shows, it's very clear that those that build in energy as the song progresses, typically get the best reviews.

They repeatedly say that it is a singing contest, but what clearly becomes important is the performance. Tonight for example, the show was clearly stolen by Chikezie. While I'm not sure he's the strongest singer, his performance tonight was outstanding. What came across was his joy and love of being on stage. One of the best singers, David Archuleta, was off tonight and even though he has a great voice, he looked uncomfortable and I felt uncomfortable watching him. I keep being surprised and impressed by Brooke White's passion for her songs. She had tears in her eyes after singing "Let it Be" and from what I felt listening to her, it was very appropriate. She shows the importance of being authentic with what you sing. Finally, my favorite, Carly Smithson, combines high energy, passion, with powerful vocals. I'm expecting her to win.

I've also found the judges comments to be very helpful. Randy will always notice if you're out of tune or out of the groove, you can always tell that he's listening intently. Paula is the coach, always providing positive reinforcement and helpful tips. Finally there Simon, the critic. Each contestant wants his praise. When he gives you a thumbs up, you know you nailed it. If you didn't there's no place to hide.

All the contestants in this later round are excellent and I'd love to have any of their voices, as well as their courage to put themselves out there in front of millions. If only I was 20 years younger, had a great singing voice and nerves of steel...

Angie Stevens - Singer/Songwriter

2008-02-04T19:35:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting in a hotel in Moab, UT recovering from a harrowing 8 hour drive through a snow storm. Along the way, I did had time to do one of my favorite things, study a songwriter's CD. On this trip it was Angie Stevens newest EP, "Queen of this Mess." Afraid to take my hands off the wheel, I got quite the opportunity to listen again and again ...

If you haven't heard of her, get ready. She's has quickly become a favorite in the Denver area, for good reason. We saw her play recently and my best description is powerful! In my voice lessons with Ben Senterfit he always talked about planting your feet and then putting your whole body behind your voice. He must have been thinking about Angie. I could see her do just that.

In listening to her CD, I wasn't bored with any song (rare for me). One technique that she has perfected is the build -- starting quiet, building power, getting quiet to almost a whisper, then building again. There always seemed to be motion. The fact that most of the songs were less than 4 minutes also helped.

In her song, "Thrift Store Sweater," she gave a great example of painting a picture with your lyrics. The verse that immediately caught my attention was,

My thrift store sweaters
My painted pictures
My heartfelt letters
Scattered on the floor

The one trap that I noticed was that all of the songs were about the same tough period in her life. While its a great time to write and get it all out, a happy song or two would be a nice change.

Demo Update

2008-02-04T19:22:00.000-08:00

Early in November we got the bad news, Ben was moving to NY. Great for folks in NY, terrible for us. All of the sudden the pressure was on, get it done and get it done fast. We began working in earnest, scheduling more time in the studio. For the most part it made things easier, however, there was not much practice time in between. Our plan was for me to get the guitar and my vocals down and then for Julie to come in quickly and finish it off. Of course it didn't work out as planned. Julie tried singing on one track and it felt was too slow. Next day, I had to recorded to rerecord.

The deadline forced us to move fast, however, it became a time vs quality issue. Listening after the leaving a session, I began to dread hearing mistakes. Was it worth the time or not. Anyway we got things done, it may not be perfect, but it’ll do… Our last session, Ben downloaded everything onto a 4 G flash drive. Amazing, two months of work on a small disc.

Now all we have to do is get the CD mixed. It's only been sitting on my desk since mid-December. Hopefully, this month...

YouTube Video - A Song for Julie

2008-01-25T13:28:00.000-08:00

We just posted our first YouTube video at, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9RuHAkBcmc.

The song was inspired after I received an e-mail from Paul Reisler and Julie Portman. Paul and Julie are teachers at Song School who I have learned tons from. Julie has been fighting cancer and has just started chemotherapy. In the e-mail they informed their friends, asked us to picture Julie every night at 9 p.m. ET wearing persian blue in the year 2019, and included a recent song posted on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5LKYJo-shQ

After seeing their video, it took all of about three hours for the song to be written. The hard part was finding a video camera and then figuring out how to load it onto YouTube.

Updates on Julie can be found at Caring Bridge

Songwriting cycles

2008-01-21T16:08:00.001-08:00

I had a conversation with Rob Roper in which I expressed not writing songs while working on my CD. He remarked that many songwriters worked in cycles, a prolific phase of writing, a following by playing out, then recording, then writing again.

This makes perfect sense. I just hope I'm entering a prolific writing phase again.

Memorable melodies

2008-01-20T19:26:00.000-08:00

We were listening to some local songwriters last night. While all were good, Julie and I agreed that two of them could be great, not just good. However, there was something missing. It took the whole ride home but eventually the question was asked, did you remember any of their songs? The answer was no, OK maybe one funny one. We remembered the stories that were told to introduce the songs and their performance, but not the songs themselves. To go from good to great, their songs need to be more memorable.

This morning we listen to their CD's and have a few suggestions for them. We asked, how can we tell if we are creating memorable songs. Some of the ideas we came up are:

- Melody - Is there a melody that lives on without the lyrics or guitar? Chords are not a melody. A great tip is to sing the lyrics without the guitar. Is there a melody?

- Rhythm or groove - Are feet in the audience moving in time to the beat? When you play to a metronome, does it feel natural? Can you stop playing and still feel the groove?

- Lyrics - What is the hook or the lines that people will remember? Is it sung clearly? Does the music lead you to this line? Is there anything musically that stands out when you sing this line?

- Dynamics - Does the music and lyrics move in a direction? Is there a peak or valley? Do these coincide with the hook?

These are a few that came immediately to mind. If you have other suggestions, let us know.

Catching up

2008-01-17T20:16:00.000-08:00

It's been quite a while since my last update. I got away from songwriting the last few months. I was working on the CD, starting a new business, and for fun finishing the basement. Needless to say, my focus was on things other than songwriting. It wasn't hard getting out of the songwriting flow, what's going to be hard is to get back into it.

I did write my first song in a while last week. I even went to the Denver Songwriters group again. I've a lot to write about, but for now I'm just going to bed.

Demo - Staying in Tune

2007-11-10T06:32:00.000-08:00

Julie join us in the studio to lay down the violin tracks. On listening to her playback, both Ben and her noticed that she was a little flat. They tried again, and again, eventually realizing that she needed to tune her D string slightly sharp. Next time through, it sounded good.

For me I hate to admit that it sounded just fine. Ben and Julie, however, have much better ears and pick up on an instrument or someone's voice being the slightest bit out of tune. We then got into a discussion about how often we hear people playing or recoding out of tune. To trained musician's being out of tune is like fingernails on a blackboard.

Take home lesson - BE IN TUNE with both your instrument and voice! If you don't have a great ear, get someone who does. Think of it as musical proof reading.

Demo - Part ??

2007-11-08T18:58:00.000-08:00

It's all becoming a blur. Ben just announced that he's moving to NY and we're now on a deadline. We have to have the demo completed by early December. We spent two hours today and laid down the guitar tracks for three songs. My earlier challenges with the click track are a distant memory. Now I love having it, it helps me feel in the groove.

Tomorrow we have three hours scheduled and Julie comes for the first time. I've laid the foundation and its now time to add her vocals and violin tracks. It will be interesting to see how well my guitar tracks hold up after we add the violin.

Songwriting blogging community

2007-11-07T06:33:00.000-08:00

Theres' a pretty amazing community of songwriters that are blogging and sharing information on how they write songs. Most aren't asking for anything except that you check out what they have to say and listen to their music. Adding comments or sending them feedback is one way to say thank you.

I will start adding good sites to my links section of this blog. It's not easy in Blogger to add links, but I finally learned how.

Here's a few sites that I've been looking at recently:

R ob Roper's Blog
Blogging Muses
Lynn Harrison's blog
Nick Prudent's Blog - Song Hacker
Lorenzo D. Policelli - Publish My Songs
Songwriting Apples
Lyric Hut

Detail in Songwriting

2007-11-05T05:50:00.001-08:00

Rob Roper in his blog, recently posted an article The Importance of Detail in Songwriting . Rob gives an example of the song Mr. Valentine's Dead by Kevin Quain. He gives the lyrics and then removes the details to make his point. Some examples include

Gives the character a name, "Mr Valentine", as opposed to a generic "man"
Drinking "Manhattan's", as opposed to having a "drink."

Very thought provoking article. Unless I"m writing about a clear, vivid memory, I tend to start out most of my songs very generic. I'm still working on rewriting and adding detail.

Calling me...

2007-11-02T22:23:00.000-07:00

I was hiking and started humming the tune of a song I'm rewriting. As I continued to walk, I began to get the lyrics. It was what I was missing. However, I had nothing to write it down with. Realizing that all I had was my cell phone, I called home. Thinking that Julie would be home before me, I started out with, "don't erase this." Between dialing and my message intro, I lost some of the lyrics. I recorded what I could and walked some more. Eventually, I remembered and called home again. Good thing I was in cell range...

Gig at Gennaro's Dec. 1

2007-10-30T13:42:00.001-07:00

Rob Roper invited Julie and I to open for him at Gennaro's (2598 S. Broadway, Denver) on Saturday, December 1. We start at the early time of 10 pm. Should be fun if I can stay awake.

Of course we said yes and now comes the arduous task of choosing our set list. So many songs, so little time.

Demo - Part 7 - Do I really like this song?

2007-10-28T16:14:00.000-07:00

We sat down and knocked out Contradiction Blue in less than an hour. Now that I've got a handle on the click track, I did the guitar in one take. What was surprising was that I began to fall asleep while playing the guitar. With a very simple blue progression, it quickly became old. Even later adding the vocal track, it still wasn't that exciting. Worse was that it came in at 5:20 (way too long).

Ben thought it sounded fine and offered to add a bass and drum track behind the song. I left wondering if I should just scrap it and move on. Still haven't decided and will see what he comes up with. The interesting things was, coming into the studio, I thought this would be one of the more solid tracks.

A lesson in song writing - country radio

2007-10-28T15:53:00.000-07:00

On the way home from a river trip in the middle of Utah, we had the choice of two radio stations, one Navajo and Western, and the second country. After the news came on in Navajo, we were left with country. My two passengers had been interested in songwriting, so I was able to give a lesson as we drove through the desert. It was fairly simple, I first defined a verse, chorus and bridge. In most country songs the pattern is verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge and chorus. While not 100% it's a pretty good place to start. I then explained the concept of a hook. Country writers are the master of the hook. In about five songs they started shouting, here comes the bridge, that's the hook, wow they put the chorus first, etc. It was great fun. What was impressive was that an hour later we remembered a number of the hooks and the accompanying melodies.

Whether you like country music or not, there's a great lesson to be learned in the songwriting.

Demo - Part 6 - Practice pays off

2007-10-11T16:30:00.001-07:00

I was back in the studio today. Ben was all excited by his new mike and the fact that I had practiced. In a hour, we laid down two guitar tracks and the lyrics for "Vote for Me." A song done in an hour, pretty cool and more importantly economical!!!!

Today worked so well, because I had practiced with the metronome and a recording of the click track for the past two weeks. For the first time, I walked into the studio confident. Even though I still had the "live on tape" nerves, it was actually fun. I was even able to add a few licks while playing.

To prepare for next week, I had Ben record the click track to the next song, "Contradiction Blues." With practice, hopefully it will go smoothly next week.

Songwriting in a magical spot

2007-10-11T16:30:00.000-07:00

I just returned from 8 days on the San Juan River, the end of the season trip. The first night was so windy, I barely played guitar. The second night we camped by a rapid and I found myself in bluegrass mode. To hear over the rapid I played and sang loud, fast and freely. It was great fun, I only wish I could remember what I played.

A few nights later, we camped below a desert waterfall. It was such a magical place that I had to break out my partial capos and write some beautiful guitar parts. I eventually got a melody and then place holder lyrics. I really hope no one could hear me as I played the guitar part for almost an hour as I started to come up with words. The lyrics were:

I'm standing in the middle of nowhere
Watching the river rush by
It always seems to know where it's going
Doesn't need to try

No signs along the way

To tell you where you're at

Just have to have faith

And trust that you have a good map

Chorus

Week long get away
Clean air, wash it all away

See that water fall

I wonder does it hurt

To fall through the air

And crash to the earth

Chorus

There's a smell of dinner in the air
Catch a taste now and then
Hopefully they'll save me some
If I beg

The last lines were written in a hurry as I ran to dinner. Luckily there was a little dinner left.

Demo - Part five - Editing

2007-09-21T04:16:00.000-07:00

In the studio today I was reminded of that old commercial, "you can pay me now or you can pay me later."

The story goes, I heard three spots in the demo that needed help and went to the studio to fix them. I practiced beforehand, tuned up, and expecting to play and go. Instead, I watched for an hour as Ben manipulated the file making me sound like I know what I'm doing. I never picked up the guitar.

Ben made a really interesting point, he said in the old days, musicians would practice for days getting the song perfect. They'd then go into the studio, record the song a few times and select the best cut. With today's technology, you don't need to be perfect (or even competent like some singers I won't mention). You can use editing features to smooth over any mistakes. You can decide at a later time to add accompanying instruments, back-up vocals or add an introduction (like we did yesterday). The sky's the limit. However, this new technology doesn't save time, it just adds time on the back end versus time practicing.

The lesson to me is to find the balance between perfecting the song and using technology. Walking into the studio prepared will save money, however, its nice to know that I don't need to be perfect!

Demo - Part 4 - The learning process

2007-09-13T19:54:00.000-07:00

Back in the studio today. The first time, all the way through on time, with the guitar part for the Foundation Stands. I felt in good voice so we laid down the vocal track immediately. What was interesting was that the cut felt slow, and the vocals didn't feel natural. In concentrating on keeping to the click track, the emotion of my guitar was missing.

Ben then suggested that I record just the guitar, without the click track. On playback, I was amazed at how well I kept time and when I added the voice how much more natural it felt. While there are a few places I'd like to correct, I'm pretty excited about what we accomplished in one hour.

There has been enormous learning from the last four sessions. I'm more comfortable with keeping time, but still have a long way to go before it's 100% natural. I also have come to know my songs in a way I hadn't before. I know each pause, mini-break or place where I might skip a beat.

Eventually I'm going to have a demo, but along the way, I'm learning a lot....

Thinking as a songwriter

2007-09-11T10:42:00.000-07:00

To get re-energized, I've started taking an on-line course at SongU titled "Thinking as a Songwriter." The course talks about being observant and using these observations to create a picture for your listener. One interesting thought was "Your ability to describe the world around you is as unique as your fingerprint."

An exercise from the class was to look around and describe what you see (objects, textures, colors ...). Then make up a story around each image: For example, some images I came up with are:

"Her dress lies crumpled up on the couch"
"Papers overflowing the trash can. "
"An old postcard tacked on the bulletin board."
"The briefcase by the front door"

While each one could become a song, I've started working with the old postcard image. Not quite sure what it will lead to, but that's half the fun of it....

Rob Roper's Blogging

2007-09-10T07:53:00.000-07:00

Rob Roper, a singer songwriter, just started blogging. Check out his blog at http://robroper.blogspot.com.

Steve Earle

2007-09-07T07:36:00.001-07:00

American Songwriter magazine just did an excellent article on Steve Earle. A few points that struck me were:

The effort he put into songwriting,
"...spending 10 years in Nashville before anyone would put a record out..."
"the writers were given the keys so they could access the publishing buildings long after the other staff have gone home."
"Songwriters ... have to live in the margin"

He talks about technology and his first forays into ProTools. While its clear that he takes advantage of technology, he pointed out that "technology was getting in the way of the lyrics. They just weren't as important 'cause there were ways to compensate."

"I own couple of hundred guitars and a lot of gear, but I could get into my truck with one guitar and support myself."

There are references to his living in a neighborhood of artists. He describes Freehold, NJ as "Texas" because of all the southern people coming up there to work with Springsteen. (growing up a few miles away, this is news to me).

The article ends with him hearing one of his songs being played at a Yankee game 15 years later. "To me, that's making an impact... I think that's what you wanna go for."

Demo - Part 3 - Practice rhythm more than chords

2007-09-06T20:14:00.000-07:00

Today was our third demo session. We finished the guitar part on College Years and just started working on the Foundation Stands. I've come to the conclusion that one hour sessions are too short, it's taking me that long to get into the groove.

In working on the Foundation Stands, its interesting that I can nail it in practice, but during recording I tend to speed up. While I hear that this is the most common problem, it's still frustrating. Ben made an interesting comment from his teaching experience that guitar students need to focus as much on rhythm as the chords. The typical student focuses on trying to get the chord shapes and forgets about the rhythm. Playing solo guitar this doesn't become an issue until you play with a band or get into the studio.

While this has been frustrating in the studio, I'm hearing a difference in my playing. Since I can't cheat in working with a click track, I'm being forced to be perfect my rhythm. Give me a few more years and I'll be there...

Preparing a demo - part 2, going into the studio

2007-08-31T08:19:00.000-07:00

For the past week I practiced three songs with a metronome. I had it wired and walked into the studio ready to record. Of course, things don't always work out like planned.

After we got the room set up I started to play with the click track. Unfortunately, I really couldn't hear it and realized that in all my practice sessions, I relied on looking at my metronome as much as hearing it. I wasn't comfortable when I couldn't hear it (It's actually a good thing when you don't hear it because it means your on time). Lesson #1, when practicing with a metronome, don't look at it.

Ben then started directing me through the studio window (it must have been pretty funny looking). That worked great until I got to the end of phrases, where I like to do a little guitar ad-lib that put me off one beat. Sounds great to me, but killed my time signature. Lesson #2, little guitar enhancements can sound cool but can wreak havoc with your timing.

At the end of the hour, we actually had a track that was OK, but still not great. Next week, I think we need to start from scratch.

During the course of this process, there was a suggestion for me to just carry on, play my normal way and not worry about keeping to the click track. While this would make life easier, I want to do this right and I think the final product will be better.

My bottom-line lesson from this is how important it is to practice with a metronome from day one (yes, I finally get it) or at least practice (a whole lot more) prior to getting into the studio.

Preparing a demo

2007-08-23T15:57:00.000-07:00

Everywhere I turn, I keep hearing about the need to have a high quality demo CD. It finally took a voice from above to push me over the edge. When asking at church, how do I get involved with the music ministry, I was immediately told to submit a demo CD.

Today I started working toward a demo. I chose to work with Ben Senterfit in his studio and our approach will be to:
1) Record the guitar to a click track
2) Record the vocals
3) Add Julie's violin
4) Add other instruments later

In preparation for studio time, we started by getting me ready to work with a click track. A click track is basically a metronome. Today we identified the tempo for each song and my goal over the next week is to get my guitar rock solid with this beat.

If you haven't done it before, it's challenging playing to a click track. So I'm glad I have practice time. A few things that I noticed immediately:
- I tend to add an extra beat at the end of phrases (my guitar embellishment was throwing me off time)
- I tend to speed up going into (or during) the chorus
- The first three songs (my favorites) were at basically the same tempo (need to mix this up on the CD).

This should be an interesting process.

Song pitching

2007-08-08T18:34:00.000-07:00

I listened to an on-line seminar on SongU by Michele Vice-Maslin, a songwriter out of LA. A few of the key points I heard are:

1) Understand the publishing process - Your goal is to make it easy for person looking for a song. If you don't know the process, they will find you hard to work with.

2) Research everything - Know who are looking for songs and the type songs they are looking for. Listen to the artist. Look at listings of projects such as:

Service - Imdbpro.com (paid service)
Book - A&R registry (book) Lists A+R person, music supervisors, etc
Magazines like Billboard, Hollywood report, Variety
Web sites - Variety.com, yahoomovies.com

3) Have a credit sheet - Describe what you have done, your projects, who you have worked with, ...

4) Make a quality demo - Expectations of quality have changed and people want high quality demos, professional looking materials. Make sure your vocals are in tune. Add back-up music

5) To TV and movie - Send e-mails and ask "what do you need"?
For records - send an example MP3.

6) Get your music out there, spend money to get your product out there.
- Look at pitching services (songlink, Songquarters, MyHitFactory)
- Submit to songwriting contests.
- Join local organizations (Roots Music, NSAI...)

7) Follow-up with folk you pitch to. Did you get it?

She said that 90% of her income comes from Film and TV, 10% from records. The money is in film and TV.

Eileen Ivers - WOW!!!!

2007-07-17T13:01:00.000-07:00

We had two friends call us to say that we need to see this violinist, Eileen Ivers. She was playing at the Denver Irish festival in a local park. It 95 degrees out, so it took that second call to drag us out into the heat. The sun wasn't the only thing on fire, I believe I saw smoke coming from Eileen Ivers fiddle.

I was hooked from the first song to the end of the show. I was first caught by how effortlessly she played the violin. The second thing was her immediate energy and great smile. The third and most importantly was music. Even though we could have fried an egg on the sidewalk, the crowd was moving throughout the show and I never thought about giving up my front row seat to hide in the shade.

In thinking about her performance and music, I walked away with a few observations from the show:

- Even though we came to hear a fiddler, it was the whole package that made the show. The band, called the Immigrant Soul was stacked with talented musicians. The violin, while a lead instrument, was only a component of the whole package. I've often seen the reverse when a lead guitarist takes over the show and the rest of the band is window dressing. I watched the guitarist, Greg Anderson, for most of the show. If I had learned to play rhythm like him, I'd still be playing bluegrass music.

- The music was a marriage of different styles. While based in traditional Irish music, flavors of jazz, R+B, and African music were readily apparent. I even heard some acid rock sneaking its way in. She referred to this as "world music." The bottom-line was these different flavors made a gourmet meal that I savored.

- They mixed instrumentals with songs with lyrics. Their lead singer, Tommy McDonnell, had an interesting blend of Irish and R+B influences (I love this "world music"). To make things even better the audience was asked to join in on the choruses for a few songs.

- The whole show exuded energy. Eileen would bounce around the stage while playing amazing rifts. Irish step dancers came on to the stage. This energy spilled out into the audience and a group of kids moved up front to dance. I even remembered some of my old clogging steps.

At the end of the show they announced that they will be playing with the Denver symphony in February. I hope it's really cold so I can warm up by their music. I won't have to be called twice to see this show!!!!

What's missing with this songwriter?

2007-07-15T12:25:00.000-07:00

We listened to a songwriter today who has the credentials, but for some reason we were unimpressed and the crowd didn't react. She has a great voice, great stage presence, and the music sounded good. So what was missing? Julie and I discussed this and came up with the following reasons (all small points but taken together...).

- The connection with the back-up band was missing. She was snapping her finger in time with a beat that we didn't feel. When I see someone visibly keeping time, I want to feel that time.

- All song introductions started with "this is a song I wrote." She was introduced as a songwriter, so why cover it again? After hearing it for the second and third time, it sounded self-serving.

- There seemed to be a mismatch between her presence, performance, and the songs. Between her credentials, dynamic stage personality, strong voice, and powerful delivery, our expectations were raised pretty high. Yet the songs she was singing weren't that dynamic. For example, poor contrast between the verses and chorus. Phrases had the same length and speed of delivery. With high expectations, we were expecting amazing songs.

She obviously was very talented, so I assume that we caught her on an off day. It could have been the new back-up band or just the mood of the room. However, to me this was a great example of things that I need to be aware.

It was also a reminder that I need to look at the expectations that I create in the audience. So far this has worked in my favor, they expect me to suck, so if I do halfway OK, I've exceeded their expectations.

Nashville experiences

2007-07-14T16:36:00.001-07:00

Two of our songwriting group recently returned from Nashville. A few of their comments that I noted were:

- It was a great learning experience.
- The main thing they accomplished was making contacts and learning about songwriting Nashville style.
- Songwriting is treated like any other business, songs need to be written to match the needs of the client. While everyone say that they want something different, if it does match the formula it needs to be really amazing to get listened to.
- Songs need to be much shorter, have a strong hook that's repeated, and follow a format like V C V C B C (with some flexibility).
- There are over 300 songs writing per week in Nashville, so it's as much who you know as what you know.
- Both had demos of their songs made in Nashville. It was really weird hearing our friends songs country-fied. If you're pitching in Nashville, your pitching country songs... Also, there's a big difference between demo shops, so do your homework.
- Co-writing is strongly encouraged and there is no shortage of people offering to do a cowrite on one of your existing songs. The trick is to get a co-write situation that works for you. (see my earlier postings on co-writing)

Listening to their comments, it sounds like something that I may want to do.

Opposite song

2007-06-03T05:41:00.000-07:00

I started working on a new song that starts with the lines,

"I know the answers,
but the questions aren't so clear,
Don't have any problems,
until they appear."

As I started working further on this song, I got into the opposite mode and writing the rest of the song was easy. I've used this technique in writing the song "Contradiction Blues" and find it an easy way to write.

One of the best examples of this is the Tom Waits song, San Diego Serenade. Each line in the song has the structure, "I never saw the ...., til I ..."

"It's not what you say, it's how you say it"

2007-06-02T08:49:00.000-07:00

This expression holds true for songwriting as well. Just think about how many times you understand the words in songs on the radio, yet you often understand the meaning of the songs. This week I worked with Ben Senterfit on creating colors with my voice and lyrics. Here are some of my take home points

- Low density (breathy) vs. high density (resonate, bassy) - Low density creates a sense of vulnerability. Deep and resonate singing shows more confidence. A great example of low density is Van Morrison's Crazy Love (he's got a whisper tone to his singing). For high density, just listen to anything by Frank Sinatra.

- Singing high vs. low - High notes tend to impart more energy and be used to be more aggressive. Low notes are more laid back and somber.

- Lots of words vs. few words in the same time - More words yield a faster pace. Less words a slower pace.

These are neat ideas, now all I have to do is apply them to my songwriting.

Recording a song

2007-05-18T11:49:00.000-07:00

I received the following question from Michael -- what kind of recording system do you use to record your song for a day? Are you using a PA system and then recording to what? And how do you post it using quicktime?

My response was:

I started with an old cassette recorder and even used my camcorder when in a pinch. Now I have an 8 track digital recorder, Zoom MRS-802B. The system with accessories costs about $1000. This includes a condenser mike, 2 headphones, speakers, etc. From that I burn to a CD. I then use my computer and a FreeWare Program, FreeRip, to convert my audio track to MP3. From there I load it to my website. If you don't have a website, MySpace allows you to post up to 3 songs free.

If I did it again, I would check out ProTools which runs off the computer. If anyone has a suggestion, add a comment.

I'd also suggest finding an easy to use system, rather than the most advanced, unless you are a techie. Each system has a large learning curve! I use only about 5% of the functionality of my recording system.

What to do if you suck at singing

2007-05-18T11:20:00.001-07:00

There's a discussion on the web site, Blogging Muses about "what to do if you suck at singing." I added the comment below:

I was one of the people who was told, play the guitar, but whatever you do don't get near the mike. About 5 years ago, I decided to learn how to sing. For one main reason, to get my songs heard!

I started in group classes where I could hide my voice in a crowd. The instructor, Julie Davis, started the class with "everyone can sing, no one is tone deaf. You just need to learn how." Great advice, yet I had my doubts! After about a year, I started private lessons and am still continuing once a week with Ben Senterfit. I went through 5 or 6 teachers before I started working with Ben.

What I found out was by learning to sing, I improved my songwriting. My melodies were limited because of the limited range of my voice. With more confidence, I can play my voice like my guitar (I should say like a beginning guitar student). I also have confidence to sing in front of a crowd and my songs are getting heard.

Am I an excellent singer, no! But at least I don't sound like fingernails on the blackboard. Check out my songs, at jeffsongwriting.com.

Practice the easy stuff

2007-05-16T10:53:00.000-07:00

On Monday, I was playing my latest song for a small group. It went over well, but I did make a few small guitar mistakes. This has happened at my last few shows, strong vocals, mistakes on the guitar. If you ask me what's the strongest part of my music, I'd easily say guitar.

Upon reflection, I realized that I put most of my practice time on the vocals. I worked on how I was breathing, what note to hit where, different phrasings, etc. I recognized challenging areas, practiced the transitions, and figured out how to recover from mistakes. Since the guitar part was relatively easy, I only practiced to support the voice. In essence, I took the guitar parts for granted. It's no wonder that I made mistakes.

My take home lesson is to practice the easy stuff (guitar) with the same intensity as the hard stuff (vocals).

Songwriters - take your listener on a journey

2007-05-11T08:29:00.000-07:00

Good songwriting takes the listener on a journey. A good way to think about it is taking a road trip.

- First imagine a long flat road with endless corn fields, your car on cruise control.
- Then imagine a hilly road with peaks and valley, occasional glimpses of waterfalls or snow covered peaks.
- Finally image going high speed on a torturous four-wheel drive road, with tons of sharp turns, steep drop offs, endless ruts and obstructions to avoid.

What kind of journey are you trying to achieve in your songwriting? In the first case, the flat road, a song like this would be great for meditation or getting ready for bed. In the last case, the crazy drive, you're trying to build the crowd into the frenzy, like in my old punk rock days. I tend to shoot for the middle case, taking my listener up a mountain, back down again and occasionally give them glimpses of a waterfall or rainbow.

What tools do you have as a songwriter?

1. Melody or chord changes (this is your landscape).
2. Volume of your voice or instrument - Start quiet and build (like climbing the mountain). Many bands add instruments as the song builds.
3. Changing your strum (but not your beat) - Fingerpick vs. strum. Number of beats in a measure (in 4/4 time take 4 strums/measure or take 1 strums/measure). The key is to keep the metronome going in your head.
4. Number of words - Wordy phrases = rushing, few words = more relaxed.
5. Pause - Stop playing for a count of 4, or don't say something when people expect it. People tune into what's next.
6. Add a bridge ( a departure) - It's like stopping to get gas, hitting a home run, or falling off a cliff.
7. Going up an octave or changing key - Take the melody up an octave (the elevator to the top).

In the song I'm currently working on, my first draft was almost like the corn field trip, one chord pattern, strong but consistent melody, no bridge. In my rewriting process, I added dynamics and ended with a journey. The trip looks like this:

- Start with a quiet intro. (get in the car)
- Build through the verse and chorus (climb a mountain)
- Quiet down for the next verse ( a little louder than the first verse) and again build to the chorus (a slightly higher mountain)
- Add a rocking bridge (base jump off the top)
- Add a pause (the parachute just opened)
- Next verse is almost a whisper (enjoy the beautiful valley on the way down)
- Build back to chorus (drive home)
- Slow down in the outro (back home)

I'm tired just thinking about the journey, but hopefully my listeners will enjoy it. If not, no refunds!!

New songwriting tips

2007-05-08T12:18:00.000-07:00

An excellent songwriter, Rob Roper, has begun to add songwriting tips to my website.

Rob's first tip, Crawl First, is sage advice for the beginning songwriter. He provides some great suggestions for getting started.

Rob's second tip, Get out of the House, encourages songwriters not to write in a vacuum. Rob gives suggestions on where to go for ideas and to learn.

Thanks Rob!

Stuck? Walk away...

2007-05-04T20:07:00.000-07:00

I was talking with an artist today. She mentioned that when she got stuck on a painting, she'd often leave it until she felt inspired. Sometimes it would sit for days or weeks. When she finally returned, she felt she came back stronger, more creative. She said that even though she wasn't consciously working on it, her brain was still painting.

I find the same to be true with songwriting. When I write, I often take a break in between verses or whenever the energy starts to ebb. Sometimes I leave a song for minutes, sometimes much longer. I like the concept of my subconscious working on it, when I'm not. I just wish it would worker faster and harder...

Economy of words

2007-05-03T18:58:00.000-07:00

Today I talked with Ben Senterfit about the economy of words. We were analyzing the lyrics to a song I'm working on. The discussion centered around how much detail do you need? and How to describe something with one word instead of two? An example is hot water heater (do we really need the word hot). Ben's point was the less words you use, the more weight each word gets. Also, the less you define, the more the listener can develop their own image.

A example from today was:

I started out with "The first drop of rain falls on the mountain top,"

then went to "A drop of rain falls on the mountain top,

we ended up with "a drop falls on the mountain top."

I'm not sure if I like it, but its an option. The key to crafting a song is to have options and then pick the one that works best.

P.S. I cut the number of words in half when editing this post. It works in writing too!

Simple chords - strong melody

2007-04-26T17:52:00.000-07:00

I wrote a song last night with a pretty strong melody. As we talked about it today with Ben Senterfit , I came to realize that the reason the melody emerged was that the chords were so simple. Since I used the same chord progression for both the verses and chorus, the only place to get variation was in the melody. What I realized was in my quest to have more interesting chord changes, I didn't leave room for melody.

As we began to work on the song, we started substituting chords or changing the time sequence (i.e. 3/4, 2/4, ...) , while keeping the melody constant. I was amazed that the melody still worked. Based on this, I'm going to try a new approach to songwriting:

1) Start with simple chords
2) Develop the lyrics and melody
3) Substitute in more interesting chords

To do this, I'm going to take advantage of my multi-track recorder. The process would look something like:

Step 1 - On track 1 I'm going to record the simple chords.
Step 2 - On track 2 sing the lyrics and melody.
Step 3 - Play only track 2 and try different chords arrangements.

Music makes the wedding

2007-04-16T15:25:00.000-07:00

Julie and my wedding a few weeks ago was filled with music. We had a number of people come up to us afterward to say how much they enjoyed the ceremony and wedding. I believe music played a huge role in that (or maybe it was just the open bar before the ceremony).

We started out with a string quartet. We had members of Julie's symphony and her brother on trumpet. You can't beat strings for a wedding!

In the ceremony, Ben Senterfit, played the song that I wrote to propose with. Unfortunately, I was a little too preoccupied to thoroughly enjoy someone else singing one of my songs. However, from I can remember it sounded great. I need to get a CD!

We also had Julie's cousin Tim and our friend Mary Ann (who's sings "Little Fish" and "Ode to the Canyon" on my website) sing Kate Wolf's, "Give Yourself to Love." Mary Ann got us by adding a surprise verse at the end. She always wanted to be a songwriter and her first try was a huge success!

Afterward, we had dance music provided by Ben's band. I was impressed with the band's ability to play great dance music, but not overpower the room. The dance floor was packed all night and yet I could still talk to people throughout the room. You want a great band for a wedding, contact Ben. Unfortunately, they don't do the Chicken Dance or YMCA.

Thanks to our friends for providing the music to make it a memorable night.

Use of humor in a serious song

2007-03-10T10:52:00.000-08:00

One of the songwriters last night was performing a pretty serious song and in the middle added two humorous lines. It sparked a good debate, should you or should you not add humor in a serious song. The crowd last night was evenly split.

In this instance the lines fit his personality perfectly. It really fit who he was and his music. They really did a good job of breaking the tension he had built up. However, if I was going to perform this song, those lines wouldn't work for me. It wouldn't fit my personality. Finally, the song was really strong with or without those line.

So the final answer is, it should stay the same and it should change (I could be a politician). The question really boils down to, who are you writing the song for and how will it be used?

Speed bumps in songwriting

2007-03-10T10:00:00.000-08:00

KG Morris had a great observation at last night's songwriters group, he called it avoiding speed bumps in a song.

This came up in time capsule song. The songwriter had the first verse age 22, the second verse age 32, and the third verse age 34. Two people in the room had a problem with the change in time period lengths. They said it distracted them. I didn't notice until it was point out. Ken called these items speed bumps. You're in the flow of the song and something impedes your progress with enjoying the song. Not everyone will pick-up on it, but those that do it's a problem.

Some other examples of speed bumps that I recently encountered,
- In "When the Talking Stops" - I referred to the same god as a he (my future wife picked up on it). Specifying the gender is not important, so I will change it.
- Using a war metaphor in a song not about war. With the current sensitivity to war it's time to find a different metaphor.
- In the song the Foundation Stands, first impressions were that the word Foundation didn't work in the chorus. Since the song was based on this words, it couldn't change. Instead I worked on phrasing.

Identifying and working with speed bumps is really important. That's the best thing in having a diverse group of people reviewing your song. The best part of being the songwriter is you can use these comments or chose to ignore them!

P.S. Really cool news - When Ken was in Nashville he worked with another artist on his song, "One More Sip." They changed the tempo, moved a few verses around and then had a professional demo. It's great and is being pitched!!! It's only a matter of time until you hear it on the radio.

And the award goes to....

2007-02-27T06:02:00.000-08:00

I was watching the Academy Awards last night. Amazing thing, I didn’t fall asleep and was actually inspired to write a song. The song that I wrote this morning is titled Bound for Great Things. Check it out in my Songs in Process section.

The main theme of the evening was gratitude and celebration. It may have just been that I’m tuned in after watching the movie the Secret, either way this had to be my chorus.

I built my verses based on some of the nominees and their inspiring stories:

- Forest Witaker talked about watching actors at the drive-in and how it started his dream.

- Jennifer Hudson was trashed by Simon on American Idol (see it on YouTube) only to be nominated for 4 Academy Awards. Actually Simon did her a favor, her performance last night showed how much she had grown since that time.

- Al Gore was acknowledged for his contributions in educating us on global warning. For me it’s rising from defeat to greatness.

- My last verse was that you don’t need to be on the screen to have greatness. “It’s what you do that makes your heart sing.”

A song a day

2007-02-24T08:14:00.000-08:00

I've written four songs in four days. All could use more work, but I'm pretty happy with what came out. I spent between 1 and 2 hours on each song and each was written with a slightly different process. I've started a new category on my web site, "Song in Process." I'd welcome any feedback.

1) Don't Know What to Do - I had chords and melody in my head, but was drawing a blank on lyrics. I went to Mark's blog and in less than an hour, this song emerged.

2) Untitled 1 - I started with a drum track, then recorded the melody, next the chords and finally a counter melody. My goal was to start with a melody, before getting locked down by chords. Here's what emerged.

3) Medals out of the closet - Driving down the road, I came up with the lines, "took the medals out of the closet, forgiven but not forgotten. The next morning I wrote the story about a Vietnam vet who was finally coming to grips with his service. I'm going to explore this one further in a few weeks.

4) Saturday morning - I woke up this morning and started to play a few chords. It just fit a relaxed Saturday morning. I asked Julie for some ideas of what a lazy Saturday morning looked like and in 30 minutes the song was done.

Circle of Fifths demystified

2007-02-23T20:27:00.000-08:00

I've often heard about the Circle of Fifths. I studied it many times but it's always been this abstract concept that I could never really grasp. Last week in a session with Ben Senterfit, the light bulb came on. In the last week I've developed scores of progression using it.

Here's the trick. Go to Ben's web site and print out his illustration of the Circle of Fifths. While your there check out his site and drop him a note to say thanks.

Step 1 - Go to the figure on the right for the key of C. Notice that the IV chord (F) is to the top left and the V chord (G) on the top right. Play a simple I IV I V progression ( C F C G). Go to the figure on the left and pick another note to start on. Play the same progression. You just played the same progression but in a different key.

Step 2 - On the right figure start on C, go to any of the chords on the bottom, then back to C. Try the same exercise, start on C, go to any of the bottom chords, then to the IV or V chord, and then back to C. All these chords are in the key of C so any combination should sound OK.

Step 3 - Apply the same steps above but flip the chart over by starting on the Am. For the I, IV, I, V the chords are Am, Dm, Am, Em. Your now playing in the relative minor of C.

Pretty fun. Now let's get a little more interesting.

Look at the chart on the left. We'll use the key of D for ease.

Step 1 - play D, G and repeat D, G (sounds good).
Step 2 - Play D, C, G (still sounds good, but you no longer feel in the key of D)
Step 3 - Play D, F, C, G ( little more dissident, "Old Man" by Neil Young)

The further you get away from the starting point, the more dissident it feels. Ben describes it as a rubber band, as you stretch it around the circle the more tension it adds, wanting to go back home.

I've had a lot of fun with this. My current favorite is G to Eb (way out there). I play,
G Eb/ G Eb/ G Eb D. Getting to the D, everything feels resolved.

Last step for tonight, changing keys. It's easiest to move between keys that are close to each other, like moving from the key of G to the key of C. Look first at the chords that are shared between the keys. Using the V chord for the transition is the most common way. For example:

John Prine in "Angels from Montgomery" moves from the key of G in the verses to the key of C in the chorus:
Verse G C G C/ G C D G// (the G is the V of C)
Chorus G F C G/// then back to G in the last line G C D G (The transition back to G happens in going to the D)

I've had a lot of fun moving between keys. My current favorite is moving from C to the key of Bb Starting in the key of C - go C, Am, Dm, F (the V of Bb) then to Bb by Gm, Bb, returning home by Bb F G (the V of C) then finally C. The progression I'm using looks like:

C Am Dm F // Gm Bb//F G C

This is lots of fun when you get it.

Let me know how you make out. If you have other ideas on how to use this, add a comment!

Co-writing in cyberspace

2007-02-21T12:12:00.000-08:00

Last night, I had this guitar melody in my head but couldn't think of any lyrics. In desparation I went to a fellow blogger's site, Mark, who I've had just posted the perfect lyrics. In the next hour, I recorded the song and sent it to him. It's still needs a lot of work, but it just demonstates the power of collaboration.

One thing that we did not do beforehand was come to an agreement on ownership. Luckily Mark is pretty cool and in a matter of seconds we agreed on 50:50. Of course, neither one of us think we're going to get rich on this song, however....

Daine Warren - discipline of songwriting

2007-02-20T16:54:00.000-08:00

The January/ February issue of American Songwriter has a series of articles on the Legends of Songwriting. Definitely worthy of checking out!

The first article I read was about Diane Warren. She has been nominated for 9 Grammy's, 6 Academy Awards, and 4 Golden Globes. The list of artists she's written for is a who's who of the music world.

A few points that jumped out at me are:

- The discipline - She gets to the office at 8:15 and writes throughout the day. She states, "In songwriting it's the mental muscles and musical muscles (that you need to work out), you have to constantly keep up the hard work. Sure there has to be inspiration, but a lot of it is just hard work."
- When she travels she has a keyboard put in her hotel room "because I have to work."
- In response to how does she define a great song, "Boy, you feel it, don't you?... It's the perfect balance or art, craft and emotion."

I typically play the guitar everyday, however, I write sporadically. This article reminds me of what it takes to be a successful songwriter.

Thanks

2007-02-20T16:20:00.000-08:00

I've been receiving a lot of feedback lately on my site. I'm doing this for fun so thanks so much for the feedback and encouragement.

If you disagree with anything I say or have a different perspective, please add a comment. I'm still learning and would like to learn from you ....

Below are my favorite recent comments:

At last month songwriting group we had a new face. When we asked him how he heard about the group, he said he was looking at some guy named Jeff's blog. Jared you made my night. Also, your song was great. Keep coming back.
Amanda used some of my materials for a college class and wanted to know how to reference me. I know you will get an A.
Buddy stated, "I would just like to say that of all the songwriting pages I have looked at, yours has been the most helpful and useful. I have been playing guitar for about a year, and have just written my first song which is only about a minute long but I am excited about writing more and hopefully someday I can be good enough at it to have a few people sit around and listen to me." Buddy, congratulations on your first song. That's so cool! Send me an MP3 and I'll post it on my web site.
Mark wants to co-write. As soon as I get some time, you're on! I also enjoy your site, www.lyrichut.blogspot.com.
Anonymous said... I always find it slightly odd that people have this creativity v craft dilemma. To me, craft is nothing more than the grammar of songwriting... However, if you wish to share that musical language with others in a way that they can get, then you need to employ the grammar of a song - form, structure etc... more. Good comment. My challenge is I'm putting my energy into studying the craft, rather than creating. Also, some days I'd like to create a new language.

Thanks again and keep commenting!!!!!

4 approaches to writing a song

2007-02-16T12:37:00.000-08:00

I picked up the book, How to Write Songs on Guitar by Rikky Rooksby. The first section, even though very basic, helped me crystallize some thoughts.

His formula for a song is:

Song = lyrics + melody + harmony + rhythm

For myself, I've used the chord progression for the melody, harmony, and rhythm. Rikky defines the chord progression as harmony only. Ouch!

He then goes on give four different approaches to writing a song

1) Write the lyrics first then set to music. In this approach the lyrics set the mood for the music. They may suggest chords and a melody. You don't need to play an instrument to write lyrics. A frequent commenter on this blog, Mark, only writes lyrics and is looking for folks to add the music. Check out his site.

2) Start with the melody then add lyrics and chords. This is probably the least common approach. Julie is my melody person. Playing the a melody instrument (violin) it comes more naturally to her. We worte both College Years and Slow Down by starting with the melody. The lyrics came last. We're working on a new song that I started with some chords and Julie heard a melody. Unfortunately, the melody required me to change to some more difficult chords, but it sounds great. Next stop lyrics.

3) Start with the harmony (i.e. chord progression) - This is my most common approach and I assume for most other guitar players. It's really easy to string a few chords together and thing you have a song. The problem becomes that the chord progression can limit the melody, especially after you fall in love with a lick or two.

4) Start with a rhythm - Use a drum machine or keep a beat by clapping. To me the sense of rhythm, more than anything separates the quality of singer/songwriters. In general, this is the area that most need improvement on, myself included. (See my past postings on groove). One of my first really good songs was written on an airplane, by keeping time on my leg. Eventually I added the guitar. My daughter and I commonly use this approach in the car, we wrote Going to the River This Way.

In learning songwriting, I've spent the majority of my time on guitar progressions and lyrics, my weaker areas are melody and rhythm. Guess where I need to work???

First thought/ best thought

2007-02-15T19:00:00.000-08:00

I've come to the realization that I'm a terrible rewriter. I can write a song, but then I'm done with it. After receiving comments, rarely do I go back and change anything substantial.

In talking with Ben Senterfit he told me about two 60's Beat poets, Allan Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. Both were renowned in their time. Kerowac wrote with the philosophy, first thought, best thought. Ginsberg on the other hand was write, rewrite, then rewrite again.

Both worked but for different reasons. The first thought, best thought concept lead to something free and loose, yet still rough around the edges. Very appealing the first time you hear it. The write and rewrite felt more polished, yet something you needed to savor, looking for the deeper messages.

In thinking about this, I'm very much along the lines of first thought, best though (or as my friends might say, first thought, only thought). I could use a cowriter to add that polish.

Creativity in songwriting - the four stages of learning

2007-02-15T18:02:00.000-08:00

I continue to ponder songwriting as a craft vs. creativity. Lately I've felt my creativity slip, while I learn more and more each day.

In teaching canoe instructors, I talk about the four stages of learning:
- Unconscious incompetent. Don't know and don't know that you don't know (i.e. totally clueless)
- Conscious incompetent - Know that you don't know
- Conscious competent - Can do if you really concentrate
- Unconscious competent - Can do without thinking about it

I think that pure creativity is highest during the first two stages. You don't know the rules, so you're constantly drawing outside the lines. You try things that the "experts" would never consider or had discounted from other's experience. The majority of times you fail, but occasionally you hit on a great novel idea. I've learned a lot in canoeing from those who never had a lesson, but just went out and survived. For that reason, I like hearing the songwriter, who developed their craft by themselves and is bringing it to the world for the first time. The majority need help, but occasionally...

For songwriting, I would classify myself in the third stage. I can write decent songs if I really think about it. Unfortunately, a lot of energy goes into thinking about it. I can get from point A to point B (the finished song) but am not gracefully. It also takes a ton of energy to do it right.

Where I really want to get is the fourth stage, unconscious competent, to go from point A to point B with ease and grace , to create songs without thinking about it. To date my best songs have been those that just flowed only took 2-3 hours to write from start to finish.

Unfortunately the only way to go from the third to fourth stage is practice and time. Yuk work...

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones - breaking the mold

2007-02-13T08:46:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been thinking a lot about writing a good song vs. being creative. As I learn more about songwriting, there are ways that are proven to work and hundreds of songs have been written that way. There are also the rare few who have broken the mold and created something totally unique.

On Saturday night we saw Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. I had only heard their music in passing, so all that I was listening to was new. During the first few songs, I was looking unsuccessfully for the common songwriting components. By the second song I gave up and just started to enjoy the music. What I was listening to was unique, music that breaks the mold, yet is totally successful. For example, instead of a clear recognizable melody, there were themes. I wasn't humming any tunes as I walked out, instead, walked out with images. I also couldn't really decide how to classify the music, toward the end I decided it was a funky bluegrassy jazz. It seems the academy also has trouble with the classification, they were nominated for Grammys in contemporary jazz and pop/instrumental. Bela has the record for categories of Grammy nominations.

What I was most impressed with was the musicianship and innovation of the whole band. Each artist had recreated their craft. At times the base became a lead instrument and I could hear vocals coming from the base. The rhythm player, used a drum guitar and played traditional drums one handed, better than most with two hands. Sax, flute, and more was outstanding. And of course, Bela changed my concept of a banjo forever.

In a songwriting class I had taken with Wendy Woo, she had started out with "in songwriting there are no rules, just guidelines." Bela Fleck and the Flecktones proved that point and I'm grateful.

Developing a story first and then the song.

2007-01-30T18:09:00.000-08:00

This morning I was inspired and wrote the first draft of a new song. I've been in a songwriting drought for the past few months, mainly because I was preparing for a show, so it's exciting to be back in the flow. I'm also excited by the process.

For the past three days, I started writing morning pages again. I'm also back to making up a new melody each night before going to bed.

This morning I started writing about compassion, before I woke up fully. My thoughts went to a discussion from the night before. I remembered one specific example and decided to flesh out the characters in the story. When I got stuck, I asked myself a few questions,
- What did it feel like, where would I feel it?
- What did it smell like? What did it remind me of?
- What did it look like? What were the colors/ shapes?
- What did it taste like?
- What sounds would I hear?

I also asked myself, how else could I describe it (i.e. metaphors). I ended up with a four page story which I edited down to a one page short story. At that point I picked up my guitar and modified a melody I developed the night before, it just fit. After a few hours, done. Time to get some coffee.

I recorded the song right away because the melody was pretty dissident. I doubt I could have figured it out again if I didn't get it down.

Our gig in hindsight

2007-01-28T13:05:00.000-08:00

We survived our show at the Listening Room last night. No tomatoes thrown, no-one left screaming -- actually we received a lot of great feedback, and most importantly we felt great.

In looking back at what worked and didn't work, the following worked really well:

1) Our set list.
- We started (first impression) and ended (lingering taste) on our strongest songs.
- The second song in the set was a joke song that I've been doing for over 20 years. It gave me a chance to relax as well as broke any tension with the audience.
- Of the 11 songs we did, Julie sang three. We interspersed these in the set. It added variety for the crowd and also gave me a much needed break.
- We had a ton of variety in our set and it seemed to keep people interested.

2) Practicing with a PA beforehand had huge benefits. We were both comfortable singing with mikes and hearing ourself through a monitor.

3) We gained energy from the audience. In the past, I lost energy by being nervous in front of the crowd. Last night, the crowd was like a shot of espresso.

4) We had fun and it showed. All the practice beforehand, let us forget about the music and just have fun.

5) Ability to recover from mistakes. On a few songs, I forgot the words and was able to add in an extra line or two of music to recover. Julie added an impromptu solo on one song until my brain came back from the ozone. I messed up the beat on a song, but just kept bluffing it. Most of the crowd didn't notice.

Things that didn't work that well or would do differently,

1) The songs we struggled with, were newer songs. While its exciting to play newer stuff, they don't have the automatic quality, so mistakes will happen on stage.

2) We used the cover songs early on. In the future, I would move one later in the set.

3) At the last minute in our preparation we thought about an encore. While we chose an old standby, we didn't practice it. My timing was way off. Next time, we'll prepare for an encore.

4) Prepare even earlier. I was the sick all week, so we lost the last week of practice. Next time, I'll remember Murphy's law, and plan for something to come up at the last moment.

All and all, we're really excited by how it turned out and can't wait for the next gig.

Getting ready to take the stage

2007-01-18T08:02:00.000-08:00

My new column on Muse'sMuse just hit the web. In the article, Let the show begin! Getting ready to take the stage, I describe the steps Julie and I are taking to get ready for our gig next week at Cafe Cero (January 27, 8:00, Denver).

In the column I discuss 8 ways we are preparing including planning the set list to create variety, practicing with a PA, and preparing song introductions.

Check it out. If you have other suggestions or tips, let me know.

Got to hear it twice

2007-01-17T08:16:00.001-08:00

At songwriter's group I'm constantly amazed at those who can hear a song once and understand what the artist is trying to say. For me, I need to hear the song multiple times and to study the lyrics sheet. The first time through, I usually feel the music and may get a general sense of what's going on, but rarely do I understand it. I'm like my daughter at an early age watching a movie for the 100th time or reading a book over an over, each time gaining more understanding.

In thinking about this I've had a few thoughts:
- I get the most first time through from songs that are simple both musically and lyrically.
- Its easier to understand a solo acoustic version, than with the full band. We had one person sing acapella and that was great!
- There's a balance between making people understand the song the first time and wanting to go back and hear it over an over. For example, a lot of jokes songs are great the first time. However, after about the 10th time, its time to move on.
- What makes you want to go back and study a song? I'm often drawn in by the melody and groove. Many times I love songs that I have no idea what they are about. It's like those two guys on the TV commercial singing "stuff the catbox." In some of songs, there's a few lines that catch my imagination and I want to learn more.
- Are we trying to entertain or inform? Set the mood or make a statement? My favorite example of a CD that sets the mood is by a friend KG Morris. While Ken is an excellent lyricist and interesting guitarist (alternative tunings and partial capos) I listen to his CD for the mood, which I describe as contentment. After listening to his CD, I feel like sitting back with a cup of coffee, put my feet up and know that everything is going to be OK.
- Is there a strong line that detracts from the song? A good example is war references. Because of the current sensitivity, one line can immediately start me thinking the song is about the war.

Another view on the songwriting process

2007-01-16T10:38:00.000-08:00

I just posted on my web site a song by Rob Roper. In the "about" section Rob described his provided in the writing the song. One new idea that I gained was how Rob developed the melody while walking after he had already written the chords. I can see how separating the melody writing without the guitar in hand could really work.

Check it out in his own words.

Unlocking creativity

2007-01-14T17:45:00.000-08:00

I listened to an excellent sermon on creativity at Mile Hi Church today given by the Rev. Barry Ebert. In addition to being a minister, Barry is also an excellent songwriter and we heard a few of his songs during the sermon. You can't ask for more at church.

I related his message to the creativity involved in songwriting. Some notes that I made were:

- "Everyone is creative and you create every day" - He used the example, if you ask 1st graders to put their hands up if they are an artist. Almost all do. If you ask the same question to 5th graders, a few will raise their hands. If you ask adults, on a rare occasion one will raise their hand. However, we are all artists in some way and are creative everything (dealing with kids, driving to work, getting dressed). You need to acknowledge and have faith that you are indeed creative.

- "The emotion of transformation is joy" - Bring joy into your life and things start to open up. Being joyful about yourself and the things you do, will open up your creativity.

- "Get yourself out of the way, opens the circuits" - You don't need to analyze, just believe that you are creative. Remove the doubts.

He also gave a quote that I'll remember before getting up on stage:

"It will be perfect when
Fear knocks on the door
Faith answers
There is no one home"

My take on this is that if you have faith that you are creative, a good musician, and a good performer then you will portray that to your audience. If you think otherwise, it will show.

I remember a comment from my first Song School, "you are a songwriter. You don't need to take a test or pass any criteria. Everyone is a songwriter."

Have faith, you are a songwriter!!!

January songwriters session

2007-01-13T07:51:00.000-08:00

Our songwriting group had a number of new participants last night. Great, we can always use new blood. I just hope these folks continue to come back and it's not just another New Year's resolution...

A couple of concepts that I heard last night are:

- Write the same song three different ways, using different tempos (i.e. 3/4, 4/4, 6/8).

- Clustering - When searching for a different word, write a word, then in a circle around it, write all the different words you can think of.

- Write different versions of the same song for different audiences. For example, the G-rated version vs. the adult crowd.

- Not every line in the song needs words, add some oohs or ahs.

Tom Kimmel at Mile Hi

2007-01-10T19:40:00.000-08:00

I just returned from listening to Tom Kimmel at Mile Hi Church. He did a 30 minute set and then came back for reprise at the end. It was very interesting going to hear a well known songwriter playing as the opening act at church. Overall I was very impressed his songwriting and clever lyrics.

My first reflection was how he set up his songs. He started fast with a full band behind him. He then played a solo acoustic song, followed by two poems, and then finger picked with the band quietly behind him. This was followed by the sermon. My overall impression was that the choice of his tunes and their order, set a path that lead to the sermon. By chance, I think not.

In the sermon, the minister, Barry talked about how one of Tom's song, Angel, moved him over five years ago. He was dealing with the death of a friend's child, when he heard Tom sing the song Angel at Swallow Hill. . He felt that Tom was singing directly to him and it was exactly what he needed to hear. Five years later, Barry was still choked up about that song. It was a great example of the power of a song, and the greatest compliment to a songwriter, to be able to comfort and move people. I hope one of my songs has that impact.

A final thought - Tom played the song Angel as his lead-in with the band. He also sang it solo acoustic as the reprise to the sermon. The solo acoustic version blew me away. Partially because of the sermon, but more for the ability to understand what he was saying. My take away point was that I was better able to appreciate his songwriting prowess on the acoustic version. Too much going on with a band to appreciate the lyrics.

The Listening Room

2007-01-06T17:00:00.000-08:00

Julie and I will be playing the Listening Room at Cafe Cero, 1446 S. Broadway, Denver on January 27 at 8:00. We're not quite sure who we are opening for yet, but we've have time for an hour set.

To get ready is going to require a lot of work. I've got two songs that I need to finish and one or two covers that still need work. However, I work best under a deadline.

How to make covers your own

2007-01-04T19:46:00.000-08:00

Today, Ben Senterfit and I discussed covers and how to make them your own. In other words, how to have a fresh approach to a song that everyone knows. We were working on "Knocking on Heaven's Door".

Since the song is easily recognizable by the chords, there's lots of room to modify the melody and rhythm (i.e. phrasing). Ben suggested two approaches:

1) Get at least 4 different versions of the song (i.e. by different artists) and learn to sing each version. Each version should open up new phrasing and rhythm changes. For example, though originally done by Bob Dylan, there are a number of reggae versions of Knocking on Heavens Door.

2) Sing variations of a pentatonic scale over the song. In practicing, we started by playing the chords and singing a scale over the chord changes ( i.e. do, rae, me, fa, so, la te, do). Then we tried different patterns in the scale ( i.e. do, rae, so, do).

To develop my cover of this song, I'm going to:
- Get 4 or 5 distinctly different versions of the song from iTunes and learn to sing them in my car.
- Record the chords only and develop leads. Use the leads to identify some phrases.

Another thing that Ben pointed out was how I play the guitar. Typically, I play the chords at the same volume throughout the song. Ben suggested that I play quieter (while keeping the same rhythm) when singing. In between verses, play the guitar louder.

Songwriter opportunity

2007-01-03T13:11:00.000-08:00

Rob Roper's song, "Wave the Flag and Give 'Em God," has been posted on Neil Young's Web site.

Neil Young has an interesting project called , "Living With War." On this section of his web site, he has an open submission of protest or topical songs. After a review, a link is provided to his web site. Right now there are over 1130 songs posted.

If you go there check out Rob's song, currently number 276.

Pretty cool to have your song linked to by a legend.

Six key songwriting tips

2006-12-29T15:33:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! In keeping with the New Year tradition, I reviewed my blog for 2006 and posted a summary on my website, "Top songwriting tips from 2006."

My favorite six tips are given below:

1. Keep your songs short (3-4 minutes). Most songs you hear at an open stage are too long!

2. Focus on the groove (the pulse of the song). This separates musicians. If my foot is not moving in time, then the groove is missing.

3. Make sure there’s variety. Variety is the spice of life. If the same sound happens for too long, I’m asleep.

4. Make your songs memorable (melodic or lyrical hook). Success is when a line from a song gets stuck in your head.

5. Have daily songwriting practices. Daily practices are essential into getting into the flow of the muse.

6. Always be a student. The more you know, the easier it is to express yourself. Write a song with each new tip you learn. If you’re not learning, you will be writing the same song over and over.

Check out my other tips.

The power of a good hook

2006-12-20T09:31:00.000-08:00

I've been walking around singing two lines from a Marty Jones song,

"You kissed me on the lips,
and I've been sick ever since."

I heard this on Satuday night (now it's Thursday). That's the power of a good hook (both lyrically and melodically), it sticks in your brain.

As a songwriter, I want to develop hooks that work like this one.

The listening room - great for songwriters

2006-12-18T14:06:00.000-08:00

On Saturday night we went to "The Listening Room" at Cafe Cero in Denver. The listening room is a concept hatched by Rop Roper to have place where you can listen to the lyrics and have a drink. Unlike a rowdy bar, the concept is to really relax and listen.

This month's show was excellent with three local songwriters Jenn Cleary, Marty Jones and the man, Rob Roper himself. Each of the performers had distinctive styles, and that alone added a lot of variety to the evening.

Jenn has an exceptional voice and great stage presence. In many of her songs, she repeated a single word over and over. Because she was able to change things up with her voice, it continue to sound good, not overly repetitive. It made the songs memorable. The point for songwriters, is use the repetition technique if you can change it up with your voice or melody.

I was very impressed with Marty Jones's songwriting. He's an excellent lyricist and had exceptional hooks like "next time you see me, I'll be dead," "I got over you, when you got under him." and "now we barely pass for a couple." You could really see his personality in the songs and his witty way of looking at life. I'm going to study Marty's lyrics, there's a good lesson there.

Rob played last and because of know him, I knew his songs. Rob had the most interesting guitar of the evening. Also, in the selection of his own songs and covers, you could really see his philosophy. A dry wit and social commentary.

A few points of the evening:

1) All performers performed a few covers. A few comments I noticed about covers:
- The crowd was much more likely to sing along.
- I relaxed more, because I didn't have to concentrate on the lyrics. It was more like and old friend coming into the room.
- When performing covers, nail them! There's more expectations with covers.
- Select cover that fit you're personality or what you're trying to say. Rob did "A Two Paper Town," from Steve Seskin. It was a song that I could see Rob writing.

2) Jenn and Marty used basically three or four chords in almost all their songs, yet I was not bored. It's more about the songs and performance that how difficult a guitar you play.

3) Keep it simple on stage, even if you're setting up the stage. For a few songs, Rob switched over to the piano and had a guitarist join him. They struggled with mixing the instruments, so it hurt the performance of that song. It also took him a while to regain his momentum, after the change over.

Successful melodies

2006-12-14T20:07:00.000-08:00

Today I worked with Ben Senterfit on melodies. Ben described successful melodies as:

Hear it once and then remember it
Should be hum-able.
Don't need the lyrics to remember it (for example, the melody of Satisfaction)

Ben described two melody strategies:

A lot of chord changes, with a simple melody (example, Georgia on my Mind).
Simple chord changes, complex melody (example, bluegrass music)

To work on melodies, I recorded a song and then played a simple lead. I then tried to follow the lead with my voice. Ben pointed out that I was using the pentatonic scale for my lead and that most successful melodies are based on the pentatonic scale.

In our discussion, it became readily apparent that in my songwriting, I've focused on strong chords and lyrics. Most of my melodies, however, have been very limited, staying in the comfort zone of my voice. To expand my melodies, I will be practicing singing to various arrangements of the pentatonic scale (for example, I,II, III, V, or I, V, III). Each variation is in itself a new melody line.

Hooks - making your song memorable

2006-12-12T14:23:00.000-08:00

Hooks are for catching your listerner's attention (and fish) and to help them remember your song. In a class that I just took on SongU , they described four types of hooks. These are:

1) Lyrical hooks - That one line of verse that you remember from a song. From last year's Song School, I still remember the hook from one artist, "she only loves me when she's drunk." Unfortunately, I don't remember his name.

2) Rhythmic hook - That groove that has you keeping time all the way home (i.e. "We will Rock You.")

3) Melodic hook - The line you're always humming. Often paired with the lyrical hook.

4) Musical/instrumental break - Typically an intro, outro or break in a song. For example, the first lines of Stairway to Heaven (mandatory for all guitarists). Great for that game, I can name that song in -- notes...

Generating good hooks are some things that I need to work on. In writing songs, I tend to focus on getting the story down or cool guitar parts, not helping the listerner remember my song.

Looking for inspiration - try a different guitar

2006-12-11T13:23:00.000-08:00

We were talking about guitars during songwriter's group. Someone asked Eddie if he liked his Taylor. He said that it sounds great on stage and in a room, but the studio performance leaves something to be desired. Ken another member used two different guitars for different tunings. Rob has a whole collection of guitars and still swears by Martin.

I've got four acoutic guitars. The one I play the most is a Louden. It has a great sound and works well for songs where the guitar needs to be clear. My songwriting took off after I started playing it. However, in my search for the groove, I found that my old cheapy (a 20+ year old Atlas) sounds better for hard driving rhythms. I have two 12 strings, a Breedlove and an old Fender. There voices are as different as can be.

Looking for inspiration, try a new guitar. Each time I pick up a new guitar I write a new song.
The different voices, lead to different styles and moods. Having two guitars around in different tunings (i.e. one in standard, the other in an open tuning) makes it easier to practice.

One song - multiple versions

2006-12-09T20:47:00.000-08:00

Another idea that emerged at our songwriting group - preparing different versions of a song for different purposes, i.e. on stage solo, on stage with accompaniment, and for CD. There are a few artists that I hear play live and then don't like their CDs. Others I only love their CD’s.

A few ideas on this are:

Song length – The songs should be shortest when playing solo. If you think in terms of variety, one person can only do so much. Adding another person gives more options for variety (i.e. a lead break, harmony, or just more movement).

Space between lyrics and chord changes – The gaps between lyrics or chord changes should be the shortest when playing solo. I’m not saying to play faster. What I’m saying is don’t hang out on one chord too long. A lead guitarist could fill that gap, but if nothing other than one chord is happening, you might lose your audience. The concept is to always have some movement.

Hearing once or multiple times - For an audience, you have one shot to make your point. On CD, you hope they listen multiple times.

Level of difficulty - In a studio, you have an opportunity to make mistakes. On stage, you may want an easier version.

Rewriting a song – “Rob perfect”

2006-12-09T20:36:00.000-08:00

Last night at our songwriting group, Rob Roper played a song that he has been working on for some time. He has a final version for the studio, but is developing a solo acoustic version. Last night he played three different versions of the song. All sounded great. What amazed me was that he was able to come up with three different versions. Knowing Rob, he probably tried and discarded another 10 or 20 versions before he presented this to us.

Rob’s finished songs are great, up there with anyone you’d paid to listen to. He exemplifies the concept of rewriting (i.e. “doing the work”). Not only does he change the lyrics and move sections around, he significantly changes the musical style. Songs for him evolve and it may take him a year or longer to complete a song. His songs are worth waiting for! I can’t help but marvel at his discipline and ability to make such major changes.

For me, I consider a song “finished” after I have a set of verses and chords. Occasionally, I go back add a bridge, make minor wording changes or move sections around. Once I play the “finished song,” it gets locked into my brain and that’s the only way I can hear it. I flat stink at rewriting.

I’m challenging myself to rewrite one song, until it is “Rob perfect.” I have a song in mind and will post it once completed. Don’t hold your breath!

Acoustic Eidolon - variety is the key

2006-12-05T12:35:00.000-08:00

We had the pleasure of seeing Acoustic Eidolon in concert over the weekend. This husband and wife team played mainly instrumental music, with Joe on the guitar and Hannah the Cello. Both are incredibly talented and they have excellent rapport between them in both music and on stage. Their performance was very entertaining and at the end I still wanted more (that doesn't happen often).

In thinking about why their show was so successful, I can first point to their variety. The ways they introduced variety were:
- Mixing musical styles - Changed musical styles with each song. For example, a blues song, was followed by a classical number, then followed by an Irish reel.
- Use of special guests - They were joined on a few songs by a harp and fiddle player. I didn't keep track, but I believe they came on and left the stage three different times (in other words added a lot but didn't overstay their welcome)
- Use of different guitars - A traditional six string, a classical guitar, and two special two-neck guitars that Joe designed himself. These last two alone kept myself and a friend (who's also a guitarist) captivated trying to figure out how he played them. Hannah only used one cello, but played so many different styles that it was always interesting. I could listen to a cello all day!

They also had a great stage presence. A few things I noticed:
- Great rapport between the two of them and always upbeat.
- Kept their song introductions short and interesting. I learned something in each intro either about them or their music.
- Both had something to say in each intro.
- Gave their guests a chance to introduce their songs. They also kept their introductions short.
- Minimal movement on stage. While I'd typically say this was not a good thing, in their case it kept the focus on the instruments and they're mastering of them. If they were dancing around it would be distracting.

In keeping my attention on the groove there were numerous times that I couldn't help but tap my foot. Joe did use the same groove on a number of songs, but I only noticed, because I was keying into it.

In search of the groove, finding Bill Withers

2006-11-16T18:38:00.000-08:00

I'm still on my quest to get more of a groove in my music. My teacher, Ben Senterfit turned me on to Bill Withers. Best known for hits like "Ain't no Sunshine" and "Lean on Me," Bill Withers typifies the groove that I'm searching for. Check out his Live at Carnegie Hall album (1973).

In analyzing the music, its interesting how simple the chording and rifts are. There's strong base lines which provide an underlying pulse to the songs. The music by itself is pretty predictable. The reason his songs are so great is that the focus falls on the lyrics and phrasing.

This was a great insight. I'm a guitarist first and a vocalist last. I've been trying to make my guitar parts the focus, which in turn leaves little room to be too creative in the vocals. In other words, to make the lyrics more prominent, I need to think of the guitar as providing the pulse only, with the lyrics being the place for the expression.

Now back to the drawing board. I'm going simplify guitar parts with a focus on strong, consistent base lines. The challenge somes in making the vocals interesting. Of course my lyrics better be really good!

Writing a meditation

2006-11-14T13:42:00.000-08:00

Last week my songwriting took a new twist. Composing the music for a mediation.

My concept was to use background sounds of water. Using free sound clips I started with rain, followed by a small brook, to a rapid, and finally the ocean. I talked over each clip and at the ocean, I played the native American flute over the sounds of the waves. It turned out pretty cool.

The biggest challenge was using my Zoom recording system and the free sound clips. The clips are only a few seconds in length, so I needed to piece a number of clips together. The big challenge was bumps where the clips came together. I never really solved this issue, and had to be creative in my mix and when using my final product in the meditation.

Rainbow Follows the Storm

2006-11-09T20:35:00.000-08:00

The shifting political winds reminded me of a song that I wrote in 2004, the Rainbow Follows the Storm. I posted it on my web site. Check it out!

I was sitting in a room of staunch Democrats the day after the re-election of George W. Bush. Doom and gloom was in the air. Being the eternal optimist I thought of the phrase, the rainbow follows the storm. This symbolizes that dark periods are often followed by periods of enlightenment. The sweep by the Democrats this week could be the start of the rainbow.

Of course for the Republicans, the storm just arrived.

Willy Porter – In The Groove

2006-10-23T21:43:00.000-07:00

We saw Willy Porter in concert on Friday. As a student of groove, I was impressed. My ankle hurt the next morning from keeping time with him.

If you haven’t seen Willy, he’s an amazing solo guitarist, songwriter, and high energy performer. If you get a chance see him in concert. He moves around the neck of the guitar, with incredible rifts, all the while keeping in perfect time. I paid close attention to how he used his whole body to maintain the groove. When he was doing complex guitar parts, he maintained the rhythm by moving his head or tapping his foot. He wasn’t reliant on his right hand to maintain the rhythm.

A great part of his show was his on the spot songwriting. At one point a drunk told him he’s number two because he was still lusting after warm-up act, Angie Stevens. Willy on the spot created a song about being number two. Later in the show, he asked the audience to be co-writers and wrote a song with phrases provide by the audience. Each time, he set the groove first and then added the lyrics. Note to songwriters – with the strong rhythm, the lyrics can just flow.

The only constructive comment I could make about his show was that he tended to fall into one groove throughout the show, it seemed repetitive. My take away point here is to make sure to vary the rhythms throughout the set.