Me—last week

Writing songs is life for me. There’s a mode my mind gets into where even the most mundane details turn into inspiration for making music from scratch. This has happened to me for as long as I can remember. The words somehow just fall out, and rhyme.  And if they don’t, I’ll pull out the thesaurus or rhyming dictionary and as soon as I see the right rhyming word, a full line completes itself. I can’t explain it, it just is. I studied poetry and lyrics because I loved to read it. The wordplay, the emotion, the passionate expression. I didn’t decide, “wow, I’ve got to study poetry if I’m going to get good here.” The songs came first without my permission. It’s 4am and my mind says, “LOOK WHAT I DID WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING!!!!” Or I’m walking to the store and something just strikes.  I did make conscious efforts to refine it as time went on, but it never seemed like work, it just made sense and fulfilled me in a way that other activities can’t touch.

Most of the song usually happens before I even sit with a guitar, but once the mood translates into fingers, sometimes I finish a song in about 20 minutes. It can take a few weeks of editing the lyrics/melodies/riffs/chords into what I really want by describing the initial images with more graphic detail. I want the listeners to be immersed in the colors and sights I see, but experience them from their perspective. I try to hide things a little bit and be a little cryptic while still getting across the main point.

Something I’m running into lately:  the music I write is not what I generally like or am currently listening to. Country songs have been happening a lot lately, and I’m not a country guy generally.  There are certain country artists that I really dig. Then, I’ll write some super extreme metal thing….*shrugs* I’ll take it. I love music in many forms and it reflects my life from somewhere deeper than I can control. I let my hands be the facilitator of my soul.  I feel a shift into that mindset that I spoke of, and grab my pen, or my nearest word processing unit and get down to the business of translating my thoughts, feelings, beliefs and spirit into words and music.

It’s been a source of consolation, growth, happiness and frustration since before I even picked up a guitar.  I think it’s why my mom got me lessons in the first place.  She could see something was going on with me before I could even name it.   Imitating Adrian Vandenburg doing windmills in Whitesnake’s “Still of the Night” video must have been a cry for help.  I could have been an air guitar champion, but no, Mom had to get me guitar lessons instead.  ?  She also encouraged me to do more journaling when I was about 17.  She saw that I had a lot of emotion to express and had to get it out somehow.  I have spiral notebooks dating back to senior year in high school and scraps of paper that I dredged out of my notebooks from freshman year.

I often write my best stuff when I’ve gone thru something really painful. I’ve also been in really awesome moods and written some stuff I am extremely proud of.  I’ll write songs about political subjects, love, hate, personal injustice, empowerment, sadness or whatever.  I choose to not limit myself to one style or type of song that I will write.  I think that takes a lot of courage.  Seems like most people only write what they know, but I often find myself writing things that I have no idea where they’re coming from.  It’s a blessing and a curse.  How can I get all this stuff recorded and released?  It costs so much money.  Right now, I’m in the predicament where I have several awesome projects going and I can’t stop writing for any one of them…then these outside the box singer/songwriter/country/americana/acoustic things that just happen.  It’s a good “problem” to have.

The mind of an artist: often disorganized and has a lot of free association that doesn’t connect in any logical manner.  It’s creativity at it’s purest level.  You’re in a conversation with me and next thing you know I’m interrupted by some crazy idea.  I think my guitar students see this more than anyone.  ?  There’s a frickin’ guitar in my hands, it’s bound to happen.

There are several songwriters in my family.  I don’t think we ever talked about process of songwriting.  It’s a very personal process that you really must experience in yourself.  Don’t question it.  Get out your ideas first.  Write down what you’re hearing/thinking/feeling.  Make a basic recording on some simple device like a voice recorder or your cellphone before you forget the melody.  The process of creation happens internally, via the imagination.  The ignition for ideas is spontaneous, so keep something handy to write down ideas at all times.  I had to have journals laying around or stuck in my backpack.  But, a napkin or old receipt will suffice if you can’t find anything else.  Get it down.  Now.  You’ll never regret it.  Even if you look back and think it sucks, at least you got down your creative idea.

Judgement:  leave judgement behind.  Accept your ideas in the moment.  Most of the time, they won’t be useful at the moment you write them.  I have things I discovered from journal entries dated 10 years ago.  it didn’t work when I read through it 5 years ago, but it struck me now.  *shrugs* Again, I don’t care, as long as it meets the needs of the song idea.  Not every song will be a radio hit.  You may never write one.  But if you follow your heart, it means something to you.  That’s all that counts.  Industry comes way after inspiration.  Sometimes it comes first, but rarely.

I hope you enjoy this entry.  Any questions or comments?  Please ask on FB or in the comments section of the blog.  If you have a subject you’d like me to write about, please lemme know.