Skip to main content

Day One Hundred Ninety Seven (Year Two)

So, I started the process tonight of trying to work out this album-in-a-month thing.  Initially, I was messing about with the electric, but that changed pretty quickly.  When I switched to the acoustic, it started to feel like I was moving in the right direction, but I discovered pretty quickly that it's tough after spending so much time on the hard rock stuff to get back in touch with my own voice when it comes to songwriting.

At the same time, it's exciting to feel like I'm in charge of the whole process again.  What I probably need to do is sit down with a pen and a notebook first and try to see what comes out lyrically.  I've always been torn about whether to start with words or music first, but really, when I'm trying to get a whole record done in a month, it doesn't matter where I start in, just so long as I do.  I'm fairly certain that, until I really find my groove with this, the songs will come in bits and pieces rather than in chunks or complete things.

I did manage to find a few ideas that may well make it onto the final product in some way, shape, or form, however.  It seems to me that the best way to do this is just to dive straight into it and try not to think about it too much.  After all, I don't really have the time to over-think anything if I'm going to get this done.

One other note of musical importance tonight:  Watched my first episode of The Voice... really, really cool show.

Oh, and Madonna pretty well rocked the Super Bowl Halftime Show too.

Comments

  1. L.M. ElmFebruary 6, 2012 at 12:59 PM

    Good luck on the record and getting it done in a month. Wow! The voice was pretty cool. So far, I really thought the talent was better than last year. Wish they would have had new judges though. Christina's comments get old... :-(

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day Two Hundred Six (Year Four)

Today was the first official day of the second half of my "album-in-a-month" challenge. As for today's goals, I wanted to see what I could get done in regards to track order, and get at least a little bit of a start on the lyric writing process. I spent more time working on the track order question than I did on the lyrics today, but as a result of that, I ended up with something that I think will work in terms of order. I did sit with the notebook for a few minutes at the very end of the day, and got a solid starting line of lyric and some other ideas that I hope will be jumping off points for lyrics. What I'm thinking I might do, however, is switch my focus from the lyric writing part of the process directly to the recording part of the process.  That way, if I can get the music recorded and burned onto a CD, I can take the music with me in the car, and listen and try to see what images and thoughts the music brings up.  It's a tactic that has worked for...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day Two Hundred Ninety Two (Year Five)

Today was the last seminary village cookout of the year. While we were all sitting around the picnic tables eating dinner, I got a chance to talk with a few of the Mrs.'s classmates about guitar related stuff. As it turns out, more than one of them wants to be more proficient on guitar. I'm not saying that this will lead to more teaching opportunities, but I told one of them that I would throw a folder together for them. Essentially, anytime I get a chance to talk shop is a great chance for me to reinforce some of the things I have been focusing on. If nothing else, it gets me thinking ahead to tomorrow's day off and a chance to get into the studio for a decent amount of time.
Post a Comment
Read more

Day Three Hundred Forty Two (Year Four)

Tonight was a slightly unfocused night in the studio. It was a night of acoustic stuff, but most of what I got accomplished involved tinkering with different songs by Jackie Greene and Johnny Cash.  If nothing else, I set up the next list of songs I want to figure out. Tomorrow night I need to start getting back to the Acoustic Goldmine book, as well.  Every time I sit down with the acoustic for an extended period of time, I reconnect with the emotional side of that instrument.  There's so much to learn still in that book, so much information designed to improve my playing.  I need to take better advantage of it. I know it's crazy, but I'm already looking forward to Friday.  I really need to spend a lot of the day in the studio.  Getting a weekday off of work is such a rare commodity.  I need to do a good job of using my time wisely. 
Post a Comment
Read more