I just might be hitting my groove.
Woke up, got out of bed, most definitely did NOT drag a comb across my head.
After an hour of playing with Henry, I started my usual start time (10 AM), and almost immediately knew I wanted a faster tempo:
Saturday
Dialed in 132, then quickly brought it down 2beats to 130. Found a DnB bass synth part, and played the first thing that came to my head. Ok, not bad. Kinda groovy.
You’d be surprised to know that most of the things I right are the first thing that comes out (when I start a writing process).
Normally at this time, I start writing my own drum part. But this time I wanted to expedite the process, so I pulled up some existing grooves I had, and just laid them down. Quickly came the structure of a verse, and adding a high, metallic bell melody gave me all the room I need to write melodies and lyrics.
Screetch. Brakes applied. I took lunch. I had a short melody, and I quickly sung it into my iPhone Recorder app (so I wouldn’t forget). Ate leftover Mac n Cheese (too rich, this recipe was) and came back in to continue.
Want to know how you can tell when I’m writing lyrics? SILENCE. An hour’s worth, likely. Verse lyrics were a bit of a struggle on this day. Not sure what I wanted to write about, so I just toyed with the mouse. Then a chorus came. ooh!
The word “Sunspots”, quickly followed by the phrase “aint so bright.” Hmm. Interesting, I like it.
Set up the mic, and sang gibberish for the verses, followed by the chorus hook (that literally had NO music underneath; just a click). “Sunspots ain’t so bright, but I’m brighter than you tonight.”
Picked up guitar, my ’57 Strat (i ruv this guitar). Put down two tracks. Chorus now has chords. REALLY like the chorus now. Not sure about the verse, but it’s more likely than not likely. At the very least I’m not committed to the words as I am the essence of the chorus.
Then I listened to what i had:
Happy so far.
Later that evening, I started a discussion topic about the song on my Facebook artist page: What AM I TALKING ABOUT?
Sunday
Strangely (meaning really? again?), I did something to the song that really got me excited about it. It’s the 2nd or 3rd time this has happened to me in the past month:
I wrote the bass part.
Man oh man. It’s simple, but it does this really nice things to the chords (during the chorus), and gives heft to the drums and to the structure of the verses.
The verse is now split into two distinctly different melodies. The 2nd melody basically approves the first. At first I wondered whether the 1st part would be too over the top, but it’s only in there a short while and the 2nd melody helps it settle.
So, the new song, called “Sunspots” is half way done, all the way through the 2nd chorus.
This week, I’ll just listen and think:
Where does it go next?
