Buc McMaster Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Last night, after killing a few dozen aggressive but out of their depth fellows on Call of Duty on-line, I picked up the Hummingbird to play a bit. I've been struggling with a pretty nice chord progression for several weeks now.....had part of it but the rest wouldn't come. I was fumbling around with something entirely different, playing around with different pick strokes and hit upon another nice sequence. For some reason I put the new thing with the older thing I had been wrestling with and bingo! It worked wonderfully! I write from different directions. Sometimes I have a line or two of lyric that I'll take to the guitar and work to find a fit, trying a few different melodies in search of the best solution and let that little bit of guitar, lyric and melody push the rest of the process. Other times I complete the guitar work before I even think about lyrics or melody. Rare is the time that I complete a lyric prior to taking it to the guitar. This is one of the "guitar first" situations. It just fell together very well on the guitar. Sometimes the instrument is a laborious struggle for me.....nothing goes right, not even the stuff I've been playing for decades. Then there are times when it seems I can do no wrong with the instrument. I spent some time transposing a tune I usually do with a capo at the 7th, moving it to the first position. And this change of position changed the voicing of the guitar in the overall feel of the song in a splended way, making the whole thing brand new. I'll have to video this one soon..... So now I have the guitar part for a new tune and it's time to dive into the notebook and look for lyrics. A very productive evening with my new 6-string friend. (I wonder if it was the herb?) Do you folks find that sometimes it works and sometimes it don't? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsqdvr Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Hi Buc Yes I think most of us do, It is that way for me, sometimes I cant get it right then it just happens........ BTW If ur avitar is a pic of you we are prob from the same generation, Its neat to see folks our age playing C O D.... Sometimes I think its foolish to do it at my age, but it helps me unwind so well................. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ol fred Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 (I wonder if it was the herb?) Must be talkin Jimson Weed. Right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Sometimes it's words first, sometimes it's music first, sometimes it's both at the same time. Sometimes, one or the other simply comes out of thin air, and I'm afraid if I don't write it down, it will be lost forever. And I'm sure it sometimes has been. Sometimes it's just a tune, with no lyrics at all coming. I get in ruts where a short chord progression suggests something, but I can't really figure out where to go from there. (An example for me is Emin7, Dmin7, Amin7, variations of which I use as part of a warmup routine, but I can never figure where to go with it) Sometimes, I'm trying to sort that out for one tune, and another pops into my head, almost complete. It's scary stuff. I wish I had the time and the discipline to both play and write in a consistent fashion. That's the problem with being a hobbyist with a "real world" full-time job, rather than a musician. You never seem to put the time in to make it happen properly. I'm convinced that "practice makes perfect" when it come to both playing and writing. Unfortunately, I've got a long way to go on both counts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sboiir Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Congrats ! Do you folks find that sometimes it works and sometimes it don't? That is your question. Absolutely !! Too often it just don't come and to the point I wind up putting my guitar in it's case for weeks. Yeah, weeks... it gets frustrating having SO much fun just to suddenly have the skids put on everything I try. Good thing I have another guitar and an ukulele to change things up. Sometimes just conversations make great lyrics. I do that a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 (I wonder if it was the herb?) Must be talkin Jimson Weed. Right? Ooouhhh stay clear of those – One of my close friends blew one such trumpet as a young man and went straight to the lazeret. When his mom arrived and stood at the end of the bed, he seriously stated : Mother, you are a statue. . . Luckily he tuned back on this frequency and today lives as a happy father. Apart from the fact he was attacked by a polar-bear last summer – apropos ol freds NGC-thread. Buc's Q. - I used to be annoyingly unstable when reaching above my average level. Sometimes able to manage satisfyingly hot tricks, other times shooting at the same targets in vain. It came to a point where I had to do something about it – it was around then I re-introduced old fashioned practicing. A routine between finding your own small clever ways, meditation and hard repetitious discipline. It works – Regarding spirit and inspiration, distance between body/mind and instrument, things vary. But good and beautiful guitars help a lot. One get drawn to their offers like birds and bees to swaying hibiscus flowers. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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