So far, Doghouse has put together about 13 different tracks. A couple have some repetive sounds to them and a couple just plain suck. A friend of mine is a good song writer and pieced together a professional sounding album all by himself. Vocals, guitars, keyboard, drums... Amazing stuff. I asked him about all the demo tracks we have, but there really isn't a format to them. I wanted to know how to actually compose the music score and come up with lyrics. Here's some tips he gave me that I thought were pretty good ideas.
1) Keep Listening- Listen to music you like for the structure of the song, apply to your own stuff
2) Listen to your own recording to know when or how to make changes
3) When you see/hear/feel something that pulls at you inside, write down how you feel. Best recipe for songs.
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I watched an interesting youtube video over the weekend. A guy had a dobro/resonator guitar, he really could wail on it. Later in his video post, he said its his only guitar and he's had it for 20 years. While he never mentioned how many fret jobs it needed, he really was a master of what he had. The key point in the video is to tell new to intermediate players to just have one guitar and learn how to play on that one guitar. Play it so much so you'll know every part of the guitar to where it feels so natural to your hands. Each guitar is different, why waste time getting used to a new guitar or go back and forth between guitars that are different. Makes sense to me. While I always have G.A.S (Guitar Acquisition Syndrom), it helps me to understand that I'll never be a better player because I have a bunch of guitars. But rather, I have a chance of being a better player because I just play one guitar over and over. Thank goodness its a guitar I love to play. All I can add to this guy's thoughts are stick to one guitar, but make sure its quality and feel won't make you want a better verison of that guitar....
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I've been listening to a lot of my solo's. I'm finding that I play a lot of the same licks over and over again. I'm playing mostly box 1 and box 2 of the minor pentatonic. I really need to work on my licks to get out of it, but how? Go find some vids on youtube? Pay a fortune for cheap quality DVD lessons? Its so frustrating!
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Guitars seem to come and go to many, many people. I really hope after this year, I'll never have to do it again. I want to keep everything I have and hand them down to my kids one day. But I have to make sacrafices.
Anyway, I really love playing guitars and stopping in at the local shops to try out new and used gear. I love Gibson's and PRS, but wow! Do they really need to cost so much? I'll have stick with my Mexican Fender Strat. Great guitar and cost way less then those other guys... But, on to the point of the blog. I've had some good stuff over the years I no longer have. So, I hate getting rid of guitars, but in order of posession:
1991- New Aria Pro II JS Series, Ebony/Chrome: Wanted to redo it, pieced it out thinking I'd refinish it. Ended up selling it in pieces in 2009.
1995- Fender Squire MIK: Alpine white, maple neck. Moved to Korea (thanks Uncle Sam! Loved it). Thought I couldn't take it with me. Sold it for peanuts two months later! Miss that one!
2008- Epiphone Les Paul Standard Ebony. Gibson electronics, bone nut, strap locks, etc... Sold it last week for less then half of my investment. Didn't want to get rid of it, but bills to pay and mouths to feed.
1971 Epiphone 6735 12 String: Bought it for $25 thinking I could do something with it. All I could do is sell it for $85 on Ebay today.
Currently I only have two guitars, hopefully I'll keep them indefinitely:
2007/8 Fender Strat MIM: Deluxe Series (Roadhouse body/Lonestar neck), All gold hardware, tweed case, Texas Special PU's. Awesome guitar.
2002 Ibanez Performance Acoustic. Great guitar. A little rough, bridge is lifting, but otherwise I love it!
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DetroitBlues / Blog
Jamming versus Song writing
So far, Doghouse has put together about 13 different tracks. A couple have some repetive sounds to them and a couple just plain suck. A friend of mine is a good song writer and pieced together a professional sounding album all by himself. Vocals, guitars, keyboard, drums... Amazing stuff. I asked him about all the demo tracks we have, but there really isn't a format to them. I wanted to know how to actually compose the music score and come up with lyrics. Here's some tips he gave me that I thought were pretty good ideas. 1) Keep Listening- Listen to music you like for the structure of the song, apply to your own stuff 2) Listen to your own recording to know when or how to make changes 3) When you see/hear/feel something that pulls at you inside, write down how you feel. Best recipe for songs.
Reply
Practice or G.A.S?
I watched an interesting youtube video over the weekend. A guy had a dobro/resonator guitar, he really could wail on it. Later in his video post, he said its his only guitar and he's had it for 20 years. While he never mentioned how many fret jobs it needed, he really was a master of what he had. The key point in the video is to tell new to intermediate players to just have one guitar and learn how to play on that one guitar. Play it so much so you'll know every part of the guitar to where it feels so natural to your hands. Each guitar is different, why waste time getting used to a new guitar or go back and forth between guitars that are different. Makes sense to me. While I always have G.A.S (Guitar Acquisition Syndrom), it helps me to understand that I'll never be a better player because I have a bunch of guitars. But rather, I have a chance of being a better player because I just play one guitar over and over. Thank goodness its a guitar I love to play. All I can add to this guy's thoughts are stick to one guitar, but make sure its quality and feel won't make you want a better verison of that guitar....
Reply
Stuck in a Rut
I've been listening to a lot of my solo's. I'm finding that I play a lot of the same licks over and over again. I'm playing mostly box 1 and box 2 of the minor pentatonic. I really need to work on my licks to get out of it, but how? Go find some vids on youtube? Pay a fortune for cheap quality DVD lessons? Its so frustrating!
Reply
Guitar Past and Present
Guitars seem to come and go to many, many people. I really hope after this year, I'll never have to do it again. I want to keep everything I have and hand them down to my kids one day. But I have to make sacrafices. Anyway, I really love playing guitars and stopping in at the local shops to try out new and used gear. I love Gibson's and PRS, but wow! Do they really need to cost so much? I'll have stick with my Mexican Fender Strat. Great guitar and cost way less then those other guys... But, on to the point of the blog. I've had some good stuff over the years I no longer have. So, I hate getting rid of guitars, but in order of posession: 1991- New Aria Pro II JS Series, Ebony/Chrome: Wanted to redo it, pieced it out thinking I'd refinish it. Ended up selling it in pieces in 2009. 1995- Fender Squire MIK: Alpine white, maple neck. Moved to Korea (thanks Uncle Sam! Loved it). Thought I couldn't take it with me. Sold it for peanuts two months later! Miss that one! 2008- Epiphone Les Paul Standard Ebony. Gibson electronics, bone nut, strap locks, etc... Sold it last week for less then half of my investment. Didn't want to get rid of it, but bills to pay and mouths to feed. 1971 Epiphone 6735 12 String: Bought it for $25 thinking I could do something with it. All I could do is sell it for $85 on Ebay today. Currently I only have two guitars, hopefully I'll keep them indefinitely: 2007/8 Fender Strat MIM: Deluxe Series (Roadhouse body/Lonestar neck), All gold hardware, tweed case, Texas Special PU's. Awesome guitar. 2002 Ibanez Performance Acoustic. Great guitar. A little rough, bridge is lifting, but otherwise I love it!
Reply