http://www.tindeck.com/audio/my/1ko89

Lost In Thought
- musical direction was something to do the robot to.
- lyrical direction was stream of consciousness lyrics that follow whatever
I think I might have missed those by a mile. But whatever, it got me moving again. This is the second round of revisions on the song. There'll be more (like drum patterns - it gets a little yawn after a few dozen listens).

I have a nasty cough. Hope you dig it. And yeah, I had to bust out the Hendrixy solo at the end. Can't help it.

Awesome! I got to check this out!

I personally like the drums! Slammin!

sing "mountains" with this tune. nice tune dude.

thanks ya'll!! The drums are just a loop I threw in there to get the feel of the thing. I'm taking it to the band this weekend, see what we can knock around.

Where the hell have you been?

This has the BH soul with that southern fried funk, I can't wait to hear what the band does with it.

your my funkin hero !!!!
hott shit

Slave2daGroove said:

I've been kind of ducking this site from work - you know, The Man and all that. Also, I didn't have nothing to bring to the table so I just disappeared for awhile, during which time I had a severe case of writers block. Since the CD came out, I've finished maybe 2 original songs. Up until 3 weeks ago when I went up to the mountains, sans kiddies, to work through this thing instead of continuing to feel defeated.

It was a great move.

I took a completely different approach to songwriting - top down instead of from bottom up. Usually, I start with guitar and drums and make up a fun riff and try to put lyrics to it, and even then, the lyrics just amble around with no real direction.

This time I came up with the title of the CD, then the tracklist, just the names, no ideas about the songs, and then took the song order and wrote out what I wanted to hear transitioning from one song to the next (start with high energy, then go way down slow, then come in with funk, then do some quirky 2-minute song, then do a low-key funk, then high energy, etc...) and THEN compared that list to the songlist and the song ideas started to come together - every song - I just described what I thought that song should sound like - breakdowns, solos, whatever popped into my head.

All this was on paper before I touched my guitar.

SO by the time I started knocking music and lyrics around, I had a much clearer vision of every song. Sure, half of them are barely started right now, but I'm a lot more confident that I can go in and knock them out because - I guess I'm approaching the whole thing like a producer instead of a composer - thinking much more about the big picture instead of putting everything under a microscope and never looking around.

The biggest problem I had with the last CD was that it was just a collection of songs, and I never EVER could put them in a decent order - too many mid-tempo funky songs, barely any odd or rocking songs - so the songs started to blend together no matter what order I arranged them. It's okay - it was like a greatest hits of all my demos from over 15 years and, as such, it still sounds/feels like just a collection of songs.

This time, I want an ALBUM. A start, a middle, an ending. Transitions between songs, references from one song to another song (musically or lyrically). So, having those notions ahead of time makes it easier to work on songs.

This song is the last track I think, which is why the guitar goes on without anything else in there.

And yeah, the goal here is to come up with very loose arrangements to take to the band. I probably overdid it on this one because it's already too arranged for interpretation. I don't know.

I would LOVE to record the whole thing live, straight through - either with a crowd or without. I dont know. Maybe I'm shooting too high now. We'll see.

nice work! very catchy.

beauhall said:

Now that's an interesting approach to songwriting. I seem to always have a bit of writer's block lately, as well, so I've been re-recording old songs that I feel may be worthy. The guys in my band seem to want me to have everything totally arranged how I want it and won't deviate, even though I want them to. Actually, someone did lay down guitar on the track that I wanted you to help with ( http://www.icompositions....?sid=48671 ). That one sat unfinished for about 8 months.

Dug your tune and I was wondering where those drums came from - sound great. (I'm still waiting for SOMEONE here to hook me up with a few Linn loops) I couldn't really make out many of the lyrics, but I was also listening to your tasty guitar licks, too. How about adding a SICK keyboard riff somewhere?? Can you say superfunkydizzope?
[Edited 1/5/07 13:40pm]

Oh yeah - and I got a new Tele, beotch!!!

Drums are the Basic set on the MRS (kit #2?) but I redid them this afternoon using the Loose kit, and mixing up the pattern a little more. Unfortunately, the mastering algo pumped up the bass so much it's a bit much to swallow. I'll work on it some mo.

You just cant let that guitar track alone, CAN YA!! I swear man, you caught me when my wife was having spinal fusion surgery among other things. Not the best time to collaborate.

And yeah, the lyrics are practically meaningless. That was the lyrical direction I gave myself for this song - stream-of-consciousness kind of stuff, but of course, for the funk, it has to be getting-nasty-aimless lyrics instead.

lastly - I've got the Linn Samples! You just need to go download Fruity Loops and do a search for Linn Samples. You can make the loops yourself with the FL demo.

Sex Machine by the Flying Lizards.
http://www.box.net/public/ddq3slvxu9
[Edited 1/5/07 14:52pm]

My son got a guitar for Christmas! He already knows the beginning chords to Smoke on the Water!

love the music....

nice stuff, sweet voice, really like it!