exploring other sounds

21 Mar looking-up

I explored some other ways to compose and improvise songs this last weekend. I’ve been so focused on perfecting the acoustic fingerpicking and live singing sound that I’ve ignored creating the kind of music that I also love to listen to. The following three tracks are pretty different from I normally do. I’d love to hear what you think.

the sound of same

A (somewhat) fully realized piece as it is, but I will probably work with the middle section of the song and go somewhere different harmonically. I also feel like the latin-style percussion in parts is distracting and doesn’t quite fit. I love the solo/lead guitar in this (uses almost entirely a single note throughout the song).

if the sky

A live, improvised solo guitar piece. Created in one session using my loop pedal.

one last remembrance

Another live, improvised solo guitar piece. Created in one session using my loop pedal. I had meant to start out with a simple IV-V-I loop but somehow only a part of the IV-V piece was recorded and looped on a short few-second cycle about 30 seconds in. I went with it and created something else entirely…

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class assignment: I to IV

6 Mar crystal mountain

I’ve been sitting in for a performance workshop class at my kids’ high school. I’m helping with their songwriting assignments by coming in to talk about my approach to songwriting, introducing music that relates to what they’re covering at the time.

Today, I came in and turned in my take on their assignment from last week: write an 8-bar melody over a I to IV vamp. I took it up in the key of G and found a nice groove at about 66bpm and started improvising some melodies over it. Eventually one solidified and I went with it. Here’s the recording I did last night that satisfies the assignment :-)

There’s two acoustic guitar setting the rhythm, one electric guitar adding some texture and then a big solo electric guitar with the melody. Nothing too fancy, but I wanted a bit of a alt-country feel with a tiny bit of epic thrown in. I would love to hear what you think!

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FAWM 2012 a success!

29 Feb fields

Well… I got to the end of the month here and had only one complete song for the month: “Down in the Desert”, which I wrote on February 1st, start to finish in about 2 hours (including lyrics, song structure, harmony and lead guitar even). Then… I got nothing for about 10 days and when I finally stopped beating myself up over it I started back in on my mostly nightly work of improving for about a half an hour until a song emerges and then record it.

So, I started doing that on the 10th every other night or so until I realized just today that I had 13 other songs that are structurally complete (though they will probably go through edits before being finalized), just with no lyrics. Which, now I’m realizing is still part of the “game” of FAWM. I was looking to create songs in a specific way, but I think it’s ok for now that I just have sketches. That’s the way these songs have started to emerge. And, now I have a record of the work this month that I can now return to and refine.

But, here’s the scary part. These “sketches” of songs I have are filled with a particular way I write songs… which is to say I have these mumbly half-words and a faux glossalalia that serves as placeholders so I can create a melody before any concrete words and phrases start to appear. They’re not great, they’re not perfect, and I go out of tune quite a lot. But, they are what they are: songs in the process of emerging. I’m doing something different (and scary) here and giving y’all a link to these proto-songs. I hope that there are other songwriters and creative artists that recognize this process and use it or a form of it, too. I’d love to hear how you efficiently move from this stage to the next!

My full FAWM profile for tracyshaun is up for you to listen to… please let me know which one or more you think should start to have some lyrics generated. I’d love to know!

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Hey, it’s February!

2 Feb down in the desert

Yes! And now it’s time for #FAWM (February Album Writing Month)… check it out at http://fawm.org and join in if you want. My profile is over at http://fawm.org/fawmers/tracyshaun/ and I’ll be attempting the 14 songs in 28 days… but this year it’s 14.5 songs in 29 days :-)

The first is one is up and you can go listen to it and read the lyrics… this one’s kinda special because I have finally broken through and written the first complete song from scratch in almost 9 months. Yes, 9 months! It feels like such a weight has lifted… feeling so good.

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materializing a vision

5 Jan

I wrote Rhymes With You about 3 years ago on my acoustic guitar in a park in Marin on a sunny day in late summer. At the time, I heard a bunch of different things going on in this song, but have only played it acoustically since I wrote it. Though, I did play an electric version of this song a couple of weeks ago at the Brainwash cafe, this has largely been a pure acoustic guitar + vocal song. However, all along I have heard pretty much what you’ll hear below. There are a few things I want to do to tidy up the recording, but it’s getting close. I’d love to hear your feedback. I’ll add some of my own comments to this post with what I’m thinking. What do you think?

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beginning of some improvised pieces

29 Dec

As part of my songwriting process, I regularly improvise song structures and record the sketches within a half hour of inventing it. This piece is a little different than normal in that I wrote a few different pieces (a couple of melodies, synth background, some minimal drum tracks). I usually just do a simple acoustic track of guitar and vocal. This one came out pretty good some I’m releasing it into the wild and will beging to put more out there for ya. (I have several waiting in the wings that I’ll release over the next week or so)

I want to be able to keep this creative process going. Let me know what you think. I would love some feedback!

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Musicians who rock my world

7 Nov bjork

I created a little board called Musicians Who Rock My World on my pinterest.com account… photos of my favorite musicians, the ones that inspired me to do my own music and ones that influence me. Any of them resonate for you?

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the tao of tracyshaun

28 Oct

… in which tracyshaun reflects on being a songwriter, poet, performer, etc. …

a typical view on my walks along Corte Madera Creek

It’s mid-October here in northern California. I write this from my little studio set-up in a small downstairs room in an old house in Marin County. It’s close enough to Corte Madera Creek that I get to walk along its banks with my dog and watch the movements of the tides from day to day. Mt. Tamalpais keeps watch over Ross Valley.

Continue reading →

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theology

26 Oct

I am not a secular man, but in moments of crisis I turn to agnosticism for the comfort it gives in freeing me from superstition.

— Charles Bernstein

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too much news. not enough poetry.

18 Oct

too much news. not enough poetry.

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