More Practice... and Starting A Song!!!

Today I finally sat down and found something!!!

It's in the early stages i.e. 1 verse, opener & chorus, but it's good!

No spoiler, I don't like to show my work 'till I'm done, but I can say the focus chord is Dm.

I'm using Dm, Am, G, C, and A.

Dunno if there will be another in the bridge (not there yet) but it's good. i like it.
It's not all strumming, there's a bit of picking to it i may continue to modify and mess with.

I'm getting better with practice at guitar cardio. In case you haven't yet received my recommendation, it's a MUST for those that want to get good at guitar.

I have a link to the left.

I still need to name the song. That's in the works, too.

Songs Remembered

I wrote Eliza a song to the tune of "Hey There, Delilah" ages and ages ago, for her sixteenth birthday. She brought that up and wants me to dig out the lyrics and send them to her.

I need to figure out what I did with them. They are buried away between paper and computer files. I have to sit down and reconstruct them, because I never had a hard final copy - it was all in my head.

Yuck. I want to do it and will, but that's hard enough, considering I'm still trying to figure out what I did with those lyrics I need to get to Alyssa (no, I haven't forgotten).

Hmm... Oh, and to make things worse, her mom wants me to record it. I'm not big on doing recording!!! It's not like I have a way to do a decent quality recording. I'll have to come up with something, for my sake.

Why I care? I dunno. There was a song I wrote for Sarah, but I never had an opportunity to play it for her, as dumb as that is. I ought to reconstruct that, too.

Well, amid all this nuttiness, I want to write something else. Just makes my blood pressure go up thinking of all this. Maybe I need to go do something else. Peace out.

Playing Guitar (Hero) Again

On a side note, I'm well under way on beating Expert on GH. I rock in every meaning of the word. lol...

I've got back to playing my guitar more (finally), and I must say I feel kinda stuck.
I haven't done much new of late.

I'm thinking of writing a song, and I have the material to do so, but no lyrics.
However...

The gears are turning.
That's my expression for "i'm thinking about it".

What do you guys think? It's kinda strange to ask the internet questions, but seriously...

What topic do you think I should choose? Any ideas? I want to pick something unique.
Something close to me, but no mushy cliché love song.
It has to have meaning... I don't want it to be silly, otherwise I'd pick randomly.
I want it to be GOOD. Something people would want to listen to.

I wonder....
Well... if you've any suggestion, comments are always welcomed.
Enough musing for one night.
もう寝よ。

Learning to Play Something Fun

I haven't had much to keep me going lately, at least as far as guitar is concerned.
I have looked for new things to do, but I keep spacing off and doing other things.

The latest obsession is writing those stupid Kanji. How pathetic.

I've looked at some like Cliffs of Dover, but some are multi-instument, and some are just too hard. I need to find something to further my guitar-playing abilites.

I have been toying with new chord groups, and I might write a song if I find some I like.
I have a chord progression encyclopedia I got at a music store years ago... I'm thinking of pulling it out to use again. It's come in handy before.

Well, maybe I'll have a cooler discovery next time.
Sayoonara.

Another Dancing Tuesday

This Saturday is the day the dance-teaching will occur.
Tonight we got all of the waltz straightened out, and we spent the time doing other stuff.
We covered the basics of many things.

The main things we did were:
Foxtrot, Cha Cha, Rumba, and Swing.

-Foxtrot was the most confusing when it came to aligning it to music.

-My cha-cha is back! Yay!

-I believe the rumba was a bit like waltz for a 2/4 or 4/4 music timing.
It seems to be the most useful.

-It was a different swing from the kind I know. Useful, nonetheless.


Well, I could let this hijack my guitar article, but I refuse.
So...
Lately I've gone out running/jogging and I'm getting in better shape.
I listen to my iPod during that time.
I'm beginning to think I want to learn a song by Rocket Summer.
I'm just not sure which... I like many of them.

I haven't had too much time for my guitar, with adding on Illustrator to my Photoshop workload. Illustrator is slowing everything down.
Hopefully I'll get what I need learned and accomplished soon, so everything can catch up.

I'm thinking of writing a song for Valentine's day, but I'm not sure when or of what.
I might write it and play it for Sarah when I get the chance.

Today's song of note is "colors" - by - you guessed it - Rocket Summer.
I don't have that album, and I'm waiting for a chance to go buy it.

If I had to choose one artist out of all of them, if I had to throw out all my music except for one, that one, If I could be any of the people who's music I listen to, it would be Bryce Avary aka The Rocket Summer.

I don't "idolize" people , don't get me wrong. But his music relates to me emotionally and by lyric more than any other. I'm not very emotional, either... lol...
If would give almost anything to be able to make music like him.

Still Alive

Here I am again, early in the morning filling out the previous day's post.
What a miserable day. I accomplished nothing. It's as if I never woke up.
And I didn't eat much, either. I was starving until I made myself some oatmeal and a ham sandwich. At a few minutes past midnight.

That's not entirely true - I did hack vista big time - I'm excited and pleased - but I'll talk of that another day.

I am going to write another song, and I'm not in the mood to right this minute.
Seems like my only abilities are before I go to sleep, and it's getting late. I'm actually trying to finish things up so I can get to bed.

There are lots of places to find inspiration, and I found a funny one I've kinda learned and I'm going to rip some inspiration off of it.
It's Still Alive, the end credits to a game called Portal.
Eliza showed it to me. She found it amusing - I, looking up the story behind it, found it rather creepy.

You can find it HERE if you're interested. (and the cake is a lie.)

Seems like a lot has been lagging behind. Tomorrow's Japanese will be all-out, then. I need to turn over another new leaf.

Do You Remember

Today I started to learn this song... another one
by Jack Johnson, incidentally.

It was kinda tricky, but i figure it's taught me something valuable.
Aside being a little confusing in the middle of the chorus, it's relatively straightforward.

It's less chord and more individual notes. (it does use G 355433, A 577655, and D 557775)
I love the lyrics... it's a sweet song.

I almost have it perfect already!

I've been working on the song I wrote, too. It's not so bad.
I'm actually thinking of writing another one. This time my reason is kind of as an emotional outlet, so I'm not sure how it will go. Such can be rather spontaneous.

Today's my half birthday, if any one cares. I don't.

Harder to Breathe

This is my new song.

Yes. Finally, the new song I promised myself.

I'm so glad to have written it - I didn't get this post in right away simply because I stayed up late with the song instead of coming here and posting about it.

I'll end with a preview of the lyrics - they're in the works still.

It really did take me into the early hours of the morning to finish it...
I seem to only be good at songwriting at that time of day... I've never understood why.

That's why I haven't written a song in so long - my other few ones were written in the early hours as well.

That's odd, isn't it? It doesn't make any sense. Why is my ability to write music only good early in the morning?


It's two in the morning
I'm still awake mourning
I'm finding some words for a song

She'd never believe me
but i can't help but feeling
i've known a deep truth all along.

Looking for Lyrics

I'm taking the songwriting more seriously now. I'm going to go write a song. It will be a while until it's finished.

I will post it when I'm satisfied with it, though. I'm excited... I haven't written a song in ages.

In other news, I've got four songs finished perfect lately, and am left with an almost-clean slate.
I've been working on Lee's what it does to us and Secondhand Serenade's Fall For You. Along with Jack Johnson's Banana Pancakes and Sitting, Waiting, Wishing that's quite a lot in just a month or two.

I do need to get better with lyrics... I find myself making up songs as I go about my day every now and then... I just can't make up stuff that would go with guitar, stupid as it sounds. Perhaps I need to write more down, or keep scratch paper with me.

Fall for You (Round Two)

I've been working on this (by Secondhand Serenade) today. With my messed up laptop charger, I've not much else to do.
Oh well. More time with my guitar...

It only uses four chords, really, but I get the order of them scrambled up.
They're C,Am,F, and G. Very straightforward - but very confusing...
Also, I only seem to know about half of the words. That doesn't help. I need to fix that.
By the time this is actually posted, I hope to have it perfect. That will be one more down.

I hoped to write something about Christmas / New Year's celebrations as far as songwriting goes, but it never happened... how typical of me... I have this terrible lyric-writing that's been haunting me for months...

How am I supposed to tackle it?

Boys Like Girls

My Favorite Band Ever!!! Look them up... They're incredible.
I've kinda been a fan since high school. (those were the days...)
The Great Escape and Heels over Head are some of my faves.
Five Minutes to Midnight and Hero - Heroine are also incredible.

Even those with a slightly different taste might like Thunder and Learning to Fall.
Everyone should hear their songs, if only once. Some will like some better than others, but they're bound to like at least one... unless they're very picky people.

I just got the CD, and it was worth it.

They're my inspiration, and I'm excited to get home to my amp and my bro's drums...

I don't know what I'll write, but it will be something inspired by them. It'll be so strange being home when it happens...

I might write about a number of things - there's going to be a lot of things going on in my life in the near future.

Cookie Jar

...that's the name of the Jack Johnson song I'm thinking of learning.

I need to find something more "romantic", though. I need to work on expanding my "chicks dig it" library, if you know what I mean... I really want to be able to play a wider variety, but I don't know just quite how to go about it. Perhaps I just need to write a new song.

I've been thinking of writing one about Danielle... but for now, that's our little secret. Yup. Don't tell anyone; it's just between me, Robert, and you, the entire world ;)

Well, anywho, anywhere, anywhat, anywhen, anywhy... I tink I'm gonna start writing some lyrics... I probably won't post them- I don't post stuff that I hold personal, not usually...

I need to improve Alyssa's song, so I can show it to her when I'm not half asleep. I might write a song about all four of us (Daniel, Marianne, Alyssa, Robert)... but things might be changing, so I might wait before deciding on the specific topics...

Oh, and Eliza wanted me to make a collection of all I'd written... problem is, I never managed to finish the lyrics to much of what I would include. And I need to find a decent way to record it.

So... yeah. I have my work cut out for me, as far as guitaring goes...

Daniel might be picking up guitar... it would be cool to have someone to play with...

Running Out of Ideas...

Lately I've been short of things to learn on my guitar.
I need to start writing songs, but I need to continue learning, too.

I can't seem to come up with much to do...

I can play Sitting, Waiting, Wishing perfectly now. I need to pick up something to do.

On the back of the to-do list, I've got to try and memorize Minority by Green Day, and I've got to go re-learn the ending of Times Like These (Jack Johnson of course)...

I need to learn a new song...
Sweet Home Alabama is a classic I need to go learn.
Wake Me Up When September Ends (Green Day) is another.
There might be a few good John Denver songs... I'll have to look.

I'm just tired right now, and short on ideas as a result. I'll probably look through my iTunes, and see if anything gives me ideas.

In the meantime, if anybody out there has ideas as to what I ought to learn, feel free to let me know.

Remembering the Tune

I forgot the tune to Lee's What It Does to Us, and I've been trying to remember it for ages. I have the chords listed somewhere, but I couldn't remember how to strum it. It''s been killing me.
It's my favorite song, and not knowing how to play it has been frustrating. Now I know it, though, and I'm going to start learning it.

It's "do-da-de-da. very simple. It hits different strings on the up versus the down. It gives the sound color, and is "fun" to listen to. I just hope that I don't have trouble learning to match the chords and vocals.

the down is lower. The counts are down+up+rest+up , repeated quickly.

I can't wait to take a look at it. I haven't had time to do hardly anything, because I've been so busy. I'm excited, though. It's one of the best songs I've heard in a long time, and being able to play it (well) would make me happy.

Lee's Final Performance

My roommate/inspiration Lee is going home Saturday.
That means that tomorrow's his last day here.

I'm really going to miss having him around. I'm working on learning to play some of his songs; maybe being to play them will remind me of all he's taught me.

Hopefully I'll be able to begin writing songs soon with what I've learned; I haven't had the time as of yet...

I'll probably take up some of the songs he's played, such as
I Will Follow You Into the Dark (Death Cab for Cutie).
There's a few by Relient K he knows, too.
He's just the kind of guy who plays all the songs I've thought of learning to play; I've been thinking of learning "-Into the Dark" for a while now.


What do I have to say about Lee? Let's just say Lee's my middle name(it really is). I'll probably write a song about him at some point- there aren't many things out there that inspire me, and I've found one.

It'll be lonely without him; we'll keep in touch, but I'm so used to always having him around when no one else is... I guess I'll get over it.

But still- no one will replace Lee. Everyone should have a Lee. An awesome guy with endless amounts of talent and good music and speakers.

WIthout Rain

I've got a song I wrote long ago, that I just found. I've been trying to relearn the lyrics.

It uses C, Em, Emin7 and FMaj7.
Fmaj7 : 0123xx
Emin7 : 000020

V1
Why did it get so quiet my friend?
Night never ends when it's this quiet.
Out on the beach I'm lying again
Staring away
Into the zenith.
C
I looked straight up for a map of my life,
but the stars were so dim, and they fail to connect
to the point where I am
in the sand, by the waves, in the rain.

V2
I'd never known a girl 'till then
as sister and friend, even an angel.
I'm having trouble leaving again
the tides coming in,
and I'm still dreaming.
C
Then I looked up and saw some stars connect
to the place where I was, though the light was still dim
I was stuck, beneath the moon,
in the sand, by the waves, in the rain.

b/V3
Now I no longer look to the end
waiting to begin something so different
It is so easy leaving the sand
the rainwater thins
and now I'm happy.
C
I looked straight up for a map of my life,
but the stars were so dim, and they fail to connect
to the point where I am
in the sand, by the waves, in the rain.
C
Now I look up at this map of my life
and the stars are so bright and now they all connect
down to me and my toes
in the sand, by the waves, without rain.

without rain.

It was written in a time of great struggle as I began to find clarity. I didn't know how it would end when I started it.

New Chords!

I'm shying away, it's my signature move...

Today I learned how to play a song my roommate wrote.
It's a beautiful piece, and uses chords I haven't used long enough to have memorized.
they're:

Bmin7 - 232x2x
A7 - 02020x

Used in combination with Em (000220), D (2320xx), and a form of G (xx0023) it's a great piece.
The verse is D-Em-Bm7-Em.

He's taught me much already, not only how to write good lyrics through example, but now I know how to use min7 chords wherever I want.
They replace the IV in a I-IV-V, and the key of the min7 is a note in the I chord.
I-IV-V is G-D-C, and G is made of G+B+D, so I replace G-D-C chords with G-Bmin7-C.
In D-G-A, I can use D-G-Amin7, too for example.