#Frail Autumn,, #Lyrics, #music, #songwriting

Capturing songs…..warts and all.

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The GarageBand recording device. One screen choice here from hundreds upon hundreds with different properties and offerings. A massive rabbit hole of endless learning.

Process? How songs develop.

And by being honest you have to be humble in presentation. I have T.Rex and The Beatles Anthology albums where home recordings are at their most raw and basic. Then both produce the finished articles we are familiar with. The vinyl masterpieces we all know. It’s a fascinating process to listen to John Lennon singing ‘Now and Then’ at the piano at home decades ago and then Paul, George and Ringo bringing us the song’s progression this year. Yes….I cried on listening to it.

On blogs before I have uploaded very raw songs I hope to develop. I suppose it could be considered a weird way of how you present yourself to others….warts and all. Usually you keep it private and then offer a finished music/song written project. Hopefully accepted because it sounds ‘Proper’. I actually am not bothered how I am perceived. As said before in my blogs, ‘warts and all’ gives real content of my song journeys.

In this case, the story of this particular song is still yet to be completed. I state at the end of this rough as rough rendition of an idea..’Remember all the lyrics from the old songs’. I keep forgetting to tap into post Jack Daniel’s imbibed and then recorded ‘Remember those ideas’ from multiple song stutterings. Jack Daniel’s after effects leads you to believe that sometimes you have come out with a decent tune. Down the line? You go ‘Ooopsy’ and press delete. Or, weeks on months later you hear another sung ramble and go ‘YooHooWhoopsy, that’s kinda nice’. I forgot about that one.

So below is possibly post Jack Daniel’s. Although my lack of slurred vocals says it was born from a caffeine related event. This is a warble capture with a response of ‘Could work’ written all over it.

Then, you want to experiment with your new ‘could work’ song on the toy that is GarageBand and your Apple Mac M2 pro shiny home recording system. Again, below is another stage of ‘a hopeful’ and not an intended finished article. Because you are once again in another infant stage to realising a finished article. Why? This GarageBand recording below is okay for continuing with the previous idea above. But! The melody of ‘Always so blue’ has to be slotted into this second song development below at some point in the future.

Chords? If you are a musician and want to play along to it. C, Am, Em, then on to F, C, G and G7. You could improve my version here with your musical skills. Give a shiny uplifting resonance that adds creativity to my own naive playing on it…..

Trouble is with this ‘warts and all’ and get stuff down method ? It’s that it becomes really random. As said, dozens of tunes and chord progression possibilities are too familiar with other post Jack Daniel’s to take seriously. My lack of musical prowess leads to similarity with other stuff I have recorded before. What I believe is a new idea………isn’t.

Disclaimer: The Jack Daniel’s mention is purely an artistic inclusion to add spice to this blog. Actually! Red wine…….always red wine.

17 thoughts on “Capturing songs…..warts and all.”

  1. Gray, listening to your acoustic version followed by the lush, textured one was like witnessing a flower bloom in stages. each version revealed a new layer of beauty. it’s hard not to fall in love with such a process. I can’t wait to hear more.

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    1. Thank you cookie. Music is a fascinating delve when listening to others. A while ago I downloaded the Amazon music app and it includes albums I have bought over the years from Amazon in MP3 format listening on the iPad. So listening to Marc Bolan in his flat strumming the beginnings of his greatest hits is a wonderful insight to his songs development. 180 songs on his anthology. The Beatles anthologies, in the same vein, are really insightful too. So, if they can present their ‘warts and all’ and show how songs develop! I don’t have one ounce of a problem doing the same. Cheers cookie for your poetic replies to my blogs. Priceless.

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      1. cookie is as poetically minded as yourself Destiny. Very nice replies from followers are to be found in all three of our blog site posts’ comments aren’t they. So, in my case, I never worry about presenting the humble ‘warts and all’ beginnings of how songs develop. The mistakes, wrong chords, out of key vocals, etc. show the harsh reality of my songwriting progress. And having no fear of other bloggers crashing in with awful comments to destroy confidence is very comforting. It is a valuable site for amazing conversational and respectful exchanges. Builds confidence. That’s why WP is a little treasure. Cheers Destiny and a huge thank you again. Much appreciated. 🙏🏽

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      2. makes me think back to when I first started here and really didn’t know what exactly I was doing here too lol… heartening the response of others…and encouraging too…lol I never thought I’d end up writing poetry 🤭

        the beginning is important though isn’t…to see the progress and end. thank you , Gray…and most welcome too 🤍🙏

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      3. Ditto. I had loads of ideas and subjects to write about when I started. No focus. It was a very ‘journal’ based ideal. Eclectic and fleeting subjects written about that arrived for a while and then disappeared. But then……I suppose I couldn’t be anything else as a blogger. Cheers and 🙏🏽 again Destiny.

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    1. GB is very complicated! I keep deleting a recorded piece thinking I am cutting to paste it into another recorded track. You can drop in a better small version of an alternative vocal line/part for example, into the main vocal track to replace a poor out of key note. Or a more dynamic catch of a few lines/words of your vocals to replace the prior weaker ones in the main vocal track. So much for a technophobe like me to keep stumbling and bumbling along. 😊

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      4. Gotcha. I use the hippy vibed and elongated exasperation of ‘Maaaaan!’ Usually followed with the how, what, where, why, which and who questioning starts to situations that are challenging or unexpected. Cheers Sheila.

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      5. Finally listened, Gray. I so prefer your voice to Nick Gilders! Ha! And yes, I had to listen to ALL of the Frequency album of his first. I had not realized how much he sounds like Geddy Lee! And reminds me of Queen, David Bowie, and some 80s Miami Vice music with all the synthesizer stuff. It’s okay but I prefer your little ‘warts and all’ to Frequency.
        Now, I love how you are working out the melody on this. It is a work in progress, I know, but I am hearing the structure. It’s lovely.

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      6. My singing voice is my own worst enemy. My brother says he heard advice to just sing as you speak normally. Warmth comes through with emotional adds. I try to do that. No affectations by changing your voice to sound unusual and unnatural. Depending on the vocal cords? I can get lower and higher at times. So fairly happy with that. But keeping it in tune is sometimes a bit difficult.

        I do like Nick Gilders pop sensibilities. And played his music loud. Younger ears! Was playing the 1970s band Silverhead this morning. Great Rock and roll vibe.

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    1. I did go to the doctor and ask why I came out in spots and skin ailments when I was writing loads of new songs. Asked him if it was acne, eczema, warts or dermatitis. He told me to slow down and consider tailoring the half decent songs and forget the useless ones. He gave me a diagnosis. I was making too many rash decisions! 😉 Cheers Shep.

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