Monday, September 29, 2008

Finishing a song in progress

Ok, here's an mp3 of a song I've been working on.  when I wrote it, it was late on a work night.  I was worried I'd wake my roommate up, so I took my electric (unplugged so it wouldn't make much noise) and played and danced in the middle of the street in the dark.  now that the excitement is over, I'm really happy about some parts of this song and I'm not content with others.  First off, I like the rhythm of the chord progression.  I've broken out of the pattern I've had of giving each chord at least a 4 count.  I give the A a 4 count, then the D and Bm 2 counts each.  I'm not really sure if I've done that before in songs.  Then, I also like the little lick that I've incorporated into it as well.   In all there are a 3 different guitar rhythms played - the lick, the strumming, the alternate bass and finally some picking at the end of the chorus.  I also like the range of vocals that I (attempt to) hit, and that I say that I like to ride my bike!

Here's what I wish I did a little differently.  I really wish I had more lyrics, but I don't.  This always happens to me where I feel like I've written part of a song, but not the whole thing.  Then, it's like, do I just play it over from the top?  I started this song probably 5-6 months ago, and I still don't have anything more to say.  The problem is that I don't want there to be any "resolution", omnipotence, or fortune telling.  What would Josh Rouse do?  Then, I'd like to improve the musical performance - both the guitar playing and the singing.  The guitar playing should be cleaner and with better rhythm.  The singing could use a little work, especially at the beginning of phrases and "summer".  So I think that covers most of the technique / practicing issues of my voice and guitar, except for the rhythm.  I haven't been counting out enough in my head, so that would be a good thing.  I'm probably playing it too fast, since that's what I've been doing since I first started playing piano when I was 5.  Lastly, it would be cool if there were a bridge or a guitar solo or something new and interesting in the song.  Most of my favorite songwriters have something of that nature in every song.  I'm not as familiar with how to make those.  Something to work on, I guess.

The summer games

(Capo on 2)

A                                         D              Bm    A
I never said that I could take care of you
A     D      E                              A
You do it yourself pretty well
A                                 D                 Bm    A
All my heroes have muster and might
       D            E                A
But I never learned to fight

A                              Bm                 C#m
sometimes I play games in the summer
A                             Bm                    C#m
and I've been known to ride my bike
Bm       C#m     Bm        C#m  E
but you            you       you
                 A
You I like

A D Bm 

Chord Progression:

1 4 2
1 4 5
1 4 2
1 4 5
1 2 3
1 2 3
2 3
2 3 4 5

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm not sure what Josh Rouse would do, but he might add a darlin' in there somewhere. In my non-musicians opinion, I think that you can leave it open-ended but it does need something to hold it together. How you do that I don't know.
And next time you start dancing in the street at all hours of the night will you please wake me up? I want to observe the madness.
BTW..there is no MP3 for me to listen to, what's up with that?

Unknown said...

So I've been thinking (and Carl agrees) that you should try playing this in 6/8. We both think that it will work better this way. :)

Mike said...

yeah, sorry, I'm still figuring out how to post an mp3