I Can't Get No Satis-fucking-faction
01.18.07 (12:14 am) [edit]I've been banging my head against the wall for a while now trying to write music to a set of lyrics I shared in parts here a while back.
I started writing Danger Girl after meeting Caitlin, and thinking about another young redhead I'm far too attached to for my own good. I read it as a very Zevon-esque lyric, and tried to approach the music accordingly.
The problem is, I can't write simple music.
I can barely write ANYTHING. I've got probably 30 hours of music recorded over the past decade or so, almost all of it incomplete, usually just snippets of ideas. But when I do get an idea, it's usually something a bit bent. I need to hear weird chords come out of myself. I can PLAY simple music and enjoy the fuck out of it. I can beat the living snot out of Louie Louie, for fuck's sake. I get a boner doing it. But WRITING something like that? Goddamn impossible.
Some of my favorite songwriters have made killer tunes out of the most basic shit. Hell, I think Neil Young's last six albums have all been G, Em, C, D, right? And I LOVE most of that shit.
I can't take that kind of thing coming out of myself. It's UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR.
Now you know why I enjoy playing covers. I can assert my own personality on other people's material, but not on my OWN. Go figure.
Love,
Dougie
posted by: LadyG (reply)
post date: 01.17.07 (10:55 pm)
Don't give up on it Dougie.
posted by: jhillst (reply)
post date: 01.18.07 (7:17 pm)
I have the same problem...if I try to write something with less than ten different chords or so, I feel like I'm cheating on a test. The curse of listening to too much prog, I guess.
posted by: eraserhead667 (reply)
post date: 01.18.07 (7:21 pm)
Reply to: LadyG
Funnily enough, Kate Bush told me the same thing.
Actually, she said "Stop stalking me!" Oh well...
posted by: eraserhead667 (reply)
post date: 01.18.07 (7:26 pm)
Reply to: jhillst
Yeah, I think that's part of it, though like I said, I enjoy PLAYING this stuff. I think what I need is to work on my arranging skills. Stripping other people's material down to just guitar and vocal is fun for me, but on my own, it feels weak, it needs more. Plus, my melodic sense is not what it should be. I'm stronger than most rock musicians when it comes to harmonic sense, I'm pretty decent with rhythm. Melodically, I kinda suck. Having spent the last couple years listening to the best end of "pop" writing (Beatles, XTC, etc) has helped me, but I still feel very underdeveloped in the melody department. Which is why I'm glad I spend so much time singing these days - those three hour drives to and from Indiana are accompanied by tapes of shit I like to sing with probably 90% of the time these days. It's gotta rub off. I'm really fucking good at two or three things. Everything else I feel like I'm the musical equivalent of Ed Wood half the time. I certainly can't RECORD anything worth a shit most the time.
posted by: Yogi (reply)
post date: 01.19.07 (5:37 pm)
I have similar iss-YEWS, and I don't even like prog that much, so prog-love can't be the only cause. I feel "guilty" if I don't have melody in every nook and cranny, at every moment. I got my rhythm guitar approach from EVH and Ty Tabor, two guys who make up guitar parts that could stand alone without vocals.
Although I actually strummed some barre chords on the new album in a couple of places. So maybe I'm like, growing. Or something.
posted by: eraserhead667 (reply)
post date: 01.19.07 (7:58 pm)
EVH is almost NEVER noticed for his riffs, which are GOD. I can't play lead like that, so I steal his fucking riffs.
Ty Tabor is Jesus.