Thursday June 22, 2006

Shortest day alright

Time is flying! I am working like a maniac to get all sorts of Dayjob (and housework) Detritus out of the way before I make my way up to Waikanae. So far running a little behind schedule, but hey. Getting there.

It's quite thrilling and a little disturbing to realise how many people are reading this blog (welcome Svenda). And yes, Mary, there is some song-writing happening amongst all the blogging...heh heh.  A good deal of it, as it happens. Though you could be forgiven for wondering.

Day 7's song, which I think is now called 'The Next House' was a big hit with Christine. Like, bigger than usual. We laughed when we worked out that's probably because most of the chord progressions are nicked from her songs... 'Ah yes,' she said. 'I'm *loving* that guitar...'

She agrees it doesn't need to be any longer in terms of lyrics, but that I could flesh it out with a nice big spacious instrumental between the  second verse and a quasi-chorus thing that follows. She can hear real parpy organ chords. Again, tres Beatles.

I shall record this one before I leave today, if I have time. There's lots more chords in it than I usually use so I have to pretend I can play the guitar.

Day 8 Care Package:

I brought it home with me because I wanted to get photos of it up sooner rather than later (tune in tomorrow), and I won't be home to do the necessary techie stuff to them until maybe Sunday. Feels a little strange opening one of the packages at home rather than at the bach - good though. A little parcel of peace arriving in the lounge...

It's another collage/pinboard type creature, this one. And again - so rich: there's a ladder-esque shape, a (collective noun??) of what looks like wings to me, something that could be a scribbled version of bars on a window. Blues and whites this time - and black, some charcoal black, too.

 

OK. Leave it with me....

x

Fire's lit and the bach's new occupant is charging.

 

Yes indeedy, people. It's the As-Seen-On-TV-Cordless-Sweeper. Perfect for that summer holiday home.

Again, it's superb to be back here. It's really worth the effort of getting everything out of the way like a maniac.

 

Now I can sink into a slower way, for a couple of days, anyway.

 

I woke up at 5am this morning feeling very bushy-tailed. God knows. Now I've stopped and sat down, I feel pretty tired.

 

x

 

Beyond strumming.

 

I've got some chords. I was feeling a bit jaded. Texted Chris and she said:

 

Find three bach items and make a rhythm with them. Record it on your camera and write something to that.

 

So I played the matchbox, the fire-tongs and the hearth-brush. I played them fast. I played them furious.

 

Interestingly, I'd already been playing around with the idea of writing melody and lyrics just from a rhythm. a percussive guitar thingy, where I damp all the strings and strum in a rhythm, peppered with a couple of harmonics. I like harmonics on the guitar, but I didn't pursue this experiment because I felt generally a bit uninspired.

 

Then when Chris mentioned the bach items idea, I thought - aaaah. There's that rhythm thing again. So I resurrected that original guitar percussion idea, and recorded that.

I realised I could, in live gigs, sample that into the Akai headrush, and then play and sing over it. That inspired a guitar riff, a chord progression - this time with a pacey, relentless (in a good way) feel, kinda like this could be a travelling song. I just have to work out how to play the guitar so it doesn't sound like I'm strumming or picking it. I want a kind wash of the chords. Like you'd get with a keyboard, but not on a keyboard. On my guitar.

 

I'll get back to you on this.

 

I'm about to watch the news and eat evil instant noodles. Then I'll come back and see if I can work out some lyrics.

 

x

 

OK so this one is a love song.

 

: )

 

And it's sounding like Van Morrison or even The Waterboys. I'm comparing myself to some fairly heavyweight artists here, aren't I? You know what I mean.

 

It's quite late and I've still got a couple of verses to write. But I'm happy with this one. I'll still have to work on it tomorrow, just to get used to playing and singing it at the same time. Ha!

 

My life is so hard.

 

x

H