When it comes to creating music for songs, I’ve usually had a pretty easy time of it. I hear a melody in my head, think of what chord changes would fit with the melody, and put a simple track together. It’s a different story with lyrics. I have to admit that that isn’t my strong suit, even though once I’m done, I’m usually satisfied with them. But even still, writing lyrics isn’t all that difficult.
But what is hard is actually putting the song together and getting all the parts right. I used to be a bit embarrassed by the fact that especially with guitar riffs, I’d sometimes take 20-30 takes to make it right – or even more if I didn’t know how to play the riff that I heard in my head in the first place. It wasn’t about being a perfectionist; it was all about learning how to play. Period. Used to drive my poor family insane. My wife would sometimes burst into my man-cave exclaiming, “Why the hell do you have to play that phrase over and Over and OVER AGAIN?!!!”
With a sheepish grin, I’d almost invariably reply, “‘coz I’m not good enough to play what I’m hearing in my head, and need to get it down.”
Of course, her reply would be, “Well then, why don’t you just practice it quietly until you’ve got it, then record it?”
“Because I’m so close to getting it, but I screw it up along the way. I’m banking on hitting it one of these times, honey,” I’d reply.
“Oh my gawd! You’re driving us CRAZY!”
Years down the line, I’m a much better player, so I can usually hit it in one or two takes, or I now tend to experiment with different approaches to a particular phrase, rather than have my recording session be part learning session. But I will tell you this: All that time spent repeating and repeating paid off. That repetition made me a better player, and actually made my song arrangements much better. But nevertheless, I still do a LOT of repeating, especially with lead breaks.
In a song I wrote several years ago, I shared with a friend that the solo was actually composed. He was (and still is) a great guitar player, so he had a hard time fathoming how I didn’t just improvise over the changes. I was actually a little embarrassed so I made up some lame excuse. And I remember that conversation to this day. But yesterday, I was reading Bob Lefsetz’ latest installment where he was raving about the Eagles’ documentary, and in a passage in his article he wrote this:
Glenn hooks up with J.D. Souther and they form Longbranch Pennywhistle. They end up befriending Jackson Browne and move in above him in Echo Park. Where at nine every morning Jackson makes tea and starts to write. Playing the same riffs twenty times in a row. THAT’S WHAT IT TAKES TO MAKE IT! You don’t see the hard work at home, only the result, but the dues being paid are hefty.
Talk about reading something encouraging! Jackson Browne is one of my all-time favorite singer/songwriters, and to find out something about his writing process having even a slight similarity to my own simply blew me away!
I’ve always been of the mind that you have to practice, practice, practice to be good, and that practice has be driven by somewhat of a single-minded purpose. I wrote about this in a recent post, but that point was really driven home by that short passage.
Now I don’t feel so bad about driving my family crazy with my playing something over and over and over again. 🙂
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Writing songs can be so easy sometimes, and then so hard at other times. It’s interesting to hear from you how your process goes. Would you say that you often are able to reproduce the songs the way they bounce around inside your head? I sometimes find that the song takes on a whole new shape as I start to work with it in my studio.
Most of the time, they turn out completely different from what’s in my head. 🙂 The basic idea is typically the same, but even then, I may turn on a dime and do something completely different. But once I’ve got it figured out, especially with lead breaks, I tend to try a lot of different approaches until I find something that works.