I’m always interested in how other people write but then I have a hard time imagining doing it any other way than my own.

I don’t ever want to put the guitar down while I’m writing.  That’s because I work out chords, lyrics, melody and rhythm all together.  If one of those things isn’t working, I’ll change it on the fly. Sure, sometimes I know what I want to sing about and I get the music together first and then work on the lyrics. But usually it all comes together.

Tonight I worked on two songs. Though one of them I’d had arranged already, on both I changed chords and melodies as I worked. And then tried out different rhythms and ended up transposing one into another key.

So the loop method wouldn’t work for me. And it involves too much technology.

You can see the old school methods I have for making notes. The pen and paper is actually optional. I bring them out when I have the music done and have to finish the words. I should probably always use them but usually I write on my feet while pacing around and I don’t want to stop to write things down. I just punch record on the tape and record snippets. I’ve gotten pretty good about not being precious with the recording. It’s literally an audio notepad on which I’ll scribble ideas, cross them out, and rework them. So yes, I have tons of tape of me just humming notes trying to find the right one or saying “I don’t like these chords” into the tape recorder right after I play them.

That’s just what works for me right now. Though I’ve always used a tape recorder, I didn’t always work on songs wholly like that. Plenty of times I came up with riffs and chords and later set words to them. And too many times, I came up with the “singing” and lyrics and just bolted them onto chords or riffs that didn’t suit them. I didn’t really learn how to sing with my voice until I started paying attention to the notes in the chords and shaping melodies with everything else. So it’s definitely been an evolution. And I wonder how other people do it.

30 August 2010 — Demo recorded on the Tascam DP-004.

Download audio file (charlotte-demo.mp3)
Download Charlotte – Demo

Then last year (2009) — I think — I decided to try to write a mainstream-ish country song but not out of any desire to mock it. And I remembered the title. And I hammered out this tune. Which, despite all the cheesy location references, is actually completely sincere, almost fully true, and, I think, a sweet little tune. Every so often, I’ve remembered it and played around. I finally settled the rhythm down from the gallop it began with. And here it is.

I am, of course, mortified that it runs to 4 minutes.

27 August 2010 — First demo recorded on the Tascam DP-004. The baby Taylor in the left speaker, the Yamaha in the right on the lead. Percussion on the face of the Taylor. Singing through a 57. Put your headphones on.

Download audio file (A-Heart-Thats-Empty.mp3)
Download A Heart That’s Empty

Set list on the side of the guitar.

Kari Byron’s Head Rush starts this week. More Kari is always a good thing.

This hurts my head.

You get to see George Michael punch out Anne. And he also fights that wang from Fall Out Boy.

It was a tad too long. When you go over 90 minutes, Mr Director, consider trimming. It’s like a pop song with too many choruses. If people want to sing-along again, they’ll just replay it.

Doc played it, looked it over, told me exactly what was wrong. I decided it was worth the cost of a full setup. It was ready a day later and it played like a new guitar. He’d fixed the neck and the frets and just improved the overall play and sound of the instrument immensely. I can’t stop playing that guitar now.

I’ve been going to Doc for all my guitar setups and adjustments. He put the electronics in my main guitar. I love the vibe of his shop. He’s a guy that you can immediately tell knows what he’s talking about. And I trust him with my instruments because of it. Nothing against the guy at Guitar Center who is probably a fine technician but he didn’t diagnose the problems like Doc did. And he wasn’t going to give me the advice that Doc does. Doc is worth every penny and more.

So now that this post on my new awesome baby Taylor guitar has turned into a big, wet one for Doc, I guess I should punch out. Go see Doc.

[via Buzzfeed]

It’s so simple and cool. And I’d missed their video for “On Directing”:

When I listen to that song on headphones, it seriously chokes me up. I don’t know how. I can listen to it in the car and not have that experience. And the video just focuses that experience.

I love how these two songs emphasize the distinct ways Tegan and Sara write. Tegan’s “Northshore” is a fairly straight-ahead rock song with a bunch of sharp riffs and a sing-along chorus. Sara’s “On Directing” repeats one verse and one chorus but the dynamics of the song intensify what she’s saying.

I hope I didn’t mix them up. Love them.

Rod y Gab were awesome again. I’ve seen them twice on the 11:11 tour now and those shows differ from the time I saw them before that album. They were looser the first time I saw them. They played long medleys of songs, switching from one to another right in the middle of the tune. It was incredibly exciting to watch. On the 11:11 tour, they’ve seemed more concerned with presenting the tracks from the album. There’s more chit-chat. Gab, usually, will explain a little about the song.

And while the performances are exciting, there is a bit of a start-stop quality to the whole show. I sure hope they incorporate the music from 11:11 into their endless medley performances and don’t stop the rocking. But then, that’s probably incredibly painful. Whatever they do, it’s amazing and it was fantastic to see them in such a cool venue.

I especially love that they keep things so simple. Though they’ve started incorporating pedal effects (mostly wah-wah but a little distortion for Rod), it’s still just two acoustic guitars. And they wear jeans and t-shirts. That’s my kind of band.