Today’s class reminded me of how good a modulation for the chorus can be. There’s the one’s that aren’t strictly a modulation but feel like one:
Fool on the Hill – The Beatles (major in the verse moving to minor in the chorus)
Then there’s the one that moves from Amin in the verse to Fmaj7 in the chorus:
It’s Too Late – Carole King
and finally, Life on Mars – David Bowie
Spending time at Wye River on the Great Ocean Road was great. Not only did we eat, drink and be merry, but we (Fishtail Parker GB and friends) also came up with some great ideas.
I’m still buzzing on the blues song that we wrote together. I’ve never written a blues before and it was really exciting! Let me explain…
Fishtail Parker GB (FPGB) is Lime and myself. Our sound is stripped down soul; two voices, two acoustic guitars, percussion and a Jamman. The premise of our project is to enjoy celebrating the artists and the music that inspired us to become musicians. That music spans early 60s to the late 70s and includes Nick Drake, Bill Withers, Sly and the Family Stone, John Martyn, Curtis Mayfield, etc. We perform interpretations of some of these artists songs and original numbers. You can hear one of our tracks at our MySpace page.
Lime’s style is blues, jazz while mine has defied categorization for most of my career! Lol! I now call it soul. Having a clarity of direction makes things much easier in terms of images, style, sound, etc. I knew we had to write some songs but I also knew I wasn’t ready. I had to do some aural research; listening and performing Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and others, letting it all percolate, physically embodying the essence of what I was hearing. This is on-going process but there are so many new ideas on my Dictaphone, I’m running out of cassettes!
It’s interesting to me how you can give yourself a ‘problem’ or an objective, research what it is you want to do (preparation), let your mind handle it patiently (incubation), then the ideas start to form (inspiration). We’ve gone through the lyric writing process chopping and changing so the words convey the feeling we want (evaluation and elaboration). Time and patience are valuable in letting good things grow. The brain always seems to come up with some amalgam that you hadn’t yet come to. I like that!
This weekend, we’re going to record it! It’s hotly anticipated Saturday!!
This is a songwriting resource for songwriters of every ilk, genre, style, shoe size and ability! This is a place to come for inspiration, to stimulate your creativity in songwriting. A place where you can feel comfortable to share ideas and knowledge so we can all learn from each other, experiment with techniques and methods to become better songwriters!
So bring your tunes, grab a test tube full of words, some chemicals brother(!), and a Bunsen burner and start cooking! Protective clothing prohibited!
If you’d like to know more about me, visit me on www.myspace.com/geoffreywilliams
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