First full recording not so good

This morning I finally made a recording with vocals. It has its moments, but overall it's not too good. So I'm a little frustrated because I've been working on this song for several weeks and I'm still not playing it very well. On the other hand, it's good that I'm continually challenging myself. Maybe I'll be a better guitarist in the end.

Playing guitar is kind of like sports for me. You have your good days and bad days, and most are in-between. Thursday I'll pick the guitar back up and try again, maybe try it a different way. I won't give up.

Course it doesn't help that I'm doin' all this before breakfast.

Lyrics finished to first song

I just passed a milestone by finishing the song I was writing. It's been months since I finished a song and more than a year since I wrote one I halfway liked.

I changed the title from "Savin' Grace" to "Southern Hills," which is now a metaphor for savin' grace. The song is obviously about salvation, though.

I need to make some changes to my backup track, which means recording all the guitar parts again. I've made enough updates to this song that the old track just won't work. Then I'll record my vocals and put a demo together.

Then it's on to the next song, which has some old lyrics that I need to either work on a lot or scrap altogether.

Savin' Grace

In the last couple of weeks, song #1 has acquired a guitar solo, a chorus, a title, and this morning almost a first verse. It's called "Savin' Grace," and it's pretty much gonna be about the experience of salvation by grace. I was pretty frustrated with it this morning until a few words entered my head for the first verse, and I finally felt like it was heading somewhere.

The bridge is gonna be the complicated part. It's an unusual song in several ways, one of which being that the bridge will have far more lyrics than the short verses and chorus. So there's still a lot of work ahead, but it's all lyric writing. Once that's done, the song will be ready for live performance and a solid demo recording.

Have a Track

This morning went well, and I finally have a recording with percussion that I'm happy with. It's crude, but it's something. It lacks a guitar solo, so that will be something to focus on in the coming weeks. It also still lacks any lyrics whatever.

I have to be at church early tomorrow, so I probably won't work on this song again until Tuesday, but I'll try to think hard this week about what it should be about and maybe stick a lyric or two in there to get my mind goin'.

Dark Divine

For weeks I've been trying to think of a cover song I could learn that would fit into a live set. I wanted something by a band of Christians that's deeply poetic but gives glory to God. For a while I was thinking of doing "Beautiful Sun" by delirious, but yesterday it hit me: Fold Zandura's "Dark Divine." It's perfect, and I know just how to convert it into a cool acoustic country/metal song. It'll help with lyrical inspiration for my own songs, too.

Going Slowly

Slow progress this week...I have a rough drum track, but it will take a couple weeks of practice before I can play along with it well enough to make a decent recording. And I need to come up with a "solo" section.

Making Progress on Song One

This morning went well. I made a new recording playing through the first song, and I spent more time structuring the song with my beats. So now I have two separate, equally bad recordings of the same song that sound very different, but in my head I hear what I want it to sound like eventually. I still don't have any lyrics, but there's a melody forming, and at least I know where the words will go. I'm getting better at playing it too, which will be especially important when I perform it live, obviously.

On Saturday I'll try to finish a crude rhythm track and start playing along with it. If things go well, I could finish an entire demo of the song this weekend. Then I'll go back to song two and go through the same process. That one will go faster since it's been a complete tune for several months.