In my head I have this idea of the Session, a length of time between one to two hours, wherein I will pick up the guitar, warm up with some scale runs up and down the neck, and then bring my [nonexistent or at best atrophied] songwriting skills to task. Work on the previous Session's combination of a guitar riff with a bass line, and improve it so that perhaps it can become a progression. If two different progressions sound like they would go together, then possibly change the key to one of them so they both fit, like a jigsaw puzzle. Then it's on to tweaking melodies, counter-melodies, rhythm, leads, guitar tricks and/or effects if there's enough time and space in the song. Satisfied with my productivity, I save the results and conclude the Session.
A shot of my "Big Riff" guitar's Sustainiac switches, pulled from my other blog, That Dream Guitar.
What actually happens is this: pickup the guitar and play scales to warm up. Play scales some more. Oh wait, I've been been focusing solely on major scales up and down the neck. Switch to minor. Dang it, can't get my second finger to cooperate with my fourth. Switch to the harmonic minor because it sounds interesting and exotic. Attempt to sweep pick on that arpeggio I'm still getting used to. Nope, still can't get it with the left hand nor the right. Turn on amp. Turn on iTunes. Look through songs based on what tuning my guitar happens to be in. Choose a fast punk song to play along to that's all power chords and easy (Mxpx). Choose a moderately challenging hardcore / metalcore / metal song that I know from 8+ years ago (most songs by Every Time I Die). Attempt a song that's utterly impossible for me to play (just about anything from Megadeth's Rust In Peace). Then settle for one of my favorite gutiar records: Cave In's Jupiter or Hopesfall's The Satellite Years or Magnetic North or Thrice's The Illusion Of Safety... Keep playing along to records. The Session may still reach the 1-2 hour mark, but not a single lick has been written.
And, really, could I come up with anything better than this? No.
I distract myself way too easily with a guitar and I wonder if I should instead start with the part of songwriting I fear the most—lyrics and/or singing. Or at least, take an idea for a set of lyrics and write the song around it as a cerebral exercise. Sharp and straight to the point about some social issue? Punk. Musing about past loves that are long gone? Shoegaze. The incidents surrounding that last breakup? Emo (synthesizers required). Existential angst? Post-metal. Contemplating the structure of the known universe and life's inconsistencies? Metal.
Okay, it shouldn't be that pinpointed to genre. But I like the idea of taking a lyrical concept and asking, "What does that sound like?" The loneliness of being a single, full-time college student at the age of thirty. My frustrations with rampant American consumerism (particularly of technology) even as I succumb to it myself. The sum or the average of all of my past romantic relationships, for better or worse. My fascinations with outer space. My faith in Jesus and some of the struggles I've experienced in my faith along the way.
This might help close the gap on many of the little decisions. When to dig in with a pick, or strum a chord with my thumb, or have a high drone note ringing over the top of a progression. In other words, figure out the theme of what I'm going for and my fingers will follow. Do it once, and the second time becomes just a little bit easier. Do it again and again, and hopefully there won't be this enormous static friction force to overcome to get the creativity moving.
By the way, I went to the bathroom sometime in the middle of writing this post. As I was relieving myself, a lead came up in my head, which descended as a rhythm guitar and bass part punched in underneath it. I came straight back to my room and figured out the lead. Not technically complicated, but it alternates between a 6-count and a 5-count. Add a 6/8 rhythm part underneath it and... Maybe I don't need to write lyrics yet? Hm...
Time to go, but I'll leave with this. I discovered this 1-man metal act, Cloudkicker, on Bandcamp yesterday and it's blowing my mind.
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