Most song writers I know have a main instrument. And most of the songs they create center around this one instrument. But I have learned that song writers tend to greatly elevate their craft when they branch out and become multi-instrumentalists. Different instruments bring different colors into your songs. If you were a painter, would you paint with only a single color? Probably not. Then why would you want this in your song writing?
Musicians who have spent years working on their skills with their main instrument may be a bit reluctant to start that process over on a new instrument. But there’s no need to fear. Your learning curve won’t be as steep on your new instrument, since you’ll be able to apply your existing knowledge of music to the new instrument. In addition, there are instruments that you can incorporate into your writing that do not require much skill in order to play powerful parts that can greatly enhance your song writing works.
The category of instruments that I suggest adding first is something from the hand drum group of instruments. A djembe, doumbek, bongos, or congas are typical examples, but there are many others. Why do I suggest these instruments? There are several reasons.
First of all, they are relatively inexpensive, and don’t require lessons (or much practice) before you can begin incorporating one of these drums into your songs. And, of course, because there are no notes to pay attention to, it’s straightforward to plan out how to incorporate this instrument into your mix of notes, because it’s the rhythm and the dynamics that matter.
But the most important aspect of hand percussion for the song writer is that it frees you up from the confines of the metronome, or click track, drum machine or drum loops. If you haven’t tackled percussion instruments yet from a creative standpoint, then this is a great way to get started. As a song writer, now you have the rhythmic aspects of your compositions directly under your control, too! The rhythmic aspects of song writing are too often left up to machines or automation, but why would any artist leave a part of the creative process up to a machine? Artists should take control over the rhythm in their tunes, too!
For instance, when I write songs, I like to change the meter at strategic places in the song. Song writers use various characteristics of the underlying music to manipulate the feel of the song. And one of these characteristics that’s often over looked is the meter, the underlying length of the repeated patterns that support that music. Most song writers use 4/4 by default and never roam outside of it. Some will occasionally venture into a 3 feel, like 3/4 or 6/8. But I routinely venture into 5/8, 7/8, and even more “bizarre” underlying rhythmic structures. To me, it’s just another aspect of the music to alter in order to set the mood, just like changing the chord structure, the melody, or the dynamics. Taking control over this aspect of your creations is difficult if you rely on machines for your rhythm. But if you are composing the rhythm parts on your own drum, you open up a brand new world of characteristics to manipulate creatively, like the meter and the tempo as well.
I find that these changes in the underlying meter of the song are much more apparent, and much more grooving, if there is a percussion part to emphasize the new rhythmic structure. This is where hand drums come in. And it doesn’t take much percussion to really spice up a recording of a new tune or a new part of a song. All that’s really needed is for this percussion instrument to emphasize certain beats. This gentle guide for the listener can make the difference between a solid, grooving recording, and a lack-luster demo whose groove is M.I.A.
The other thing to keep in mind, as you contemplate the incorporation of some hand percussion into your work: DO NOT think along typical music boundary lines. For instance, most heavy rock music is dominated by distorted guitars and loud double bass drumming. Hand percussion is rarely found in this genre of music, because it’s normally regulated to Latin music, African music, or drum circles. However, some of my best heavy rock songs are just distorted guitars and a hand drum! Who says you need a fast-footed, double bass drummer supporting your heavy rock tracks? A hand drum can lock into a solid groove, just like that drummer on his expensive 12-piece kit! A hand drum is emphasizing certain parts of the beat, just like that drummer would do. So it fills the same role in the song. But what you have instead is a very creative new take on the world of heavy rock music. The results can be very powerful!
Even if you’re not into heavy rock music, you can still apply this concept to the style of music that rocks your world. I use heavy rock as an example here, because it illustrates the concept of applying hand drum percussion into styles of music where it’s normally not expected. When incorporating hand drums to your songs, this is the aspect you should pay the most attention to. Don’t just add this new instrument into songs that sound like they would normally have that instrument. Think outside the box! Add your drum into styles of music in which you’d not normally expect it! You will be pleasantly surprised at the results!
I have also written several songs that have no instruments except for hand drums and voice. These can be very powerful songs. In the mid 1980’s Bobby McFerrin won a Grammy for his song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” which was recorded with nothing except his voice and other sounds, like percussion, that he made solely with his body. This is proof that the power of song is in the creativity, not necessarily in the instrument at the center of your songs. And in McFerrin’s case, his “body” percussion was all his song needed to complement the sounds he made with his voice. That song is just voice and rhythm. There’s fertile territory here for your song writing, too, with just a hand drum and your voice.
The idea here is to branch out, and start incorporating new instruments into your song writing, and to do so initially with a hand drum. It will add a new dimension to your work, primarily because this instrument will force you to focus on the rhythmic aspects of your songs, too. Instead of letting a machine do it, you are taking the creative reins over the rhythm. The obvious benefit is that you are not only concerned with the chords and their notes (your main instrument) or the melody (your voice), but also with the very basis of most music: the rhythmic groove. And focusing your creative energies on this aspect of your songs as well, will greatly enhance your songs, and your evolution as a song writer.
So embrace the rhythm method with a simple hand drum! It will inject your music with new life!
Copyright ©2009 W.A. Blevins
Monday, November 23, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Incorporating Mistakes Into Your Work
What? Why would you actually WANT mistakes in your work? Isn't the whole point of being a musician to strive for performance perfection? Who wants errors in their music?
Of course, no one wants bad sounds in their music. But who says mistakes have to sound bad? This past weekend, I was recording a new acoustic guitar tune that I had recently written. As I was rehearsing my parts prior to beginning the recording, I was paying close attention to every aspect of the sounds I was producing. Was I muting the strings too much? Or too little? How clean were my transitions between various parts? How was my phrasing? The dynamics? I was heavily into listening analytically to my playing, as most musicians are prior to recording. In this state of mind, or state of ear, if you will, I heard something unexpected but beautiful! Then I realized it was a "mistake" or rather my fingers hadn't done exactly what my brain was telling them. I looked down to see exactly what my fingers had done. And I played it like that again, and again. It was clear that my "mistake" actually sounded better than what I had intended to play. As the song writer, I decided to change the song, right there on the spot. I added this "mistake" into the arrangement. It was now a permanent part of the song. And a few minutes later, I recorded the song with that "mistake" a regularly appearing part within my new song.
But these kinds of "mistakes" have actually happened to me WHILE I was recording! A few years ago, I was recording a CD in the studio with a Denver-area rock band. And as I played the lead guitar intro to the song, I played it flawlessly, except for the last note. Somehow, my finger ended up two frets below where I had intended it to be. "Oh well,” I thought to myself. "I'll just have to do this take over again." But when I looked up, the producer was looking back at me with two thumbs up. "That's a keeper!" I heard him say through my headphones. Before I agreed it was a keeper, I wanted to hear it. And during the playback, I realized that it indeed was a keeper. What my fingers had played actually sounded better than what my brain had intended. This particular song ended up on the radio, with this intro guitar part, and my "mistake" being the very first thing listeners hear in this tune. It was one of that band's most popular tunes.
I think you probably get my point by now. Sometimes the unintended notes you sing or play can actually turn out better than what was intended. I think this surprises some folks at first, but it also makes some sense, too. So it's not that difficult of a concept to grasp. But the difficulty is in the ear, in being able to listen with an objective ear at your mistakes. The problem is the fact that while rehearsing, we train our ears to listen for "mistakes." And anything that doesn't sound as intended immediately gets labeled as a BAD mistake by your subconscious. Your ear detects that it wasn't what you intended to play, so it immediately gets labeled as "bad." And this is the most difficult part of trying to have an open mind about mistakes, and trying to listen for mistakes that actually sound good. It's because you have been through years of conditioning that "mistake=bad." And all this conditioning is not easily overcome.
But don't you listen every time you rehearse? Isn't every musician listening all the time? They may be listening, but that is not the focus of their attention. When I was playing that guitar intro in the studio and played the wrong note, my producer and I were listening to the same mix in our headphones. After I finished playing that intro I thought I was going to have to do it over. But the producer immediately knew we had a "keeper." How could two musical ears hear the same thing, but come to different conclusions? The producer was not focused on playing. 100% of his focus was on how it sounded. I, on the other hand, was primarily focused on making my hands play the part. Although I was listening, I was only listening for mistakes, those mental cues that would tell my brain that my hands were not doing as they were told! The producer was listening for the quality of sound, but I was listening primarily as a feedback mechanism to see if my hands were doing what I wanted them to.
The point here is not to pursue mistakes, but rather to pursue a different level of listening. Go beyond the kind of listening that only tells you if you played as intended or not. Truly listen to the quality of the notes, not just if they were the intended ones or not. And if you listen with this degree of attention, you will be pleasantly surprised at how many song improvements you stumble upon that were not quite what you had intended to play. But the key, to improving your song writing in this way, is all in the attention you give to your ear, and truly listening to your own playing.
Copyright ©2009 W.A. Blevins
Of course, no one wants bad sounds in their music. But who says mistakes have to sound bad? This past weekend, I was recording a new acoustic guitar tune that I had recently written. As I was rehearsing my parts prior to beginning the recording, I was paying close attention to every aspect of the sounds I was producing. Was I muting the strings too much? Or too little? How clean were my transitions between various parts? How was my phrasing? The dynamics? I was heavily into listening analytically to my playing, as most musicians are prior to recording. In this state of mind, or state of ear, if you will, I heard something unexpected but beautiful! Then I realized it was a "mistake" or rather my fingers hadn't done exactly what my brain was telling them. I looked down to see exactly what my fingers had done. And I played it like that again, and again. It was clear that my "mistake" actually sounded better than what I had intended to play. As the song writer, I decided to change the song, right there on the spot. I added this "mistake" into the arrangement. It was now a permanent part of the song. And a few minutes later, I recorded the song with that "mistake" a regularly appearing part within my new song.
But these kinds of "mistakes" have actually happened to me WHILE I was recording! A few years ago, I was recording a CD in the studio with a Denver-area rock band. And as I played the lead guitar intro to the song, I played it flawlessly, except for the last note. Somehow, my finger ended up two frets below where I had intended it to be. "Oh well,” I thought to myself. "I'll just have to do this take over again." But when I looked up, the producer was looking back at me with two thumbs up. "That's a keeper!" I heard him say through my headphones. Before I agreed it was a keeper, I wanted to hear it. And during the playback, I realized that it indeed was a keeper. What my fingers had played actually sounded better than what my brain had intended. This particular song ended up on the radio, with this intro guitar part, and my "mistake" being the very first thing listeners hear in this tune. It was one of that band's most popular tunes.
I think you probably get my point by now. Sometimes the unintended notes you sing or play can actually turn out better than what was intended. I think this surprises some folks at first, but it also makes some sense, too. So it's not that difficult of a concept to grasp. But the difficulty is in the ear, in being able to listen with an objective ear at your mistakes. The problem is the fact that while rehearsing, we train our ears to listen for "mistakes." And anything that doesn't sound as intended immediately gets labeled as a BAD mistake by your subconscious. Your ear detects that it wasn't what you intended to play, so it immediately gets labeled as "bad." And this is the most difficult part of trying to have an open mind about mistakes, and trying to listen for mistakes that actually sound good. It's because you have been through years of conditioning that "mistake=bad." And all this conditioning is not easily overcome.
But don't you listen every time you rehearse? Isn't every musician listening all the time? They may be listening, but that is not the focus of their attention. When I was playing that guitar intro in the studio and played the wrong note, my producer and I were listening to the same mix in our headphones. After I finished playing that intro I thought I was going to have to do it over. But the producer immediately knew we had a "keeper." How could two musical ears hear the same thing, but come to different conclusions? The producer was not focused on playing. 100% of his focus was on how it sounded. I, on the other hand, was primarily focused on making my hands play the part. Although I was listening, I was only listening for mistakes, those mental cues that would tell my brain that my hands were not doing as they were told! The producer was listening for the quality of sound, but I was listening primarily as a feedback mechanism to see if my hands were doing what I wanted them to.
The point here is not to pursue mistakes, but rather to pursue a different level of listening. Go beyond the kind of listening that only tells you if you played as intended or not. Truly listen to the quality of the notes, not just if they were the intended ones or not. And if you listen with this degree of attention, you will be pleasantly surprised at how many song improvements you stumble upon that were not quite what you had intended to play. But the key, to improving your song writing in this way, is all in the attention you give to your ear, and truly listening to your own playing.
Copyright ©2009 W.A. Blevins
Monday, November 9, 2009
Cohorts in Collaboration
I have been writing songs for myself and for various bands for over 30 years now. It all started with the rock band I was in during my high school days. And, it still continues today. Over the years, I've been fortunate enough to be a part of bands whose musical styles varied greatly: mainstream rock, metal, country, bluegrass, folk, blues, americana, and even jazz. As a song writer and musician, these collaborative song writing efforts have been some of my most rewarding experiences. So, no matter how much you enjoy writing on your own, and no matter how insecure you feel about opening up your "process" to an outsider, I encourage you to consider collaborative writing, too.
One of the most beneficial rewards of collaborative writing is the exposure to other creative ideas. I learn so much when I write with other musicians. It's a typical situation during the song writing process to be somewhere in the middle of a song saying to yourself "Okay, now what should I do?" With more than one brain actively working on this, you're likely to get lots of good ideas that you would never have thought about on your own. This exposure is great for the song writer to broaden their horizons. Nothing adds creativity to your song writing like observing others right there next to you as they engage in the song writing process as well. It's not only good for the song that you're working on collaboratively, it will also fuel your creative fires later on when you are writing alone, too.
There are other benefits as well. Your song writing partners will also very likely introduce you to different styles. Sometimes it'll be just a slightly different style. But, other times it will be a drastically different style for you. I find such moments very liberating, and often this new stylistic approach shows up in the writing I do alone as well. Too often, song writers get stuck in the same old style, writing songs that sound very similar to one another. Artists who are under contract to a record label have to do this for marketing reasons. But if you're not signed (yet), you don't have this restriction! You should embrace this freedom and opportunity to learn and incorporate new stylistic elements into your songs. So don't be rigid and dogmatic when you approach song writing with someone else. Don't force a certain style just because it's what you are most the comfortable with. Allow yourself to venture into new musical territory. Remember, it's a "collaborative" effort, meaning it is give and take. Don't approach this as a necessary evil of having to abandon some of your ideas due to a "compromise." Leave your ego at home and approach your partner's ideas with an eagerness to learn and expand your own musical horizons.
Looking back over all of my collaborative experiences, each has contributed something to my writing style that is still audible in my work today. There's something I take away that influences and improves my own work. I cringe to think of the song writing ruts I'd still be in if I had not been open to new ideas, new ways of thinking, new ways of feeling, and news ways to express those feelings musically.
But there is another benefit to collaborative writing that actually extends beyond song writing. When I look back at my own collaborations over the decades, I realize that these turned into some of my strongest friendships as well. I've spent a good bit of time analyzing this aspect of collaboration, and it goes beyond just being musicians with a common goal. I've been in a lot of bands, with a lot of corresponding musicians in those bands. But when I look back and evaluate my friendships with all of those musicians, the bonds that I developed with the musicians that I wrote songs with, are much stronger and longer-lasting than the bonds with the musicians who I simply performed with. But when you take into context what "music" and "song" really are, i.e. the expression of feeling, then this makes total sense. Because when you sit down with another human to create a piece of music that combines elements of what you both are thinking and feeling, the development of an emotional bond is inevitable. And if this collaboration is a productive one, with a lot of common ground, and lot of mutual understanding, and mutual expression, then the development of a strong friendship is just natural as well.
Bands come and go. Even though bands break up and musicians go their separate ways, strong friendships last forever. When I take inventory of the musicians I've played with over the years, I realize I've lost touch with most of them. But those musicians that I collaborated with in song writing, my cohorts in collaboration, well these folks have been my closest friends and have remained so, even years after those bands have ceased to exist. As a matter of fact, that same group of folks, my cohorts in collaboration, these are the same folks from whom I'm most likely to get a call or an email suggesting we write some more tunes together. So, the collaborative writing doesn't stop because the bands do.
I suspect that as long as I am alive, I'll continually get together with those folks who are my cohorts in collaboration. I also suspect that year after year, I'll add more folks into this inner circle, too. And I know that in doing so, I'll continue to expand my abilities as a song writer, but more importantly, I'll be expanding my circle of best friends.
So I encourage you to approach collaborative song writing, not with apprehension and insecurities, but with the same eagerness and enthusiasm that you'd have when spending time with one of your best friends. Because chances are, your new song writing partner soon will be.
Copyright ©2009 W.A. Blevins
One of the most beneficial rewards of collaborative writing is the exposure to other creative ideas. I learn so much when I write with other musicians. It's a typical situation during the song writing process to be somewhere in the middle of a song saying to yourself "Okay, now what should I do?" With more than one brain actively working on this, you're likely to get lots of good ideas that you would never have thought about on your own. This exposure is great for the song writer to broaden their horizons. Nothing adds creativity to your song writing like observing others right there next to you as they engage in the song writing process as well. It's not only good for the song that you're working on collaboratively, it will also fuel your creative fires later on when you are writing alone, too.
There are other benefits as well. Your song writing partners will also very likely introduce you to different styles. Sometimes it'll be just a slightly different style. But, other times it will be a drastically different style for you. I find such moments very liberating, and often this new stylistic approach shows up in the writing I do alone as well. Too often, song writers get stuck in the same old style, writing songs that sound very similar to one another. Artists who are under contract to a record label have to do this for marketing reasons. But if you're not signed (yet), you don't have this restriction! You should embrace this freedom and opportunity to learn and incorporate new stylistic elements into your songs. So don't be rigid and dogmatic when you approach song writing with someone else. Don't force a certain style just because it's what you are most the comfortable with. Allow yourself to venture into new musical territory. Remember, it's a "collaborative" effort, meaning it is give and take. Don't approach this as a necessary evil of having to abandon some of your ideas due to a "compromise." Leave your ego at home and approach your partner's ideas with an eagerness to learn and expand your own musical horizons.
Looking back over all of my collaborative experiences, each has contributed something to my writing style that is still audible in my work today. There's something I take away that influences and improves my own work. I cringe to think of the song writing ruts I'd still be in if I had not been open to new ideas, new ways of thinking, new ways of feeling, and news ways to express those feelings musically.
But there is another benefit to collaborative writing that actually extends beyond song writing. When I look back at my own collaborations over the decades, I realize that these turned into some of my strongest friendships as well. I've spent a good bit of time analyzing this aspect of collaboration, and it goes beyond just being musicians with a common goal. I've been in a lot of bands, with a lot of corresponding musicians in those bands. But when I look back and evaluate my friendships with all of those musicians, the bonds that I developed with the musicians that I wrote songs with, are much stronger and longer-lasting than the bonds with the musicians who I simply performed with. But when you take into context what "music" and "song" really are, i.e. the expression of feeling, then this makes total sense. Because when you sit down with another human to create a piece of music that combines elements of what you both are thinking and feeling, the development of an emotional bond is inevitable. And if this collaboration is a productive one, with a lot of common ground, and lot of mutual understanding, and mutual expression, then the development of a strong friendship is just natural as well.
Bands come and go. Even though bands break up and musicians go their separate ways, strong friendships last forever. When I take inventory of the musicians I've played with over the years, I realize I've lost touch with most of them. But those musicians that I collaborated with in song writing, my cohorts in collaboration, well these folks have been my closest friends and have remained so, even years after those bands have ceased to exist. As a matter of fact, that same group of folks, my cohorts in collaboration, these are the same folks from whom I'm most likely to get a call or an email suggesting we write some more tunes together. So, the collaborative writing doesn't stop because the bands do.
I suspect that as long as I am alive, I'll continually get together with those folks who are my cohorts in collaboration. I also suspect that year after year, I'll add more folks into this inner circle, too. And I know that in doing so, I'll continue to expand my abilities as a song writer, but more importantly, I'll be expanding my circle of best friends.
So I encourage you to approach collaborative song writing, not with apprehension and insecurities, but with the same eagerness and enthusiasm that you'd have when spending time with one of your best friends. Because chances are, your new song writing partner soon will be.
Copyright ©2009 W.A. Blevins
Monday, November 2, 2009
Ugh. Practice.
That’s probably what comes to mind when you think of sitting down with an instrument to work on scales or technique. Most people experience very little joy when practicing those things. It’s a chore. There’s no creativity involved, no familiar tune to ignite your soul. It’s just you, your instrument, and a limitation of your skill set that you are trying to improve. Although striving for improvement is probably your driving force, improvement usually takes time. And, many practice sessions are probably required before improvement is obvious. But, without practice improvement is rarely possible.
It’s a strange dichotomy in music: to improve at this activity that brings so much joy, one has to sacrifice lots of time practicing boring things. If music is so much fun, why is practice so mind-numbingly monotonous? Well, it doesn’t have to be.
How do you make practicing fun? How do you turn these boring exercises into an activity that you actually look forward to instead of dread? It’s easy, if you have a song writer’s mentality, a will to create and to express yourself musically. The key is to play the exercise (the scale or the technique you are working on) a few times slowly to get your fingers somewhat familiar with this skill set. But instead of just executing that skill set over and over, at various tempos, you should engage your creativity. Don’t wait until you’ve mastered the technique to start thinking about how you’d actually use this skill within the context of a song. To make practicing more fun, start thinking about this early in the process well before you’ve mastered the skill. Thinking in this way will engage your mind, something that wasn’t happening with just straight, rote exercises. And before you know it, you’ll actually be sitting there practicing this new skill within the context of a song idea!
If you’ve played around with song writing before, you know the excitement of finding something really cool sounding that you can center a song around. This is one of the joys of song writing. So why not pursue this at the same time you are working on your technique? What better way to get motivated to master this new skill than to immediately starting using that skill in your song writing? Sure, it’s possible that you’ll write something you can barely play. But who cares? As you “practice” this new song that contains this new skill you’re working on, what better motivation could you have for wanting to work with and master that skill? All of a sudden, the work required to master this new skill has taken on a whole new urgency, with much more motivation and enthusiasm than one would normally approach an exercise.
I have been playing instruments and writing songs for over 30 years now. And there are still skills that I’m learning and working on. I suspect (and hope) it will always be that way. I like learning new things and applying them to my song writing. And with the bands that I play in, there are usually times that require me to diligently practice my technique, like the weeks prior to going into a recording studio. I obviously want my skills to be their sharpest when my playing is being recorded. So, those are the times that I buckle down the hardest and practice my scales and techniques the most diligently. I mention this so that you understand practice is not a just beginner thing. It’s something that all musicians, regardless of experience and level of musicianship, should engage in on a regular basis. For performance or recording the payoff is obvious. But for the creativity in song writing, the payoff of practicing is just as rewarding!
Just this week I was practicing guitar, working on my sweep arpeggios, trying to improve my speed and accuracy when I play them. And, sure enough, after about 5 minutes I was bored to tears. But it was because I was playing the same notes over and over again. Then I remembered to not just work on my technique, but to apply my creativity in the use of this technique within a song. Immediately, I started playing these sweep arpeggios in different positions, just like I was changing chords within a song. All of a sudden the music was brought to life. It no longer sounded like practicing. It sounded like a song emerging. My mind was quickly engaged, and before I knew it, another 20 minutes had flown by as I “practiced” this skill in the context of a new song. By the time I had finished “practicing” I realized that I was playing sweep arpeggios better than I’ve ever played them before, with more speed and more accuracy. I also realized I had a great start on a new song. And it was so much more satisfying that just running through exercises.
The idea here is to not shut off your creativity when you sit down to practice your scales and your technique. You can work on your skills and exercise your creativity at the same time. In doing so, you’ll find practice is actually fun. You’ll be more motivated to practice. And the result will be a more rewarding and a more productive practice session. Your skills will improve and at the same time, you’ll probably have new song ideas emerging. So don’t shut off your creativity when you sit down to practice….engage it!
Copyright ©2009 W.A. Blevins
It’s a strange dichotomy in music: to improve at this activity that brings so much joy, one has to sacrifice lots of time practicing boring things. If music is so much fun, why is practice so mind-numbingly monotonous? Well, it doesn’t have to be.
How do you make practicing fun? How do you turn these boring exercises into an activity that you actually look forward to instead of dread? It’s easy, if you have a song writer’s mentality, a will to create and to express yourself musically. The key is to play the exercise (the scale or the technique you are working on) a few times slowly to get your fingers somewhat familiar with this skill set. But instead of just executing that skill set over and over, at various tempos, you should engage your creativity. Don’t wait until you’ve mastered the technique to start thinking about how you’d actually use this skill within the context of a song. To make practicing more fun, start thinking about this early in the process well before you’ve mastered the skill. Thinking in this way will engage your mind, something that wasn’t happening with just straight, rote exercises. And before you know it, you’ll actually be sitting there practicing this new skill within the context of a song idea!
If you’ve played around with song writing before, you know the excitement of finding something really cool sounding that you can center a song around. This is one of the joys of song writing. So why not pursue this at the same time you are working on your technique? What better way to get motivated to master this new skill than to immediately starting using that skill in your song writing? Sure, it’s possible that you’ll write something you can barely play. But who cares? As you “practice” this new song that contains this new skill you’re working on, what better motivation could you have for wanting to work with and master that skill? All of a sudden, the work required to master this new skill has taken on a whole new urgency, with much more motivation and enthusiasm than one would normally approach an exercise.
I have been playing instruments and writing songs for over 30 years now. And there are still skills that I’m learning and working on. I suspect (and hope) it will always be that way. I like learning new things and applying them to my song writing. And with the bands that I play in, there are usually times that require me to diligently practice my technique, like the weeks prior to going into a recording studio. I obviously want my skills to be their sharpest when my playing is being recorded. So, those are the times that I buckle down the hardest and practice my scales and techniques the most diligently. I mention this so that you understand practice is not a just beginner thing. It’s something that all musicians, regardless of experience and level of musicianship, should engage in on a regular basis. For performance or recording the payoff is obvious. But for the creativity in song writing, the payoff of practicing is just as rewarding!
Just this week I was practicing guitar, working on my sweep arpeggios, trying to improve my speed and accuracy when I play them. And, sure enough, after about 5 minutes I was bored to tears. But it was because I was playing the same notes over and over again. Then I remembered to not just work on my technique, but to apply my creativity in the use of this technique within a song. Immediately, I started playing these sweep arpeggios in different positions, just like I was changing chords within a song. All of a sudden the music was brought to life. It no longer sounded like practicing. It sounded like a song emerging. My mind was quickly engaged, and before I knew it, another 20 minutes had flown by as I “practiced” this skill in the context of a new song. By the time I had finished “practicing” I realized that I was playing sweep arpeggios better than I’ve ever played them before, with more speed and more accuracy. I also realized I had a great start on a new song. And it was so much more satisfying that just running through exercises.
The idea here is to not shut off your creativity when you sit down to practice your scales and your technique. You can work on your skills and exercise your creativity at the same time. In doing so, you’ll find practice is actually fun. You’ll be more motivated to practice. And the result will be a more rewarding and a more productive practice session. Your skills will improve and at the same time, you’ll probably have new song ideas emerging. So don’t shut off your creativity when you sit down to practice….engage it!
Copyright ©2009 W.A. Blevins
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