Have you ever...

  • Thread starter Thread starter FoulPhil
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Yeah it really does make it sound so simple haha, maybe that's the trick. Throw a few things out to HR and get feed back, if it sucks it sucks and we'll learn.

I often wonder how my friends do it. Some of them are full time musicians. I can't get up and play for an open mic night once but they can do it every day. I listen back to old recordings of them and they used to be like me or worse, but now they sound great. I guess the experience goes a long way.
 
FoulPhil said:
One of my biggest frustrations is working on music every day for hours and hours sometimes and still feeling like I'm not getting anywhere.
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Because of the nature of my existence and also the way I do things, songs often take a while to get finished. But it's fun. I refuse to not finish a song I've started recording, even if it's one I feel no great attatchment to or one that's rubbish or one that needs alot of work as it feels like pulling teeth. To use a fishing analogy, I'm going to land that sucker. My songs are like my children ~ they're going to become adults however sharp the resistance. :D
 
grimtraveller said:
Because of the nature of my existence and also the way I do things, songs often take a while to get finished. But it's fun. I refuse to not finish a song I've started recording, even if it's one I feel no great attatchment to or one that's rubbish or one that needs alot of work as it feels like pulling teeth. To use a fishing analogy, I'm going to land that sucker. My songs are like my children ~ they're going to become adults however sharp the resistance. :D
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I'm not even trying to record anything right now. I'm simply trying to be able to perform them and of course at the same time write them or expand on what's already written etc. I'm working with well over 15 songs, but then I narrowed it down to 10 because I wasn't happy with the others. And now I'm getting to where there is a few in this group of 10 that I'm not so happy with anymore.

It's kind of like an all you can eat Chinese buffet and you're piling on tons of food and it all looks GREAT, but when you go to eat it some of the food doesn't taste as good as it looks. Then on top of that you put on way more than you could finish eating, but here you are still trying to stuff into your mouth and swallow it down your throat anyway lol...

I'm just going to keep writing and working on them and as I complete one song, keep working on the others that aren't complete. At the same time practicing them, of course. I'm hoping to eventually be able to do every song I've written, but that's a lot of songs and I'm not sure I'll be able to do that. Not to mention I'm going into some directions I'm not 100% comfortable with. Going outside my comfort zone. The main goal is to have everything down so freaking good that when I do record I can focus more on how it sounds than figuring out how the songs are going to go. I have always spent half my recording time writing and completing half written songs and by the time I'm done I'm frustrated and want to get it over with. Then it doesn't end up coming out as good as I wanted it to.

I'm trying to do things differently I guess we'll find out later on down the road if it pays off or not... :)
 
For some people ..... some songs where never meant to be.
 
moresound said:
For some people ..... some songs where never meant to be.
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I think a lot of us write some super awesome songs, if only we could find the right band/artist to do the song(s) then it would be worth something hahaha :laughings:
 
Sometimes when I record myself after practicing for hours I can be very pleased with the result, and enthousiastic as I am, publish it to SoundCloud immediately. Then, the next day, when I listen to the same song, I don't know how quick to find the delete button!
That's why I now usually wait a day before publishing anything, but it's even better to wait longer.
On the other hand... there were songs I published which I myself found mediocre or a candidate for deletion, but people listening to it reacted with a well meant "awesome". Sometimes it's just a matter of taste.:)
But....gradually I think I'm improving
 
Yes, frequently. I think I sound good in person and then my tone sounds weird on the recording.
 
I heard a theory about this that I tend to agree with. "Ya gotta write 20 songs before you find a good one."

It's that law of averages thing. If I take out my digital camera and just start snapping pictures, eventually there will be a good one in there. For those of you in the Marines... "Accuracy by volume"

If nothing else the more you write the better you'll get at it, and nothing sticks like learning from your own mistakes. There was a comedy special of Christopher Titus where he said "I didn't fail. I just succeeded at finding out what doesn't work". Hmmm I may have to put that in my signature.
 
I also find that all kinds of things effect my performance. Almost like it has to be perfect conditions for it to be excellent. Some times after a hard workout my guitar playing and vocals seems to be really shaky for hours. Sometimes if I have one too many cups of coffee, although I'm more enthusiastic I'm jittery and not at 100% for most of the day. If I have one too many beers I make a lot of little mistakes and then by the 8th beer or so when I'm real buzzed I don't seem to notice. I've even been too drunk to play a few times on special occasions, luckily just at home and not during a live performance or anything. It kind of sucks that I can't just be at 100% at all times no matter what lol :D

I do feel that the majority of time all the songs I write are really good foundations for a real song. Sometimes it takes me for ever to really figure out how a song will end up working. The way that I write has something to do with it. I'll get some kind of feeling while I'm just screwing around on guitar and think to myself "wow that sounds good". At that time I know I have something to work with. It's usually the same for when I write lyrics. When I have that special feeling about a subject that moves me I seem to be able to write lyrics by trying to make what I'm trying to say fit into a few paragraphs and then arranging them lyrically to fitting music I've been working on. I read alot of crap about how to improve song writing and things like that. It seems like as the years go by I get better at it. I don't think I was meant to be a live performer though... :guitar:
 
Raymeous said:
I heard a theory about this that I tend to agree with. "Ya gotta write 20 songs before you find a good one."

It's that law of averages thing. If I take out my digital camera and just start snapping pictures, eventually there will be a good one in there.
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I hope it doesn't feel like I'm chasing you from thread to thread disagreeing....but I disagree with that too. If I had to wait 20 songs before a good one came along, I'd stop recording and take up knitting or flower arranging.
I rarely believe in the law of averages. I do agree that with a camera it's more likely, but you can't compare taking a picture with writing a song.
Besides which, the definition of a good song differs from person to person.
 
hmmmmmmm ............

thing is ...... there's almost as many creative paths to writing as there are people writing.
We're talking creativity here and they don't even know how it happens, much less what is right or wrong.
Everybody's mind works differently and I'm not sure you can just change to someone else's way of writing ..... it happens the way it does because your brain is the way it is.

For me ...... I'm usually walking along and *bing* .... like a ringtone wafting thru the breeze I have an idea and it's usually for a large part of a song ......... then it sits there for another 6 months and the rest of it'll pop up. I usually have several songs in various stages in my mental machinery all the time.
Is that like any of the descriptions in this thread? Nope ...... but it's how it works for me.
Everyone has to work the way their brain is wired to work. For some it'll be a structured work atmosphere while others need to toke up and dream.

As for liking or not liking stuff I write ..... I like some stuff of mine a lot and others less so ...... I can't say I ever have stuff I hate though ..... it's more that I think of it as unfinished.
 
I get that and I think we left something out of the topic or missed a key point to the topic. I was talking more about a persons live performance more than a finished perfected song. I'm not sure if and of you guys have ever just recorded yourself performing your songs and then critiqued your performance. Greg made some good comments as well, but I think he might of been talking more about his polished finished product and I'm talking about evaluating yourself actually performing a song and not so much how it ends up coming out on your recordings lol. That was/is the purpose of this thread anyway.
 
FoulPhil said:
I get that and I think we left something out of the topic or missed a key point to the topic. I was talking more about a persons live performance more than a finished perfected song. I'm not sure if and of you guys have ever just recorded yourself performing your songs and then critiqued your performance. Greg made some good comments as well, but I think he might of been talking more about his polished finished product and I'm talking about evaluating yourself actually performing a song and not so much how it ends up coming out on your recordings lol. That was/is the purpose of this thread anyway.
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oh ..... gotcha .... well, you know I'm primarily a live player and have been for a very long time.
No, I rarely hate the recordings of me live .... I always hear mistakes and such but at my very worst I'm decent and I simply don't care very much whether it's perfect or not because nothing ever is.
The very best of the best, I guarantee you that when they hear recordings of themselves all they hear are the mistakes.
It's just how we are as musicians.
 
Lt. Bob said:
oh ..... gotcha .... well, you know I'm primarily a live player and have been for a very long time.
No, I rarely hate the recordings of me live .... I always hear mistakes and such but at my very worst I'm decent and I simply don't care very much whether it's perfect or not because nothing ever is.
The very best of the best, I guarantee you that when they hear recordings of themselves all they hear are the mistakes.
It's just how we are as musicians.
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Yeah that's my problem all I hear are the mistakes and of course the recording source wasn't the greatest. The next day I did it again and it sounded much better, but still shitty because it's just a cheap camera with a video function lol. It kinda of bummed me out because I fantasize about eventually playing my original music live. I'm not sure I'll ever get that far. The times I played live I was strictly the guitar player and that was it lol.
 
yep ive experienced this havent quite gotten past it either its a self esteem issue for me.
 
FoulPhil said:
Yeah that's my problem all I hear are the mistakes and of course the recording source wasn't the greatest. The next day I did it again and it sounded much better, but still shitty because it's just a cheap camera with a video function lol. It kinda of bummed me out because I fantasize about eventually playing my original music live. I'm not sure I'll ever get that far. The times I played live I was strictly the guitar player and that was it lol.
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lovesinging25 said:
yep ive experienced this havent quite gotten past it either its a self esteem issue for me.
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welllllll ........ that is often a hard part for people ..... I forget because I've done it so long it doesn't seem like any big deal to me.
But you really don't have to stress about playing live ..... I absolutely guarantee you that the majority of the people are on your side. And they can't hear anyway.
I've seen audiences respond positively to absolute crap on a stick.
But the band, in their ignorance, were confident in themselves and the crowd loved them.

Relax ...... be confident and more than anything else, have fun .... if you have fun you'll play well ...... you're gonna play your stuff live in front of people.
That's cool as hell. To me that's as fun as life gets.

So don't be nervous .... be excited and happy!
:)
I'm tellin' ya' guys ...... I know what I'm talking about ..... if your goal is to play live there's only one way to do it ............ play live ...... laugh about your screw-ups and ponder how to do completely different screw-ups next time .... and play live again and again ...... you can practice 'till your teeth fall out but the only way to learn how to relax in front of people is to do it.

And if you record it you need to give yourself a freakin' break! DON'T listen for the bad stuff at first ...... listen for the good stuff ..... notice that you sang the crap outta that song after you got past the first verse ..... listen for the good things .... give yourself credit when you hear something good ...... only then allow yourself to listen for the screw-ups ..... now , instead of ....... "this sucks", ... it becomes "this is good except those parts" and it's a more positive way to look at it .... if you only fix those sucky parts the whole thing'll be great.
You've got to cut yourself a little slack.
















.
 
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Lt. Bob said:
welllllll ........ that is often a hard part for people ..... I forget because I've done it so long it doesn't seem like any big deal to me.
But you really don't have to stress about playing live ..... I absolutely guarantee you that the majority of the people are on your side. And they can't hear anyway.
I've seen audiences respond positively to absolute crap on a stick.
But the band, in their ignorance, were confident in themselves and the crowd loved them.

Relax ...... be confident and more than anything else, have fun .... if you have fun you'll play well ...... you're gonna play your stuff live in front of people.
That's cool as hell. To me that's as fun as life gets.

So don't be nervous .... be excited and happy!
:)
I'm tellin' ya' guys ...... I know what I'm talking about ..... if your goal is to play live there's only one way to do it ............ play live ...... laugh about your screw-ups and ponder how to do completely different screw-ups next time .... and play live again and again ...... you can practice 'till your teeth fall out but the only way to learn how to relax in front of people is to do it.

And if you record it you need to give yourself a freakin' break! DON'T listen for the bad stuff at first ...... listen for the good stuff ..... notice that you sang the crap outta that song after you got past the first verse ..... listen for the good things .... give yourself credit when you hear something good ...... only then allow yourself to listen for the screw-ups ..... now , instead of ....... "this sucks", ... it becomes "this is good except those parts" and it's a more positive way to look at it .... if you only fix those sucky parts the whole thing'll be great.
You've got to cut yourself a little slck.
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Im not a musician or anything just an average singer but ty this is really good advice you gave and you would know Im sure you definitely sound like an expert on the matter. I look forward to learning more from your expertise and no thats not sarcasm . :)
 
lovesinging25 said:
Im not a musician or anything just an average singer but ty this is really good advice you gave and you would know Im sure you definitely sound like an expert on the matter. I look forward to learning more from your expertise and no thats not sarcasm . :)
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well thanks ..... one thing I do know is live gigging .... done it a 5-7 nights a week for 45 years and still doing 3-6 a week.
I truly believe the most important thing to do as you try to improve as a musician is to have fun. People respond to a person having fun in a positive way and a musician having fun performs better.
While I make my living playing, there's much easier ways to make a dollar so what's the point in playing if you're not having fun?
 
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