Song variations from lyrics.

  • Thread starter Thread starter badgas
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badgas

badgas

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Somethings been in my craw for some time now.
It just welled up again when I read the lyrics to one of Chris Shaffers songs.

One thing I always do when reading the lyrics, is try to add music and melody to them before I listen to the song. Rarely are mine and the authors songs close, but once in a while......

This brings up my wonderence.

Once I get a song down, I find it kinda hard to change the music/melody.
I have six guitars and I bounce from one to the other, even when I do the lyric/melody matching.

Like when I just read Chris's lyrics, I used my Yamaha APX-9NA nylon acoustic to put some music to his words.

I've always wondered what the music would of turned out to be if I'd used my SG instead of my Nylon acoustic, or if I'd used my steel string Gibson J30, or my slide. Or my classical?

Has anyone ever done this?
Have you tried the same lyrics on different guitars?

If so, what differences have you found.

I'm gonna have to do it sometime.
 
Hey BG,
I have done exactly what you said...
Gone from the Martin to a classical to my Sheraton then to the 12 string Epi.....I like to play a new melody on all of them and what I find mostly is that the tempo changes....
I dunno why...it's just the way it is....ya know?
The melody pretty much stays the same though...
 
Hey Joro.
Yeah, the tempo changes, the mood, the feel just about everything.
That's interesting.
Thanks for the input.
 
I write the bulk of my songs on acoustic steel string. When I'm happy enough with the song, I'll play it a couple times on the electric just to see what happens. It is a great exercise in finding the limits of the song.

When I write on the electric, I will pull the song back onto an acoustic forum and it helps to see how well the lyrics and melody stand up without alot of amp help and socket power.

This has become a valuable practice and you can never tell what song will morph into a new feel or energy just by changing the git you use. It also helps your guitar playing IMO.

Theron.
 
Hi Theron.
I took a couple old songs I did way back that I hadn't played for some time and played them on one of of my acoustics this afternoon.
I was suprised.
All this time and I've never done that. I feel like I'm in a ridge frame work when I do a song and I'm not suppose to get out of it.
Today, was the first day, that I can recall, I've done this.

Makes me wonder what else I've missed.

I had the same experience you did Theron.
Some held up ok, one sounded better on acoustic, picking with my fingers.
I feel like a kid in a music store. Explore, explore, explore.
 
Yeah,
sometimes you'll find such a nice feel for a song that you'll never go back to how it was and probably would have slipped into oblivion if you stayed with the original.

Theron.
 
Hmmmm....

I have noticed that I definately write differently on different guitars. For me its a matter of feel- my playing is a pretty kinesthetic thing for me. The guitars feel different to me so I interact with them differently.

I don't have enough guitars to test your theory, though, badgas. Going from my steel string to my nylon is SO different that I usually don't bother trying to play the same things on them. The difference between my Gibson LP Custom and the half finished '50's tele knock-off that I'm piecing together are so different that one thing generally doesn't transfer well to the other.

In the end, though, once I know how I want something to sound, I'll figure out how to play it that way on any instrument. At least I try.

Take care,
Chris
 
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