Over the past few months I have written some songs that I am really proud of and can not wait to record, yet recently in trying to keep some songwriting momentum going I have run into a little snag…..songwriter’s block!
I either have melodies and no words or words with crappy melodies, it is really frustrating. Usually when this happens I put the guitar down for a couple weeks and wait until something hits me, as I have never been one to force a song.
The problem I have right now is that I have been asked to write some material for another artists. This is a great opportunity for me and a good challenge but it does not allow you to put the guitar down for a few weeks and ‘wait for it to come’.
Songwriting I’m learning becomes a completely different beast when you are not writing from your own perspective but i believe in the end will make me a better writer for sure.
For now I am hunkered down in the lab waiting for the right mix of rhyme and verb-age to come my way.
I’m sorry, I have left you in the dark the last couple of months. As I’m writing this I have to refer back to my post about Passion. It lays out clearly my ultimate flaw, persistence.
This blog is proof of that and I intend to change. The last couple months have been busy and instead of waste white space trying to fill you in on what I’ve been up to I thought I’d break it down bullet list style!
What I’ve been doing while I wasn’t blogging here….
Back at the day to day full force ( no I am not a full time rock star just yet)
Looking for a new apartment
Found new apartment in Portsmouth and getting ready for the big move!
Working on some new opportunities musical and no musical.
Writing new songs and completing none (this one is my favorite!)
Pondering my next music project……acoustic ep?
So there are a few of the things that have been taking up my time. The most exciting right now is definitely the move to Portsmouth. I got a place within walking distance to downtown. Portsmouth has some great little open mic’s and………street performers! I so want to walk downtown with my guitar and play some tunes in the middle of Market Square, that would be a good day.
Also I know living close to downtown I will be having lots of visitors looking to make my place home base on the weekends.
Once I get settled in I plan on finishing up some new songs and hopefully getting some demos up here on the blog. If nothing else I will definitely get video demos of the new songs up.
I’ve also realized I that the posts I used to write for this blog were not really representing what I wanted to do on this site. I guess I really didn’t know what to write about so m blog post became long and uninteresting. So I apologize…..I’m really not that dull I promise. I feel like now instead of waiting for some kind of big news to write something on here, I’ll just come on at the end of the day and say hi.
So here’s to the summer, blogging, new music and future random musings!
So this past week I had a little issue with my website and it got me thinking about all the things you need to know if you are going to be an indie musician this day and age. The many hats that budding new artists face are all do to the fact that as a musician you are pretty much broke all of the time and can’t afford to hire anyone to do anything. As an aspiring artist you must become what I call a ‘geek of all trades’, and I use geek in the most endearing of ways.
You may have a new guitar, and a bad break-up in your wake, but six strings and a journal full of ex-bashing lyrics isn’t enough for this music 2.0 war. You need to be able to be the artist, producer, and the record label all at the same time.
I thought it would be fun to list all the things I had to teach myself or am teaching myself in order to further my music career, and none of them have anything to do witch scales, chords, songwriting, or vocal practice!
Audio recording:
This is getting easier by the day thanks to technology, but I actually went to school to learn this one. You got to have a little bit of recording knowledge in order to create demos or albums that people will actually want to listen to.
Live Sound
This probably could have gone under the first one but running sound at a live show and laying down vocals on your macbook are two totally different sets of expertise.
HTML/CSS code: WTF is a <div> tag?
I have spent countless hours learning all types of code from c++, python, php and other useless crap. What I really needed a grasp on was HTML and CSS. Even if you are using WordPress like me with a pre-built theme it helps so much to be able to read and understand the code that goes into it. The best way I learned the basics when building my site was to learn how to build a basic HTML/CSS website from scratch then learned how to turn it into a WordPress template. This let me understand all the little ins and outs that made up my website.
Database, FTP, and the ins and outs of your web hosting service
While trying to build and maintain two websites I spend a lot of time talking to support at Godaddy.com. But if I didn’t research and learn my way around my website’s directory and how it relates to what you see in the browser I would be in big trouble. Not to mention learning how to back-up, restore ,and navigate a Mysql database is extremely important when you are running your band’s site. Now can you see why I call this the ‘Geek of all trades’?
Graphic design/image editing
Photoshop is like standard military issue for bands nowadays you need to know your way around it. Problem is Adobe Photoshop can be expensive (remember as an artist you are constantly broke). What I use is a FREE opensource program called GIMP. Go download it, learn it, and thank me later.
In fact if there are programs that you need that you can’t afford, try to see if there is an opensource version of it. There are tons of opensource programs out there now for all kinds of tasks. I won’t go into what opensource means but I’m sure wikipedia has you covered.
Video editing
Everyone and there brother has a blackberry or iphone with a camera, so go now and take some video for your website. Want cooler video? Then learn how to use imovie or windows movie maker.
To break up this wall of text here is a video I shot at my gig this weekend, in which I edited it on my computer and uploaded to youtube. Basic stuff right?
This is my song “Casual” Live at Starbucks in Lexington MA 3-20-10
Blogging
Yes you have to learn how to do this I still don’t have a clue but everyday my google reader is full of tips and guides for bloggers. I run my personal/music blog here and also am contributing to my company’s blog on a weekly basis as well. We are in the age of content and you need to make lots of it, blogging is a good way to do that. You can use articles, pictures or even video blogs just keep the content flowing. Just make sure to make it interesting, another thing I am still working on.
Web 2.0, social media, in-bound marketing
Yeah, that’s exactly how a musician wants to spend their time, marketing and pasting their name all over the known universe. Well guess what, every other dude/chick with a guitar is out there doing this stuff so you got to as well. I started researching all these concepts in 2009 and I’ve learned a lot but have barely scratched the surface.
Time management
This term is self explanatory and I suck at it. There is too much to do and not enough time to do it in, especially if you’re working a day job like me. All you can do is suck it up and get organized! I make lots of lists and plot lots of things on my Google Calendar but I still have to work on sticking to my plans and not getting distracted.
This is probably the hardest thing to learn because there are no how-to guides or tutorial videos, you just have to do it and be discipline that’s why I saved it for last.
I hope this illustrates just what indie artists these days need to know. If you got a song in your head and a guitar in your hand get to work, because the world needs you! Just remember that there are many other weapons you need to bring to the battlefield.
Handy links