I start my songs with two things - lyrics, and a set of guitar riffs and chords that I have figured out in advance. Most of these guitar parts I came up with a while ago. Some of the lyrics are even older, others are brand new. I know when I came up with this song, because I wrote about it right here.
I changed it a bit. This song is based on a bunch of triads all over the neck, and a simple blues groove. I always ad-lib and come up with new bits on the guitar when it comes to recording. And I imagine my band to have 2 (“dueling”) guitars, which is why every song has two separate guitar parts. The “final” lyrics are here:
I’ve managed one DIY punk song per week since the start of the year. I start my process usually on a Friday night, sketching out the basics like the BPM and what the general groove should be. I do this by playing the guitar through a practice amp trying out various rhythms and tempos on the metronome. Then I lay down a simple drum groove and just loop it. Then I add more percussion, beats (with my Korg Volca), or more drum loops, to make the basic rhythm track. I’ll usually iterate on this a few times before the final product and I’m NEVER happy with it. In fact, I’m rarely happy with the rhythm and bass.
I almost always just thrown down a bass down last when I have anything else, and to be honest I haven’t paid much attention to it yet (I know, you’ve noticed - ouch - so have I!). I will, between now and when I record these songs for real.
On Saturday I try to finish all beats, vocals, and guitars (bass, rhythm and lead if I can, but at the very last, rhythm, which is usually laid down before the vocals). It generally goes beats, then rhythm guitar, then vocals, lead guitar, bass. I try to have a half decent draft after a couple of hours on Friday night and another few on Saturday. Then I finalize it on Sunday in Ableton, which can take variable amounts of time! I rarely re-record parts, because these are demos and I have limited time. Honestly, I easily mess with it more than I actually come up with, rehearse and play parts!
Instrumental track here:
I think I will make the final version of this one shorter by 30 seconds or so….
Anyway, Song 6!!!!! I will likely take a break from recording next week, for there are more important things to attend to next weekend. But I hope to record another 1 or besongs before the end of the month and also make videos of Songs 5 and 6 (may be hard hard hard to play and sing these ones - we’ll find out!).
Feedback always welcome!
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