Song per Month of 2018 personal challenge

  • Hi everyone,


    I've gone through a long period without creating much music-wise. A couple of job changes and a bunch of other stuff going on has really crushed the creative side of me.


    Things are looking up and, because I work better to a deadline, I thought I'd challenge myself to release a song per month throughout 2018. So far so good - this one is done and I've another couple half-written so I'm hoping the creative dry spell is on its way out. I hope no-one minds if I post them here :)


    Before deciding to listen, please realise that my playing ability is not brilliant. I love my hobby and (when my brain is not fried due to life getting in the way) my hobby is writing songs and making music. There are some crazy-good guitarists on this forum and 99% of you can outplay me. For this reason, please don't expect guitar pyrotechnics as my fingers don't always do as they're told. Whilst my musical ability is far from the best, I like to think I can write a reasonable song so really what you should expect is songs that have been put together with a bit of thought to the limits of my current ability. Snapshots on a journey to getting better.


    So with that in mind, here's number one of the twelve:-


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    It's a collaboration with my 16 year old daughter, Isabella. She came up with the chord sequence here and then we wrote it together - she's on vocal duties throughout on this one.


    It's a pretty typical love song where everything is perfect. But then reality hits :) I hope someone out there likes it.


    All guitars were through the Kemper using the Dr. Z pack one and a free bass profile from Andy (amp factory). Keys and Drums were of the EZ variety from Toontrack. Delay and phasing on the synths from Soundtoys. Reverb from Slate. I lazily mixed it using Neutron 2 - for experimental purposes, I just let it do everything automatically so the only thing I adjusted after that were levels and pan.... Not ideal but great for an keen amateur who is too lazy to work out what everything does in a plugin!!


    Thanks


    Gary

  • I hear ya Gary, we have our ups and downs creatively as life's rollercoaster twists and turns. The song has a nice progression and melody. Good for you setting a deadline, I like this idea of a song a month.


    Funny, my oldest daughter, 17, is named Isabella too :) She's too shy to sing but pretty good as well.


    Keep 'em coming, she has a nice voice, well done!


    Cheers,
    Shawn

  • A 93 years old jazz/swing guitarist who recently passed away always said: "It doesn't matter which notes you play, it's all about how you play them." And I'm sure you had a great time making music with your daughter. Keep it up and never feel lesser just because you don't show acrobatic fretboard skills. :)

  • Thank you all so much for listening and for the nice comments - I really appreciate it and so will Bella :)


    It's great fun doing this kind of thing together - I'm really lucky that they all enjoy music too and indulge me my habit of making noise :) Quite often we have a sing around the table as both daughters and I sing. The youngest is learning a few chords with me and they both play a bit of piano but their primary instrument is their voices. I bought my wife a cajon for Christmas along with shakers and a tambourine as, whilst she loves music, she can't sing. It's cool to keep an open mind about different music that I wouldn't come across but the little ones introduced me to - two of the favourites we've done over the last few months have been a Justin Beber song and 'Wrecking Ball'. Being an old fart, I'd never heard the originals so just got presented with chord sheets and did my best. Fun.


    I also stole the cajon that I bought for my wife already. I recorded a cover at the start of the month of a song called Wolf by First Aid Kit. It's one we often play together and involves all three of us on vocals so I thought I'd record it. It's here if you fancy it.


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    And here's another cover.


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    But before these, I'd only recorded one original song in three years and that's what I need to change. Thanks again for the encouragement and I'll do my best to keep to one new song per month, most originals :)

  • Interesting choice of song picked there :)