roxhythe
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Posts posted by roxhythe
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You may be right about those flatted whatses. Though when I wrote "Blood on the Floor Blues," I deliberately did a country lead, without those flatted whatses, and it came out pretty okay, and nobody said, "Hey, that ain't no blues!"
I'm not sure there's a stock format--at least, not any more. There are plenty of variations. I have a couple of blues songs that don't follow any of the format things abovedescribed, but are still recognizably blues.
Lyrically, the best description I've seen of the blues is "It's about waking up in the morning." Not necessarily sad stuff, but more determination--no matter what curve ball you just got thrown, you're going to deal with it somehow, because, well, you did wake up this morning.
Interesting thread, guys.
Joe
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Short answer is "Every way I can."
I decided a long time ago I had to prove my songs (or my ability to write songs) was a marketable commodity, and the only way I could do that with the limited resources I had was to perform them. So I do. I do open mikes, I do jam sessions, I play gigs when I can get them. I play in bands when I can find one that wants me. I help out other musicians--playing lead guitar, if it's simple enough--and invite them to help me.
And of course, I've got CDs (I'm working on the third since 2003), and a Soundclick page, and a MySpace musician page, yada yada. Mostly Soundclick (and Whitby Shores, where I've started posting a lot of my music) is a place where I can put songs to answer the question, "But what does it *sound* like?" that venue owners and potential buyers of the CDs are likely to have.
I co-write when I can, too. One of my favorite spare-time activities is putting other people's lyrics to music. It is gratifying when they like it--and especially gratifying when they seek me out later, and ask me to do another one.
And I rob unmercifully from the likes of you (and you, and you, and...). Every time I run across a promotional trick I think I can use, I'll try it.
Do I expect to make it big in the music business? Heck, no. Even if I were good, the Powers That Be are unlikely ever to let me into their club. I do have the potential to become a big fish in a smaller pond, and I am working at that. Time will tell...
Joe
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Steve Goodman, Bob Dylan, and John Prine head the list. There are a bunch of others, including but not limited to Bill Monroe, Buck Owens, Avril Lavigne, Dottie West, Leonard Cohen, Scott Garriott, Lou Quarmwater, and Janis Joplin, for verious reasons.
Joe
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Got a friend who has a 3-string bass. I notice you didn't include that as an option. The 3 strings are tuned E, A and D.
Joe
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Does that mean there won't be any more boy bands for a while? That would be kinda nice...
Joe
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Yes, Jules, go down to the music store. The only way to buy a guitar (my opinion) is to play the heck out of a lot of them first.
I was curious why you mentioned Fender. Is there a particular reason why it needed to be *that* kind of acoustic guitar? I mean, Fender does have a reputation for generally good quality control, and the brand name helps the re-sale value if you're into that sort of thing, but if you're after something to keep and play, the only operative considerations (my opinion, again) are what it feels like and what it sounds like. If you don't really care who made it, you could find yourself a real gem.
Joe
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You haven't given enough information for me to be able to help you. Like, what are you parodying? And why?
Parodies aren't that easy, remember. You have to be faithful to the original--what you're parodying has got to be as obvious, in other words, as what you're doing to it. There should be a strong vein of humor in it, too--ideally, sick humor--as well (in my opinion) as an obvious *reason* why you did the parody. There should be a point, in other words.
Only parody I've got on my Soundclick site (and it's not a very good one) is "The Cat with the Strat," which is a transparent re-telling of the Dr. Seuss poem--in my case, set to music.
Joe
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No, huh?
Joe
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It is nice. I'd second the suggestions you had above--put the Website in a contrasting color (black, I think) and put it lower down so it wasn't over the photo. I think I'd make the font smaller, too. I assume you're going to add album title and your name up top; you don't want the Website to distract people's attention.
Thje lolpy strings aren't bad, in my opinion. They suggest the guy who owns the guitar might be human, or something. Always a good impression to give.
Joe
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Me with the Goat. Before a performance, I will run through what I'm going to sing--softly, so as not to bother the neighbors' dogs (if, of course, I'm feeling kindly toward the dogs--I don't always). I do it mostly to make sure I remdember all the words, but I'm also remembering the intonations, pauses, and facial expressions I'll use with each song. Since most of my songs push the one-octave limit of my voice range, it's vocal exercise of a sort, too.
Joe
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Well, if she's interested in something completely different, I have a bluegrass song that needs a cello part. I've been looking for an interested cello player (celloist? cellist?) for years.
Hight "Welcome to Hebo Waltz," and a recording of just me and solo guitar is on my Soundclick page. URL is (if I can remember right how the protocol goes):
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songi...;songID=1397540
Should she hear something, and be interested, please let me know. Thanks.
Joe
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Easy for me to say, "Lessons are good"--I've never had any. I'll just pass on one piece of advice I got (not personally, of course) from the legendary Chet Atkins. When asked how much music theory you needed to know, his respnse was, "Enough to know what you're doing, and not enough to get in the way of your doing it."
Lots of luck.
Joe
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Yes, I have my own singing mike. No, I don't worry 'bout them vocal-processor things.
My singing mike is a Nady; it was appallingly cheap, and is surprisingly good. It's every bit the equal of the old Shure that it replaced (though I doubt it will last 25 years like the Shure did). I don't usually haul it around with me; if the venue I'm playing at has their own sound system (and most do), they'll have mikes--usually the Shures. Shures are what the Southern Oregon Songwriters Assn. use in our sound system (which members can rent).
The past couple of weeks, though, I've had a cold, and I wouldn't sing through anybody else's mike because I didn't want to spread whatever I'd got. I brought my own mike wherever I went, and handed it to the Sound Dude, and told him "Use this--I have a cold." I've still got it in my guitar case.
Joe
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I believe the rule is that if you're performing "covers," it's the *venue*'s responsibility to pay the fees to the Performing Rights Organization (PRO) which distributes copyright royalties. It's not your responsibility. I believe the venues pay a "blanket" fee to the PRO which gives them the right to cover (or for you, as "their" band, to cover) anything in the PRO's catalog.
I think only one of the PROs--ASCAP, which is a membership organization--worries about live performances. (The other, BMI, was founded by a bunch of radio stations, and may still be concerned only with radio airplay.) A surprising number of venues refuse to pay the PRO fee, claiming the couple hundred bucks a year is the difference between solvency and bankruptcy; as a writer, I don't have a lot of patience with those folks. Even the caller for our square dance club pays an ASCAP fee.
Recording is different. If you record someone else's song, you have to pay copyright fees (the amount is determined by Federal law) for every copy of the song you *manufacture* (not sell). There's an outfit called the Harry Fox Agency that most people use to collect and distribute those fees. It is possible (but not likely) that the author's publishing company is not registered with the Harry Fox Agency, in which case you'd be contacting the publisher directly. But an awful lot of people use Harry Fox.
And you do not have to ask anyone's permission (those are called "compulsory rights" for a reason). The author has the right to be paid the copyright fee--by you, if you're recording it, by the venue (to the PRO) if you're performing it. You only have to ask permission if you're going to do a parody of the song (and that can get touchy--but that's a different subject).
Oh, and I should mention, since so many of y'all are British, that the above information is *American*. In Britain, Canada, &c., you may be dealing with a different PRO, but the rules should be pretty much the same. I believe the U.S. subscribed to international copyright law (finally) in 1976. Prior to that, the U.S. had different rules.
This help?
Joe
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Just a thought (maybe). If you don't limit yourself to emulating the style of a particular person, "your style" will eventually become a mix of all your emulations, and will be unique to you.
I've done that, myself. My "heroes" are all people who couldn't sing, and couldn't play guitar very well, but could write, and managed to make it in the music business purely on the strength of their words--Steve Goodman, John Prine, Bob Dylan, Buck Owens, and so on. I'm like them--I can't sing or play guitar worth c**p, either. So I tried to figure out what they were doing that was good, and adapt it to what I wrote. And it's mostly worked. I don't think these days I could be accused of sounding like any of them.
Next step--"Phase Two" if you like--is to take people you haven't a prayer of sounding like, for one reason or another, and try to emulate *them*. I have taken, for instance, an internal rhyming scheme that Avril Lavigne used that I really liked, and adapted it to my stuff--but I write country music. (My daughter was shocked when I did that.) On one of my sleazier religious songs, I deliberately "channeled" Janis Joplin; no, I'll never sound like Janis Joplin (and I don't believe anybody has ever noticed any "echo" of Janis in that song)--but I had a lot of fun with the style.
And now all that, too, is in the mix--Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Janis Joplin, Bill Monroe, Elvis, and Avril Lavigne, and maybe a few others.
Joe
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Only to say I agree. This is something Madonna said, earlier this year. The way to make money in music in the future is going to be off live performance, not record sales. CDs are going to be like T-shirts and bumperstickers--"merch," that people are going to bjuy ancillary to attending a performance.
Does put the record companies in the interesting position of being the exclusive monopolistic purveyors of something completely irrelevant. I do not know to what extent they have figured this out yet.
Joe
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Gibson J-200 clone (acoustic), little Yamaha 2-channel amp. Yes, I have both. The Yamaha amp came with the Strat I bought from my daughter. Years ago, when I was in a working band, I had a Peavey, which was as good as it was heavy. Eventually, the pain of lugging outweighed (literally) the joy of the sound, and I unloaded it.
I always thought that if we got rich and famous enough, we could get roadies. Never worked out that way. We had groupies, but they weren't any good for hauling equipment--they maintained they were being "reserved" for other things.
Joe
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Okay. Shoe repair I can see. I had difficulty envisioning it as a construction material because the containers were so small. (They were almost "Marmettes.") Thanks for the links, guys. Like Huey Lewis once said, there are reasons to be proud one is an American. Sounds like Marmite is one of them.
I'll keep it in mind for shoe repair, though.
Joe
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Non-Brit here. What *is* marmite? Sounds like a construction material. (And we have to know this stuff, if y'all are going to repossess the place and maske us use shillings, and stuff.)
Joe
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Capos
in Performance
I have an old one--big, clunky metal thing--that I keep in the guitar case. I don't use it much on my songs, but I'll use it a lot when I'm playing with other people. Lets me do the guitar work with chords I'm most comfortable with, whikle the singer can sing in whatever key he or she wants.
Joe
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Not really. The way I keep old songs alive is by performing them. I am my own worst critic--I can find fault with everything I did--and left to myself, I probably would not play any of them.
On the other hand, I get good reactions from people to a lot of the songs. Ones that get requested again become part of the Repertoire, no matter how I feel about them. It is the audience's opinion of what's "good" that counts, not mine. They want to hear it, they'll get to hear it. They're paying the gate fee, not me.
Joe
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I would be tempted to tell him, "But, dude--you're only playing *notes*. There's more to music than just *notes*. There's *context*, man. You have no context. You're only playing *notes*. What good is that?"
And then let him feel guilty aobut what he started...
Joe
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Not a "grand plan" per se--I take a sort of 12-step approach. "One Year at a Time." I do set goals, and publish 'em in the blog so I don't forget them, and then measure how far I got. Been doing this for the past two years.
You will be happy to know I will not be taking over the world this year, by storm or any other way. I did intend to record the next CD, set up an online sales outlet, hook up with a band (did that), join a songwriters association (that, too), and concentrate on promotion (ditto) while writing at least one good song a month (which has actually been more like one every two months).
In the grand scheme of things, I have not planned to become a Nashville thrall (I understand they don't have any openings, anyway)--which means I need to promote myself as a writer by performing my own stuff, and I've been doing that, even though I am neither a good singer or a good guitarist. I am getting some attention, but I figure I'm a good year away from making any money at it.
Joe
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Oh, I think so. Think of the voice as a vehicle. Some of us got '49 Fords; some have Jag-you-ars. You can do more with the latter than the former. But both will get you where you want to go.
Joe
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The Blues
in Songwriting
Posted
I thought it was because most blues is played in bars. <g>
Joe