Reid Gibson

I suppose almost everyone asks questions of this nature. There's is a part of us that questions things, and maybe that is a part of being creative. Maybe the hope of creating something, in this case, a song, that might lead to a since of permanency, legend or the like. An artist may be driven like this, not like it benefited Van Gogh much when he was alive. I started writing music in the seventies with a buddy in college. We wrote a lot of stuff in the 80's, had a band, played, broke up, moved on, worked day jobs, marriages, kids, etc. I went back to writing in 2017, met another cool musician near by, made a YouTube, got lots of hits, got played on LPFM radio, and now I'm a "songwriting junkie." Lol. Just finished a new song this week which I had been working on for a year maybe on and off, going to do the rough recording tomorrow, then we're gonna do a video and enter NPR's Tiny Desk Contest again. It's not for money with me, it's "Maslow's Hierarchy of needs." Where's Sig when we need him?

Thank you John, greatly appreciated. I will go check out wearethe hits.com. But yeah, I agree, avoid surgery and litigation like the plague. Happy New Year.

I will share an experience I had in 1981: I had written a good song, even had it transposed to sheet music, and picked up a copy of a book on music publishers (Songwriters Handbook), then sent out several copies to these places. One of them was "Columbine Records." They responded and I got all excited. Then they wanted money, and though disappointed, I didn't fall for this scheme. Never send them money, right on. Lyrics are hard to write well. Anyway here's is that song rerecorded as a CW style tune in 2017:

Greetings John and everyone here. I sincerely wish you all a great 2024 and may wonderful musical opportunities come your way. I'm a bit wary of the situation in the States and elsewhere, who knows, I might have to move back to the U.K. where my great great great grandparents originated. Question: Does anyone know of a site where musicians can post cover tunes+videos, other than YouTube, as I can't seem to get passed their licensing/copyright rules, and I do not want to get flamed off there. Thanks!

Welcome aboard ! I think you'll groove on this forum.

Hey Welcome Machine Man. This is a cool place to hang out with pro and ami songwriters, lots of nice folks, all here to share ideas, help out if we can.

Welcome Cherie! This is real great bunch of people on this forum. Many, many years of experience, musicians from all walks of life, and I'm sure if you need advice, support, critiques, collaborations, or jut about anything, someone here will help you. Myself I'm not much in to EDM, but one of my kids loves the stuff, and would be glad to give it a listen. Again, welcome!

Wow, Guess I'm not alone when it comes to grooving on Fall. Something about it cooling down enough to think, the impending doom of winter, changes of color, the general scurrying of people getting ready for stuff, school starting, new ideas maybe. Bit and pieces of songs that have been rattling around my head all summer, but was too busy or hot to make it work. Ah, the sun coming up later. Also, this year, a young man whom we've know for quite a while, opened up a recording studio 8 miles up the road, so I don't have to drive 2 hours to record, what a deal. Who knows, maybe some divine inspiration to write a cool tune.

Humm.... You've given me a fair bit to think about. Personally I feel that bad times inspire good music, like "the blues," or as was pointed out, Johnny Cash. During the pandemic here, I spent a more time practicing and learning guitar techniques, writing lyrics, trying to come up with melodies, etc. Playing live was not and option and going to the recording studio was kinda risky (though I did anyway). World events can be inspiring, like "CSNY, Long Time Gone," but I didn't hear anyone sing about 911, what a farce, PNAC papers, the bush family evil empire, or the like. Do emotions sell songs? Ughh????? Maybe, maybe not. If a song makes me feel sad I will generally avoid it. If a song sounds beautiful, inspiring, invokes a feeling of euphoria, ya, euphoria, that's it, then i like it. Here's one: Johnny Flynn

Yeah, just read this on Barron's. Google is not your friend. https://www.marketwatch.com/articles/google-alphabet-universal-music-ai-copyright-hollywood-8f087ec5?mod=mw_latestnews I agree with Mahesh totally.

I totally agree with Rick. With little exception, most of theses songs are garbage. Background music at best. Whatever happened to melody, harmony, something meaningful to say, a real hook, intrigue?

Greetings, Songsters, I don't know how many of you are familiar with NPR's (National Public Radio) "Tiny Desk" Concert/contest, which they hold every year. This year's deadline is March 13. This is an honor and a great marketing tool for songwriters. I was fortunate this year to be accepted with a song entitled "Sand and Broken Shell," which took me more than two years to write; 12 rewrites and 3 studio recordings. The song originally came to me in a dream, with two females singing it, so I knew it wasn't going to be easy. The NPR contest requires that you sing it live, no backup tracks, and it has to have a "desk" visible in the video. So this is just one guitar and one voice. Here's the link: https://tinydeskcontest.npr.org/2023/browse-2023/ . I'm listed on February 28, or just search for "Sand and Broken Shell" I encourage you to enter. Thanks. Reid Gibson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFF1hFghACA

Hey Thanks !!! Nice find. I intend to go play with it.

I hear ya; then there is southern English and northern English, and other dialects that butcher the language in wholly different ways. Like it is the most common in lyrics to say "ain't", "she ain't ......" because there ain't no good substitutes. It's fun to mess with other languages as well, I do stuff in Spanish on occasion, but usually run it by my friends wife who is Spanish. The online (Google, etc) translators are usually right on or very close.