An Introduction

[TimmyMayes]

Hello songstuff people. I am Timothy, a newly register user on this dandy site. I figured I would start off by posting an introduction as I can forsee myself using this forum quite a bit. I'm 24 and recently moved to Las Vegas, NV from a little town in northern kentucky, geographically we consider ourselves a part of Cincinnati, OH.

On to the interesting stuff, my musical background.

I've played guitar for going on 12 years now. When I first started back in the 7th grade I was very into it and played all day every day for quite a while. My interest waxed and waned over the years culminating into a short attempt at a band with a couple of roommates. We wrote some music but our "front man" was not a musician in any right and could not sing or play the bass so we kind of fell apart. I kept the music I wrote from the time and slowly fleshed it out and wrote new songs. I had always been told my voice was bad and assumed you had to be born with a voice. Since moving to Las vegas I have rekindled my love of music.

I've always loved words but never been much of a writer. After penning a few songs I've fallen in love with the craft and have thrown myself full into the mix of trying to become a singer/songwriter. While I'm pretty confident on the guitar I am less so with my lyrical talent and even more less so with my vocal talent. I don't consider them so much bad as under construction. My biggest problem right now is my lack of a sense of pitch, odd considering how long I've played guitar.

I love music of all forms but my favorite style would have to be more of the singer songwriter style. I would like to claim influences of this ilk; The Decemberists, Ben Gibbard(Death Cab for Cutie, All Time Quarter Back & The Postal Service), Elliot Smith, Sufjan Stevens, Seabear, Gregory Douglass etc. But I'm open to all music as I think the more styles you embrace and the more you branch out the more you bring to the table creatively.

Anywho I wrote my first song at the beginnig of september this year and so far I'm up to 5 or 6 full length songs and in the works I have about 20 more (lyrically speaking) and another 20 or so pieces of music that need lyrics. My point in mentioning that is two fold; A. I am very new to writing songs is this about normal? Should I be finishing more of these ideas before moving too new ones? I'm pretty ADD. and B. I hope to be quite a prolific poster on these forums. At first I'm sure most of my comments and reviews will be of more benefit to me than the person receiving my review. However I'm in it for the long haul and hope to be a positive member of the community.

Oh and I've been keeping a notebook with ideas to aid in the process of being creative. Like a little songwriting utility belt. (Holy reference to Batman, Batman). So when I get the details and processes of those rounded out I will definately share those as well.

Cheers,

Timothy Mayes

[john]

Hi Timothy

Welcome to Songstuff!

Nice intro!

Cheers

John

[Alistair]

Welcome indeed

[thelevellers]

Welcome on board, with an attitude like that I'm sure you'll do great

As for numbers of songs, that can vary wildly! There's no good bad amount... Compared to me you're pretty prolific, but I'm sure there's some people on here who have done twice as many! (though they may've had more time to do them I guess )

Anyway, see you around the boards

Rohan

[Alistair]

There's no right and wrong about how many songs you should have on the go at any one time. It depends how inspired you are. Over time you will work out what is best for you.

A few maxims I have developed for myself around songwriting are:

- the more you write, the more you are likely to learn. Tempered by

- quality beats quantity. It's better to have written a few great songs than lots of mediocre ones (of course, it's evenbetter to have written loads of great songs...). Tempered by...

- Don't flog a dead horse. Know when to leave a song for another day or to say you gav eit your best shot and leave it for another. Tempered by...

- Don't waste great ideas by not developing them sufficiently

Easy isn't it?

[Nightwolf]

Great intro, I look forward to reading more from you, Welcome to Songstuff

John Nightwolf

[musicthom]

Welcome dude to the plesure dome

[Steve]

Welcome Timothy. Don't be bashfull. Tell us a little about yourself!

Just kidding! Great into!

[typo]

hello timothy mayes. welcome

[TimmyMayes]

Thank you for the kind welcome. I think I might try to post up some critiques if work ends up being slow.