[DeadlyHeptet]

So who here is playing original music? I hope to hear from people who have been inspired by the Grateful Dead, but have little or no desire to play their tunes. Are you composing your own tunes? Writing your own lyrics (really interested, a difficult endeavor, Hunter was a master)? Would be interested to hear from some of you who are.

[SlowTexasZim]

I have been writing original songs for over a decade. I started writing poetry before I took up guitar so the music is harder for me than writing lyrics...mostly because of my chasm of ignorance about many aspects of music theory. Sometimes the songs come from the music first by defining how I want the verses and chorus to be and then making the words fit the meter of the musical lines. Sometimes I'll take some ideas from a journal or a napkin or whatever and pick the mood and match it to the music...sad = minors, etc.

I think a great way to work on wordsmithing is to get a journal and make yourself write down observations of your world. Don't expect a song to just flop out on the page (sometimes they do, ala Hunter writing Terrapin) but maybe after writing in your journal for a while you might find that certain lines jump out at you and and you can link them together from across many different days and a cohesive thread is there and a song is born.

rock on!

Cheers
Zim

[SlowTexasZim]

One day it struck me after trying to memorize all the twelve bar blues patterns...

While driving around glance at license plates and you'll find A's B's .C's..E's E7..AM ...G, etc and it starts to look like music. Oh, don't forget I, V and VII as ways to make the mind think.

Sometimes I'll go home and try out something I saw, plus the number sequences can relate to frets if you care to.

for example
ABM 125
CDG 456


something to ponder while in traffic

of course don't be constrained by the license plate pattern but let it stimulate furthur exploration and see what you come up with

[ugly rumor]

I would have to say that all the music I play is original...just not mine!

[DeadlyHeptet]

I would have to say that all the music I play is original...just not mine!

I understand that. The boys played a lot of "covers", but they were always done in their style. That is one thing I do not hear often, Grateful Dead music done in one's own style. Usually, it seems people want to play every note and nuance the same as "the '72 version or the '77 version".

Yea SlowTexasZim, I have a notebook full of Ideas for lyrics and a notebook full of musical ideas, but getting them to come together is another challenge. Sometimes lyrics and music happen out of the blue. They might not be what I would have come up with if I had labored on it, but if the universe gives it to me this way, I try to pay heed. Otherwise, I have material that has been kicking around for years and still hasn't found a place. One thing I have learned is you can't get married to an idea like "this lyric will go here, in this song, in this way". It all morphs and cross pollinates and eventually, hopefully finds a place to land.

[JonnyBoy]

we try and play 50/50 original to covers. We prefer the originals, and we also give the audience something they recognize.
We also have some jams (no vocals) we will play here and there. We try to take the Dead's approach to playing even if our sound is not exactly like theirs.

[strumminsix]

The year was about 1996 and I was playing acoustic favorites at a bar. I had a half dozen songs written and try to integrate. Here is how it went:

Dock of the Bay > hoots, hollers and applause > original song > crickets & polite claps > Brown-Eyed Girl > thunderous applause > original song 2 > requests for Free Bird

I was too thin skinned for playing my originals then and likely still am now. Congrats to y'all for being better than that!

[Harvestwind]

I write a lot of songs, mostly in the blues/roots genre. An old band "The Business" released an album in 2005 which had seven of my songs on. I think the album went Zinc and is working its way towards Aluminium.

I have just recorded an album with 11-12 of my songs under my own name. As soon as it is mixed and mastered I'll put a few up for RUKinders to have a listen. I am funding the recording form the proceeds of my gigs so it is a relatively slow process. The CD should be sometime in November - December.

I agree with the general sentiment about playing covers at shows though. It's play hard to play your own music unless you are a touring band with a fair bit of backing. I'm hoping to do the odd showcase gig and hopefully wangle my way into a few Blues Festivals but the primary purpose of the current album is to try and get more well known people to cover my songs. In that regard I'd appreciate any tips from those who have been there before.

[JonnyBoy]

The year was about 1996 and I was playing acoustic favorites at a bar. I had a half dozen songs written and try to integrate. Here is how it went:

Dock of the Bay > hoots, hollers and applause > original song > crickets & polite claps > Brown-Eyed Girl > thunderous applause > original song 2 > requests for Free Bird

I was too thin skinned for playing my originals then and likely still am now. Congrats to y'all for being better than that!

That's funny you mentioned the acoustic thing. Have you ever seen the movie about pink floyd and the making of Dark Side of the Moon? Roger Waters played "Breathe" and "Money" on the acoustic and I thought to myself, what a horrible song(s) thank god they played those as bands. For some reason all those "Great" songs we play as acoustic I think people hear the actual song in their heads or the recognition allows them to value it better. A loud band has a way of moving people or triggering something in their brains even if its a song they're not familiar with. The sheer energy is enough to get people off.
Try taking some of your songs to be arranged as a 4 or 5 piece and watch them flourish into something completely different. I have been writing some new songs that at first sounded akward now have grown into something new. One of them borrows the beginning of new speedway boogie, that eventually turned into a zz top/led zepplin rock song that was intended to be more smooth in my mind. I like it because it is all of us and our inputs, not just me and my directions which is fun for all of us. Although, some songs I have written all parts and tempos.

[ugly rumor]

A guitarist I know told me thirty years ago that people want to hear the song they got laid to the night of the prom, or their song that was "their" song in high school. And for the most part, I've found him to be right. We as musicians, especially "on the bus" musicians, tend to develop a myopic perspective that makes us think that music and it's interpretation matters to the general public, when that trip is really for our steps alone. Most of our other musical stylings (originals) are for other musicians, and few of them are important enough to transend the moment.


To those of you who would like to get your songs out to reap the benefits, I can tell you that it is who you know, and then it is a long battle. Thousands of demo tapes are submitted almost daily to record companies, artists, etc. The majority of them are never listened to. A lot of that has to do with legal ramifications (Hey, he stole my song), or just that the sheer volume of submitted material leads to a jaded approach to the tunes. And the record companies would rather go with a known writer (union) than you. I used to be in the business, and it is unfortunately rare that a JJ Cale will come along and have his demos succeed. If you know someone in the industry who will genuinely listen, critique, and submit your song to an artist or manager, it would still have to pass the artist's critique and find it's way to a recording and then hit. The old days of shopping your recording to radio stations is gone (most radio is centrally formatted now), or landing a helicopter in the artist's yard (Kris Kistopherson successfully did this to get "Sunday Morning Coming Down" in front of Johnny Cash) are pretty much gone. It's a tough business.

Make music for your own enjoyment. The rest of it is a lot of work and disappointment for most likely little reward. If you DO hit, though, that's where the money is in the music business. Songwriting. Good luck, and if I can help with advice, etc., call me at 720-389-7137. I'll be unavailable though until after Sept. 2, as I'll be returning to Virginia for about two weeks starting day after tomorrow.

[tcsned]

It's a given that the Dead did a great job of making cover tunes their own. Deadheads were also for the most part pretty accepting of new tunes. Most audiences are not. If they don't know it they don't like it - which makes me wonder how they got to like any music to begin with. I hear you strummin about the calls for Freebird (at some point you should listen to Rev. Billy C. Wirtz's "Stairway to Freebird pretty effing hilarious) when you do an original tune. Before I had kids I used to go see a lot of random bands a lot of 'em played original music, some were really good, some not so much. My band does a handful of tunes we wrote and they have gone over pretty well with most crowds we play for. They are fairly high energy tunes and more or less fit in with the Dead tunes and other tunes we cover.
Here's a couple our former lead singer and current Penn St econ professor wrote:
http://www.vtcli.com/media/tom/01_Flesh_And_Blood.mp3
http://www.vtcli.com/media/tom/05_Bit_O%27_Sleep.mp3

Where I have seen bands successfully blend originals and covers are ones whose originals move and are in the style of the cover tunes they play. Where the seem to fall short is when their originals are in totally different style than the other stuff they play or that, even if great tunes, are too slow or morose for a bar crowd. It's a tough racket to play original music in bars - shit, people bitch when the Rolling Stones play new tunes at a concert.

[JonnyBoy]

I agree and disagree with that (Ugly Rumor). In one aspect of being discovered,I agree that is in terms of being a self studio song writer wanting to get others to play or produce your music or producing yourself. In terms of bands, I will take three bands I know of well from my area that make good money, and I know of a few local ones making a good living ONLY playing music. Galactic from New Orleans, Better Than Ezra and Nickelback from the gulf coast mississippi/alabama. I have watched all three of these bands go from bars to stars. All of them happy to play small venues and also be shot to the top. They played for YEARS unknown and always plugging in original music with covers. like many others they built a following and played bigger places. Then played festivals, free shows, where ever they could, now they headline.

Timing and luck are all big parts of it as they will tell you, they built a loyal fan base because they were writing GOOD songs. I say, try it, if you fail at least you know you tried, but don't get let down, even making 30-50K a year is a great extra chunk of change playing casino's and bars every weekend, and even if you don't make that much 2- $400 a month to do something fun is cool too. If those bands never tried they would have never made it. The right frame of mind is more than helpful, and being realistic like Ugly rumor is helpful to keep your wits about you. I say don't let the mire bog you down, reach as far as you can, believe in yourself and your music and maybe when you least expect it, it will all fall into place. Maybe not, but you will die knowing you tried.

[tcsned]

JB - I agree w/you - those guys write good songs that speak to their audience and have earned their spot. If you really want to make a good living in this business you gotta play original music. There's no guarantees, even if you work hard and write great tunes - but there's no chance if you do not. The music business seems to me to be getting very schizophrenic. On one hand, radio stations are so centrally programmed that local or regional acts don't have much chance of getting played. On the other, there's the intarwebs and ways for folks to get their tunes out there that did not exist before. Add to that the ease and quality of recording at home. Those recordings I posted were done at a really nice local studio back in the mid 90s. It is now owned by Virginia Tech and used by the Dept of Music. Those local studios are gone as are most of the big studios. I have a friend from high school that worked at the Hit Factory and another big NYC studio and they're gone. It seems like the biz is getting decentralized and more centralized at the same time. It also seems to me that making money selling CDs is also becoming extinct. Playing live shows is where it's at. Recorded music is just a good way to advertise for live shows to me. You can't replace that.

btw - I listened to the tune on you website - very cool!

[JonnyBoy]

Yhea that is our response to every bar saying, " Can you all play Brick house?" it seems to be the new "FreeBird" lately in our 30-40 something crowd. So we came up with something that people could kinda boogie too. We recorded that on a zoom at our practice space and mic'd some of the instruments so we only had one backing vocal which we normally have three voices backing which sounds much more even. We will have some more up soon, that was our site guy/rhythm guitarists test song to see if the player worked.
Thanks for listening!! peace,JB

PS - music industry is very decentralized in turn making it centralized to the point that there are only a few players left making it a monopoly. very true and very weird. Keep on truckin' and doing what we love to do and being the kings of Joe's Lounge is good enough for us and if it gets better whoo hoo!

[DeadlyHeptet]

"Making it" is certainly difficult. The number one reason to play originals is that the music is a reflection of the musician, that you have something to say, some feeling to relate. Granted, music is a thousand things to a thousand different people. Met a guy who wanted to study jazz standards so he could be "the" go to, last minute guy when someone didn't show for a gig. That is so far from my take on what it's about. Hopefully, you have something to say.

These days it seems the only way to "make it" is to take it to the streets. Play out and develop a following. Fareed Hague (Garage Mahal) was a young guitar phenom who was raked by the industry for a long time before he got out of that mess and started Garage Mahal. He has been very successful since by doing the jam band circuit. Develop a following and market yourself. I know a few people who did their own CDs and later,when the following was established and some work was done, distributors got interested.

So again, my take is you write music because first and foremost, you need to write it. Listen to everything, steal what you can, but run it through your own grid and say what you can within your abilities. Also, I'm often too lazy to figure out music from a recording and would just rather spend the time with my own stuff.