The blues ain’t easy
It’s time for my semi-regular update…
I’ve been writing different kinds of songs (other than hair-pulling metal), and it’s turned out to be much harder than I imagined. I mean, it’s easy to spew hatred and anger onto the page (for me anyway), but to actually put some thought and emotion into a song that has meaning is a little more daunting.
A good friend and co-worker has been coming over to the house and jamming, and I’ve been having lots of fun doing that. We’re playing mainly covers (from Counting Crows to Eric Clapton and some stuff in-between), and it got me started on writing some songs. Just a few “bridge” songs to get my writing chops dusted off, and to acclimate myself to a different style of music. It is a challenge.
I guess when you hard-wire your brain to write in a specific style for so many years, it takes a considerable amount of effort to change that programming. I’m not nearly the angry young man I was (mostly I’m not that young any more), but also I’m finding it much harder to write something simple and straightforward that doesn’t sound formulaic or just pedestrian.
The cool thing about metal music is that it is complex and involved, and I thought that writing blues and rock would be easier, because it’s usually just 3 chords and a bridge. But that’s the problem: metal didn’t have to sound melodic… but rock does. I found my first few attempts either just being blatant rip-offs of other songs I’ve heard, or they just didn’t sound right.
Compound upon that my current trend of learning how to solo over the blues, and you’ve found my current conundrum. It’s fun, and it’s a great learning experience… but damn it’s hard!
