folkdope888
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Write a 5 track EP
Star this Commitment
Week 9 of 9
folkdope888 commits to:
Write original lyrics, melody, harmony. Memorise, practise, refine and finalise finished compositions. Selecting the best 5 tracks out of a pool of new songs, record a new 5 song EP - Record the songs (live) with at least 2 other musicians (bass and drums). Possibly with Dean on drums. Final outcome near end of 9 weeks = Release EP - print short run and upload to Internet.
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No more reports due
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My Commitment Journal
Displaying 1-4 of 9 results.
March 29 to April 5
Successful
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Success
whizkid
- Referee approval report
If it was easy, everyone would do it! The question that you must answer is - What did I learn from this? I'd say live streaming at a minimum. Which is damned good! You appear to be hard on yourself, yet realistic - which is good.
folkdope888
- Committed user success report
Yes, it's over. No, it's not been a perfect tale of songwriting and self-discovery.
No, I didn't manage to succeed in recording a 5 track Ep at my friend's studio. Yes, I discovered mid-way through that my girlfriend was pregnant. No, I didn't realise that the entire world would go on lock-down and every civil liberty we cherish would be wiped out in an instant to safe-guard against a strong dose of the flu. No I didn't anticipate that the bars would be shut and my livelihood would be axed overnight, leaving me to scramble to work out the benefits system as well as how to Live Stream to 4 online Platforms simultaneously. Yes my daily routine, exercise, food and socialisation were all impacted by the lockdown so that my sleep pattern is up the left and my motivation is low.
But what about the songs? Well somewhere in the midst of all this bedlam there is a pocket of inspiration and creativity. It hasn't been cultivated fully. The music is rough, the lyrics are place-holder. But two or three are worth finishing. And this creative process although it seems frivolous and a waste of time, is probably the best way for me to process things, and remain sane.
The 9 weeks is up. The charity, Gun Control definitely do deserve a donation if I'm totally honest. But at the moment I am earning nothing, so I'll leave it for now and offer what I can later.
What I can offer is finished songs. I just need to pick myself up and put the icing on the cake, then sing them. That's the only reason I wrote anything to begin with. To feel the joy of singing something personal. Somewhere along the way I lost confidence I that personal expression but now it's needed more than ever.
Sorry for rambling and being disorganised. I'm aiming to debut a couple of the new songs on my next Live Stream which will be Sunday 8pm GMT (UK time).
Via either my Facebook Page, my Facebook personal profile, my YouTube channel or my newly created Twitch account for streaming.
https://twitch.tv/folkdope888
take care
Dan
March 22 to March 29
Successful
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whizkid
- Referee approval report
When I used to golf we always had 1 mulligan. This is yours! Take this brother - may it serve you well,
folkdope888
- Committed user success report
Yeh, end times, what can I tell you.
I spent an age working on OBS (broadcasting programme for online streaming). I stayed up late night after night, testing and debugging this whole thing so I could stream on simultaneous platforms on Sunday Nights.
I neglected the songs, and sleep. And didn't get much exercise. And ate a lot of crap. BUT.
Sunday night, I pulled off something which I wanna build on. I streamed live on all 3 platforms using a Chatroom that combined all the comments into one place. I took requests and let people Add songs to the queue live. I had screen transitions, background audio and a nice big condenser mic to pick it up.
Still a couple of bugs to work out, still learning the ropes. Steep learning curve. But with Everyone stuck at home, and my gigs on ice indefinitely, there's no better time to figure out how to do this for real on the internet.
So yeh, now that I've climbed outta that pit of heavy learning, I gotta get busy. ASAP. I have songs that desperately need finished lyrics. And chord sheet that need locked down.
I feel bad for not doing more with it this week. In honestly I'd say Stickk should take my $37 stake this week, but in reality - talk about extenuating circumstances...! Every single house in lockdown! Who saw that coming 8 weeks ago...??
I'm gonna get these songs done if it kills me. I'm annoyed that it's taken this long and is gonna be a rush to meet the Sunday deadline. But on the bright side - I've nothing else to be getting on with... no excuses.
Hope everyone's well. Family is so important.
I hope we can return to some sort of normality soon. At least it's allowing people more time to be creative at home.
take care
dan
March 15 to March 22
Successful
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Success
folkdope888
- Committed user success report
End of WEEK 7: What is the name of all that is holy is going on??!
Hey Martin - just a wee update, business as usual - NOT! :P
At the beginning of February I began a simple 9 week self-motivational project to kick start my songwriting and creativity again. At the same time looking to move in with my girlfriend, get a part-time job to supplement my gigs, and see about a mortgage.
No way on earth could I have predicted that by the end of it:
- I’d have no job because the bars would all shut
- Everyone would be in lock down and / or panic buying
- And I’d have to sign up for benefits to cover my rent
I could laugh or I could cry. It’s unbelievable.
Oh well. So, little recap. I’ve 14 days to knock these songs out. I’ve limited access now to playing with other musicians, so it’s most likely going to be recorded by myself.
I’m learning how to use my laptop to stream - Because all the self-employed musicians I know are now trying to keep themselves (and others) sane by playing live gigs on Facebook.
I streamed last night, but the connection wasn’t good. I need to find the sweet spot between the Bitrate and the kbps upload speed / screen resolution. (I’ve no idea, it’s trial and error!) But assuming the internet isn’t affected by all this, I should be able to Go Live more frequently and successfully without it dropping out.
On the plus side, last week I got further with the verse for Electric Licks and also that same evening I wrote a chorus and verse for a new song called Rejection Letters (Write about what you know, I didn’t get the job I interviewed for… Irony!)
Also my head is bubbling with other lyrics, thoughts and themes during all this. So this next couple of weeks should be interesting and hopefully extremely productive.
I’ll let you know about Live Streaming, are you on Facebook still?
Hope you and yours are doing well, safe and healthy. It’ll all blow over soon.
Bon chance
Dan
March 8 to March 15
Successful
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Success
whizkid
- Referee approval report
Great! I can't wait All very exciting for me. As you said Oooh- excitement!
folkdope888
- Committed user success report
END OF WEEK 6
Oooh - excitement! We’re getting down to the wire now. Three weeks and closing…! Thanks again Martin for keeping me going, and for the little comments along the way. Hope you had a nice time in Florida.
Not such a turbulent week as previously. Phew! I’ve been chipping away at my little cluster of songs and can see light at the end of the tunnel.
I divided my time between writing lyrics and using guitar / phone recorder to experiment with chords and melodies. No rules. Just trying to pair a rhyme to the guitar. In fact it’s the happy accidents that I’m more interested in.
I jumped between songs and followed my muse, then compiled all the demos onto my laptop to get a proper look at them. I’ve even taken to using a spreadsheet to help me out…! Nerd, but whatever works. By any means necessary.
Now at least I can see what songs are closest to completion, what needs more attention, re-writing, new additions (bridge, verses etc).
Not including the miscellaneous instrumental scraps on guitar and ukelele I have 11 embryonic songs on the go. Of those 11 here are the ones that excite me the most, thereby motivating me to complete them.
WORKING TITLES
- The Only Time Is Now
- Electric Licks
- Tea Break
- Long Hard Look In The Mirror
- Gotta Lotta Nerve
Most of these I would categorise under ‘pop rock’ with the exception of Gotta Lotta Nerve which is a moody grungier sort of song born out of jamming with Dave a few weeks ago. They use a few “borrowed chords” which makes them interesting and fun to play. At the same time I’m leaning toward the kind of pop-grunge influence reminds me on some level of the Lemonheads, Dinosaur Jr and PUSA. Just in terms of the singing style and maybe some of the chords and rhythms. Who knows?Whether or not it’s apparent to anyone else is kind of irrelevant.
The key is to find something catchy and grab on to it. I’ve definitely sparked something creative in those 5 titles and will be dedicating this week to locking them down.
My other ideas are acoustic finger-style pieces, some moody minor key stuff.
- Why Can’t I Plagiarise?
- Strawberry Blonde
- Recurring Dreams
- Holding My Breath
Also enjoyable to play, and actually it’s important that I keep revisiting them, even if I’m not penning new lyrics for them immediately. (Because they are quite intricate and have unusual chords - inspired by the Beatles chord chart I made earlier - which means I could easily forget how I played them even if I record a phone demo).
So to summarise, 5 songs that just need a few extra parts and some spit shine. And also a little cache of interesting finger picked ideas which I can develop.
21 days and closing. Better get busy.
Thanks once again Whizkid - sorry it’s all words and no sounds at the moment but not long to go! I didn’t spot your Report Comments until just recently on the site, but like you said - an EP can be a work in progress.
Also, I enjoyed Golden Earring :) I’ve a friend who’d like them, he’s a big King Crimson fan - I guess they were contemporaries.
cheers
Dan
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