My Big Summer Goal

Well, I've written a number of songs this year (thanks to this blog and occasional friendly kicks in the butt from John).

I think now I want to try and concentrate on recording an E.P. (or album?) before the end of the summer. I think a realistic goal would be to record a 4-5 song E.P.

It may not happen, but then again, it may.

I played a solo acoustic show this past Friday (see the Monday, July 02, 2007 entry) and realized that several good songs that I've had for years have not been recorded (or put on a CD).

Here are a few that I want to record:

Cosmic Soda Machine
(I've had recording requests for this one now for several years)

What Are We Waiting For?
(new one posted on this blog this year)

Don't Give Up
(new one that I haven't done a full recording of)

The Next Chapter
(recorded on my VS1680, but never but on any CD or officially released).

I Can't Get Over It
(my "techno" song")

Can You See Me?
(I wrote this in '97 and somehow it sounds like my inner Jack Johnson)

I've Got News For You
(On this blog--an ok recording that I may redo to make a little more pro).

People Are Pictures
(first song on this blog)

I know I have a few more in my folder...I'll have to check it.

The trick with some of my songs is that they don't feel like they "fit" with anything else. They're too happy or too sad or too funny to work to be on the same album together. But I still love them each like one of my children. Ok. A few of them are ugly and I hide them in the closet and would never admit that they were mine, but MOST of them I love like my children.

I've also wanted to release a record of all of the love songs I've written for Joy (each Valentine's day I've written one song for the past 12 years).

I don't think I can pull that one off this summer...but maybe for this coming February...

I'm curious as to how some of you have placed/chosen songs for your album. Finished 10 songs and went for it? Wrote thematically on a single topic?

HOw do YOU do it?

I Can't Get Over It: The Making Of

My first ever techno drumbeat song. Drum loops. Ahhh...see my previous post about that. Also my first "Making of a Song" video.

Here's my June offering.


I Can't Get Over It

This time, this time, next time, this time, past times
I can't get over it
Last times, first time, down time, fast times, we're fine?
Can we get over it?

I...
I need you to be
I need you to try
I need you to listen
I need you to cry


We're fine, we're fine, sublime, align, real time
Are we on top of it?

Six times I've tried no lie, this time, last time
That I'll put up with it.

I...
I need you to be
I need you to try
I need you to listen
I need you to cry
I need you to feel
This pain in my heart
I need you to get alive
Before it all comes apart

You won't need to worry, honey
We've got time to burn
You don't need to hurry, baby
Cause we're bound to learn

If we make half-time adjustments
If we watch the score
I have heard that wives and husbands
Know what compromise is for
Know what compromise is for

I need you to be
I need you to try
I need you to listen
I need you to cry
I need you to feel
This pain in my heart
I need you to get alive
Before it all comes apart

This time, this time
I can't get over it.

Here's the making of link:

I've Half A Mind To Post A Post On Posting

Well, I went three steps further. I got an inspiration for a song, so I grabbed my digital video camera and recorded myself as I ran out to the studio and recorded the song. It's like a "How To" on how I write my songs.

It's not the ONLY way I write songs, but it happened to be the way I did it this time.

The video is heavily edited. I filmed 28 minutes of footage and am hoping to edit it down to five.

I will post the song here when I have finished the video and can post the YouTube link as well.

Welcome Summer!

Hey all... Just wanted to drop a line to try and keep up with Steve! Couple things, then I'm off to work.

1. I'm still not able to access the server to upload songs at this moment. Steve has a new one that I hope to have posted soon. Please check back soon!
   


2. Steve and I miss seeing some of you post here. Hope you're still doing well and, of course, that you're playing and writing and you'll be back posting here soon!


3. Summer is on our doorstep here in the midwest. All the usual "summer activities" are starting to bust out all over. Hope you're getting out and enjoying the weather!
   


4. On a personal note, the lyrics are starting to come again. Currently, I have three songs in varying stages of completeness. Feels like all are keepers. One is sort of about trying to find our way in this mysterious, wonderful life. The most recent one was inspired by a trip past my childhood home while I was biking a couple weeks ago. I'll leave you for today with a few short lines from this one...

this old house has nothing left for me
just sticks and stones as far as I can see

in my mind a movie plays of better days
and how it used to be

Late,
John

Sufjan Stevens Sings The Innocence Mission

This is a pretty little video of Sufjan Steven singing on the rooftops...

#50.2 - Sufjan Stevens (MusicNow) - The lakes of Canada
Uploaded by lablogotheque

He makes banjo so indie rock.

Pro Tools for the Complete Idiot

I'm not really a complete idiot, only a partial one. I've been experimenting more and more with my ProTools set up with a recently purchased book called ProTools for Musicians and Songwriters by Gina Fant-Saez. It's colorful and has lots of pictures, so I felt less intimidated by a program that can seem very intimidating. It's very well written and only once so far in the book (and I'm about halfway through) did something not match up on my screen with what she wrote and illustrated. Everything else has been spot on.

I wish I had purchased this book earlier and straight from Amazon, but I made an impulse buy at my local Barnes and Noble. Be wise and use Amazon...at least for purchasing specialty books that are expensive.

Enough of my mistakes in purchasing, buying this book was definitely NOT a mistake. This book is sort of like taking a class. It works step-by-step through the process of using ProTools LE 7 and M-Powered 7, giving equal airtime to Mac and Windows controls and nuances. Even though the author is obviously MAC biased, she never bashes the Windows version and does a great job of simply explaining the program.

One of the activities in the book was to make your own drum loop from scratch using samples. You can even download those samples to try on your own computer! Here's her website: www.protoolsformusicians.com


The advantage of using drum loops to record with rather than a click track is that you are working with an actual groove. It brings out different ideas and makes you play differently than if you just strummed along to a click track. As far as songwriting goes, it's a great way to take your song in a different direction.

By the way, I can't hype this website enough:

Looperman.com

Free drum and percussion loops (and tons of other things). It tends to lean more toward the techno crowd, but I've found it extremely useful in creating music on the fly without having to worry about creating a drum track.

U2 in 3D

What will these guys NOT do? I love them and they can do no wrong.
Here's a link or three:

U2 in 3D

Unicorn: The Other White Meat

As I have proven in the past, I am capable of truly cheesy, wacky songs.
This is one of those songs. (And it balances all of those overly serious, heavy songs I write on the flip side).

This song was inspired by THIS t-shirt. I own it. I wear it proudly.
My students either don't get it, think I'm a freak, or laugh quietly so as not to draw attention to themselves.

The opening acoustic guitar solo was inspired by Metallica's song "One".
The double bass drumming was provided by Looperman.
I think all the songs like this are inspired either by Adam Sandler's songs, Homestar Runner's SB Emails, or lack of sleep.

I don't care. I must create. And this is what I created.
I had fun with a program called Audacity in the creation process. It's free and has effects and everything. I use it to create Mp3s as well.

Unicorn MP3 Link
Unicorn: The Other White Meat
by Steven Wesley Guiles

Unicorn the other white meat
Unicorn the other white meat
Unicorn the other white meat...yeah!

Don't taste like chicken, don't taste like frog
it don't taste like chicken, man, it's not dog.

it don't taste like monkeys
it don't taste like elephant
elephants don't taste like chicken and they don't taste like monkeys either...

Chickens and monkeys and elephants don't taste like unicorn
(Unicorn the other white meat, unicorn the other white meat)
Unicorn tastes like..."not chicken"

La La La La Laaaa
I like chicken.



My brother Dave made a video for the song. It's here.

If for some reason, the song is not linked here, you can check out my brother and I's secret Ninja Rock Band, The Shirken Furies. We posted it there as one of our own.

I'm An American Idol...Songwriting Contestant...Sort Of

Well, I WAS. It all started like this...

I have a friend who I've known was a songwriter. I hadn't seen him doing much, but a few months earlier at church he'd mentioned that he and his wife watch American Idol and that this year Simon and Co. were looking for the "hit single" that the star would sing at the end of the show. The American people would choose the song through a voting process.

Well, my friend started the song, but couldn't finish it. I had a few songs I wanted to work on and suggested that we get together and work them out. Eventually we got to his Idol song which was about 2/3 done. He really only needed an end to his verses and a bridge. I sang something off of the top of my head and he thought it was really cool, so it stayed in the song. After an hour or so we had thrown together enough parts to get the song to an almost finished place. He took it home and worked out a bridge the next day and we reconvened to record it and then upload it to the Songwriting Idols portion of the AI website.

I wish I could find the original instructions, but they wanted something that related to the "journey that the Idol contestants went through", that was upbeat, blah, blah.

We didn't make the top 20. It was sad. The production value of our song was really low compared to those selected. From what I've heard, the ones selected weren't so great either (sonically nice, but lyrically melodically just ok). Is it sour grapes on my part or are ALL the songs sort of cheesy? They did ASK for cheesy.

Ok. I'm over it now. But when they first posted the songs I clicked through all of them hoping that I would somehow glide to the top, get the $10,000 signing bonus, and be world famous. I wasn't.

It was fun to see how quickly we could bring a song together, and I couldn't have done it without the help of the Songwriting Apples website that has kicked my butt into gear as far as writing is concerned.

Thanks Apples. We don't fall far from the tree do we?

Summer Creativity

April is past and May is quickly moving along. The robin's eggs outside my bedroom window tell me that warm summer temperatures are just around the corner. Before you know it the leaves will be turning... wait, let's not get too far ahead of things here.

The past month or two have been slow around the Songwriting Apples Blog. We've had a few wonderful songs posted though! Be sure to give them a listen.

Personally, I've found that I have been spending a little less time with the six string and with the lyric notebook lately. Spring has sprung and I've been outside as much as possible. Family duties and outings are taking priority. This is all as it should be. Having said all that, I still plan on trying to write a song a month or so over the summer. Some worthy musical ideas are coming out of that new Martin and I look forward to finishing one of the new tunes soon.

Hope that you are enjoying the spring season wherever you are! Keep checking in and keep writing!
John