Creative phase has kicked into gear I guess...

So, I got a little riff for another sort of schmaltzy song last night, don't ask me how... it's pretty entertaining though. Well, no, it's sort of dark and strangely pretty... we'll see how it goes.

The other song I've got in the oven is kind of stuck at the moment, though I'm trying to push it through. I got a consult on it yesterday from a fellow songwriter. I'm trying to decide if it needs a bridge, and if so, where the hell does it take you, and do you really want to go there, and how do you get back from there if you don't like it? The song is about lovers who are crazy about each other, and the way everybody can see it even when they're on opposite sides of a room, and how they are so connected that each knows when the other is thinking of them. Gooey romantic stuff, yes... but that's what the song wanted and I must obey. My muses must be in love. So my confusion was with the idea that a bridge is often a contrast or a resolution, or some kind of other perspective that reveals something the listener maybe didn't know, and with this song, there's not much of a need for resolution or contrast. My songwriting counselor suggested I play the chords with different voicings, even above the 12th fret, for the needed musical contrast (the chords are very rich and there are lots of common tones, melody wanders a bit, too) and skip the bridgey bit. I'll try that tonight and see how it works.

There's a meeting of the National League of American Pen Women tomorrow, and I really want to go, but I have a sore throat, so I may have to stay home and be pathetic. Sigh.

Guitary news

Yes, the Taylor 8-string baritone is quite a remarkable beastie! Lovely.

The Martin OMC-LJ Pro Laurence Juber Custom Artist is... incredible. Just amazing. It's everything you want and it's pretty, and it smells so nice. I have been playing it every day for lengths of time that my family is finding rather annoying, and honestly I don't care. They can all bite me. This guitar is just awesome.

So I've stolen a couple songs out of it. Actually, that's not entirely true. I had ideas of them both in my mind, and this guitar gave me the creative juice to develop them. And the desire to sit and play with the ideas for hours in order to do that.

Okay, must clean house, people showing up tomorrow and yikes, it looks like creative people live here. Horrors.

Boy, time flies

Okay, update... I left my full time position as Managing Editor of Premier Guitar for the much more flexible and much less stressful Acoustic Editor position, which Joe and I invented. It's a better gig, I can work from home and I'm a much happier person.

Still working at playing the Telecaster, but it's slow going. Lots of stuff going on in the personal life, some good, some hard, some weird, some frustrating... many long tales to tell that I won't trouble you with here. Suffice to say, life is interesting. I have written 2 songs on it, and I like them. So that's good. One is kind of a bluesy rocker, one is sort of a ballady thing.

Reviewing a Taylor 8-string baritone guitar, and expecting a Martin LJ-Pro to come tomorrow for review. I have Pat Smith's Lowden baritone to play with while he's away this month, and I am liking it quite a bit.

Change is good

I haven't played hardly a note on any guitar lately except yesterday at Brueggers... so I have nothing to report on the whole acoustic-girl-plugs-in front... except damn, that Telecaster sure is shiny and blue.

CD is out and ready on CDBaby

Here's the link: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/GaylaDrakePaul - it's called Eating From the Tree.

Already sold one, so that's an auspicious start!

Spent some time with the Telecaster today, and I'm really starting to get the hang of this. I can make it sound like car horns honking, which may seem like the opposite of an accomplishment - in fact, the opposite of desirable at all... but I WANT it to sound like that for one song, and I sorted out how to get that, so I'm excited.

The thing about distortion is, you have to be in charge to make it work. I never knew I had the option to be in charge... but that's the key. You don't let it run loose like a poorly trained dog, you keep it on a leash. The volume control on the guitar is an amazing device... I must sound like a total innocent! But I am like a child discovering a whole new world.

Tele good

Telecasters really are the king of electric guitars. I went from spanky, snarky blues to angry growling rock to smooth and jazzy with the flip of a switch...

Ricky Skaggs said that tone is in the hands - he's totally right. I'm going to sound like ME no matter what, acoustic or electric. My hands are not like anybody elses...

Shiny and Blue

After a long conversation with the inimitable Dean Farley, I started trying out Telecasters. And who knew? (Well, Dean knew...) I'm bonding. So I bought a very nice shiny blue Mexi Standard Tele to play with so I can see whether this is gonna take. So far I've got 2 new songs in the hopper, but that doesn't mean anything. Trust me.

I played until my hands hurt. It needs a set up - it's not bad, but I put .010s on it instead of .009s and the neck came up a little bit. I'll take it to Dr. Tom Monday and let him work his magic.

Thanks, Dean...