Lately I've been enjoying some of the work by Joni Mitchell. Admittedly, it's partly a nostalgic thing but it is also a discovery of some aspects of her work that I have not been familiar with. Like... I did not realize that Joco Pastorious played so much with her (and I am constantly blown away by Joco)!
Getting back into "wood shedding" mode is always an interesting adventure! A friend of mine often says "If you're not working on your chops, you're losing them!" There is always something new to learn whether it is a finger-picking style or a different chord inversion or just trying to remember how to use my equipment... always something to keep the little grey cells busy!
I've been reading about Paul Simon's new album "In The Blue Light" and how he has been spending time revisiting some of his older tunes and in an attempt to get "fresh new takes" of them. I've been looking at my tunes and wondering what I would like to do with them (compared to just playing them the way I've always done). So far... I've been lead to only make changes if they actually add something to what I call the "core" of the tune.
As a song writer my goal has always been to deliver a message through the lyrics and supporting that message via the melody and chord structure. This method is partly due to my desire to keep the process simple, partly due to my limited education as a composer/arranger and partly due to my belief that it is more important to get a good message with a good tune out there than it is for me to create a "musically perfect" work.
When I started this recording project almost four years ago I remember that my goal was to get these songs of mine recorded and protected in a simple clean production capable of delivering the message. My hope was that some other performer would pick up on my tunes and want to put them out there with is or her own flavor. After all that I have been exposed to in the past couple of years in the studio... meaning all that is possible... I have come back to the original idea of keeping it simple and just deliver the message! Get that part done first and then see what happens after that.
So... that's where I seem to be these days. With all of the distractions that life has presented these past months I find myself finally getting back to the "practice & rehearsal" part of the gig. I do feel a bit relieved, I must say. It was getting far too technical in my mind and... nothing was really being accomplished!
But now... my fingers are sore and I have to get past that!
More to come...
T.F.O.T.H.
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