Welcome to "St Louis Musician " I'm not really sure where this blog is going to go or what it will become but I have had alot of people ask about what is going on with my music and if i'm playing anywhere so I thought i would create a place where people can catch up if they want. So I will try post from time to time about whats happening and any other musical thoughts that might be interesting to read. Iin time this should become sort of a music history journal about me and music \
There has been allot going on recently but first here is some background. I am a guitar player primarily that has over time learned to play bass, keyboards & drums. I do not claim to be an expert in the last two but i have learned them enough to be able put down tracks to get my ideas across to other more qualified artists. I have been writing songs for about 6 years and I have about 60+ songs copy written. Like most writers i steal allot of my ideas from other musicians. believe it or not that's the way it's done. I don't steal songs or lyrics I just copy ideas or riffs and build my own flavor around them. if you listen you will here pieces here and there that resemble lets say Joe Walsh or David Gilmour or Frampton. My style of music I'm told is classic rock but i am constantly trying to break that mold and add a more modern vibe to the music with ideas I get from bands like Foo Fighters and breaking Benjamin. Now don't get me wrong I also create my own licks and have come up with some interesting chord progressions.
A song to me is like a child. you create it, and nourish it, and then can mold it into what it becomes. Then like a proud father, you show it off and enjoy it. If its not fun to play then to me its not a keeper. The one thing you learn when recording is the importance of the mix. A good engineered mix makes or breaks the song. Over the years I have seen my writing and recording skills grow and as I listen to older material I sometimes feel the need to re-record or remix the song. I don't know about other musicians but there are some songs that I have written that have just learned to hate. At first that fealt wrong. How can you hate somithing you put so much work into but i've learned thats part of the creative process so I now have no problem just scrapping a song that has gone bad. but I always keep it as an archive in case I want to retry it in the future
Ideas? Songs come from the heart at least good songs do. its the emotion you are feeling that will give the song the flavor. you cant write a love song if your not feeling in love and its hard to write a you broke my heart song when your hearts never been broken. so the best time I have found to write is when I am going through some wrenching emotional time and I write what I am feeling. I also like to twist the meaning. An example of that is in the song Kriston. I changed a few words so the song appears to be about a bad relationship with a girl but in reality it was about a bad experience with an attorney who was handling a law suit for me. but the emotion was real so the song feels real and tells a real story
As far as who I'm playing with Well currently no one. I have had lots of opportunties to play in cover bands but I just simply have no interest. I have to many other commitments and a business to run so blowing my weekends in smoky bars does not have an appeal. So what i'm doing currently is continue to write songs and record them. Some of the members of Flanagan Jack are still in my musical realm. I will discuss various players in detail in a later entry's but my 2 recording staples or Ron Lewis (Bones) or (Lewron) on Drums.
There has been allot going on recently but first here is some background. I am a guitar player primarily that has over time learned to play bass, keyboards & drums. I do not claim to be an expert in the last two but i have learned them enough to be able put down tracks to get my ideas across to other more qualified artists. I have been writing songs for about 6 years and I have about 60+ songs copy written. Like most writers i steal allot of my ideas from other musicians. believe it or not that's the way it's done. I don't steal songs or lyrics I just copy ideas or riffs and build my own flavor around them. if you listen you will here pieces here and there that resemble lets say Joe Walsh or David Gilmour or Frampton. My style of music I'm told is classic rock but i am constantly trying to break that mold and add a more modern vibe to the music with ideas I get from bands like Foo Fighters and breaking Benjamin. Now don't get me wrong I also create my own licks and have come up with some interesting chord progressions.
A song to me is like a child. you create it, and nourish it, and then can mold it into what it becomes. Then like a proud father, you show it off and enjoy it. If its not fun to play then to me its not a keeper. The one thing you learn when recording is the importance of the mix. A good engineered mix makes or breaks the song. Over the years I have seen my writing and recording skills grow and as I listen to older material I sometimes feel the need to re-record or remix the song. I don't know about other musicians but there are some songs that I have written that have just learned to hate. At first that fealt wrong. How can you hate somithing you put so much work into but i've learned thats part of the creative process so I now have no problem just scrapping a song that has gone bad. but I always keep it as an archive in case I want to retry it in the future
Ideas? Songs come from the heart at least good songs do. its the emotion you are feeling that will give the song the flavor. you cant write a love song if your not feeling in love and its hard to write a you broke my heart song when your hearts never been broken. so the best time I have found to write is when I am going through some wrenching emotional time and I write what I am feeling. I also like to twist the meaning. An example of that is in the song Kriston. I changed a few words so the song appears to be about a bad relationship with a girl but in reality it was about a bad experience with an attorney who was handling a law suit for me. but the emotion was real so the song feels real and tells a real story
As far as who I'm playing with Well currently no one. I have had lots of opportunties to play in cover bands but I just simply have no interest. I have to many other commitments and a business to run so blowing my weekends in smoky bars does not have an appeal. So what i'm doing currently is continue to write songs and record them. Some of the members of Flanagan Jack are still in my musical realm. I will discuss various players in detail in a later entry's but my 2 recording staples or Ron Lewis (Bones) or (Lewron) on Drums.
and Janet Singleton on Bass. These 2 individuals have helped me in some way on almost every recording
At some point in time I intend to go into a professional studio and record a CD of my best stuff. For this I will be using Music Masters studios on the Hill in St Louis. Greg Trampe (Owner/Engineer) is very creative and great to work with and the studio is the best but by far not the cheapest
heres a link to the home page that will take you to the music and other social media http://flavors.me/jsingleton_
You can also follow on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/St-Louis-Musician/225020881622?v=wall and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/stlouismusician
I guess that's all for now .
J
