The Best Songwriting

The Best Songwriting

I think the best songwriting happens when a band just jams and stops...and then someone plays something that sparks the new song. It's the magic you can't get elsewhere. You won't find it in your bedroom alone at 4am. You won't find it in the van on the way to the gig. There's something about the "space" that makes the whole thing more sacred.

I remember reading a bit in Musician's Magazine on my fellow CT guitarist Keith Richards, where he said he jammed buddy holly songs on the piano when he was looking to write something. I would have to imagine it was almost to prep himself to find greatness in his songs by playing proven songs he already thought were great beforehand. I hope that makes sense.

I also know (from following) Steve Vai, that he likes to play for hours before he starts writing. As almost to prep himself for his best ability.

Sometimes I just go in for it without practicing. That was yesterday. I sat with my acoustic and wrote three simple and effective riffs.

Tonight my band Fear The State wrote 2 riffs inside of 10 minutes. It started with our drummer playing a crazy beat, almost like a continuous drumroll. So I played 4 chords over it, and we all sat and managed to make a song we all enjoyed in 10 mins. It turned into this
 


Of course, time will tell how good it is!

Check out my band online @ www.fearthestate.com
Check out www.marcamendola.com
Follow me on twitter @ www.twitter.com/maramendola

Thanks for reading!

Here's a Great Idea...COMMUNICATE! WTF?!

So Today I'm dealing with BS about a show that's supposed to happen in 8 days from now. It was planned out way ahead of time, and somehow it got all screwed up. I'm here picking up pieces, making calls and writing this to let people know what a pain in the ass you can be if you don't communicate with people.

Communication is key to a lot of great things in this world. I'm sure I've been guilty of not communicating once. However, that's no excuse for everyone else to follow. after all, who has followed me anyway?

So I'm sitting here trying to come up with answers on the show and I'm telling you it stinks. Just keep this in mind next time the show is postponed or cancelled. it's probably some miscommunication via the promoter and venue and not your artist being flaky.

Oh No, I'm not aggravated.

-Marc

p.s. I got a new guitar this week. look at it on www.youtube.com/guitaroogle

Vamping & Revamping

Today I got back to an 8-track rebuild project I was working on this winter. It never got finished, thanks to the snow. But I go the deck put back together so at least I could use it as a console and utilize the pre-amps. The deck was an 8track recorder. A Tascam 388. And as I know that the preamps aren't the most amazing, they are 30 years old and if I can utilize a couple clean ones, I can probably make some records off of it in the house.

Which reminds me, there's something about the vamps I put down in the house. They groove, they resonate with people more and I notice this. Maybe I resonate better as a music composer in my home? I'm not really sure. If you listen to the new Fear The State song "Meet Our Maker" I sang the riff in the yard. Somewhere on my computer it's labeled "yard riff". Pretty elementary, but just like that school of rock movie where Jack Black and Kyle Gass have a scene where they don't hit the recorder to catch the greatest song in the world...I've been there and I've missed it. So now I do silly things like talk into my voicemail...video tape the chair so I can here the new song I wrote just now, and other wild things of that nature. It may seem silly, but it's the way musicians work. This one seems to have worked out well.

Arpeggios and More Guitar Tricks

I learned a lot about scales and modes from Frank Gambale's guitar articles when I was younger. This video demonstrates how amazing this guy is! I mean, he's fast, articulate and innovative. I'm working on this lick right now.

Here's a cool YouTube video

Also while on Youtube...look up Frank Gambale Sweep. can't believe the accuracy.

Pop Songs and ReWriting in Studio

Today went really well. I cut some studio tracks last night where my voice sounded great, yet the parts weren't right yet. So i find myself needing to rewrite the song melody/lyric/parts it gets out of control when you don't have to stop. I mean...it's my shop. I can work this until next year, right? Next time around, i'm playing my songs for people with an acoustic and then producing. I don't know if i need to hear the songs in that almost complete state to notice it could be stronger? I did it today while working on a pop song I wrote. I had to have more parts on it, yet i couldn't get the part out on the spot, so it waits another week or so until completion. Hopefully it all happens quickly, because i need some records done!

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Paying Dues Worth The Price

Last night i played down at Anna Liffey's in New Haven, CT with my band Fear The State. It was Big Ian's Birthday Bash. (Which sounds like another Bday Bash i named many years ago...hmmm..did i influence that? Can't be.)
We took this show because These Green Eyes were playing the event. A spectacular band! We love doing shows with good bands. It makes it fun. These Green Eyes is great! And they did a 2 piece show....minus the drummer. Very cool.

Upon entering I met up with Logic, New Haven rap artist who was doing a cd in my studio with Redemption Records about 2 years ago. He told me he was MCing the event, and that he would finally get to see my band.

We loaded in and set up, and my backup git was giving me wierd sounds, so it was a one guitar night. No biggy.
No biggy until I got up onstage and broke my Gstring first song in! What's the chance....with fresh strings!
So i ask for a Gstring and everyone chuckles, assuming I was asking for women's under garments, and I was noticing we had a nice crowd, so I just continue to play a 5 string. I figured these are still our songs, we're still playing them. I'm not passing up an assuming crowd for a gstring! F No! So we kept it going, and it went well.

Into the Fear The State song Gangsters and Rockstars I call Logic up to freestyle an intro, so he destroys it as always, we launch into the song, while Logic hangs up front with the Mic. So we play the 2verses and the 2chorus' and let him go again! As soon as he was done, we lauched into the last chorus and brought down the house! People were into Gangsters and Rockstars, and kept mentioning it to me all night.

Reflecting on the whole thing, it's exactly what the song Gangsters and Rockstars is about.
Paying dues and building friendships and musical relationships. Life is funny sometimes.

Thank You to all who came out last night and saw Fear The State.

Until next time.....

Follow me on Twitter.com/marcamendola.

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