just writing

[bouzouki]

I write until my notebook is almost full, then I start another notebook.  Sometimes I know what I intend to write about and sometimes I don't have a clue.  sometimes I have one line, or sometimes a page is full and I go on until there is nothing more to write.  It is similar to some chronic mental condition, like an obsession.  Sometimes what I write is clear and makes sense, and other times I have no idea what I thought when I wrote.  I have no idea why I write, if it is to honor the Muse or just amuse myself, is it aimed toward someone(?) or just my yelling at the universe.   I think that once the muse is invoked, and your dues are first paid, it's like a membership to an ongoing association, there are more dues, and in my case, the requirement to write is never completed.  The strange thing is that as I explore my inner world, there is still something to write, and it does not have to make sense to anyone else, but I have to write.             bouzouki

[TheBanjomatic]

Man I really wish i thought about music that way.... The mathematician in me translates everything into patterns and sequences, etc....

When I write music, it seems to always be more a matter of "what if I applied this sequence of notes with my right hand on top of this chord pattern on my left hand.... hmm that sounds cool, but now lets move this finger up and down between iterations... hmm, that sounds cool too. How about we move that over to this part of the neck... gah, that sounds awful.. back down over there"

And eventually I'll find something that sounds cool, and then I'll figure out by listening to it where it moves next.

Then again, maybe what I do is not so different, almost stream of conscious instrumentally I suppose... it starts of as random nonsense, and eventually gets refined into something more complex. In that vein, my songs usually follow a winding path rather than any sort of verse chorus bridge format.

And while I'm not necessarily aware of or directly influenced by my muse/inspiration, what I'm feeling/experiencing ultimately contributes to what "sounds good" to me at any given time. That being said, I'm a big fan of minor chords and dissonance... perhaps that says a thing or two about myself.

Adam

[TheBanjomatic]

So just one more note on this train of thought,,,, David Grisman plays open chords alot, I am listening to him today as a study. I think my style is turing out to be more of a somba based rythm. Whatever I play seems to have this latin thing goin... I have asked my friend Hoyt (mandolin) to help me fix this

Funny you should say that! The other day I started playing Steam Powered Aeroplane as a Bossa Nova tune. Thats when I knew it was time for bed

[david blair]

Hearing that Bob Dylan had made songs up by piecing together lines from unused material, Joni Mitchell was inspired to do the same.
She sang
"In a day or two I'll be laying you. Odds...."

[EJ]

it is not plagerism it is the anxiety of influence. All of that "stuff" that is wandering around in our heads comes out. I have a line in a song "wherever I am, I am what is missing" which I wrote 20 years ago and read the same line in a Ted Hughs poem, 10 years after I had written it but from a book written the same year. Maybe we were channeling. It happens.

[Pen]

Quote:

"If I could I would just walk away from my job today and never look back...."
So my job walked away from me, and that was that.

[Pen]

wonder what he thinks of youtube?  ppl fear what they do not understand.

[TellurideTom]

Wow I discovered Tim Obrien's forum by chance yesterday, what a great forum.......

If you like to write get over to his site and read about Tim and how he developed his terrific skills.

Tims writing is great and his voice, to me, is comforting, like a fathers. Strong, soft, steady.......

You got a link?

[TellurideTom]

not at the moment. Ok now I remember, click on the lineup tab on the PBG TBF site start at top right of this page. I was reading the lineup information. Tim rules.................he is a Dylan man like me.  One man one voice. Pretty flippin cool.....

So, you mean the Tim O'Brien Forum 

[TellurideTom]

This is my farewell post till June. Love this forum and everybody on it!!!!

TILL JUNE MY LIL FESTI FRIENDS!!!!!!

You going somewhere?

[annpete]

Lyle Lovett smiled during his ENTIRE SET!!! What an abundance of good energy...is it possible to be in love with 10,000 fans and perhaps another 250 PBG  folks and artists??? Yes. I think it is.

Is THAT why I couldn't stop smiling/laughing/hooting? I think his joy was bouncing off everyone around me...what a show....!!!  I'm still flying from it   
 

 Listening to: Sarah...FirstGrass set

[TellurideTom]

APPEARENTLY I am a trend setter. Because everybody on this flippin planet now wants a Red Wagon. I cannot beleive they are on backorder EVERYWHERE! SHUCKS

There goes my hole just recently married, tricked out red wagon cake delivery........bummer... I will have to think of somethin else.

We'll have a few wagons at Camp Run-a-muck. I'm sure you can borrow ONE of them.

[annpete]

That's hilarious!
Nice job 
Ann 

 Listening to: Country Cooking

[The Goat]

No truer words will ever be spoken.

what good is a song if no one sings it...maybe it should be me

You should definitely play/sing them. If you have an iphone or ipod touch, there's a cool little app called "Four Track" that allows you to do all kinds of awesomely ridiculous stuff while recording things you wrote. Give it a try!

[The Goat]

:-)

This makes me remember our "school trip" to Kennywood every year in Pittsburgh when I was growing up. Back then all the rides took varying numbers of tickets that you carried around. I remember when I'd receive my tickets all rolled up and it just felt like "potential."

I open the drawer upstairs that has my town park tickets, night grass tickets, and Rocky Grass tickets. It just feels like "potential."

Super excited.

I remember going to Riverview in Chgo. every summer. It was thrilling and we all looked forward to it for weeks. Squirming in our seats in the car, crazy good fun. One summer my sister said, why are you not excited . Your always excited to go to Riverview(huge Amusment Pk). I told her i was but I was mature now and just didn't show it as much. Now TBF is something I can get excited about and keep getting excited about and I must say I have a huge smile on my face right now and my excitment is more then I can maintain. Now show us the goods, give us a tease, some art, you fart.

 Listening to: the bottle *glug* as I pour a glass of Castle Rock wine.