DID I JUST DO THAT?!

“I’m done writing songs!”

Nope.

I thought I was done. But the universe had other plans.

This morning was a bit different. I was noodling around with two chords, not in a Taylor Swift way, but more of a “let’s see if these two chords go anywhere”. Stuck for ideas, I was going to put the guitar down and tell myself “Nope, fresh out of riffs.”

However, something as simple as a trippy effect can trigger things.

I have an Orange CR20LDX amp that I bought used a couple of years ago at Guitar Center for $100. It’s long discontinued but of course, I saw it and forked over the cash. I use it to write and record ideas onto the Tascam unit. I have messed with the effects on it, mostly chorus and delay. But what about this flange effect? Hmmm…I know a lot of people hate that sound, and I don’t know why. So with that in mind, I played these two chords with the flanger on.

WHOOSH!

Suddenly things opened up. The whole song won’t have flanger, don’t worry. But soon after, other ideas came to me. When a song writes itself, it’s a wild feeling. I quickly recorded on the Tascam, flubs and all, and listened back to it. Not once, not twice, but TEN times.

That’s when I looked at my hands and thought “Did I just do that?! Did I create this really cool song?! Could it be an actual hit single?!” I don’t write songs with hit singles in mind but the way this one flew out of me, it may as well could be. I’ve been excited over song ideas, licks, riffs, etc. but today I caught myself in disbelief.

The first time I felt this jolt was when I wrote “Turn To Rust” back in 2017. It was way out of my comfort zone, had ideas of channeling Hendrix/Trower/SRV, and it came out better than I anticipated. This particular song I wrote gave me the same burst of energy like “HOLY MOLY!”

For me to listen to a rough demo so many times is also rare too. I like the new ideas that are flowing through. I truly believe that the new batch of tunes are really great. I dare not say things like “This is the best stuff to date” because that’s such a cliche (I’m a PR rep’s worst nightmare). Just because something is new and fresh doesn’t necessarily make it THE BEST. It’s good to feel excited, that rush of energy and confidence is amazing. If the public says “This is your best stuff”, then great. Not my place to say it.

But the new tunes are friggin’ sweet!!