General Music Chat

I came across a forgotten cache of song recordings I'd done.
I have so many songs I've developed that it would take me at LEAST 10- 15 years to learn to play them, remember how they go and all.
And then, to record them would take an additional 20 years.
And I'm still composing new stuff, I can't stop creating,
But I won't live long enough to do it all, and when I die (of old age) I'll have over 300 songs lost forever.
When we die, everything we own will belong to someone else, and I have no kids.
The logistics are impossible, and it makes me sad.
These are good songs, half suitable for vocals, half suitable for instrumentals.
The Instrumentals would take a very proficient guitarist to learn/play.
I'll be looking for an apprentice.
I will teach them everything I know, and when I die they will inherit the songs.
The thing is, anyone who hears this will think it's too good to be true, and want to know what the catch is.
. . . sigh . . . no catch . . .
Alan Bradley
Madison, CT

. . . by the way, the person I work with - male or female, young or old, should probably be under 40 years old.
I want my student to outlive me, that's all.

I write a lot of songs down, but it's a slow way to learn, eh? . . . . especially given all the permutations of fingerings.
.
But, mostly, I'm back to the original quandary. Who sees it if it's written down? I'm not famous or rich . . .
I've got over 300 pages of paperwork, and 140 original songs (many of them extremely rough) recorded.
.
But I don't want to just make a record of what I've done, I want to teach someone to be able to play it.

You needn't take a ;long time re-recording all the songs, do basic acoustic versions, just video them in one or a couple of takes.

To find a young musician you can mentor may be tougher. My book of unrecorded songs is not anywhere near as extensive and I look at some of the lyrics and think 'I have no idea how that song went...'

Well, if preserving your music is important... then preserve it. Van Gogh never sold a painting in his lifetime and lived mostly as a pauper but his works are now celebrated as some of the finest oil paintings ever. This is true of many artists and musicians.

We each accomplish that which we are simply determined enough not to allow anything to stand in our way. Nobody said it would be easy or fun but if it is truly important to you, just get started. Make a plan and execute the plan. Any simple phone recorder or video will be plenty good enough to get your ideas preserved. Follow that up with lyric/lead sheets if you wish. Document 1 song per day until it is complete. Once your music catalog is complete, you need to get a copy to someone who is interested enough to carry on.

You can do this if you really want to make it happen.

Yea, he's right. There is only one person stopping you from recording them.

It's always a bummer when we come across a song we wrote a long time ago, and don't have a clue as to how to play them, eh?

Today's digital age makes it easier to record/remember songs, eh?
I use my loop pedal to record a new song Idea, sometimes, before I forget it. We always think we'll remember it, but , within an hour: poof!
I don't even listen to it after recording, but I'll usually upload it into my computer within a week or so, and listen then.
.
Yeah, I've been recording, all along. 11 recordings since June; that's when I realized what a Herculean task I have before me.
But I never said I wanted to just "preserve" my music. I'd like to have someone to teach my craft . . . how to play the songs, not just listen to them. Like I said, no kids to teach, and that just bummed me.
But - good suggestions, all.
I'll just keep plugging away at the recordings.
That was interesting info about Picasso and Bach, btw . . . I never knew.

I just uploaded "Wandering Minstrel" . . . would take me hours to transcribe & write down on paper, eh?

.
Anyone else run into this kind of thing that we've been talking about?

I don't understand the need to teach your catalogue to a single person when recording makes it available for anyone/everyone to interpret in their own way?

I would prefer that someone covering one of my tunes does it to the best of THEIR ability more than hearing them produce a cloned version. It sounds like you're trying to have a predictable outcome....and that is the kiss of death in any kind of art.

But assuming this is more about your mortality than your music, have you any kids? I couldn't find a great drummer for the longest time so I raised one. Unfortunately he grew up and became independent....and the best musician in my family preferred being a film-maker.

But I never said I wanted to just "preserve" my music. I'd like to have someone to teach my craft . . . how to play the songs, not just listen to them. Like I said, no kids to teach, and that just bummed me.

Offer to give guitar lessons. If you are like me you will find one natural talent for every ten who say they want to learn to play but even teaching the simplest stuff has it's rewards. If you find a player with serious interest, teach them one of your songs. If they are drawn to it, teach them more.

Realize that music is art and no one will ever play it exactly like you do. We each put a piece of our soul into our music and that is why we all sound a little different. Personally I think that is a good thing.

You'd be sadder if you were me. In the "catastrophe of '96" I got drunk and burned my songbook. All that gone.

I resurrected a few from memory later on but rather than let it bother me, I wrote a bunch of new songs!

My ex could never get it - that I write songs because I have to. Nor did she, or most folks really, understand that songs are what happens to fall out of the songwriter's head. (usually but not always)

I went through a period of thinking all my music and my adventures were meaningless - ultimately I'd croak and that was that - all pointless. I got over it. Don't let it get you down.

Talbot

. . . forget the stuff you can't remember lol.

.
Heh - I already did!