AW Musicians / Songwriters / Lyricists

lostpoet

eta ki!
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I am just starting out as a songwriter, still have a long way to go i reckon.

I am mainly motivated towards making electronica and i listen to a myriad range of sounds that are both electronic and otherwise (some stuff I am sure most people have never heard before, try Niyaz).

I have [bravely] put up two tracks [read: stuck my neck out] on SoundCloud.

http://soundcloud.com/shailpik

feedback would be nice. I could not balance and master them properly because I am still saving up for a pair of reference quality monitors.

edit: i just remembered that they don't have any lyrics, so i am kinda not sure if it fits in here...
 
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Pink Ink

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Cool thread.

I play piano and acoustic guitar. I write songs.

I am the lead singer for a rock band that mostly covers retro songs.

My musical goal: to branch out and sing solo with acoustic guitar. To write more songs.
 

dahlfan

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Short term goals:

-Learn to play my songs on guitar and piano
-Get over my fear of performing
-Strengthen my voice

Long term:

-Get paid
-Win a grammy (lol)
 

dnic

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Oh wow. I somehow missed this sticky. Would love it if there can be some sort of collaboration thing...it'll be fun!

I'm mainly an instrumentalist:
- Piano (for over a decade...though you can't really tell if you listen to me).
- Flute and all of its family (i.e. piccolo, alto flute...I think I've spent about eight years on them).

But as per requirement for music majors:
- I can sing (barely). I can sight-sing and accompany myself on piano. (I haven't figured out how to do with that with flute yet).
- Compose. (Or have the know-how to do it. I go at it old school though, pencil and paper and I'm only familiar with writing for piano).
- Conduct. (Surprisingly complex if you get into it.)

And I can write lyrics, but my friends are the ones that put them with melodies. Doing lyrics plus melody sends me into a tizzy. I would keep adding onto the accompaniment until it all but drown out the main voice. :tongue
 
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MisterChris

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Well, Just found this thread. Thanks Jay for starting it.

I play:
Acoustic Guitar (Not as good as John, but pretty good - 35 years)
Keyboards - passably, but mainly 1-handed chords and 1-noters
Bass - passably
Recorder - pretty well, I can play most melody lines
Trumpet - not well
Kazoo
Vocals - 2+octave range, but not great in the outskirts.

I started writing again in June 2006 and have since written 12 albums worth of music. Most of it Christian Acoustic Folk.

Entered The International Songwriting Competition twice, first time with seven sure-fire-winners. Didin't even get an honorable mention. Hmmmm.

Guess it's luck of the draw?

I started a band with my brothers, we recorded 2 albums but it was very hard finding time to even get together, so I went on to home-record demos of everything else.

You can hear about a third of my stuff on SoundClick under 3 band names.

John - listened to your youtube - very nice picking and your voice is not bad for an old guy.

Wrote a song to Eulogize one of the guys who got me playing, Dan Fogelberg. It's on my SoundClick site under the name Empty Stage

My music is also on iTunes and YouTube and on YouTube and on Garageband, iLike, and a dozen other music sites.

Played at several churches in the area, mainly as a solo. I've been told I sound so much better in person than I do on my albums that I should just go play.

But right now I'm busy writing novels. :)
 

Fran

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I play guitar and drums and sing and write songs. Many years ago I was taught timpani and glockenspiel but whether I'd be any use now is doubtful. I can read bass and treble clef and drum notation, but tab? Not. A Clue. It makes NO sense to me. I'm very strange!

http://memusic.metro.co.uk/search?q=generation+angel&t=tunes A couple of my songs if anyone wants to hear them. It's just vocals and my beat-up old three-quarter classical which somehow manages to make a really nice noise.
 

Caitlin Black

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In my early days in school, we had music class, and one day we were asked to sing a high note. Nobody could do it, and I hadn't really tried, so I halfheartedly "faked" it as a bit of a joke, and the teacher pointed at me and said, "Spot on." :) I can't do that anymore. Le sigh.

Also in those classes I learned how to read and write music. I didn't study music in high school though, so I've since forgotten everything.

Then I bought a drumkit, and sucked at it.
Then came a bass guitar borrowed from a friend, and it was fun, but I didn't learn much before he took it back.
Then came an electric guitar, which was even more fun, but I still didn't learn anything.
Then came keyboards, and I was alright at it, but never improved any from what I started out with...
Then I picked up my electric guitar again, and I've been playing that ever since. I sound halfway decent, in a thrash metal kind of way, but haven't had any real lessons. My picking is getting better, and I'm learning the feel of what to do with the strings. I guess I play by feel... but if I were asked to play something on stage, my electric guitar would be it. (With the Behringer Ultra Metal effects pedal :D)

Now I have new friends, and they have a band that needs a bass guitar, which is the one thing I've never owned that you'd find in your average rock band. So maybe when I have some money, I'll buy a cheap one and see how I like it, and maybe find a place in a band. For now I'm happy just playing electric at home.

Oh, and I've written lyrics to about twenty songs when I thought I could sing metal. I can't. I choke, literally. So now the lyrics are wasting away in a notebook.

So, I've been semi-musical for about 6 years now, but only serious about one instrument for about 2 months.

My ultimate goal is to be able to play in a band and actually remember the songs! So far, I can improvise, but ask me to play the same thing (like, 2 minutes worth even) over and over again, and I'll just shrug, shake my head, and say, "Yeah, somehow I don't think that's going to happen." But the more I play my guitar, the more I begin to think in terms of songs, instead of just improvising, so maybe one day...

It'd help if I could read and write music, I guess.

But yeah, I'd be happy playing bass in a band, if I ever got any good at it. And seeing as how I have a band lined up that only needs a bass player... yeah, I should get cracking. Problem is affording one to begin with.

/ramble
 

yoghurtelf

yoghurt elf say wheeee!
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Hey everyone!

Here is my original music (everything is by me):

http://www.last.fm/music/Woody's+A+Girl

Most of it is available for free download there.

I recently started putting up my lyrics here:

http://lyrics.wikia.com/Woody's_A_Girl

But as you can see I have lots of work to do yet!

And I also put up a video to one of my songs "Chaos Theory" on YouTube recently, the video being my works of art:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lamgz7cc_Og

The main reason for this was to get my music into yet another popular site.

I don't really intend to do anything with my music, except write more of it and share it with friends/family/the public, but I do so enjoy to get feedback.

I will be checking out this thread properly later, to hear about all your music!

Cheers,

ye
 

PrincessofPersia

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I play:

Bass guitar
Guitar
Drums
Piano/keyboard
Dulcimer
Cello

I used to be able to sing, but I never developed the ability to correctly hit a pitch every time. So, after I lost my hearing, I stopped singing.
 

G.P.

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Well, I have been playing music as long as I can remember. I should probably be a lot better than I am now that I realize how long it has been.

Lead/rhythm, electric/acoustic guitar
Bass guitar
I sing, but only because no one else will
Drums (very little), I can keep a beat

I own quite an extensive collection of recording gear and have my own studio. I have recorded many local bands in both live and studio environments.

I am in a progressive rock/Jamband at the moment called Soup Sandwich, we are pretty much original music however we do some covers, (classic rock), when we need to do more than an hour or two of music. We used to play a lot locally in northern IL and southern WI. Now we do mainly special events and local festivals or community benefits, mainly for the city and it's promotion of art, literature and music.

Goals... well I it is hard balancing writing and music along with the rest of my life, however I do try. I guess I would just like to do one or both for a living. I make a little money between gigs and my studio so all I need now is a successful book deal LMAO.

some recordings new and old can be heard at...

http://www.reverbnation.com/hgmrfproducktions
 
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crunchyblanket

the Juggernaut of Imperfection
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I used to be a metal vocalist but I've had to turn that in since I developed vocal chord cysts. These days, I sing acoustic stuff, both covers and original. My other half is a guitarist and we mainly work together. I occasionally fill in for a Louisiana blues band nearby.
 

MattCardin

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Lots of musically inclined writers here. Interesting!

I've played piano and keyboards for 32 years (since I was eight), and have composed and recorded music since I was a teen, including the scores for various video productions that I made back when I was in that business.

A couple of years ago I released an album of original music -- a hybrid of electronica, metal, and New age -- titled Daemonyx: Curse of the Daimon. It's thematically linked to my book Dark Awakenings, which came out last year. I spent four obsessive years composing (channeling?) and recording/producing the tracks. I ended up securing album cover art from my friend Jason Van Hollander, the renowned fantasy-horror artist, and several of my horror writer colleagues, including Thomas Ligotti and Ramsey Campbell, provided enthusiastic blurbs. The take-away is that my musical and authorial creativity are deeply intertwined, which I'll be is equally true of many other AW members.

You can hear samples at CDBaby, or the entire album in streaming form at the music page of my website.


 

Arcadia Divine

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I've been playing guitar for a couple years. I'm seriously considering a career in music and I intend to make Electronica. I have everything I need...minus a sound proof room :D
 

Patches

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Hi!

I just wanted to say that the definition of "musician" is vague and ambiguous. It's not a label that requires a degree, record deal, or intrinsic grasp of pitch. I'm a musician at heart, although I study in college for a career in an unrelated field.

I was adopted as an infant, but my adoption papers have records of me banging on pots and pans to make music. I grew up in a family that loved musical theatre, and could figure out almost anything on piano by ear. I was gifted an old, tiny keyboard by a babysitter and eventually took a few months of piano lessons. I progressed quickly, but decided that piano was *not* allowing me to play the contemporary music I enjoyed. I can read music, but I don't. It's a way of recording music visually, and it's an aural art. For me, it's a backward way of trying to figure out a song, haha.

I inherited a guitar during high school and taught myself how to play. I played my first song within a few seconds of putting on a string. I had a lot of time, a Metallica discography, and a highly competitive environment with very talented musicians. I figured out songs note by note, chord by chord, until I had a firm grasp of guitar basics. I wrote music and lyrics and kept them with me everywhere.

I eventually crossed paths with quite a few fingerpickers and learned music in the style of Tommy Emmanuel and Chet Atkins. As a pianist, I appreciate the complexity of guitar arrangements with point and counterpoint. I realized the music I was writing was abstract and very different than most of my Western influences.

Then I found flamenco. I was immersed in Sabicas, Manolo Sanlucar, Andres Segovia, Paco Pena, and realized that bands like Rodrigo Y Gabriela even incorporated many of these techniques into Rock.

I moved quite a bit over the last few years as a traveler. I keep my guitar with me and collaborate with musicians whenever I can. I bought a flute, a violin, and a harmonica. I can beatbox, sing, and whistle. I love hand percussion, and especially percussive guitar techniques. Most of the music I write is a mixture between classic rock, classical spanish guitar, 80s hair metal, 90s grunge, street punk, and rap with a few pop and alternative influences.

My ambitions are to reunite with my best friend and former bandmate, dedicate our lives and studies to music, and make our livelihood doing something we're passionate about that improves the quality of life for others. In the meantime there will be plenty of dead-end jobs, general education requirements, and irresponsible mistakes... but I am a musician. I wouldn't want it any other way.

Skills:

- Guitar/Piano/Harmonica
- Vocals/Beatboxing/Lyrics
- Percussion
- Taking random objects and making new sounds.

Genres:

- A little bit of everything I've heard.

Ambition:

- Make this world a better place, musically.
- Change the world in a large way by communicating ideas with melodies and chords.
- Expand on the possibilities of my instruments and contribute new techniques.
- Start a riot.
- Rock on.
 
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Treysaur21

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Well, I guess it's never too late to join the bandwagon, eh?

I'm fairly good with a piano, I think. I play by ear and know most of the chords, but the definition of playing in a 'key' eludes me.
I sing well, though outside of high school assemblies, I have no performance experience.
I cannot read music to save my life. If I was ever held hostage and the bad guy demanded I translate a piece of music for him from jibberish to English so that he could pass his music final or whatever, I would die, and he would fail.
I write songs. Like, one gets started every other day. Finishing them is sometimes a challenge, sometimes not. I've not tried my had yet at writing a musical, at least not on paper, but I have hundreds of potential storylines/lyrics stashed in this lump of grey matter.
I've done a bit of demo recording on my pc at home, but studios are expensive, and I'm without a job.
Greatest dream: To make a living selling my songs and singing, if at all possible. I dream about playing sold out concerts and bouncing around a huge stage like I'm high on sugar...
 
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mario_c

Your thoughts are not real...
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Well done, all.
I'm a jazz guitarist and I've been recording and mixing a demo - I've got five pieces (standards and other reinterpretations) on disc. My goal is to play locally as much as possible, pure and simple. Weddings, bar mitzvahs, roman orgies...:D I do write originals and would love to write scores for TV/movies/et cetera as well.
The originals will go into the Music Lab when they are done. My webpage <-- :D has the stuff I've done so far, and it is always a work in progress. I want to upload to iTunes, so if anyone has good advice on the best way to do that, I'd appreciate it.
 

Lane

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I play guitar, played Sax" in school. I could read music I`d have to refresh all that now. the songs and music I do like to write only require 5 chords...lol
I write, rough a little tune and hand them to people with much more talent than I.
[if I think its worthy]
 

BryanSerwatka

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I grew up playing piano and trumpet, then started making noise on drums and guitar (with far too many effects pedals), and have now stripped everything back to guitar and keyboards.

I play in a band called Backyards and we're really starting to get our music off the ground. We've had airplay on BBC Radio 6 on Tom Robinson's show as well as some local BBC Radio Leeds and internet play. I split the lead vocal and songwriting duties with Ben Styles, a literature student working on his masters (and possibly PhD). We do our best to translate our passion for literature and poetry in our lyrics - especially in our 'poppier' songs where there's typically less room for prose.

I guess posting in the Music Lab is next :)
 

bluntforcetrauma

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I've got some of my song videos in my sig line. All have on screen lyrics. I compose and play it all so whatever goes wrong, I'm to blame. Mind you, these are demos.