Manuscript

It's always weird to finish a big project, until I move onto the next one.

As a way of transitioning back into other forms of writing, I added all of the new songs to my "master lyrics" document. I then printed them and scribbled some notes to remind me how to play these songs, in case I forget. 

Keep in mind, the notes in my songbook were all written by and for a guy who plays almost entirely by ear, so there are things like "Big F" and "Weird D" in there. I know what I'm talking about, but unfortunately, my knowledge of music theory is limited to that which I have picked up over the years, often by playing with trained musicians who were far better than I. 

Even though the new album is officially done, a part of me still feels compelled to work on music--so typing up all of these lyrics and writing notes to myself kind of helps with that, too, while I figure out what's next. Right now, I am leaning toward writing another novel, while I continue to apply for actual paying jobs.  

The document with all of my songs to date kind of looks like a book when the pages are all stuffed into a three-ring binder. It comprises nearly seventeen thousand words in total. Including the title page and the table of contents, it's 106 pages of lyrics to sixty-four songs. If nothing else, I feel like being able to play these songs in any order is probably a good exercise for my brain.  

Of course, if I mess up a verse from time to time when I'm practicing, this is why. It's also a big part of why I practice. When I listen to my own music in the car or whatever, I count it as a partial rehearsal, too, because remembering all of the lyrics really is half the battle. When I sing along with these songs, if I'm doing it right, my voice aligns with the music in such a way that I cannot hear myself. It's a rather odd phenomenon. 

Petrichor will soon be available wherever you get your music. Thank you for listening and for checking out my blog. You're the real rock stars. I'm just a guy who writes words and music, sometimes together. I also like to bake bread, but I've yet to figure out how to work this into my repertoire.