New Lyrics for Older Songs

Believe it or not but when I first became really serious about being a professional musician, I was looking to enter the Christian music market. Most of my first songs and recordings were actually Gospel-themed (as I have shared previously) and I was hoping to create music that would be used in churches and worship settings. I was really influenced by the music of Hillsong church and of the various Vineyard churches being made around the world. There are some truly amazing recordings that have come out of both Hillsong and Vineyard, and even the non-religious would be hard-pressed not to like some of them.

I didn't limit myself to just 'church-type' music but I also tried making songs under the genre of CCM which is Contemporary Christian Music. This genre differs from 'worship' or church music in that it would not normally be used in church services. Rather it would be radio-type music with overtly Christian themes.

However, my own recordings and songs did not really go anywhere other than a few Billboard Contest Top 500 or Top 1500 awards. The last recording I made of any Christian-themed music came about in 2009. Since that time, I have decided that I could do a lot more through my passion for music and my abilities by creating non-Christian music. Some of my songs may still have Biblical themes but nothing overt and most likely with ambiguous lyrical meanings as some already do.

CCM has a very modern sound to it. And some of it is really good as I mentioned before. But as I draw the greater majority of my influences from 60's and 70's pop/rock music, the CCM-type songs I made were definitely out of place with what the big-name artists put out there. I don't think there is a market for 60s/70s sounding Christian music. There are just some things they're not open to. And the Christian music business is really no different than the non-Christian music business. They are both businesses with goals of making profits. That being said, my best chance lies with secular music, non-Christian music, regular music--whatever you want to call it. There is a lot more room for creativity in this area as my personal tastes encompass a wide variety of colors on the music spectrum.

The trouble is that I have several really good recordings that come with Christian-themed lyrics. What to do with them, as really they aren't going anywhere. What I have decided to do is to write new lyrics for them. In my opinion the songs are just too good to leave them lying around. And that's what I've started to do. A couple posts back I wrote about a song that I was editing down from 5 minutes to 3 minutes. That's one of those that I had originally written Christian lyrics for. In fact it was titled "All For You." I've scrapped those lyrics and even changed the melody completely. As I stated in that blog entry, I never released the song with vocals before. So when I do finish up this one it will actually be a fresh, new song. On the other hand, a song I have already released 2 years ago on my EP may need a re-working of lyrics.

Don't get me wrong. It's not like I have a slew of songs that I will now write new lyrics to. There are just 3, 4 tops. Some of the other ones I'm not even going to touch. They will remain in the dark recesses of oblivion. But only the ones that have solid instrumental backings or a cool riff that needs to be transported to a new song will see new light and life.

Most Amazing

I've gone several days without posting. I apologize. Something unexpected happened but now I'm back. So let's continue with my next song, "Most Amazing."

This was my song for 2005. I was aiming for a different sound from "You Are So Good." I had started to listen to some other bands and more modern music and this is what I came up with. It's definitely a driving alternative rock song featuring several electric guitar tracks, an acoustic guitar, an electric bass, drums and vocal track. At the time, this was the first song that did not include any keyboards. It was also my first song to feature an e-bow. The purchase and use of an e-bow was the result of a strong influence by Marcus Beaumont of Hillsong on their 17 minute epic song titled "Highest." That is the song I could be found listening to/watching the video of almost all the time back then.

This song is also different from anything else I made up to that point in that I tried singing in a different voice during the bridge part. As I was listening to a lot of alternative at the time--The Calling, STP, Live, Creed, Staind, Jeremy Riddle (of Vineyard), Tony Sanchez (of Vineyard), etc.--and was influenced not only by the guitar playing but also the vocal stylizing. Took me a while to get it, but eventually the end result was satisfactory to me.




What was not satisfactory to me is the overall sound of the drums. They sound muddy. The snare especially. The toms I can barely hear. Short of re-recording the drum track, I'm not sure there's much I can do to improve its sound. Also the overall sound of the track is a bit trebly. In particular the vocals and drums.

The guitars used in this song include: the white Les Paul Studio I pictured in the last post; a black Fender Aerodyne Strat which I had for a few years and regrettably traded for an Epiphone Dot; and a Gretsch White Falcon used for the solo during the bridge. I have none of those 4 guitars anymore. Here are some photos of the Aerodyne Strat:

(All these guitars makes me think I should devote one post to all the electric's I've had over the years.)

I entered this song into another Billboard Songwriting Contest and it ended up winning an Honorable Mention by placing in the Top 500. This was the best showing for any of my entries. I even won 2 prizes which included a book and a pair of sunglasses.

Do I want to spend the time reworking the odds and ends of this recording? Not really. I feel it was just another stepping stone to where I am now. It's a part of the past that should stay there. To be honest, I have new and exciting musical endeavours I want to embark on. Going back and working on stuff from the past is regressing, not progressing. This song was great when it happened. But I feel it really pales in comparison to some of the stuff I have done within the last few years. In fact, it has not stood the test of time for me like "You Are So Good" has. I find myself always coming back to listen to "Good." I rarely listen to "Most Amazing." "The Moment of Truth" is another I keep coming back to, especially after I re-recorded the vocals.

My Lord, My God (by Darren Clarke) Solo Guitar Tab

One of my most difficult tabs is for a Darren Clarke song titled "My Lord, My God." I combined the chords of the song along with the main melody and turned it into a solo guitar piece. So it's fingerstyle-type play and sounds great on either steel string or nylon string acoustic.

We'll start with my video in order to hear how it actually sounds:

And now the tab of what I played. Note that this is played with a capo on the 3rd fret.



E  :----2-2-h3-----2-0-|-----------------0-------- 1|---------------2-2-h3|
B  :----3----------3-3-|----2-----2-h3-----p2----- ||----3-3-/5-----3-3---|
G  :--2------------0-0-|----2---2-------------2---*||--2-2-2-/4-----2-2---|
D  :0------------0-----|--2---2--------2--------2-*||0------------0-------|
A  :-------------------|0------------------------- ||---------------------|
E  :-----------3-------|-------------------------- ||-----------0---------|

                                                              
E  :----2-0--------------|----2-2-h3-----2-0-|------2---0-----|
B  :----3-3-------3-p2---|----3----------3-3-|------2---2-2---|
G  :----0-0-----2------2-|--2------------0-0-|----2---------2-|
D  :--0-------2----------|0------------0-----|--2-------------|
A  :--------0------------|-------------------|0---------------|
E  :3--------------------|-----------3-------|----------------|

                                                                       
E  :----3---3---2-0-|----2-3---5-----|----5-3-----3-2-|0-2-3-0-2---2-0-|
B  :----0---0---0-0-|----2-2---2-2---|----3-3-----3-3-|2-------3---3---|
G  :----0---0---0-0-|----2-2---2---2-|--2-------------|2-------4---4---|
D  :--0-------------|--2-------------|0---------0-----|--------4-------|
A  :----------------|0-------0-------|----------------|0-------2-------|
E  :3-----3---3-----|----------------|--------3-------|----------------|

                                                                       
E  :--0-2-0---------|----5-3-----3-2-|0-2-3-0-2---2-0-|--0-2-0---------|
B  :3---------3-2---|----3-3-----3-3-|2-------3---3---|3---------3-2---|
G  :0---------2-2---|--2-------------|2-------4---4---|0---------2-2---|
D  :----------------|0---------0-----|--------4-------|----------------|
A  :--------0-------|----------------|0-------2-------|--------0-------|
E  :3---------------|--------3-------|----------------|3---------------|

                                                                      
E  :----2-2-h3-----2-0-|-----------------0--------|----2-2-h3-----2-0-|
B  :----3----------3-3-|----2-----2-h3-----p2-----|----3----------3-3-|
G  :--2------------0-0-|----2---2-------------2---|--2------------0-0-|
D  :0------------0-----|--2---2--------2--------2-|0------------0-----|
A  :-------------------|0-------------------------|-------------------|
E  :-----------3-------|--------------------------|-----------3-------|

                                               
E  :-----------------0--------|0---------------|
B  :----2-----2-h3-----p2-----|3---------------|
G  :----2---2-------------2---|2---------------|
D  :--2---2--------2--------2-|0---------------|
A  :0-------------------------|----------------|
E  :--------------------------|----------------|

It's a rather long tab and I know that reading tab for finger picking can be quite difficult. But the tab along with the video make it all a lot easier.