Momentum
Published: Thu, 02/17/22
It was, as they say in my hometown, wicked fun, so I did the next one that way too, minus the vocal flim flam but with additional harmony parts. And so on, and so forth. Monday night, after I'd posted my fifth song, I thought I'd lower the stakes a little and cook up a solo fingerstyle instrumental to kind of pad the song count. I was fifteen minutes into that when a lyric idea popped into my head – not an in any way profound idea, but fun, so within another half hour I had three verses and something I could record, post and call song #6. One mic, one take, more than one mistake, but I got all the words right and didn't drop the time, so up it went on my page.
The thing is – no way could I have written and posted a song in under and hour, start to finish, without having (1) embarked on the game in the first place, (2) worked through those other five songs, and (3) decided the next one didn't have to be anything crazy-amazing to qualify as complete.
This is why it feels better to work on something specific, practicing a little every day, than to sit down for two hours once a week and work on a little bit of everything. Regular practice builds momentum, momentum makes practicing feel more rewarding; when practicing feels more rewarding you're more inclined to sit down and do it again the next day, which builds momentum...Also, and this may be just as important: the more times you do something, the lower the stakes are each time you do it. With five songs in the bag, I felt like I could take more chances with the sixth song. With five days of practicing under your belt, you won't be so tweaked if, on the sixth day, you hit an unexpected challenge. If you know you're going to be there the next day, and the day after that, unexpected challenges become easier to metabolize. You just fold them into whatever you tackle next.
And in the broader picture, the more times you metabolize a challenge and discover a way to work through it, the less each challenge fazes you, because you build up a history of...working through challenges. Right now, that 7-string guitar is kicking my ass. One day I feel like I've figured it out, the next day I wonder if I will ever dial it in. But I remember feeling the same way when I was learning to play the pedal steel, learning to write four-part harmony, learning to sing with confidence. I could still stand to get a lot better at all of those things, but if I keep in mind the arc I traveled towards working competency at each of those previous things, I can imagine a future in which I can do this new thing, too.
I anticipated spending at least at year with the 7-string before taking it outside my practice room. But it turns out trying to write and record songs with it has been a great accelerator. I'm sure a year from now I'll cringe listening to this February's demos, but for now, committing something structured and complete "to tape" has helped clarify where I'm at and where I need to improve most.
In the meantime, I've been listening to tenor saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter. I've made a playlist of a few early favorites, followed by some other things I've been enjoying this month; you can find it at the link below.
Keep It Short(er)
More soon,
David