My Opus

I spent some time in the car today and let my mind wander (uh-oh). I was feeling creative and decided to write a song. This is what happens when I spend too much time playing my guitar. For example, I had a circular, irrational dream last night about whether or not modes are scales, and no one could understand what I was trying to tell them. Most likely because I don’t know if modes are actually their own individual scales or if they are just subsets of the major scale in different keys or if I'm even in the ballpark (Help me Yngwie Malmsteen, you're my only hope). I don’t know if taking a music theory class would be helpful or not, but that’s neither here nor there. When my songwriting muse inspires me she comes in one of two forms: gangsta rap or death metal. Death metal showed up today. The lyrics come a lot easier than the music itself. I’m a much more comfortable poet than I am a musician. I had a couple of bullet points I wanted to hit. These phrases had to be in the song: the desolate beast and the Stygian pit. They were making me giggle in Toys R Us tonight while we were shopping for LMJ’s birthday. I also came up with Cyborg Satan in Toys R Us. I may have to rent some space in their stock room and use it as a studio. I don’t know if it’s more metal to spell cyborg with a C or an S. The lyrics are going to be deep. However, I am going to take some biblical liberties - Satan’s not a cyborg in any translation of the Bible, for one. The music is hard. I know what I want to hear, but I don’t know how to make it happen. I imagine it’s how LMJ feels when she talks. She knows what she wants to say, but the structure is a bitch. I’m already bored with the crap I’ve come up with. It’s derivative and it’s weak. My lack of music knowledge and guitar virtuosity is seriously messing up my song.


…to be continued.