Together Till the End

I was playing around with my guitar, finding various ways to add ninths, sixes, sevenths, suspended 4ths, etc. But like trump, my hands aren’t large & though my fingers are a bit slender, not so long. Despite this, I played bass professionally for about 25 years. I also played keys professionally during those years. Oddly enough, I started our first band at 14 as one of two guitarists, but our bass player quit early on. So, I stepped up, mostly cause I knew the notes on the fingerboard and had an idea how to play bass. I’ve always played guitar, usually wrote using the guitar, but reaching 7ths, 9ths, etc. is difficult despite being able to stretch on the bass. On guitar one also has to hold the chord while reaching. So I came up with the idea of using a capo and playing a different chord, like a C, with the capo positioned for the “C” to be another chord, like an E. Then I can reach the 6th & 7th, like with this tune. So I’m doing things like that, which is sometimes how a new song comes to mind, and that happens. I think I had the capo positioned for a C to make a D when I stumbled upon the base of this song. With that idea, I moved the capo so I was in the key of E, a good key for my voice to sing a song like this. From there I wrote the song. The lyrics came flooding to me so I wrote the poem prior to the melody. That resulted in me trying a number of different melodies and chord progressions to fit the lyrics. Honestly, after a couple of days working on it off & on (yes, I still have other things I have to do at times, despite telling myself it shouldn’t be so), I was ready to retire the idea & cast it into my portfolio of unfinished song ideas. But the next day I got up with a new attitude and sat down with it again. Then it fell into my lap rather quickly. It was simple. Go 4 chord to minor two toward the end of the first line, then to the 5 chord middle of the next line. Two quick chord changes, then back to minor two to 4 chord. And with that I found a melody for the second section. That led to a change in the melody of the first section, which worked better. It also led to the one chord with root bass note, add 6th with 5 bass, add 7th with root bass, add 6th with 5 bass, back to one chord. That’s the movement heard in the turnaround parts of the song. And that’s how this song was conceived and born. It’s different most every time. The thing about writing songs is it’s a craft. Like all crafts, it gets better by writing more. I’ve done it enough now that I have an idea how to proceed. But it still takes determination. Even songs I’ve dreamed of, awoke, got up, went downstairs & began putting it together from the dream, even those require a bit of work & polish. But I do enjoy writing. Stream/purchase high quality audio at https://usrysons.bandcamp.com