Creating Short Song, Few Lyrics, Lotsa Guitar!

Date conceived - 10th August 2024

The idea for this song was incredibly simple: make a song that has more guitar solo than singing. The whole idea came to me very quickly, to use an up-tempo twelve bar blues, and literally only repeat the twelve bars three times. The first and third would be all guitar solo, and the middle twelve would be the verse.

I knew the solos had to be incredible, so I decided to leave that until last, just in case I suddenly got better on guitar at a later date. I got down the rhythm guitar, a guitar melody part (and two harmonies), the bassline, and then went to tackle the vocal.

Originally I'd written a lot of words. Really, an insane amount. The idea was to sing them really fast and it took me a lot of attempts but I eventually got it down as well as I was going to. I remember well that I went back to it the next day (it's often good to have a break and listen with fresh ears) and what I heard...I hated. Just so you can get an idea of how bad it was, here for you now are the original lyrics:

I'm gonna sing a song and it really won't take long

'Cause I'm really bad with words and that's a fact you've probably heard

I only wrote one verse 'cause any more would just be worse

And once I get it out the way I can just grab my axe and play

But because I sing with speed a lot of words I'm gonna need

And only now we're halfway through, if you ask me that's kind of poo

Well I'm out of things to say so how are you and how's your day?

Even if the weather's crap I hope inside you're feeling happy

You might feel like you're in a quarry and this song won't help, I'm sorry

Even though it's far from flawless (hasn't even got a chorus)

But now the words are at an end it's time for us to understand

Before you grab your coat and go we're going to finish with more solo!

Remember that all of these words fit in the exact same place where the single verse is in the song now. When I heard it back, it was so bad I knew I couldn't use it, but also that I'd never be able to sing it well enough to record and release, so I abandoned the song. In the meantime I got to work on the next three songs on the album but as I went, I was aware I still needed more songs, having set myself a target or twelve tracks for the finished album. Reluctantly I turned my gaze back towards this song.

The first thing I realised was that the rest of the song was still good. I'd even recorded a few drafts of the lead guitar part and it was going to work, if I could just sort out the lyrics. I realised the fast singing thing wasn't going to work so threw out the lyrics (luckily today I found a recording buried in the project folder so I could re-type them for your enjoyment(?) above) and started writing from scratch.

The new verse worked perfectly, and got me back on track to then get cracking with the final version of the lead guitar. I didn't differ too greatly from the drafts I'd already recorded, so I just recorded the lead part again and again (thirteen takes!) and then comped together the final solo. Truth be told, there is one part of the solo I simply cannot play because of the way I've cut it together. It's the very twiddly bit at 1:15. I'm sure it's playable by someone, just not me. I can do the rest of it though. Bonus points to anyone who works out the influence for the single part of lead guitar harmony (at 59 seconds). It's by Steve Vai, and it mimics a line he plays in the guitar showdown at the end of the film Crossroads (see it if you haven't, it's ace!)