One day while listening to music on the internet, I wondered about the song writer. Where does he get his ideas from?

So I asked him.

I was curious to see if his writing process differed from mine as a romance author. We are both telling a story though his is a condensed compact get to the point quickly versions of a boy meet girl, boy gets girls and the many variations. I was surprised at the similarities as well as the differences.

My guineas pig, er ah that is to say wonderful MySpace chum Chad Holland from Wave Pool dared to answer the challenge of my questions. Q=questions, A=his answers, D=me :-)

Q: When did you first become interested in writing your own music?
A: I first started playing the guitar when I was about 16. And I immediately was trying to create my own songs on the guitar. They certainly were the equivalent of a 5 year old drawing a stick figure at first. lol. But over time I gradually got better, and frankly still feel I have a lot of growth in me.

D: ME TOO – well the growth part. I think all artists have an ever evolving style that keeps us excited and interested and drives most of out motivation.

Q: When you write, do you construct the lyrics first or the music?
A: It really depends on the song, it takes its own course. Most generally the course it takes is a bit of both at the same time, first starting with a guitar riff or pattern that I come across that begins to connect with me, and I’ll repeat it over and over just kind of sinking into the rhythm and sound of the chords or picking pattern. And I start to get a feel for where the sound wants to go, and try to take it there. And often in the mix of that the tune that I have started playing will begin stirring emotions in me about something that has recently been on my mind a lot, the tune usually being a somewhat crude translation of the emotions and or thought I have been mulling over inside. Sometimes I’ll start humming or singing a melody along with the tune, try to find the pattern to match the guitar and the emotions/thought inspiring it. And then the words begin to surface, like a simmering pot on the stove.  Sometimes slow, sometimes fast. Sometimes organized into a coherent thought, sometimes scrambled and cryptic at first. Sometimes the song gets written in 10 minutes, some times it takes several days repeating parts before other parts come along to fill gaps or connect sections.

There are occasions when the lyrics come first. Sometimes I’ll just sit down and begin writing what I’m feeling at a point in my life, kind of like a diary or journal entry. And sometimes those thoughts take the shape of a poem or potential song. And then sometime later, usually in a fairly close amount of time, I’ll be goofing around on my guitar and start writing a tune and realize the words I wrote down two weeks ago would likely go well with this. And then I start seeing if I can fit the two together. Sometimes the whole thing more or less lines up, sometimes it gets cut into pieces and reorganized, and some times some extra lines get added to connect the dots.

D: Novels are much the same way. For me, I get hung up on an idea, “What would happen if…” and I will construct the entire book around that. Connecting the dot for me is laying in extra levels of the characters that lends to their growth and motivation through the story.

Q: Where do you get the inspiration for your lyrics?
A: Girls! Where else! lol. Actually, I say that half jokingly. Others things inspire me too of course. Good and Bad experiences with Family and Friends. Experiences in my life, negative and positive, that stand out in my mind and stay with me over time. Or things that I want to happen in my life, things that I dream about. But mostly it’s relationships that inspire my songs, and not necessarily my relationships directly. Sometimes it’s relationships and experiences of those around me.

D: I can relate. Someone makes us mad (okay I mean me) and we put them in a story and do some evil things to them. Something makes us (me again) laugh and I give it to the hero or heroine to endear the other to them.

Q: Do you have someone you play your new songs for, like a critique partner of sorts?
A: Uuuum Yeah. Usually the first to hear my new songs is my drummer. He and I work really well together and he is very open to hearing new material I come up with. And he’s usually pretty honest in telling me how he feels about the song. (At least I hope he is!)D: Yep – we rely on our critique partners to give it to us straight not tells us what we want to hear (sorry mom!)