all piecez start out with some kind of inspiration, whether it be the visualizing of a complete song, or only a tiny fragment. this inspiration is the mysterious part, because it is impossible to locate the origin of these thoughtz. without inspiration, the songwriting process is hard work, trying to fit together piecez in an incomplete puzzle. this is where musical knowledge comez in, which can aid in what to do next, however even theory can't finish a song that doesn't want to be finished. sometimez the inspiration for a song will take yearz to congeal, dropping hintz at first, then finally revealing the true nature of the composition only after several coursez have been exhausted. most of my writing is in the mental plain, in that i will try to hear the song first, then figure it out. these mental arrangementz usually include all the instrumentz, like hearing a finished piece. where there are gapz is where the work comez in. working with inspiration is a very rewarding experience, but it can be very frustrating when you need to find inspiration and can't.

the most exciting way to write is when, through some divine influence an entire song materializez within my mind. i am then able to use my knowledge of music to translate this into a "real" form; chordz, melody linez, lyricz etc. this type of songwriting is extremely rare. usually in these casez either all the lyricz to a song are created at one time, they appear to flow as i type, or sometimez i envision the music, and can hear the melody against a rhythm, or backing chordz or riff in my head. these songz can become obsessive, everywhere i go i hear this song, and the only way to stop hearing it is to record or sequence it. songz that fall into this category include "the pressing", "the transient", and "moon". another method is the discovery method, where i will be playing either the guitar, keyboardz, or drumz and will stumble upon an idea that interestz me. after a bit of development this idea either becomez one of the riff ideaz, or goez on to become a full blown arrangement, and a song is born. usually these partz go into a file, and remain there until a few of the other piecez have been found, at which time the old partz are dug up and assembled into a new piece. old songz of mine are particularly subject to this process, as i steal all the good partz and deep six the rest (such as with "master of the sun", and "i c eyez").

the most common method is the assembly technique, where musical piecez that have been developed over the yearz and lyricz from my lyric file merge into a final work. every now and then i browse through old cassette recordingz to search for "the missing riff", which is often buried between songz on numerous unlabelled tapez. another source for this type of composing is with collaboration work, where another band member will come up with a riff or riffz, which i will then build into a section of a new song adding drum patternz, bass linez, counter guitar partz, melody linez, lyricz and developing the song structure into an arrangement. this is how most, if not all, of my collaborationz work.

well, that'z it for this installment, it should give you some insight into the first stepz of songwriting in my experience. in the next issue of the commandscript i will discuss the next stagez of song development, the arranging, the initial demoz, and what happenz to the songz that don't quite cut it. stay tuned...