A little ditty, not about Jack & Diane

MarkDyson

MarkDyson

Blues Hound Wannabe
I've been spending my past few Friday afternoons with one of my teenaged nephews. He's being raised by a single mom who is 100% a hero in my book, working her ass off and having finished a lucrative tech degree and is making a good life for her son. She's worried about having male role models in his life and, though I'm a poster child for what not to do, I guess I've been dubbed one source. Scary.

We've been working on 12 bar rhythm progressions and whatever in my limited skill set I can offer to help spark practice motivation for him. I also gave him my G&L ASAT tribute Tele and he's been very much the perfect kind of recipient for such things.

So.

He's had a lot of social and peer issues, as befits a creative/sensitive young teen boy in the clutches of a a school system which (typically) feels threatened by mavericks who don't take their Soma. I finally connected with him when I started tapping into his anger, frustration, and disillusion with "the system." Not gonna get political, but methinks you grok what I mean.

"Every time I walk out that door,
Someone gets in my face.
Tries to tell me what I should do,
Tries to put me in my place."

Need to work out the syllable assignment to fit a steady beat, and I'm not 100% set on the key (thinking G as a sop to his chord knowledge). Ideally I'd like this to grow into a blues piece but I'm flexible as to the genre. :Beer:

Onus is now on him to bang out the next verse. Then we can work up a chorus.
 
CaptainMoto

CaptainMoto

Blues Voyager
MarkDyson said:
I've been spending my past few Friday afternoons with one of my teenaged nephews. He's being raised by a single mom who is 100% a hero in my book, working her ass off and having finished a lucrative tech degree and is making a good life for her son. She's worried about having male role models in his life and, though I'm a poster child for what not to do, I guess I've been dubbed one source. Scary.

We've been working on 12 bar rhythm progressions and whatever in my limited skill set I can offer to help spark practice motivation for him. I also gave him my G&L ASAT tribute Tele and he's been very much the perfect kind of recipient for such things.

So.

He's had a lot of social and peer issues, as befits a creative/sensitive young teen boy in the clutches of a a school system which (typically) feels threatened by mavericks who don't take their Soma. I finally connected with him when I started tapping into his anger, frustration, and disillusion with "the system." Not gonna get political, but methinks you grok what I mean.

"Every time I walk out that door,
Someone gets in my face.
Tries to tell me what I should do,
Tries to put me in my place."

Need to work out the syllable assignment to fit a steady beat, and I'm not 100% set on the key (thinking G as a sop to his chord knowledge). Ideally I'd like this to grow into a blues piece but I'm flexible as to the genre. :Beer:

Onus is now on him to bang out the next verse. Then we can work up a chorus.
Click to expand...
Sounds like you're stepping into some big shoes but I think you'll fill them well.
(y)

I'd offer up one piece of advise that you're already following:
Give him the tools and guidance, don't give him the solution.
 
Many Moons

Many Moons

Biking+Blues=Bliss
All the best with this Mark. At least he'll know how to put a guitar together!!;)

Steer him toward these lyrics.

"Whenever I walk out that door,
And someone gets in my face.
I smile and casually walk on by,
And find my own lil' space."

Life's too short to worry,
About hateful attitudes.
I've got a life and I'll live it,
For me mum, and for you.
 
MarkDyson

MarkDyson

Blues Hound Wannabe
Little update on this collaboration....

We've switched the concept to acoustic, and thus far it'll be in D. He's been doing great good work on the lyrics: they're less angry, more of a teen angst lament, and though we probably won't make it into a traditional blues format it'll be bluesy-infused to a great deal.

We had our latest collaborative session yesterday and he's going to experiment with massaging his prose (and methinks he has something of a flair for this) into some call-and-response ideas. The overall idea is for it to be a duet.

We talked about song structure some, organizing his thoughts into verse and chorus, what a bridge can do if he decides he needs that aside, and so on. Stuff I learned last year during songwriting lessons at guitar camp. I'm far from a dab hand at it but I know enough to be dangerous.

Fun stuff! :Beer:
 
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