OK,

I have been thinking about FAWM--and how in some cases people post a song a day HERE. Every day. All YEAR.

So, I was thinking.

David, why don't you post a SONG A DAY to the BIAB forum in the month of February.

Give absolutely no thought to what you are doing. Just pump them out and put some funny little wiggling GIFS to go with it. Let it rip man. Why not? Creativity unleashed!!

Would anyone join me? Would Rockstar_Not be there by my side??

Would everyone hate me?

Can I post a song a day in February of stuff that comes right off the top of my head with virtually no mixing and have everyone join me?

As a competition?

To show the world what BIAB can REALLY do???

Is it crazy?????

Y'all let me know because I am locked and loaded.



I need a really good logical reason NOT to do this. Explain it to me clearly so I can understand if I am off-base in any way.

If I were to do a song a day of the top of my head it would not give PGM the best exposure. A few polished songs a month would be the best option for me. YMMV

But....but....but....

There you go, butting in again

Man, in so many ways, it just doesn't seem fair or just.

No equity.

could you please stop the captcha as i have had worse done to me on this forum from members .

However i do enjoy the forum , and its contents .

Thanks

let me but !! and stop the nonsense !. that i have put up with.. Now let me join in the forum i have been a part of !!.

Thanks

So that means....

I CAN'T post a song a day????



And....

why???

Sorry, I am trying to keep up, but I am lost.

I say go for it.

I think you are missing out on the point of the FAWM challenge.

But hey, if you haven’t tried it, whether you join in the FAWM community or not, I would encourage anyone who hasn’t tried what seems like a crazy idea to most, to give it a try.

Several forumites do participate in the FAWM community, most using BIAB. For those that are regular BIAB and RB users, it’s a great showcase for the unique capabilities of BIAB to a community that is outside of the PG Forum and community.

I hear you M....

I could not write anything I'd be pleased with or well fleshed out and ready for my peers ears to scrutinize under the time constraints of FAWM.

I somehow finished (4) songs and (1) composition in about (2) months earlier last year and it's still an enigma to me as to where the creative spurt came from.
For me....an interesting, non-cliche subject has to grab me then I'm OCD until it's recorded.

But....I do understand the good intentions of the FAWM challenge.

Best to all who dive in and give it a try.

Have a great weekend everyone....

I tend to joke around a lot and be silly--BUT--

Here I am only half-joking. I am part of a healthy songwriting group and I have noticed some people tend to get too OCD about their songs instead of just writing something. As Paul McCartney once said (I believe): "I can write that song in 15 minutes."

So, since there are those who seem to have no problem posting 3 or 4 songs a day with their latest epic pentatonic solos, I was wondering what might happen if I posted a song a day with lyrics and vocals, giving hardly any thought to what I was doing. That seems to be the state of pop, so maybe it would be a great thing for me. Make me more modern.

It would not be separate from FAWM and I do know what FAWM is about--just write it.

I have not figured out what I will do yet, but these thoughts have crossed my mind is all.

But, should I decide to pull the trigger, I am loaded, as I said before.

Anyone is free to post anything they want, but I may not be able to listen and/or comment on all of them. I did the RPM February Challenge one year and it was fun. I personally don't have it in me any more, but have at it and have fun!

David I will gladly join in but I will be lucky to have time for 14, let alone 28. And I won’t be using PG products because I have never put the investment into my BIAB everything pack purchase from a few christmases ago. Every time I open it I’m overwhelmed and have no idea where to start. Last year most of my songs were iPhone recordings and a couple were through composed.

I’m scottlake in FAWMworld.

David, you should have a Snickers bar..... you're not yourself.


All kidding aside.... It might prove to be interesting if nothing else.

That, write a song a day, is exactly what Jeffery Steele recommended that everyone do if they call themselves songwriters who wish to get better at their craft.

I thought FAWM was 14 songs in the month.... which equates to a song every two days to stay on schedule. But hey.... a song a day would certainly flush out the old mental cobwebs.

And furthermore.... what's wrong with wankering out 5 pentatonic guitar solo extravaganzas in a day? Never mind, don't answer that it was a rhetorical question that we have already discussed in much detail.

Write, write, write, and then write some more.



Exactly!

Agreed.

That is not February Album Writing Month. First of all, it’s not a competition, it’s a challenge. Major difference Second, it’s about the supportive community as it is about anything else. Third and most important it’s about trying things in songwriting that you’ve never tried before and perhaps silencing the inner critic for a time. A vacation from your typical methods is a way of thinking about it.

Rather than assuming what it is about, just visit the site and see if it’s something to try. There is no cost associated with it, no penalty for a quick exit, no shame in not writing a single song.

I only post about it here every year in this songwriting topic group because I know what it did for me and learning from others and how they approach songwriting. And because it’s just dang fun in the doldrums of winter and a heckuva lot cheaper than a trip to Hawai’i!!!

www.fawm.org

This is one I wrote the lyrics for in the dead of night trying to sleep but I had just taken our then 10 week old puppy out to us the yard and heard our local coal train on one of its trips

Title: Quiet
Verse
one forty five in the morning, city is bedded down
one hundred ten car coal train lumberin across the other side of town
up to let the puppy out, hear it rumble low
one hundred forty three tons per car, that diesel’s got a load.

put the pup back to bed, stumble to my own
the diesel’s working overtime, wheels are rollin slow
puts thunder in the firmaments and also down below
one hundred ten car coal train goin as fast as it can go.


Verse
No matter how I try to sleep, thought’s brewing in my brain
makes a home in the back, but comes to the front once again
That coal train makes that trip fourteen times a day.
one hundred ten car coal train announcin it’s refrain.

never give it the time of day when there is light of day
Not a notice that it’s present when other sounds are in the way.
Funny thing about quiet, don’t notice when it’s gone.
One hundred ten car coal train rumblin along.


Verse

Puppy’s settled down, joins the city in it’s sleep
Still hear that coal train lumbering as I pray my soul to keep
breathing slowing down I’ll join the city soon
one hundred ten car coal train rollin under light of moon.

coal provides a contrast, black converts to light
trees from an ancient time, traveling to their plight
From birds lighting in their branches to a fire burning bright
one hundred ten car coal train whispers in the night.

copyright 2021 Scott Lake

This sounds cool, Scott.

Can't wait to hear it set to music.

As for my stuff up top, I was being a little silly because I am in a silly mood.

But I find there is way too much "linear thinking" and stuffiness and absolutes and black and whites and academic notions and "rules" on so many forums (not necessarily here) devoted to music. As if Rick Beato can actually tell us for sure what makes a song great. He has good insights, but if you really knew, you would write one.

Creativity will not be chained and she obeys no rules. Her daughter music is wild and untamed at heart.

So I will just follow her and see where she takes me.

iPhone demo is here:

https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/QHp3zq2fwmLLBsgG9

Yes it steals from Bob Seger’s Turn the Page. Someday I will get back to this one.

These words rattled around my head for most of the wee morning hours after going back to bed from letting the pup out. That kind of thing never happens to me except during FAWM!!!

Cool tune. And yep got the Segar vibe.... Nice work.... I think a stripped down piano/guitar vocal demo would be about the only realistic way to meet the qualifications of a song a day challenge for a month. Often my production alone takes the time across several days minimum.

Three days?????

I am still figuring out the chords.

Slow down speed racer!!!

Yeah, I like this.

This is all you need for a song demo.

As they often tell you at Nashville Songwriters (which I belong to) please just give us an acoustic and vocal or piano and vocal.

We can take it from there if it is a good song.

I.e., "We don't want to hear your 80s production." Just the SONG please. Make sure it is a good SONG though. Please do not submit any LONG PENTATONIC NOODLING parts or we will never listen to a thing you write ever again.

I think FAWM is about writing songs. I think. I could be wrong. But I think they want songs.

If that is true, this is a good exercise in focus.

Good one Scott. Looking forward to more.

FAWM doesn’t WANT anything. Again it’s just a challenge to see what it’s like for YOU to practice being creative. There are all kinds of challenges that are unofficial in the forums that help participants to try out all kinds of lyric writing, chord progressions, “serial” lyric writing where one person starts a line and another takes the next, and another the next, etc. all kinds of styles, people, cultures, gifted-ness, coming together in a groundswell of creativity for a time.

The song I posted was a personal challenge I have put on myself the past 5 or 6 years, to write a refrain type of lyric. I have never done one before where the refrain line was not exactly the same and I saw a prompt to try that and it was fun to see how that works and opens up the refrain lyric form for a bit more flexibility.

That’s now “under my belt” so to speak and another lyric writing tool that I’m aware of and had some personal success with it.

That’s the point of fawm

When I was a kid in school, a standard punishment was to have to write 1000 words on "Life Inside a Ping Pong Ball". The other kids dreaded that one especially, they'd rather be beaten, it was absolute torture to them to have to come up with all those words about essentially nothing.

I of course always hoped I'd get that punishment. I was even imagining rough drafts of a plot line. Of course, the teacher could tell I wanted to do it and so would never "punish" me by letting me.

Song title:

Life inside a ping pong ball.

Put me in coach.

On it.

I knew that you could! Now step up to the table and knock it out of the rec room.

I had to suss out F.A.W.M. - I had no idea.
I like the idea of sitting down and cranking out - it's what Nick Cave does...though I don't talk about Nick after the Israel thing.
I can see the value of it as it'd create a pool of ideas to plunder BUT having NO VOICE worth listening to without a couple of days recreating it in ReaTune & Melodyne means I couldn't actually provide a vocal a day.
I do write a LOT when I'm on a roll...I have four songs with singers at the moment, another with a lead guitarist and two more done in the last couple of days fully arranged but with no lyrics...messy habits is me.
David,
JUST DO IT.
You've done the invites, you've planned the buffet, don't let the RSVPs get in your way.
Post them in a single thread welcome anyone who participates in any way shape or form.
I'd have a crack at a backing with lyrics for verse n chorus for as long as I can sustain it.

I've done FAWM twice in my pre-BIAB days. Both were good experiences.

The caution would be to keep a healthy balance of time with the spouse and kids (if applicable).

I've never had enough time to try the 50/90 http://fiftyninety.fawmers.org/

For me, a good pace is a song a week.

Hey James,

I am going to try and do a song a day without thinking.

Not quite sure if I have been able to explain why to folks yet.

For the sake of creativity, I want to try an experiment where I force myself not to think too much but just do it and post it--right off the top of my head.

I tend to overthink things too much at times, I think, and want to see what happens if I just get into the zone and channel it.

For me it is a pure experiment.

Sounds good, David. One suggestion would be to set a time frame goal (1 week / 1 month / 1 year etc.) That way you have some sense of an end point to evaluate the experiment.

Maybe you've seen this already...."I've been writing a song a day for 4000 days."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4L6hEbRXP4

Hey James,

Just for FAWM man!

I will try it for February and then stop. That will be enough I think!

Scott,

I wanted to PM you but you are over your limit. I want to pick your brain on something.

Is there another way we connect? You can go to my website and send me a message there.

And the madness begins.




https://soundcloud.com/davidsnyderfawm2022/free-fawming

Cool but you busted the one chord thing there in the second chorus..... Did I catch a little bit of Tom Petty inspiration in there? I believe I did......

Herb,

Well they were 5 chords man, so give me a break. It's still G!



Tommy Petty????

You're kidding!

Be nice to have a farm or foam or faun or whatever that is forum. That way those of us mere mortals who post but a dozen songs a year in the showcase wouldn’t get shoved to page 2 or 3 every few hours. So there … oh, and I’m doubtful as to how serious you are

Bud

Huh?

Sorry I am a little lost.

I know what you mean about song dumps, Bud, but I am not doing it.

I AM writing a song a day, but I am keeping my posts HERE to less than 1 per week (usually 1 per month is my average), and the rest is a dedicated FAWM channel people can visit if they like.

So yes, I am serious about writing a song a day, but that is what FAWN is about--actually one every two days.

But again, I am not posting all of them here.

Hope that clears up any confusion. Thanks!

I was trying to kid...poorly I reckon

"David, why don't you post a SONG A DAY to the BIAB forum in the month of February"

I just thought the name of the forum was a frog hair ambiguous.

FAWM on!

Bud

Well, since you mention it, Bud...and since you ARE egging me on.....

No, maybe not.

BUT, Bud, there ARE some folks who don't seem to mind posting three or four songs A DAY and give 'nairy (is that how you spell it??) a peep to commenting on anyone else or even listening.

Yet, they have listeners, who say:

"That was great Mojobobo" (or whatever). "I enjoyed your fifth random noodling of the day." And so...maybe I should too?????? If you can't beat them join them? Shove THEM to the bottom of page 5??? And the LOGICAL reason I would not at this point is.......??



I think RayC has been trying to help people understand the value of listening to others, but poor soul, he is only one man,and I don't know how long his mighty strength can hold out, doing it all alone.

But of course, you know, I am only joking.

Or am I??

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Hard to tell in this world.

It shoorely is.

There are a few at the February Album Writing Month challenge that crank out tunes, but the general behavior there is trading listens and comments.

David has written some moving lyrics I can attest to that. I only have one set of lyrics so far. I’m a little behind but that’s ok too. My brain has switched over to constant writing in my head mode that happens during FAWM for me. It’s kind of addictive to be honest.

Scott

Scott.

Is my new one too subtle???

New song

https://soundcloud.com/davidsnyderfawm2022/hey-kids

Channel:

https://soundcloud.com/davidsnyderfawm2022

Since I read your post I knew I had to make a song with that title - Life Inside A Ping Pong Ball

Life Inside A Ping Pong Ball

It ended up as an instrumental thing as I simply couldn't come up with lyrics, and my ping pong skills are not worth writing about
Mostly noodled with Scaler 2 and Element (Synth from Waves) and AI drummer in Logic Pro X

I can hear it! Of course, I'm pathologically suggestible, but I hear a solid mass of sound rotating around me, like I'm in a training machine for astronauts. Something about the bass, no kidding. The bass plus the drums, that's it.

Well, that settles THAT question! =8^)

Thanks, this was fun.

This is great!

I love this!!

P.S., I really wish there was a lot more well thought out experimental stuff like this around here.

This sounds like a composition, and that is what I dig, no matter what genre it is.

Good work man.

I'm happy I sort of sent you to a sort of universe

First of all a humble "thank you"

Secondly - when I have tools like BIAB and Scaler 2 available (+ GarageBand for iPad), there's no excuse for not working on a proper song structure with chord progressions.

The strength in BIAB is that it puts your ideas quite well into context, but if you want to explore and go beyond intermodal scales and need total control of your piano (programming) - then Scaler 2 is fantastic (hence the UI lacks flexibility). As I mostly work on my own, I often need software/plug ins to show me other ideas than what my brain can come up with.