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OMG
I pulled all these old three ring binders full of original songs I have written over the years.

A few songs I know I like that never got played, never were sung. They were written before I had any idea how to play or sing what I had in my mind.

Some I remember well how I played them thirty years ago and when I picked up my guitar the new version came out based on being able to play things I did not know even existed back then.

Man...I was shocked by some really dark material I created back then.

One R&B tune that I am going to produce...LOL I am sure that will not be cheap!! I need a Al Green/Luther Vandross style of vocalist that can do the vocal. It could also be rearranged a bit for a female vocalist in the style of Fontella Bass.

How many of you have that pile of unfinished music?

Cheers,

Billy


“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig?
“Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
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Hours of it, but I made it all digital years ago. Lost too much paper stuff over the years.
(Stuff I threw on a hosting account 20 years ago is still like new)
I actually spent a couple hours yesterday listening to old 1 minute ideas I have piled up on an extra drive .. I should probably back those up too.
Funny thing I noticed while listening; for 1 minute ideas I sure put a lot of work into them. Apparently I am easily distracted trying to get all the tracks in my head down before actually flushing out the song..


I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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I've also got a 3 ring binder full of original songs. They are all completed but it's only the lyrics since I "stored" the music in my memory. That's an unreliable place for anything to reside.

Fortunately I do have 25-30 of them recorded mostly on an old Tascam Portastudio 4 track. It crapped out years ago but rharv was nice enough to gift me his. Thanks again rharv.

I got some others recorded on an old Radio Shack cassette deck played live with 2 guitars and a $15 Radio Shack mic.

I've always wanted record them again but it still hasn't happened.

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I guess if someone is pretty serious about not getting coronavirus and can afford to stay home, there is a lot more time to pull out lots of stuff. Old guitars, old amps, old music.

I can't say I am exactly enjoying forced confinement but it does have some advantages.

Digital storage is wonderful as long as it does not fail. I did have one sata USB drive commit suicide.

The one thing I experienced this morning was to touch hand written paper lead sheets, standard notation, tab, lyric sheets .

Note books, sheet of paper, ideas written on the back of paper menus, phone numbers, and other miscellaneous scraps of paper. That gave me a real sense of when it was written. A visceral connection to the past.

Billy


“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig?
“Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
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eddie1261
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eddie1261
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My songs from back when were so bad they didn't even burn well....

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Yes, I have some of them also Eddie. Some of mine were so bad I got run out of the club. Then I went to a biker bar and everybody liked them.

So...there is someone somewhere who will love your bad songs.

Cheers,

Billy


“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig?
“Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
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I have 5 binders from the neighbor. He died 2 years ago and his wife gave them to me.

...Deb

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Last move I brought about 20-30 of them choc full of typed lyrics and chords to my local Goodwill Store, the clerk (a young man in his early twenties) could not believe I was handing over all of that work. I tried to explain that with BIAB they were now useless to me but he did not grasp the BIAB concept. Hopefully he will before he get tires lugging and storing that room full of binders that I am pretty sure he kept.

Later,

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I still have a 3 ring binder full of hundreds of songs and sheet music charts. I don't use it anymore, but there are songs in there we don't do anymore so it serves as a reference book in case we want to dig an old song up.

Insights and incites by Notes


Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove
& Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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I have stuff stored in lots of ways. Two inch tape, 1/4 inch tape, ADAT, music recorded on video cassette, and god only knows what.

One thing is for sure, there is nothing like the feeling of holding in your hand a song that got started on the back of a restaurant menu. That sort of goes along with old all access backstage passes.

Billy


“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig?
“Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
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No 3 ring binders but a few spiral bound notebooks have survived the years. Most of the pages are ideas that didn't go anywhere. A few lines, maybe a verse or a chorus and the occasional fully fleshed idea that really doesn't cut it.


You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.

The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Band-in-a-Box 2026 Video: The Newly Designed Piano Roll Window

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