Songwriting, less is more and ukuleles - 08/06/17 09:48 AM
I'd like to share a little idea / story that comes from my own experience.
I'm a guitar player. I've been playing since I was a kid, which means about 40 years ago. I'm 50 now. And I've written several hundreds of songs. Songwriting has always been my true passion, even though life took me to other directions other than music. I'm not an english mother tongue by the way, so please forgive my English.
Anyway, I always wrote my songs with a guitar in my hand or - occasionally - with a piano. That's been fine.
But some years ago I discovered the ukulele. That was well before Eddie Vedder's album and ukulele-mania. I loved the uke, right away. And one of the reasons why I loved is that it increased by orders of magnitude my songwriting "productivity", so to speak. I started writing dozens of new songs in a short period of time. Songs I liked. Over time, this "productivity boost" slowed down a bit, of course, but not too much. I am a MUCH more prolific songwriter with a uke than with guitar and piano, even though I am surely a much better guitar player than a uke player.
Why is that?
I am not sure, but here's my theory.
Being a pretty decent guitar player, when I pick up my guitar and try writing a song, I get "carried away" and "concerned" about the guitar arrangement. And that concern sometimes interferes with the pure songwriting process. Sometimes, I tend to think too much about the guitar arrangement, and less about the fundamental elements of songwriting (melody, harmony, lyrics). Also, guitar is a complex instruments, it has a wide range of octaves from bass to highs, it gives you many possibilities, so I get "lost" in that large amounts of possibilities.
A uke, on the other hand, only has 4 strings, as you know. Just 4 strings. No bass. Not many arrangement possibilities (unless you are a virtuoso, which I am not, but even if you are a great uke player, for example, still you don't have the wide range of arrangement possibilities that a guitar or a piano will give you). So, just 4 strings. And 4 srings is JUST enough to play harmony. That's it. Just one chord. A few embellishments maybe, but not much at all. I am OBLIGED to focus on the BASIC elements of the song. I don't get distracted by anything. Pure songwriting. Pure focus on the song. So, the uke seems to put into practice the idea that "less is more", in the songwriting process. Less about arranging, less about tweaking details, more about creating, more about writing THIS song, HERE and NOW. More about pure musical ideas, less about technique. More about honesty, less about hiding behind an instrument.
Then, of course, once the song is finished, I may decide to arrange the song with guitar, or piano, or a full band. It doesn't have to remain just a "uke song" (occasionally it does of course).
So ... what can I say ... try a uke (a tenor uke is easier, if you are a guitar player). Maybe you dont like it as an instrument, and that's absolutely fine. But it may help you to increase your focus on the creative part of songwriting. It did for me.
Cheers!
I'm a guitar player. I've been playing since I was a kid, which means about 40 years ago. I'm 50 now. And I've written several hundreds of songs. Songwriting has always been my true passion, even though life took me to other directions other than music. I'm not an english mother tongue by the way, so please forgive my English.
Anyway, I always wrote my songs with a guitar in my hand or - occasionally - with a piano. That's been fine.
But some years ago I discovered the ukulele. That was well before Eddie Vedder's album and ukulele-mania. I loved the uke, right away. And one of the reasons why I loved is that it increased by orders of magnitude my songwriting "productivity", so to speak. I started writing dozens of new songs in a short period of time. Songs I liked. Over time, this "productivity boost" slowed down a bit, of course, but not too much. I am a MUCH more prolific songwriter with a uke than with guitar and piano, even though I am surely a much better guitar player than a uke player.
Why is that?
I am not sure, but here's my theory.
Being a pretty decent guitar player, when I pick up my guitar and try writing a song, I get "carried away" and "concerned" about the guitar arrangement. And that concern sometimes interferes with the pure songwriting process. Sometimes, I tend to think too much about the guitar arrangement, and less about the fundamental elements of songwriting (melody, harmony, lyrics). Also, guitar is a complex instruments, it has a wide range of octaves from bass to highs, it gives you many possibilities, so I get "lost" in that large amounts of possibilities.
A uke, on the other hand, only has 4 strings, as you know. Just 4 strings. No bass. Not many arrangement possibilities (unless you are a virtuoso, which I am not, but even if you are a great uke player, for example, still you don't have the wide range of arrangement possibilities that a guitar or a piano will give you). So, just 4 strings. And 4 srings is JUST enough to play harmony. That's it. Just one chord. A few embellishments maybe, but not much at all. I am OBLIGED to focus on the BASIC elements of the song. I don't get distracted by anything. Pure songwriting. Pure focus on the song. So, the uke seems to put into practice the idea that "less is more", in the songwriting process. Less about arranging, less about tweaking details, more about creating, more about writing THIS song, HERE and NOW. More about pure musical ideas, less about technique. More about honesty, less about hiding behind an instrument.
Then, of course, once the song is finished, I may decide to arrange the song with guitar, or piano, or a full band. It doesn't have to remain just a "uke song" (occasionally it does of course).
So ... what can I say ... try a uke (a tenor uke is easier, if you are a guitar player). Maybe you dont like it as an instrument, and that's absolutely fine. But it may help you to increase your focus on the creative part of songwriting. It did for me.
Cheers!
