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Steve Jobs Danced To My Song

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Re: Steve Jobs Danced To My Song

#21

Post by baddox »

brandall10 wrote: post #18
davidgerard wrote: post #3

The key bit? Those songs were number two-hundred-and-something and number four-hundred-and-something. There's a lot of value to doing one of something every day. I'm busy working on terrible music. If I do a few hundred, I might suck less too.

I just listened to the song and it is quite remarkable he put that together so quickly. Rivers Cuomo from Weezer has claimed to have a very prolific songwriting approach as well, apparently at least for periods of time doing a song per day. Apparently during the first couple years of The Beatles' songwriting career John and Paul would knock out songs very fast, within hours - they actually 'scheduled' time to work to…

In songwriting circles, the two most common pieces of advice are "write tons of songs even if they're not great" and "finish all your songs, even the ones that aren't great." It's very similar to common advice in computer programming circles, and presumably any creative discipline.

Re: Steve Jobs Danced To My Song

#22

Post by brandall10 »

baddox wrote: post #21
brandall10 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just listened to the song and it is quite remarkable he put that together so quickly. Rivers Cuomo from Weezer has claimed to have a very prolific songwriting approach as well, apparently at least for periods of time doing a song per day. Apparently during the first couple years of The Beatles' songwriting career John and Paul would knock out songs very fast, within hours - they actually 'scheduled' time to work to…

In songwriting circles, the two most common pieces of advice are "write tons of songs even if they're not great" and " finish all your songs, even the ones that aren't great." It's very similar to common advice in computer programming circles, and presumably any creative discipline.

True, but I think that extra lesson from The Beatles - learn thoroughly/attempt to recreate the work of those you wish to emulate, is a good, perhaps even more important one.

You have to have the ability to finish your work. But to steadily improve you must push yourself in deliberate ways. You need both the discipline and the vocabulary.

Brian Wilson carried this out to an almost healthy extreme in his attempt to break down Phil Specter's wall of sound technique:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don't_Worry_Baby

"Brian Wilson cited the song as his attempt to capture the essence of his all-time favorite record, "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes, who would later cover this song. At one time, Wilson listened to his 45 record of the song he "could never do" up to 100 times a day."

Re: Steve Jobs Danced To My Song

#23

Post by drifkin »

brandall10 wrote: post #18
davidgerard wrote: post #3

The key bit? Those songs were number two-hundred-and-something and number four-hundred-and-something. There's a lot of value to doing one of something every day. I'm busy working on terrible music. If I do a few hundred, I might suck less too.

I just listened to the song and it is quite remarkable he put that together so quickly. Rivers Cuomo from Weezer has claimed to have a very prolific songwriting approach as well, apparently at least for periods of time doing a song per day. Apparently during the first couple years of The Beatles' songwriting career John and Paul would knock out songs very fast, within hours - they actually 'scheduled' time to work to…

Rivers also methodically analyzed many songs, including all of Nirvana's songs to help him with his songwriting. He writes about his songwriting process in the liner notes for "Alone II", an album of his home recordings. The liner notes are amazing. He goes through each song on the album and explains the back story, often mentioning what kind of methods he used to write that particular song.

I dug up an old Rolling Stone article where he talks about his "Encyclopedia of Pop". They also mention him writing several hundred songs in 1999:

https://web.archive.org/web/20080228012507/http://www.rollin...

The names he gives some of his methods are pretty excellent. Some examples:

* Intellectually acquired emotionally volatile concept: http://www.weezerpedia.com/wiki/index.php?title=Intellectual...

* Incipit-Melody-Guitar-Develop-Tea : http://www.weezerpedia.com/wiki/index.php?title=Incipit-Melo...

* Arbitrary-Progression-Distortion-open-Strum-Intro-Melody-Arrange: http://www.weezerpedia.com/wiki/index.php?title=Arbitrary-Pr...

Re: Steve Jobs Danced To My Song

#24

Post by brandall10 »

drifkin wrote: post #23
brandall10 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just listened to the song and it is quite remarkable he put that together so quickly. Rivers Cuomo from Weezer has claimed to have a very prolific songwriting approach as well, apparently at least for periods of time doing a song per day. Apparently during the first couple years of The Beatles' songwriting career John and Paul would knock out songs very fast, within hours - they actually 'scheduled' time to work to…

Rivers also methodically analyzed many songs, including all of Nirvana's songs to help him with his songwriting. He writes about his songwriting process in the liner notes for "Alone II", an album of his home recordings. The liner notes are amazing. He goes through each song on the album and explains the back story, often mentioning what kind of methods he used to write that particular song. I dug up an old Rolling S…

Wow. This is pure gold, thank you much!

Re: Steve Jobs Danced To My Song

#26

Post by pellias »

davidgerard wrote: post #3

The key bit? Those songs were number two-hundred-and-something and number four-hundred-and-something. There's a lot of value to doing one of something every day. I'm busy working on terrible music. If I do a few hundred, I might suck less too.

Stephen King gave the same advice as well "Read and write four to six hours a day. If you cannot find the time for that, you can't expect to become a good writer." (quote from wiki)

Re: Steve Jobs Danced To My Song

#27

Post by lmm »

JeremyMorgan wrote: post #16
normloman wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but they are telling you to get a job for a reason. Because chances are, you'll never make it big as a writer, painter, or entrepreneur. And te ones that do make it are so dedicated that nobody can change their mind anyway.

Yes, but how many people with loads of potential give up too early? Something to think about. I generally encourage people to shoot for the stars. You may never make it big but at least you gave it a shot.

If that's good enough for you then great. But there are people who lose their savings, lose their family, and still don't make it, and end up miserable. While the guy who took a soft corporate job and spent his time outside work on hobbies and family might be better off, even if he could've made it big.

The path of the artist or entrepreneur has its rewards, but it's not for everyone.

Re: Steve Jobs Danced To My Song

#28

Post by easy_rider »

Wow, when I clicked on the link and the overly pixelated 4 second animation filled my screen, I actually laughed out loud and thought "Well done! Nice parody on all the "Steve Jobs once gleamed at me " or "I spent 2 years in college with the neighbor of Steve Jobs" articles.

Then it was for real. And I cried a little bit inside.

Re: Steve Jobs Danced To My Song

#29

Post by easy_rider »

brandall10 wrote: post #18
davidgerard wrote: post #3

The key bit? Those songs were number two-hundred-and-something and number four-hundred-and-something. There's a lot of value to doing one of something every day. I'm busy working on terrible music. If I do a few hundred, I might suck less too.

I just listened to the song and it is quite remarkable he put that together so quickly. Rivers Cuomo from Weezer has claimed to have a very prolific songwriting approach as well, apparently at least for periods of time doing a song per day. Apparently during the first couple years of The Beatles' songwriting career John and Paul would knock out songs very fast, within hours - they actually 'scheduled' time to work to…

Not so hard if you have your (digital) equipment setup right. A lot of bands used to do almost everything in one recording. And now that is before the digital age.

Re: Steve Jobs Danced To My Song

#30

Post by bradleysmith »

drifkin wrote: post #23
brandall10 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just listened to the song and it is quite remarkable he put that together so quickly. Rivers Cuomo from Weezer has claimed to have a very prolific songwriting approach as well, apparently at least for periods of time doing a song per day. Apparently during the first couple years of The Beatles' songwriting career John and Paul would knock out songs very fast, within hours - they actually 'scheduled' time to work to…

Rivers also methodically analyzed many songs, including all of Nirvana's songs to help him with his songwriting. He writes about his songwriting process in the liner notes for "Alone II", an album of his home recordings. The liner notes are amazing. He goes through each song on the album and explains the back story, often mentioning what kind of methods he used to write that particular song. I dug up an old Rolling S…

Agreed, this is fantastic, thanks for the share. Weezer's continued success and variance in pop-style is no surprise having read this.
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