Ending Start

Here is the initial proposal for my project:

"I plan to arrange and record a number of AM radio songs - colloquially known as 'yacht rock' - in a style that I find interesting. The learning materials I require are largely the songs themselves, which I will then attempt to re-interpret. Documentation will come through recorded songs, performance and a weblog which I will update whenever I record a new song. I aim to record one song every two weeks. This is enough material for a short live set and certainly enough to draw from in the future.

"The challenges I might face are personal attachments to the song, time commitment and feelings of being restricted. I'm not as concerned about the latter two, because if I set a deadline for songs I'm likely to complete them and if I feel restricted by the guitar I can always touch up the recording with another instrument, vocal overdubs or other additional lines, though I'm going to make sure it remains guitar-centric. Having a personal attachment to the song, however, is another problem entirely; after all, nobody wants to fix something they don't think is broken. I'll try to pick songs based on a theme, genre or artist that I am less fond of so that I won't be afraid of drastically altering them.

"My critical friend - on the condition that he accepts, of course - will be Jim Brotheridge, arts editor for the Carillon. He knows his stuff about music and more importantly he knows his stuff about my ability, so he'll be able to tell me whether or not I'm reaching my potential in this project.

"The arrangements are their own reward. Playing a cover song in a style that's your own is an incredibly difficult skill to learn, and it's even more difficult to learn well."

I'm basing this off of a personal project I've been doing for a bit now. The fact is, it's something I like working on. Rearranging and stripping covers is a fascinating way of looking at my own approach to creating music. I'm excited to continue it.

For an idea of what I'm doing here, I'm going to provide links to the songs I've previously covered.

Coldplay - "The Scientist"
Papa Roach - "Last Resort"
Chumbawumba - "Tubthumping"
Metallica - "St. Anger" (retitled "Saint Anger")
Coheed & Cambria - "Welcome Home"
Green Day - "American Idiot"