- Banned
- #1
I participate in a small, acoustic guitar forum- not small guitars, just a small forum as in only a few regular posters-
but, as an aside I bought my grand daughter (she'll turn 7 next month) a small guitar- and it has great sound! I haven't given it to her yet, but i hope she enjoys it for years to come- I bought her a small one because she is very petite and even a Parlor body is difficult for her to hold correctly-
Someone started a thread about a Neil Young song and as message boards are wont to do the topic veered (see above paragraph for evidence ) off to lord only knows where - I'm not familiar with Neil Young, btw- another poster said, and posted a picture of a comic book about the History of Willie Nelson - can you imagine? I bet he never, ever, in his wildest dreams thought he'd ever be the subject of a comic book-
But, I digress. A different thread, that had wandered off topic was about personal song books- (ones own collection of songs for playin and singin)-
Someone (obviously younger than I) mentioned using an iPad app called song something or other- I replied to that; I'm too old, and stubborn, and old begets stubborn- yes, transcribing, or creating, by hand is a PITA- but, - of course there is a but. I'm just wondering how best to introduce it since it has more than one facet- I think.
I guess, I'll start with this. We all know Mac Davis left us recently- so, I'll start there- I remember when watching his show he described what he did (song writing) as painting pictures with words- that knocked my sox off- how poetic!
Anyway, this morning, on the message board, I lamented I'm too old to adapt to an app on anything- like for instance, my oldest son gave me a used kindle several years ago- I've still not used it- I prefer holding the book and actually turning the pages-
This isn't to say that using keyboard on a computer doesn't have its advantages- (but having never formally learned to type I use the back space button a lot )I'm actually quite adept at getting my point(s) across on a key board. I've even written a book (for my kids and their kids about my views on things) - it will never go away because I had it printed and bound- computers crash and not all of us are smart enough to "back everything up in the "cloud" which goes hand in hand with too old- and stubborn.
I have to admit, emoji's are cool - emoji!? WTH kind of word is that?
Anyway, what Mac Davis said about what he does *inspired* me to think about this transcribing songs thing- hand writing, it seems to me, based on what little I've seen, is almost a lost art- and if you think about it, writing words (lyrically or other wise) is "painting a picture with words"- each letter is a picture!
I told my youngest son, a few months ago, that while writing songs is a PITA it helps keep my hand writing (printing actually) legible- if you don't use it you lose it kind of thing- another old thing is; hands tend to get shakey. So far mine aren't, but I see people whose hand writing is questionable, at best- (younger and older, but, at least older has a good excuse- younger not so much-
Now, where was I goin with this? Oh yeah, painting pictures with words- each stroke of the pen, each word written is a painted (so to speak) picture- some are talented, some ain't. My mother had the most legible printing I've ever seen- (she had been a book keeper and had to print in small spaces, so, she developed/adapted very well) my sons both had atrocious penmanship- the oldest was so small you had to squint real hard to read it- and the youngest looked like hen scratching, literally- their mother and I both had good penmanship, though mine was more correct in that it leaned to the right, while their mother's leaned to the left- but, it was very legible. The youngest son took drafting in High School and now has excellent penmanship- the oldest has gotten better too- age and maturity I guess. Everything he does is on a computer (work related and takes up a lot of his time)
Anyway- transcribing songs into a personal songbook is a great way to keep penmanship from being a lost art- and hopefully future generations won't have to wonder why we trashed (through non- use) an art form! Use it or lose it- the choice is ours.
Edit: Yes, I have written (original) some songs- I'm working on one now, which was inspired from a picture one of the posters on the guitar message board posted of a sketch he had made (many years ago) of a girl he had dated- and speaking of inspiration- I have to tell this story. Kris Kristofferson wrote Here Comes That Rainbow Again after watching a scene from the Grapes of Wrath- a, as in one,, scene from a movie- that is, to me amazing!
but, as an aside I bought my grand daughter (she'll turn 7 next month) a small guitar- and it has great sound! I haven't given it to her yet, but i hope she enjoys it for years to come- I bought her a small one because she is very petite and even a Parlor body is difficult for her to hold correctly-
Someone started a thread about a Neil Young song and as message boards are wont to do the topic veered (see above paragraph for evidence ) off to lord only knows where - I'm not familiar with Neil Young, btw- another poster said, and posted a picture of a comic book about the History of Willie Nelson - can you imagine? I bet he never, ever, in his wildest dreams thought he'd ever be the subject of a comic book-
But, I digress. A different thread, that had wandered off topic was about personal song books- (ones own collection of songs for playin and singin)-
Someone (obviously younger than I) mentioned using an iPad app called song something or other- I replied to that; I'm too old, and stubborn, and old begets stubborn- yes, transcribing, or creating, by hand is a PITA- but, - of course there is a but. I'm just wondering how best to introduce it since it has more than one facet- I think.
I guess, I'll start with this. We all know Mac Davis left us recently- so, I'll start there- I remember when watching his show he described what he did (song writing) as painting pictures with words- that knocked my sox off- how poetic!
Anyway, this morning, on the message board, I lamented I'm too old to adapt to an app on anything- like for instance, my oldest son gave me a used kindle several years ago- I've still not used it- I prefer holding the book and actually turning the pages-
This isn't to say that using keyboard on a computer doesn't have its advantages- (but having never formally learned to type I use the back space button a lot )I'm actually quite adept at getting my point(s) across on a key board. I've even written a book (for my kids and their kids about my views on things) - it will never go away because I had it printed and bound- computers crash and not all of us are smart enough to "back everything up in the "cloud" which goes hand in hand with too old- and stubborn.
I have to admit, emoji's are cool - emoji!? WTH kind of word is that?
Anyway, what Mac Davis said about what he does *inspired* me to think about this transcribing songs thing- hand writing, it seems to me, based on what little I've seen, is almost a lost art- and if you think about it, writing words (lyrically or other wise) is "painting a picture with words"- each letter is a picture!
I told my youngest son, a few months ago, that while writing songs is a PITA it helps keep my hand writing (printing actually) legible- if you don't use it you lose it kind of thing- another old thing is; hands tend to get shakey. So far mine aren't, but I see people whose hand writing is questionable, at best- (younger and older, but, at least older has a good excuse- younger not so much-
Now, where was I goin with this? Oh yeah, painting pictures with words- each stroke of the pen, each word written is a painted (so to speak) picture- some are talented, some ain't. My mother had the most legible printing I've ever seen- (she had been a book keeper and had to print in small spaces, so, she developed/adapted very well) my sons both had atrocious penmanship- the oldest was so small you had to squint real hard to read it- and the youngest looked like hen scratching, literally- their mother and I both had good penmanship, though mine was more correct in that it leaned to the right, while their mother's leaned to the left- but, it was very legible. The youngest son took drafting in High School and now has excellent penmanship- the oldest has gotten better too- age and maturity I guess. Everything he does is on a computer (work related and takes up a lot of his time)
Anyway- transcribing songs into a personal songbook is a great way to keep penmanship from being a lost art- and hopefully future generations won't have to wonder why we trashed (through non- use) an art form! Use it or lose it- the choice is ours.
Edit: Yes, I have written (original) some songs- I'm working on one now, which was inspired from a picture one of the posters on the guitar message board posted of a sketch he had made (many years ago) of a girl he had dated- and speaking of inspiration- I have to tell this story. Kris Kristofferson wrote Here Comes That Rainbow Again after watching a scene from the Grapes of Wrath- a, as in one,, scene from a movie- that is, to me amazing!
Last edited: