A few months ago fellow N-tracker Yaz was going through a dark period in his life. He posted several long notes on the forum, where one of his concerns was whether, after many years loving and performing music, his musical muses had deserted him.
For some reason (maybe because neither Yaz nor myself are youngsters any more) I was quite moved by what Yaz said, and his desparation at the possibility that musical creativity might no longer be a part of his life. So while I was thinking about Yaz, I started noodling around on my guitar, and finally recoreded what you will here below.
For some reason, it seemed like the thing to do was to put together a song for Yaz, sort of as a tribute. Well the noodling never really became a song…just some parts that are strung together. Just an acoustic guitar, performance and recording totally unpolished, and really unfinished. I kept thinking I’d come back to the idea and do it right. Maybe someday I will. Anyway, I decided tat I’d post it anyway. I wasn’t sure whether I should call the recording a song. Its more like a book of short stories that kind of fit together. Hence the name, Stories for Yaz. Click below, then navigate to the music page. And yeah, I hear all the flaws that you do. So click
Here
Yaz, you are an inspiration!! Bet you didn’t expect that.
T
T, I’ve tried 10 or 15 times to reply to this. I don’t know what to say. I’m deeply touched that I was the inspiration for this tune.
I could listen to this all day, I love acoustic stuff in this genre. The performance is most excellant! The ‘stories’ tie together fantastically! Your finger style is very, very good!
DON’T CHANGE A THING! 
If you do it’s ok, I’ve downloaded the mp3, it’s a keeper for sure.
And No, I never thought I would be someone’s inspiration. (Other than a poster child for a prophylactic)
Now I have to get off my sorry butt and do some recording, this has inspired me, my friend!
A Misty Eyed Yaz 
Nice one Mr Springer,
Yaz is right, some things you just do on the spur of the moment and they don’t need changing. Stick with the feel and the moment that was there when you laid it down. One of my favourite acoustic players is Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, and parts of this reminded me of him. Nice picking mate!
I read this post at work and was driving home thinking of not only replying but posting something appropriate musically. Because actually Yaz, you are an inspiration. I know we only exchanged a few pms, but you have a refreshingly non complicated outlook on life, and when you’re critical, you’re positive.
Anyway, I’m going to retire to the studio and try to do the vox on a project that I’ve been shying away from through lack of confidence. Now I’m feeling kind of inspired to have a go. Give me a an hour or so.
It could be Yaz appreciation week
Cheers…Ian
20 or so listens already T, don’t change it, it’s absolutly great like it is. My wife agrees also.
Bruffie, thanks for the kind words, I never figured to be anyones inspiration. Anxious to hear the project Ian!
Yaz appreciation week, hmm, nah, let’s make it nTrackers appreciation week!
Besides, I’m getting embarrassed 
20 or so listens already T, don't change it, it's absolutly great like it is. My wife agrees also.
Bruffie, thanks for the kind words, I never figured to be anyones inspiration. Anxious to hear the project Ian!
Yaz appreciation week, hmm, nah, let's make it nTrackers appreciation week!
Besides, I'm getting embarrassed
Just got the phones off. Will post seperately in a few minutes. Er...Could have been better
But only got time for 1 takeCheers,
Ian
T. I've listened a few times also. You have a nice touch on those strings.
Thanks fellas. I’m always happy if the sounds that I make give some measure of enjoyment. I can never tell tell treasure from trash.
It still seems odd to me that connections between people seem to form so easily in this forum. Lots of folks on the forum seem like old friends to me. Go figure.
T
EDIT: I sure wish that I could edit my posts. My previous post had awful typos. Despite appearances, I’m really well educated. No, it’s true… Really…
Thanks fellas. I'm always happy if the sounds that I make give some measure of enjoyment. I can never tell tell treasure from trash.
It still seems odd to me that connections between people seem to form so easily in this forum. Lots of folks on the forum seem like old friends to me. Go figure.
T
EDIT: I sure wish that I could edit my posts. My previous post had awful typos. Despite appearances, I'm really well educated. No, it's true... Really...
Definately TREASURE! Excellant finger picking style!
Nice folk here in the ol nTrack forum, I always feel at home here, not friends really, but more like family. Other forums I'm scared I need to take my shoes off or something so as not to track in mud on the floor! LOL
Hey T, I don't worry 'bout my edits, I'm not well educated, really, LOL.
"I'm not a smart man, but I know what good music is" (In my best Forrest Gump voice)
Yaz
(RUN, YAZ, RUN!)
Inspiration’s flowing tonite. Just a few words that wandered into my mind while I was sitting at the pc…
While I'm seating here
It seems to me so clear
That I've burst my musical bubble
When the schemes and themes
That inspired my dreams
Disappeared in the daily trouble
Of this high speed world
Where my minds in a whirl
Of frustration and daily pain
Now my smile has gone
And my outlooks moved on
From the sunshine to the rain
I'm just a musical void
With a muse that's devoid
Of the major key to my life
But give me a hand
And I'll march with the band
And turn my back on this strife
So play me your song
And before very long
I'll pick up my guitar and strum
And when the music's returned
Then I've finally learned
That it's more than just rattle and hum
Anyone want to put a tune to them? Mr Springer?
Cheers…Ian
Hi Bruffie,
I like it your poem.
Sorry for not replying sooner, but I spent the last week in Washington providing information to an EPA science advisory panel on the effect (actually the lack of effect) of Atrazine on the development of the gonads of frogs. I kid you not, that is really what I was doing. In fact you might read about the outcome of the deliberations of the advisory panel in the news if you pay any attention to environmental issues.
Back to the music…I’ve never tried putting music to another persons lyrics. But after a week sitting in conference, a little musical play sounds like fun. Can’t promise that I’ll succeed though. New territory for me. But you’ve given me a cool starting point anyway.
T
Atrazine has been banned in the European Union.[6][7] However, the European Union scientific review stated, “It is expected that the use of atrazine, consistent with good plant protection practice, will not have any harmful effects on human or animal health or any unacceptable effects on the environment.†A very similar product to atrazine, called terbuthylazine, is used in the EU today. No country has ever discontinued atrazine use for health or environmental safety reasons, including the European Union, and is used in more than 80 countries worldwide.
Atrazine is one of the most widely used pesticides in the United States with 76 million pounds of it applied each year.[8]
Atrazine has been shown in some experiments by UC Berkeley biologist Tyronne Hayes to be a teratogen, and, even at concentrations as low as 0.1 part per billion, to emasculate male frogs by causing their gonads to produce eggs – effectively turning males into hermaphrodites.[9] The EPA and its independent Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) examined all available studies on this topic - including Hayes' work - and concluded there is "currently insufficient data" to determine if atrazine may affect amphibian development. Hayes, formerly part of the SAP panel, resigned in 2000 to continue studies independently.[10]
In 2003, the EPA classified the herbicide as "not likely" to cause cancer in humans, stating it did "not find any results among the available studies that would lead us to conclude that a potential cancer risk is likely from exposure to atrazine."[11] After a 10-year science review, EPA recommended atrazine's re-registration in October 2003.[12]
EPA considered the re-registration final when it issued the cumulative risk assessments in 2006 on the traizine herbicides, of which atrazine is one, and concluded that the herbicides pose "no harm that would result to the general U.S. population, infants, children or other...consumers."[13]
That sounds like a fun time T... NOT! You might think some genius would market that stuff as an alternative to sex change operations! LOL! Seriously though, sounds nasty to me and we drop 76 MILLION pounds on US soil every year...
Hmmmph... learn something new everyday.
Back to the music... I may have a tune in progress that would work with Bruffies lyrics. I may give it a go myself this weekend. I've still got my piece of the corpse to finish though...
D
The Hayes studies are totally bogus. There have been at least 21 studies performed on Xenopus laevis (frog) that have failed to demonstrate a similar effect. EPA has been trying for years to evaluate what his data really contain. Three data sets have been shown to them, but they were encoded, and nobody in Hayes lab could explain how to decode them. Finally, EPA gave up. Furthermore Hayes own later work has failed to duplicate his earlier work. Ach, don’t get me started. The guy has accused half the scientists in the US and Europe of fraud (actually the number is probably about a dozen). I know most of the guys who he has accused, and I can assure you, they are among the most honest and circumspect people that I have ever known.
Well this OT big time.
T
Yeah definitely OT but interesting none the less.
D
…
T…It never fails to amaze me quite what the diversity of peoples expertise is on this forum.
By the way…are the Frogs happy about this?
I’ve written a few songs but always with a combination of the melody and words in my head. Would be interesting to hear some of my nonsensical meanderings put to someone else’s music.
Diogenes…Likewise with the music, it would be great to here that!
Don’t know why I put “seating” in the 1st line though, was meant to be “sitting” but the missus was typing them as they came into my head so maybe it was her Filipino accent coming into play
Cheers Guys…Ian
OK Bruffie and Yaz,
I finally got an evening to put together some ideas for music to put to Bruffie’s words. Click Here and then navigate to the music page, and listen to YazBruff.
Most of this is first take stuff. I was just trying to get ideas down, really. So if you like the basic idea, maybe we can clean it up. As you will see, I left lots of places for guitar licks to be added. Sure wish that I could really play bass guitar. For some reason, I was having trouble with timing on the little break-like sections at the end of the verses. Try not to let that distract you too much. And just as I started to sing I was suddenly attacked by allergies, so my voice sounds even more weird than usual. I can definitely do better.
What do you think B and Y? Is this worth working on? Ya wanna work togther on it? I’m not real dependable on projects like this. Just got too much to do.
Y
I’m game T. I Like the groove! So count me in.
Yaz
O.T.
My baby girl is 26 yrs old today, man do I feel (and look) ancient! LOL
Cool. Maybe Bruffie will buy in. If he does, I hope he can cough up another verse. His lyrics are really good.
Yaz, let me know if you have particular parts you’d like to play (like lead parts or bass or whatever). To get things started I could build some tracks around the Addictive Drums track that is already in the song. Later on, if we can hook up with somebody who plays drums, we can drop the current drum track.
To give a little more structure I could record a keyboard track, and do a preliminary take singing. If somebody else who is a better singer comes along we can replace my track with theirs.
We can just build it as whoever wants to join in gives a part.
Lets think a little bit about song structure, as that will be hard to change later on. In the sketch I recorded, I stuck an instrumental part at the beginning. I’m not sure that is the best way to approach the song. It would be much more standard to move it after the second verse (assuming Bruffie comes up with a third verse).
So structure could be
Intro
Verse
Short break (the part where my timing is bad now)
Verse
Short break (the part where my timing is bad now)
Instrumental break over the regular chord structure for the verse
Not sure what to do here
Verse
Instrumental Outro (?)
Or maybe not. What do you think?
Let me experiment a little with getting sample-accurate alignment on e-mailed files. I think that it should be pretty easy to set up a way to pass files around, and paste things together to get perfect alignment.
Hmmm… Just noticed some low frequency hum in my recording. I moved stuff around in my little studio, and now I’ve probably got grounding or something screwed up.
T
Mr Springer,
I’m over-awed at the moment. Love the feel of it. I kinda like the structure with the long intro, but open to your thoughts. I think we throw the " Not sure what to do here" section at the Yazmeister After all it was his musical predicament that threw the words into my mind.What about it Yaz, gonna throw in some hot licks?
Keys would enhance the feel of the groove also.
I will try to come up with a third verse this weekend, so assume there will be one!
I hear a kind of Ian Anderson style for the vox, but you have quite a nice bluesy groove going on there also. Wouldn’t mind having a go at the vox but if anyone else wants to go for also, feel free…
Cheers guys,
Ian
Sounds good on the basic set up, maybe a little chicken pickin on the intro, I’ll do what ever y’all want. Could even try a refrain or bridge in the middle, (where’s that confounded bridge)
Guitar and bass here, you both sing better than me. Ian Anderson vocals would work Bruffie, since JT started as a blues based rock band. T, definately needs some keyboards. I’ll play around with it next couple days and maybe lay down some ideas.
Yaz, looking around to see if any cliffs creep up on me, LOL
Edit, yep T, you have a grounding issue there. Good luck on that, they can be a bear to find.