Ankle Tattoo Blues: Instrumentation

Building a song is like building a web site. Envision a concept. Create content based on that concept. Find the best form with which to deliver that content. Wash, rinse, repeat. The idea is to find a way to share your original concept with others in a way that makes them “get it.”

Easier said than done.

I’ve been sifting through my CD collection to figure out who among artists I listen to would compose and record a song like “Ankle Tattoo Blues.” My best guesses are Barenaked Ladies and Ben Folds. Neither of those is quite right, but they’re close enough for our purposes.

Listening to Ben Folds for ideas on instrumentation. I’m thinking the song should be piano or keyboard oriented. I’ve been playing around with voicings on my keyboard, and I think I’ve come up with something that works. Not sure how it’ll integrate with the existing guitar parts; it may be that I’ll have to change some of those to accommodate the keys.

Another challenge is that I’m very out of practice on keyboards. My first instrument was piano and I’ve had way more piano lessons than guitar lessons in my life, but I’m not real confident on the instrument these days. I think piano will serve the song well, though, so I’ll have to keep practicing until I feel comfortable enough to nail it.

The current idea is that I’ll have one track for piano, one for acoustic 12-string guitar, one for electric guitar, and one for vocals. As with everything in life, this is subject to change.

On this day…

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