gschmitt Video – Daze

In this video, gschmitt gives a sneak peek performance of his new, unreleased song Daze.

Daze – written by gschmitt


I may be livin’ in a daze, but baby, there are days I think about you all the time – it’s true
I’d be content to pass my blurry days with the picture of your face; [the] clear cover of my crowded mind –

I do….only ask that you stay, and watch as I try
And give me the Time to get it right
‘cuz I’m still settin’ my course – to you

I may be living in a daze, dreaming up the ways
That I could be a hero, too – it’s true
But thus far, the closest that I came is a superhero cape and a taste for Johnny Walker blue. –

And you….might be less than impressed…and less than amused
Waiting on me to get a clue – well, let’s hope I do

I don’t wanna grow old; in fact, I don’t wanna get no bigger
(But I) got my impulse in a choke-hold
Still got some vulgar in my tongue, and your patience on a hair-trigger…go figure
You don’t even have to say a word – don’t you worry none, cause that look will do

I may be living in a daze (vamp)

Yeah, you don’t look impressed (one time only)

(bridge)
you say there’s a part of me that I can’t see
there’s a part of you that lives in me
there’s a part of me that thinks this to be

and I reply – despite all that I may put you through
there’s a part of me that lives for you
there’s a part of you that knows it’s true.

I may be livin’ in a daze, but baby, there are days I think about you all the time – it’s true

gschmitt Blog – The SONG, a new idea

Hey all – thanks for caring enough to keep up with what I’m doing. I know I’ve been blogging a lot about the things that have been keeping me busy and the different gigs I’ve been getting, but I thought I’d start talking about being a songwriter and some of the things that go into it from my perspective. It’s obviously the heart of what this whole site is about. I’ve always considered myself primarily a songwriter and I [seriously] have a catalog of more tunes than I can remember at this point. (And for those of you who are curious as to the name of your friend ‘gschmitt Grapeharvestmusic’ in Facebook, the ‘Grapeharvestmusic’ is the name on the catalog’s publishing.)

In this one, I thought I’d focus on how I START writing a new song with more to follow in later posts. I would say that the most important part of working in a creative field if you’re a person like me is the quality of the original concept. It seems like a no-brainer, but I know a lot of people who put more emphasis (or maybe even EQUAL emphasis) on the later development stages and it seems to work well for them. That’s cool, but for me, those later stages only happen if the first idea gets me excited enough to go through them. I have never said “that might be a cool song” when I work with an idea. It’s either “keep it – it’s going to be good” or “dump it – you could do better.” With time, my “dump it” filter has definitely set itself higher, but nothing else has changed all that much.

One of the things I’ve noticed about myself is that I can’t really be too conscious in a song’s conception. In fact, the more I “step back” from what I’m doing, the better it all becomes. Whenever I felt myself in a creative slump (and everyone gets there from time to time) and sat down TO write a song, it always wound up feeling contrived and disingenuous; like a middle school book report. Indulge me here, but there has to be a little magic for me to keep the idea around. As I’ve written more and more, the thing I have become more conscious of is HOW it starts and I’ve pretty much figure out that it’s any one of 3 ways:

1. I get a little hook in my head from just randomly, unconsciously singing like a mental patient. This can happen when I’m walking through a supermarket, sitting in traffic, daydreaming while I’m supposed to be doing something else, ‘not working’ at work, etc. The funny thing is that I don’t pick up on it right away; it takes some ‘marinating’ time before I become conscious of it. Once I do, though, I pick up the guitar and quickly harmonize it (write chords/lines to go with it) and get it in the tape recorder/computer to be developed later. (remember how I said “more tunes than I can remember?”….you should see the “song ideas” files.)
2. I’m playing around with an instrument and a vocal melody just presents itself. It used to only happen when I was playing guitar, but lately, I’ve found that anything can trigger it. I’ve thought of some of my personal favorite tunes from behind the drum set, the bass guitar, the piano, and my latest new friend: the bass xylophone. (too damn cool, that one)
3. A lyrical idea comes to me that works so well, I can simultaneously hear the melody in it as I say it out loud.

Of the three, I really don’t have a favorite; each one’s exciting when they come….and the only thing I can really control is the surrounding environment to create a mood. But I want to be clear here: I don’t think there’s a “creative mood” like I’ve heard some people talk about. There are just moods that trigger ideas that people who are more in touch with being creative will capitalize on. I read once in a book on writing poetry about how, in order to facilitate more creativity, poets should be aware of what was going on around when they created their favorite pieces; the lighting, the emotional state they were in, the time of day, how tired they were, if they were hungry, etc. This was in order to re-create the same environment to see if the magic happened again.

This idea has definitely helped me; it’s at least opened my eyes to the fact that you have to be aware of the things you can control in order to help along some of the things you can’t.

Thanks for reading, all. I appreciate it. I’d love to hear what any of you have to say, so be sure to comment and give me ideas for new blogs in the future.

Take it easy,
Greg

gschmitt Blog – Pasado Meridiano rehearsals

Pick Your Price for gschmitt MP3s

Pick your price for gschmitt single song and full album DRM Free MP3 downloads through SongSlide.

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gschmitt Podcasts

gschmitt has 5 brand new podcasts available. They are less than 2 minutes in length and provide a quick glimpse into his debut album, The Year in Pictures. Check out the podcasts here.

gschmitt Begins Rehearsals

gschmitt has begun rehearsing for upcoming live performances based off of tracks from his current release, The Year in Pictures.

gschmitt talks about rehearsals, and the adjustment to one guitar part and player in his latest blog post.

gschmitt – The Year in Pictures – Video 3

In this video, gschmitt talks, in depth, about his debut album, The Year in Pictures. The video features track 3, One More Day, from The Year in Pictures. Topics range from creation of songs, style, genre, influences, contributors, and hearing back from you.

gschmitt Blog – Rehearsals!

Hey everyone,

Thanks for coming back and checking out my blog.

It’s been getting crazy busy here lately, but I managed to fit some rehearsals into the calendar for my material with good friend and great drummer, Danny Lloret. This means that the preparations are being made to get some live shows coming soon. (and videos of live shows to shortly follow them.)

It’s pretty exciting because if you read the info on the making of the The Year in Pictures, the whole album was tracked out over a long process and I really had a limited opportunity to play the songs live with a full band. It’s such a great feeling to be able to respond/react to another person on these tunes and get his take on what the drum part should be. Danny didn’t track the drums on the album, so there are definitely some differences in interpretation of the individual parts.

There are also the HUGE differences in the guitar parts since the one guitar I’m playing is covering everything. (Whereas, in the studio, there was some guitar-layering going on and multiple guitars on each song.) Being the sole guitarist on this music makes me have to flesh out all of the parts and get to the core of the song. The results are more than satisfactory at this point. I’ll keep you posted.

Anyway, I can’t wait for you all to be able to hear some of what’s going on with this stuff. It’s exciting.

Thanks for checking in,

- greg

New gschmitt Blog and Video

In his latest video, gschmitt unveils one of his new, unreleased songs, Gone. Posted with the video are the lyrics to the entire song. Enjoy this sneak peak into gschmitt’s next album.

gschmitt has also posted a new blog where he talks about songwriting and a new song, Daze.

gschmitt Blog – New song, Daze, almost ready

Hey everybody. Welcome to my blog. Thanks for checking in.

It’s been a pretty busy week here for me. I’ve been putting the finishing touches on a song idea I’ve had bouncing around my head and guitar fretboard for a little while now. I get excited every time I finish a song. I start many songs and wait for the inspiration to come around and get them done. I don’t know how other songwriters do it, but my system’s been set in place from years of habit. I don’t exactly LOVE the way I work but despite my efforts, I can’t seem to do it any other way….I guess if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? Currently, I have a number of 3/4-done new song projects sitting on my computer desktop; glaring at me and begging to be finished…

Anyway, I’m psyched about this one. It’s called Daze and it’s a pretty whimsical tune about a guy [read: me] who stays a child at heart. The first line is ”I may be livin’ in a daze, but baby there are days I think about you all the time.” I’m going to be recording a quick demo of it pretty soon and maybe a video clip of it as well. I think you’re going to enjoy this one. I definitely had fun writing it. Be on the lookout.

Have a great week. Feel free to keep in touch with me in here. I dig getting messages and comments from you guys. Also, please subscribe to my newsletter so I can keep in touch with you.

Take it easy,
Greg

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