Disqus - Latest Comments for jeffshattuck

Re: The New York Times, the Deli News? | Procedure

jeffshattuck — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 12:55:28 -0000

This pun took me a second but the payoff was satisfying, especially knowing that it's for the cafe of a news publisher (of course whether or not Das Bild is news is debatable!).

When I lived in Germany, there was a very famous campaign that played a similar trick, combining German phonetics with English. Just in case people didn't get the joke, there were pictures too that paid off the pun. I have tried to find those ads but I can't! They were written by Carlos Obers of RG Wiesmeir and won tons of awards but they are nowhere to be found.

Re: Ari's Take: Squarespace vs. Bandzoogle vs. Wix vs. Weebly vs. Wordpress...What's the Best Website Builder?

jeffshattuck — Fri, 08 Jun 2018 16:43:51 -0000

Great write up, really appreciate it. I've used Squarespace for over a decade and it's jut gotten better and better. Totally reliable, killer support, nice looking on mobile (here's mine: www.deepsalvage.com). BUT, as you point out, it's not the easiest thing to learn in the world as so many controls are either buried or where you least expect them. The templates are also a double edged sword: mind-bendingly awesome when they basically match what you're after straight out of the box, and mind massacring when they don't. Also, the file size limit and music handling in general are frustrating so I just embed bandcamp players. Still, SP is the site builder I would always recommend. My experience with them has been really good.

Re: The Best Bookshelf Speakers for Most Stereos

jeffshattuck — Fri, 06 May 2016 10:07:55 -0000

Great stuff. Why didn't you test the Audioengine A5+?

Re: Firebird V 2016 HP

jeffshattuck — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 08:10:24 -0000

I thought maybe the term USA was just marketing, referring to the company not the product. I read further though and now know the guitar is made here. Nice looking guitar.

Re: Firebird V 2016 HP

jeffshattuck — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 11:34:56 -0000

Where is it made?

Re: Controversy! Is This Really Keef's Isolated Track on "Can't You Hear Me Knocking"?

jeffshattuck — Tue, 09 Sep 2014 16:27:53 -0000

Not even close.

Re: “Why don’t you write more happy songs?” (Stuff people say to songwriters)

jeffshattuck — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 20:31:02 -0000

I have thought about this a lot, too much, really. For me the issue is a little different and concerns a word I learned in therapy: perseverate. It means to "repeat or prolong an action, thought, or utterance after the stimulus that prompted it has ceased." In other words, writing songs about sad things that have happened to me prolongs the feelings -- and I don't want to prolong the feeling. It's a dilemma but the upside is that by cutting myself off from that particular songwriting avenue I'm forcing myself to look at the writing process through a new lens. As a result, I have fewer new songs (sadness is a comfort zone for me) but I'm not repeating myself (as much).

Re: GuitarPlayer: The 50 Greatest Rhythm Guitarists

jeffshattuck — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 15:59:31 -0000

Lists are impossible. BUT, I would add Tom Petty, for sure. I would also add John Lennon, Elvis Costello and Lyle Lovett.

Re: The Magic of Music Theory: Can Just a Bit Can Boost Your Songwriting?

jeffshattuck — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 17:28:54 -0000

To my knowledge it is. They were totally intuitive.

Re: The Magic of Music Theory: Can Just a Bit Can Boost Your Songwriting?

jeffshattuck — Fri, 31 May 2013 13:55:03 -0000

I'ver thought about this a lot. Like you I don't know much but I do know basic scales as both chords and notes. I think the danger of too much theory for writers is that you focus more on the rational then the emotional. It's like studio players who are incredible but don't move you. I also think about the Beatles. They didn't know theory and look what they came up with (yes, George Martin helped but I don't think he changed chords or lyrics). All that said, when I watch Sam (the bassist I work with) or Tim (my go-to guitarist) absorb a song in an instant and then be able to transpose it just as fast or write it down in real time, well, that's a cool skill, to be sure.

Re: 2013 TAS Editors' Choice Awards: Desktop Loudspeakers

jeffshattuck — Fri, 31 May 2013 13:48:11 -0000

Agree. Total miss to leave these out.

Re: Snip! Why Editing your Songwriting is Essential

jeffshattuck — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 16:49:45 -0000

Nice to see you posting regularly again. I, too, am a copywriter by day and I totally get the whole editing thing. With songs I like it, too. It's a step I get to once I feel I have The Idea, which is always pure torture -- or luck.

Re: The Key to Being a Creative Leader? Job Security.

jeffshattuck — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:51:25 -0000

"When you are in power, you can be more innovative because you feel more
comfortable and secure, and less sensitive to, or constrained by, what
other people think of you. Unless, of course, you don't feel secure – because your position of power is not guaranteed. Then, according to new studies from researchers at the University of Amsterdam, the tables turn."

Sounds like an academic arguing for tenure. Besides, I've never come across a single creative person -- or anyone else with a job -- who wasn't a little worried about ending up in a soup line.

Re: My songwriting status

jeffshattuck — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 15:59:09 -0000

I know the feeling. Since having twins and going back to work I just have no more time for much of anything else. That said, I have a backlog of finished material that I'm slowing recording, and I still come up with a new idea now and then. I agree with the other commenters, though: do you what makes you happy.

Re: Social Media & Email Management for Musicians

jeffshattuck — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 13:14:20 -0000

Super helpful, thank you.

Re: What is songwriting about…for you?

jeffshattuck — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 18:31:17 -0000

They were born about 18 months ago. It's been super cool, but my songwriting activities have had to be curtailed! Here's a link to one of the very last songs I wrote before they were born. It's called Welcome to the World and it's about them, of course!

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Re: The songwriting lightbulb moment

jeffshattuck — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 15:22:33 -0000

I'm the opposite! I need a specific starting point, especially these days when I am so time-constrained. I also have to finish what I've started before going on to something new. But I must be an oddball, because most songwriters I read about are more like you, much more spontaneous.

Love the Stumble Stones idea. Maybe it's just a song about reminders of our past...

Re: Behind songwriting lives: The books I’m reading

jeffshattuck — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 16:25:05 -0000

Looks like a good list, I've only read a few, though. Hearing about Duff's book makes me want to read it. As for what I would recommend: Hagar's is decent, Adler's is, too. Best I've read is actually not a bio/autobio but a collection of essays by Paul Zollo called "Songwriters on Songwriting." Phenomenal.

Re: Should I Meditate?

jeffshattuck — Wed, 02 May 2012 17:05:38 -0000

Excellent post. I suffered a severe traumatic brain injury about six years ago and started meditating as part of my therapy. At the moment, I'm off the wagon as I adjust to working full-time again, but I plan to start up again. I used to meditate twice a day, 20 minutes each time, and while I do not believe I ever truly focused my mind, I am confident that the effort helped my mood, my creativity and my overall health.

Re: Remembering singer-songwriter Jack Hardy, one year later

jeffshattuck — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 23:41:36 -0000

Very cool of you to post about this guy, sounds like he was really cool and might have started something that will last. Just went and read his manifesto again. As with all good advice, easy to grok hard to stick to. Sigh...

Re: The Rhythms of Work vs The Rhythms of Creative Labor

jeffshattuck — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 12:37:43 -0000

On debates such as this one, I often go old school and open up a dictionary. Here's what Merriam Webster says:

WORK

activity in which one exerts strength or faculties to do or perform something:a : sustained physical or mental effort to overcome obstacles and achieve an objective or resultb : the labor, task, or duty that is one's accustomed means of livelihoodc : a specific task, duty, function, or assignment often being a part or phase of some larger activity
LABOR

a : expenditure of physical or mental effort especially when difficult or compulsoryb (1) : human activity that provides the goods or services in an economy (2) : the services performed by workers for wages as distinguished from those rendered by entrepreneurs for profits

Given these definitions, I think it's fair to say that while the line between the two terms is a bit blurry, work is what goes into creating art and labor is what happens at a Wal-Mart checkstand. But regardless...

I think the real challenge is that artists never want to be subject to a value measuring mechanism, especially a free market, as a way to determine the worth of their works. So I think the real debate around art is not what work or labor means but what worth means. Who has it, who doesn't, what has it, what doesn't? I don't have the answer, except to say that the art you produce should be worth a lot to you.

Re: Open Mic: What Makes A Great Lead Vocalist?

jeffshattuck — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 20:23:32 -0000

I've thought about this more than I care to admit! Anyway... a great lead singer should have:

- something distinctive and original, you know its him or her right away
- timbre changes with pitch (Rod Stewart doesn't have this but he's Rod Stewart, so...)
- groove and unusual phrasing (think of Axl Rose on Mr. Brownstone)
- believability (one of my very favorite singers is Buddy Miller and one of the things that make him so great is his ability to make any song sound like he lived it and wrote it)
- vocal chords made of carbon fiber because either you can do it night after night or you can't, Tyler is probably the most durable lead singer in history, true freak of nature
- sings with the band, not separate from it, Jagger is the master

I could keep going, but I think these are the bits that matter most.

Re: Do you have songwriting support?

jeffshattuck — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 20:14:20 -0000

For me, it's really been about online stuff. There's nobody around me at the moment who I can hang with and talk about songwriting, I wish there were. Plus, I've always been a bit of a loner, a person who lives in his head.

Re: Songwriting: Quality or Quantity?

jeffshattuck — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 00:28:27 -0000

Super interesting topic. Here's my two cents' worth:I believe that creativity begets creativity. But I also believe that having a good idea is only the beginning. You have to execute your idea well and sometimes this happens quickly, but other times it can take years. For me, it usually works the slow way. I wish it were different, I truly do, but every good song I've written took awhile. They all started with a flash, a line or a chord change that I knew in my heart was good, but then the real work began, because those early ideas never feel like work, they arrive suddenly and whole, but incomplete. In my opinion, trying to write 30 songs in 30 days is a fine idea; trying to finish 30 songs in 30 days, well, that would never work for me.

Re: Poetry vs. songwriting

jeffshattuck — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 21:35:30 -0000

I think this is an age-old question that will never be answered to everyone's satisfaction. It's like "what is art?" And I'm okay with that. I agree with the late physicist Richard Feynman who argued against overly precise definitions. Here's a link to an article about what Feynman said: http://bobsutton.typepad.co...