Songwriting
Five albums, 8 EPs, multiple podcasts, writing, reproduction modifying— Erik Ritland has been busy the past 15 years within the Twin Cities. He’s also set to launch a brand new podcast on October 7th called “Erik Ritland Isn’t So Bad.” The podcast will focus on self-development, coming across new things, and local track and sports. As I found out at the same time as discussing song and songwriting with Erik, his preference to study and take in understanding got here early.
Back in high school Erik might simply select up the guitar and play whatever chords came out. He in no way notion to classify exactly the genre in which he changed into running. “It’s now not folks purpose it didn’t have folk progressions and I didn’t understand the way to do those but,” Erik explains. “So I changed into just form of clanking away at random chords. It became essentially bizarre acoustic song I bet.” The spark to write down got here from The Beatles. He wanted to play all of the instruments they did, however not anything he wrote ended up sounding like them.
As he stepped forward and commenced playing in bands, his aim with writing changed. He’d write thinking of a complete band gambling parts. He developed with the aid of learinging how sure paths could outline the sound and used the experience to find purpose in his track progressions. Erik shares that he wrote masses of songs and maintains to dive lower back into those to learn. He can become aware of what works, how he’s evolved, and what matters he’s performed without a doubt properly through the years.
Song thoughts can come from everywhere. In nowadays’s virtual age, the capability to jot down down, document, and keep onto standards is endless.
Erik remembers a time before devices in wallet, when he become working at Borders and he noticed a poster for “1234” by means of Feist. His initial concept was, “twelve thirty 4, that’s a dumb name for a track.” Almost right now after a co-worker permit him know that it changed into really suggested “one-two-3-4” he decided to jot down his personal “1234” mentioned the way he first envisioned. He penned everything in his head while at paintings. Scrambling domestic, he then changed into able to physically write the whole thing down.
Erik stocks that part of the thriller of songwriting is that you can’t want it an excessive amount of. When you’re trying too hard, then it turns into contrived. Your brain is making an attempt to do it and it turns into either hard or not possible as it’s forced. You have to allow go to a few degree to create. The songs beneath are examples of Erik finding that sweet spot, the location in which ideas occurred fast and songwriting came virtually easy for him