CAGED

2023-10-30

I sometimes write music.

I haven't written in a while. And I have complicated feelings about that, but that's not what I wanted to write about today.

I very quickly lost the desire to play other people's music, and felt the urge to write my own. My usual way of writing involves a lot of what I call "fishing". As in I sit, and I test out different chords, and listen to the melody they spark in my brain. Sometimes, something sounds too beautiful to ignore, so I catch it, and I build up on it based on where it naturally wants to go.

This time, in an attempt to understand music theory, my guitar teacher suggested to work with only five basic chords; A minor, C, G, D, and E minor.

These are very common chords, used over and over again in countless pop or rock songs. I tend not to use them while writing, because while beautiful they sound too familiar, and I pursue novelty to a fault when writing.

But, the experiment of writing only with these chords was less intimidating, and somewhat more rewarding, because I didn't have a lot of options. There are five chords. Now tell a story. It was counterintuitive and helpful to see how limited options can actually make the process more joyful.

And to maximise joy should literally be the main goal here. Otherwise what am I doing?

Here is the improvisation on the five chords, "Caged Owl":