The Sound Ninja - Light in the Shadows

  I'm excited to say that my first song for this project is fully written.  I will be firing up the recording equipment ASAP to get the acoustic guitar recorded first! I've actually been working on this song for a few weeks.  This isn't always the case for me, but I wrote most of the lyrics first, before even knowing what the guitar was going to be like.  When I wrote the guitar part, I quickly found a melody line that quickly fit right in!  The lyrics have been molded since. More information to come!

 Whenever I write a new song, the lyrics always seem to take the most time.  Interestingly enough, the first thing I come up with is the title of the song.  After I have the title, I start brain-dumping into my Google Docs document, just typing whatever lines fit that title.  That title using comes from a whole bunch of thoughts that metaphorically relate to one another on the same topic...like details of a painting.  After the brain dump of lyrics, I match them to a chord progression I've written in the past.  One that fits the mood, and sometimes the mood AND the rhythm.  Or, the lyrics inspire me to write a new guitar chord progression/riff.  But, whenever all is said and done, I have to admit...sometimes I write the lyrics to a guitar part I have in mind.  The freedom is never ending. That is when I start really getting picky with word choice, because I want to say a certain thing with each line, but making it fit the rhythm can be tricky...

 I'm so glad to be starting this project back up.  I always make sure not to take for granted the fact that I get to do this.  I'm a family man and work full time outside of music.  I love doing this music thing so much that I carve time time out for it.  I know I'm not alone as I've met so many incredible musicians/artists that are in the same boat, or a boat of similarity, and it isn't easy. While on a hiatus, I've definitely solidified what this album is going to be like.  It will be fully just acoustic and vocal.  Nothing extra.  It will have a darker tone, moody and melodic.  It will have a mixture of new originals, plus old originals brought back to life.  I will work on one song at a time and release each one to the same album on BandCamp.

 I wanted to make a quick playlist showcasing some of the songs that influenced my love for acoustic music by heavy rockers. Acoustic Influences - YouTube Music The top of the pack is "Bleed" by Cold.  They were one of my biggest influences in music in general, with their dark melodies, pounding drums, crushing guitars/bass, etc.  "Bleed" stripped out all of that, bringing a different, but so relevant, mood to the table.  Such an incredible song with intense introspection with poetry, melody and sincerity. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like for someone to have such respect for a song that I wrote that it would influence them forever like this song has for me.  Thank you, Scooter Ward.  You did that for me.

 Hi, everyone! This blog is about my acoustic journey. I’m The Sound Ninja.  I’m a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and recording artist from Minnesota USA who plays everything you hear in my music unless a featured artist is noted.  I have a couple full-length albums and a bunch of singles out on all the major streaming platforms, plus Bandcamp. Pretty recently, I’ve started working on a new heavy rock / metal project with my friend from England you may know as Operation Neptune Spear, and we call ourselves Minus Context.  We are working on a full-length album, and we have a ways to go. That brings me to the purpose of this blog.  With all of the super heavy, blasting and facemelting music that we are working on as Minus Context, sometimes I personally really like to have a cool down.  Some of my favorite music ever made is by the heavy rock artists that step back and play a moody ballad. That being said, I’m going to start working on a fully acoustic alb...