Project UJAm ..

[godinqc]

I've been lacking inspiration recently and could not come up with any decent song , it seems that I'm always back to the same chord patterns .. so I went on the Web and browsed around to see if it would help me find inspiration .
I found a set of VSTs called UJam, that lets you play guitar chords on the Keyboard with 1 finger .. I'm not sure if this is a bad or a good thing .. I always start on the BR800 and record snippets of chord progressions, lead, synth etc.. and usually put it together and master via a DAW..  but this time I used the UJam Vst for some of the guitar parts and drums .. it's kindda scary how the VST guitar actually sounds better than me actually playing guitar..
So this song is about how I created this song 

On a side note, what do you do when you can't seems to put together a new songs ? Any suggestions ?

Lyrics:
The blank page is staring at me
All day long
The pen refuses to move an inch
All night long
Can't sleep, can't eat, I have to write
So I had to look deep into my soul
So I had to look deep on the Internet
And I found Dark Magic
Called Virtual Instruments
Piano Chords, Guitar Chords
Played with one finger
And my BR is crying for attention

[SE]

You had me at the bass intro, then the vocal and delay  guitar, top stuff, excellent,  cool.

[StephenM]

I like what GuitarRon said the other day...."You do you!"  There is no right or wrong in this...there is what one does...  cool song idea...likely all songwriters go through this...

[DarrenG / The Devil's Toupee]

I don't think it matters how you make music as long it sounds good and its something you've created.I like the sound of the vst guitars,
They are a good idea for certain songs especially in the background.
Nice song, well constructed and nice lyrics and vocals.

[StephenM]

listening again... I'd be totally cool to more like this...it sounds great...yeah one day we'll even eat food that comes from machines!  Or maybe it'll be like Terminator and be running from them...
I am glad you take whatever path you do because your music is unique and brings alot of flavors that are "you" and so that makes it worthwhile...so if it takes 4 months or whatever to come up with something it's always enjoyable to me...
and somewhere in your songs there is generally hints at Pink Floyd and man that is totally great!

[tonyc]

love this smart work the guitars sound great and the bass , love the drums , and vocal and lyrics , regarding songwriting , i jot down anything i think might be of any use , things people say , and just pick the guitar up once a day , if there is a song it mostly comes quickly or not at all , time i find is the answer , hope this helps . great song ......cheers tony cee

[StephenM]

love this smart work the guitars sound great and the bass , love the drums , and vocal and lyrics , regarding songwriting , i jot down anything i think might be of any use , things people say , and just pick the guitar up once a day , if there is a song it mostly comes quickly or not at all , time i find is the answer , hope this helps . great song ......cheers tony cee

Tony I enjoy hearing about everyone's process...thanks

[guitarron]

Sounds pretty cool. Whatever it takes to get out of rut is a good thing. How much of it is you? Besides vocals

[godinqc]

Stephen, great advice "You do you!" 
There's tons of great songs on this forum and they all sound differently .. because we are all different people and have a different artistic voices.
Guitarron , how much is me actually playing the instruments in this song .. less than usual.
The drum are created with a VST called UJam Heavy2, the Heavy Guitars are from UJam Iron2, I'm trying out the free versions, I played/created them with my keyboard basically with one finger  ..  The vocals are from from the VST EMvoice as my singing voice is terrible, this EMvoice is great for me as it allows me to put lyrics and vocals to a song .. sometimes it feels a bit robotic but most of the time the vocals sound adequate.  The Guitar lead is me actually playing the guitar and the Synth is me playing the chords on my keyboard..
It actually got me out of the funk .. I plugged in the BR800 this morning and started a new song ..

Have a great day .. eh!

[Zoltan]

The gear, or what you're using to make the song doesn't really matter. Just the end results. In this case you've found a great way to get things going and it worked like a charm! And being a one finger warrior with keyboards isn't a bad thing. I'm one of those too. I've occasionally tried to find those type of programs (like midi to chord), but they're too much trouble for me. Also quantitizing is something that i've learned to hate. I tried it a few times and it just messes up my feng shui The best way for me is to cheat my way with one finger on the left and fake the chords with the right hand and get on with it (i'm using the basic chord form and sometimes just add, or remove fingers from it). If that doesn't work then i just grab a guitar.

You've got a lot of mileage out from those Vsti's. Also if using these types of methods for songwriting bothers you... There's always the possibility of sketching the song first with programs like these and then finessing it with other means.