What’s up Hive musicians!
Since I don’t (typically) post music on the weekends, I thought once in a while (when I have a good subject mostly) I might do a post about some aspect of my process, and today I’ve got a post for you about the process: from thinking of a song, to having it in my music case…it may be more in depth than you expect :)

PHASE 1

Acquiring a pdf of the lyrics/chords

Printing directly from websites leaves much to be desired. Often it ends up taking four or more pages to print a song that could have been done in two. I prefer getting a clean pdf of just lyrics and chords to start off with.

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	However the song comes to me, the first thing I do is lookup the chords. I get 99.9% of my chords from Ultimate Guitar on my phone, but I can’t read from my phone and use it to record simultaneously, so next I have to get it printed out.
	When there are multiple versions, I typically go with the one with the most likes - although sometimes I’ll hate that version and have to update my print by hand. When I can, I like to try playing from my phine just a few measures to make sure I like the version before I print it, but that is pretty rare at the moment.
	From the […] menu at the top right, I choose Print.
	From there I can export the pdf version.
	I choose Save to Files
	I name the file and save it in a folder specifically for chords.
	If there are any chords I don’t know by heart, I screen shot the chords at the top and save them in the same folder with the name “[song name] Chords.jpg”.
	Next I email them to myself, so I can pull them up somewhere with a printer to print them.
	A lot of times, I try to send the email before the folder gets too full, and I delete the pdfs from the chords folder once they’ve been received in my inbox. This helps me quickly tell if I have new chords to send.

PHASE 2

Preparing the documents and printing

Here, I add the chord images if needed, print all documents, combine them into sheets and label them in a relatively uniform fashion.

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	I save all the pdfs and images in a raw materials folder
	I invert the colors of the chords image
	I add the chords image to the pdf (if applicable) and delete the image from the folder.
	Once all images are gone from the folder, I am ready to open and print all files.
	I tape the printed sheets together using two pieces of clear tape per mating edge (a piece on the front and a piece on the back).
	If three pages or more, I cut the pages down so they can be cleanly nested when folded up.
	Finally, I put the song and artist name on a strip of tape along the back side of the first page. This way I can find them quick, the tape prevents bleed-through, and since they’re labelled in uniform fashion I can quickly open them right side up to reference while performing live.

PHASE 3

Updating the song list and filing the prints

Updating the spreadsheet as I add documents to the music case helps ensure I get them listed, and that I put them in the case in the right order.

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	Once I’ve got a stack of completed prints, I enter them into the spreadsheet one at a time. I reorder the spreadsheet alphabetically after each song is entered…
	…and I place the print into the case according to its position in the list before putting the name if the next song into the spreadsheet and starting over. Once they’re all in, I save the spreadsheet and now I know it’s up to date!

PHASE 4

Maintenance and Updates

Another advantage to having chord sheets in hard copy is that I can hand-write notes as I find things that can help me play the song from a cold start.

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	Whenever I record a song I put the date under the title part, so I can avoid forgetting and playing duplicates, or at least space recordings out.
	Sometimes I cross out chords that trip me up and can be skipped. These are usually fast transition chords, and their absence goes mostly unnoticed.
	Sometimes the page break separates a lyrical line and its chords, so I’ll add them.
	And sometimes I just like to highlight various sections so I can easily find my way around while playing. Of course notes aren’t limited to these examples, these are just the first ines that come to mind.

…so there you have it!

It seems like a lot of work - and I guess it is - but it’s a labor of love. My dad always said that luck is nothing more than the point at which preparation and opportunity meet…so I’m building a large repertoire of songs and assembling/practicing them in such a way that I will be prepared when I get the opportunity to pick up a gig. I wouldn’t be able to post a practice song every weekday if I didn’t have a selection of printed chords to reference and pick from, and without the motivation I get from trying to post a song a day, I probably wouldn’t be getting the practice I’ve been getting.

…so all this - the list, the music case, the videos, the practicing - it’s all about preparing. The opportunities will come when I am prepared, so for now there is nothing to focus on but preparation.

Thank you for joining me on my journey back into the world of being a performing musician, I look forward to continually increasing the quality of my playing and video editing skills, and hope to keep things concise and entertaining along the way :)