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Oops, sorry, just started a new thread for this, should have looked here first!

I'm an Aberdeenshire based musician. I have been a drummer for most of my life but got fed up waiting for other band members to get their acts together. So, I decided to start playing my own brand of acoustic punk.

This site is great! There's so much information to take in, I'd better make a start.....

Hi Everyone!

I'm a new member to the forums, but I've been lurking for a while, I'm a shy guy.

I'm originally from Windsor, Ontario (Canada) - but I now live in Chelsea, Michigan. I've been over here for the last 11 years working in the Information Technology field.

I love singing, and the only thing I enjoy more than singing is writing lyrics.

Back in 2001, I start collaborating with a co-worker who played guitar and we had a plan of writing 30 songs, choosing the best 12 and making an album. It took us a while, about 8 years, we finally hit the goal, but we still haven't recorded any of those in "finished" format.

This year I decided that I apparently had a lot to say and wanted to start to create music again as a creative outlet, so I challenged myself to this year's FAWM event. 14 songs later, I felt very accomplished and proud of myself.

I figured why stop there, so I used the resources I have available to make some of the songs sound acceptable enough to share out and made an EP called "Through These Eyes", which has 6 of the 14 songs that I wrote through February of this year. If you're interested, you can stream the EP on Bandcamp, link is in my sig, and if you wanted to take a listen to the rough drafts of what I came up with this year, I think they are still available for download on the FAWM site - http://fawm.org/fawmers/jnadon/

Anyway - that's a little about me and I look forward to participating in the forums and learning from you all.

Thanks for having me...

Jason

Hi,

I'm jtbutler (John T). I found this site while surfing for music hosting web sites. I am a singer/songwriter and I'm currently recording some demos. I have already found some useful performance information in the musicians forum. It looks like this is going to a very useful site. I'm glad I found you folks.

Hi, well, we're happy you found us too. Please post some of your work on the forums and check out our work too..This is a great place to be, alot of talent from all over the world, and alot of just great friendly folks too...so please, come on in and join in the fun...if you need anything please just ask...

glyn

Hi everyone,

I just found JPF through Barbara Cloyd's website. My husband and I moved to Nashville about three years ago, and I helped start the fiction program at Abingdon Press.

I retired early in January and have turned to my love of music to "soothe the soul," which is pretty battered after a long career in publishing. I've traveled the country teaching at writing workshops and looking for great novels to publish. But that's behind me. Now lyrics flood my mind, and I jot them down. If nothing else, it's great therapy. LOL

I'm learning to play the guitar and now the keyboard. It's tough to write down the music in your head when you don't play an instrument. Since retirement, I've thrown my obsessive self into learning music theory and the Nashville numbering system.

Just wanted to stop by and say hi. I'll be lurking in the songwriters forum, learning from those of you who are working at your craft. I wish you all the best in your endeavors!

Blessings,
Barbara

Welcome all of you. You will find lots of good stuff here and great people. I moderate the guitarist's forum in case anyone has any guitar questions.

Colin

Hi everyone my name is keith im from southern IL glad to find this site. I have played guitar for 15 years and just now starting to write my own songs. Hope to meet some good people on here.

Hi John, Barbara and Teleman. Welcome to JPF!

Barb, tell the other Barbara I said hi!

Have fun everyone!

Brian

My Name is Stephen March and I am a singer/songwriter from Sacramento, CA. I've been writing for about 9 years now. I am here to share ideas, get feedback, and network with other musicians. I also just started a company called Mypocketband that connects songwriters with studio musicians online. The site is in it's infancy so I would love any constructive feedback that you have regarding it: www.mypocketband.com

You can check out some of my tunes here:
Stephen March Music

Cheers,

Hi Stephen,

Welcome to JPF. I'd suggest a couple things to help your success here:

1. Consider using your real name instead of the anonymous looking display name you have so folks can learn about you.

2. In addition to wanting to get feedback, make sure you give some as well. The more you give, the more you'll get.

3. Once you decide to post music for feedback, be sure to direct link to a specific song rather than sending people to a site to search. Make it easy for others to help you.

4. If you have a site to promote, make sure to give all the info upfront in writing on this site rather than forcing folks to go elsewhere to find it. You'll get much more positive feedback and build trust. Also be sure to include any charges or fees or user agreements people must sign to use your site so everyone can help vette the site for their peers. That info should always be out front. Also be sure to clearly describe what your site does and why that is something our folks should be interested in. Sadly few companies do that and when they don't, they rarely create much positive feedback and more often end up with negative publicity.

All these things are optional of course, but I've been doing this a while and have a good idea of what works well and what doesn't.

Welcome to the community,

Brian

Hi! I'm Katie. Obviously a new member. I'm a music teacher in the Lower Hudson Valley. Once upon a time I was a classical trumpet player. Now I play mandolin and write casually. I've had one song recorded by a friend and I've made a couple of no budget music videos for giggles. I'm hoping to find the motivation to write and arrange more and also get out and perform.
Anyway, nice to find this place.

Hi Kate,

Welcome to JPF! How cool, we have another music teacher on board!!! We're thrilled to have you. = ) Now we have a go to Trumpet and Mandolin player as well for everyone else's demos! I bet you could trade off with other players, singers, writers and composers.

If you (or any new member) needs any help finding your way around, let us know.

We can also learn the status for current music teachers from you. I was just talking last night about finding some of our members who were current or retired music teachers for a project I am working on. So great timing on your part!

Brian

Hi Also to Keith and Jason who I missed above. Glad to have you all here. I hope to see everyone around!

Brian

Hooray! I'm intrigued!

Welcome Katie. If you're looking for motivation and inspiration, you should be able to find some here. Lots of talented musicians, writers and singers in the forums. Good luck and I look forward to hearing more of your stuff.

Hello, JPFOLKS..

Welcome me, I'm a newbie here..LOL

I'm just happy I found this site..I believe I can learn new things here and love to be part of the family.

I am an aspiring songwriter and thought joining this community would help a lot develop my skills.

Thank you

Welcome to all of you that i've missed..this is a great site to learn, join in on the fun...i've learned so much here myself and wouldn't want to be anywhere else...so come on in and join in on the fun...hope to see and hear from each of you soon..

glyn

Welcome Mystic,

You should tell us your name so we can get to know you. Also, which one are you in the photo?

Enjoy the community, we look forward to hearing more about you.

Brian

Hey guys,

I'm new here so for a bit of a bio.
I'm Irish and Twenty and after being into writing and art and listening to music for years I decided to try and write it myself.
Looking for help in growing at the craft and honest feedback as I in return try help others in the same way.

Corga, welcome and there will lots of folks that will be willing to help you in anyway, just let us know what you need...happy you're help with us...

glyn

Hey!

My name is Robbie. I've been lurking on here for a while, but haven't really had enough courage to post. I have been writing songs for the last nine years or so. I suppose my music would fall somewhere in the alternative/indie rock category, with my influences including the The Cure, Arcade Fire, The Beatles, Joy Division, Big Star, The Smiths, and REM among others. Unfortunately, I have been painfully shy my entire life, which I feel like has hampered me somewhat as far as my music goes.

Anyways, this seems like a nice place and I look forward to talking to people here.

good taste in music man.
welcome i'm here all of a day or so.

Thank you! Nice to meet you.

Hi, there! I'm Jen, and I live in Ohio. I'm coming back to JPF after several years. I've been singing and songwriting for a long time, and look forward to the positive interaction offered here!

Hi all,

I'm new here, so just starting to feel my way around. I'm a very casual song writer (would be too embarrassed to share any of my stuff), but more importantly I've just started a website that I hope will be able to provide artists with free distribution.

It's called SoundSeed.Me

My page on SoundSeed.Me

Skrillex Artist Page on SoundSeed.Me

It's all about fans supporting artists/bands by recommending and promoting them both on the site and off. It's totally free for everyone, sort of a wikipedia for music discovery.

Derek Sivers (the founder of CD Baby) recommended I come here to meet some artists who might benefit from the service and give me some feedback on it.

I guess I'll throw up another post to introduce myself outside of this thread. I don't want to be spammy, so let me know if I'm stepping over any lines at all.

Best,
Jared

Hi Jen and Jared,

Welcome to JPF. I hope you all jump right in and get involved. Thanks for using your real names, that's already a positive start.

To Jared: Make sure you explain your site in detail on our boards, rather than forcing folks to link elsewhere for answers. If you do that, you're far more likely to find support. Spammers usually do a tease and then try to pull people off to their site where they can avoid public questions and answers etc. and it often isn't received well. That's the same advice we give all companies who want to post info here.

Thanks,

Brian

Hi
My name is Travis and I'm into country more than anything else, but I do like MOR, Jazz and soul music.
I write lyrics and would like to get to know someone who writes the music.
I have posted a couple of lyrics on the site and would like to get some feedback.
Anyone care to write to me ? I will return their message.
Kind Regards
Travis

Travis,

Welcome to the JPF! You will find a lot of like minded folks here. The way to get started? -- Get involved and stayed involved. Comment on other people's tunes and they will comment on yours (that's the way it works).

Learn to play an instrument -- you don't have to be great, just be adequate to get your musical ideas out there. If you don't play, then in one year of playing guitar fifteen minutes a day, you will be better than 90% of all the other players (ha, ha). There is no easy way, no magic bullet. Today is just the first day on the long (but exciting) road ahead.

Kevin

Thanks Kevin, good to meet you. Gave up trying to play the guitar long ago.

Hi all you new members welcome, welcome welcome, happy to have you join us..glyn

Hi Travis! Nice to see you've already jumped right in. For those thousands of visitors who are on the fence, come on and get in the water! It's nice around here.

Brian

Welcome Croga,

Sorry I missed you originally. Hope to see you around!

Brian

im a noob! just stopping in to say hey. im mostly here for songwriting purposes but all the info is greatly valued. i take music business and songwriting pretty seriously and right now my new demo is #1 on the country charts in my hometown on reverb nation

welcome noob

I believe you would get a better reception if you used your real name instead of Magic Shack..........People will take you more seriously-after all folks doing collabs gotta have each others real names and BMI/ASCAP etc affiliation.....

just a suggestion

welcome to JPF

Tom

I just wanted to say a quick hello to everyone on Just Plain Folks, my name is Melsi and I am a lyricist from the UK. Hello!!!!!!!!!!! x

Hi i'm nox from the philippines

I didn't pay to much attention on my english subject when I was still studying.. hope you could help me improve my lyrics writing in english

I'm here to have may lyrics critiqued, corrected, judged, to improve my lyric writing

pardon me for my vocabulary is too limited

Welcome Mellina,

Nice to see someone new from the UK. If you fancy a collaboration please get in touch.

JD

Hi Melsi and Nox, welcome to Just Plain Folks. The best way to get feedback and help is to offer feedback first to others. Do that and you'll find lots of help in return.

Brian

hello JP folks,

My name is Kelly. I have been lurking on here for a couple weeks or so. I am a 44 y/o male that has been playing guitar for 27 years or so and i have taught in the past off and on..and am starting to teach again..Im from the state of Texas (Dallas area) now, but am from the coast originally, south of Houston

i love the diversity of the guitar and i love guitar instrumentals (mainly rock, as well as acoustic instrumentals)

i own probably around ten guitars. im not what you woul dcall a collector, but if i like the sound and feel and playability of one guitar i will more than likely buy it.

Some of the ones i mainy play are :

1991 Ibanez RG770
1990 Ibanez RG570
1987 Ibanez RG550
1977 Aria 12 string acoustic Model 6814
???? Ibanez AE 12 string acoustic
???? Ovation Applause AE148
???? Ovation Celebrity CC026
???? My first electric a Lotus Strat copy
???? Ibanez RX20....future mod project

self built pedalboard w/ 99% Boss pedals for my effects

anyway. the guitar is one intriguing instrument

im a schooled machinist (currently unemployed)so i have plenty of time to work on my music, but need some more money coming in..LOL

also own my own small computer repair business

i guess that is about it....feel free to flood me with questions, comments and finger signs, LOL

I hope to learn more here myself also

Thanks, Kelly

Now guys Kelly is a great guy, a friend of mine from Princeton, so don't hold that against him..lol

I'm really happy to have Kelly here, have someone right here in my own home town on the forum with us and I love it...

thanks glyn

welcome Kelly

we are glad to have you-despite your association with a bad influence like Glyn.......your assignment is to keep on her about practicing guitar.....she is a great lyricist and has a few co-writes signed with a publisher-but we wanna see her get one signed that she wrote beginning to end.....I myself am still clunking around on keyboards and guitar and the results have been great........the neighborhood cats have started avoiding even my trash cans.....

Tom

despite my association with her huh?..ill keep that in mind..LOL

well she does want me to teach her guitar and i plan on it

look on the bright side..if you keep on playing, you wont have a cat/trash problem...LOL

solution to every problem isnt there?

Hi, I'm Diane Hurst-- just joined JPF forums, and will need to investigate here more later . . .

I'm from Washington State, and am a NSAI member and also a member of SongU. Have been learning about the music industry for about 2 years, and writing songs over the last 30.

Would like to meet other songwriters-- especially folk or children's music writers, and get some feedback for songs, and participate in a regional JPK forum.

Diane,

Welcome to JPF's and hope you like it here, I love it myself so much...there's so much talent right here from all over the world, so come on in and join in on the fun...

glyn

I actually joined yesterday and just never looked at this. We see how well I pay attention!
Anyway, I'm a 15-year-old lyricist/singer/guitarist/bassist/drummer/uke-ist(?). I've been writing songs since '08, and my running total as of today is 90!
&soyeah....
Hope I have fun

Hi all,

New member here. I've been writing for many years mostly as a hobby and doing solo acts with my own material. I play a few instruments and have a fairly decent knowledge of music therory. Mostly these days I'm into producing new artist demos and helping songwriters put their ideas together.

I ran across this site and after exporing it a couple of times felt like it would be a good place to hang with some like minded people. I've come to learn that songwriters are usually really good people and willing to help others. That's always a good thing, so if I can be of help to anyone I'm available. I've already noticed a few people from other forums that I belong to and that's a plus.

Rob

Hi everyone!
I'm a songwriter from Overland Park, Kansas. I've written hundreds of songs since middle school, and currently perform and write songs as Electric Needle Room. Here's my website for music!

Do you have a name ENR? Welcome to JPF!

Brian

Meg, well you write very well to only be 15, you have such a bright future ahead of you..good luck in all you do...if this is an example of your work at 15, I'd love to see it in the future....glyn

Hi all! New to the JPFolks community. I'm a Philly singer/songwriter trying to network myself outside of just this area. Looking forward to learning more and being active on the boards.

I started playing piano but primarily play guitar now I have a Washburn F11SC, A Gibson Songwriter Deluxe with Ovangkol wood, Epiphone LP-100 and a hand-me-down Rickenbacker-impersonation bass from my dad.

Mostly I play the Gibson Songwriter. I've got my music up online and I love talking music. Thanks!