4am Trip
- Chris B.
- Feb 7, 2022
- 1 min read
4am Trip is about deciding to leave any environment that is hindering your growth. Being a short song that you can sway and tap your foot to, this is the first time I've written anything Blues-related because I never saw it as my genre. I wanted it to feel like a song you may hear passing down the street or waiting in a restaurant. Although this was out of my comfort zone, I definitely enjoyed writing this because of the historical significance in the black community and because I also know the cultural significance in Bakersfield.
This is a 12-bar Blues song that follows the I IV V chord progression. It goes through the 12-bar cycle three times and features a tag. Since I wasn't too familiar with Blues music, I did my research and listened to Blues songs so I could pick out common themes. I noticed that lyrically, it's all about telling a story and sometimes less is more. I also noticed that I needed the music to 'breath' instead of filling every 'silence' with lyrics. Most of my challenges with this song came with the production side of things. I know that in Blues music, it is important to have a strong bassline and sensible drums/piano. It took me a while to finally find the right sound and I honestly surprised myself. It was quite easy for me to add soul to my voice because I just felt good singing this song. Maybe I should do more Blues songs in the future?
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