Break Away II

Songwriting is one of those very ethereal, hard-to-explain phenomenons. All I know is that it sure feels good. I just wrote a blues tune the other day about an experience I had on Arizona Interstate Highway 17. I got one of those maddening photo radar tickets. You may already know how that feels. You don’t even realize you’re busted until the $181 ticket shows up in the mail with a picture of your vehicle and your mug in the driver’s seat. God, so infuriating!

However, the silver lining to it all is that this song poured out of me. It happened quickly, as if by Divine Intervention, and “Photo Radar Love” was born. I wrote it in 2 days, recorded it on my handy-dandy Canon Powershot video camera, and immediately uploaded it to YouTube (which means it automatically gets picked up by iLike (a MySpace video property), Google Reader, Twitter and Facebook. Talk about instant gratification!

Here are the lyrics:

PHOTO RADAR LOVE
by Grant Brad Gerver, 12-11-2009

I know I’m being watched, the Man’s a robot on the road
Better watch your speed, and roll with the flow
Going 5 over the limit, but no more than that
If you get careless, a photo stabs you right in the back

Heading down to Phoenix on I-17,
An innocent trip if you know what I mean
Goin’ to see Lynny at Sierra Agency
My foot got the best of me and I proceeded to speed

Photo Radar Love
Photo Radar Love
You’re gonna get caught

Got my baby with me, we throw caution to the wind
We’re gettin’ real close and it ends up skin to skin
Next thing I know, a flash of light crashes through
Snapped me bein’ naughty, what the hell can I do

The speed signs keep a’ changin’ so you better watch your step
Got to slow it down, cuz a photo’s comin’ next
Should I wear a mask, or use binoculars
I try to go the limit, but I tell you I am cursed

Photo Radar Love
Photo Radar Love
You’re gonna get caught

Round the next bend, with no more notice than a sign
Photo radar perches to nail my behind
Didn’t see it comin’ like I wished I would
No way to avert the coming photographic flood

I am law abiding, least I’m on the the right track
But boy it caught me good, red-handed to the max
Breaking the law just ain’t my thing
Now I’m a vehicular criminal caught in a sting

Photo Radar Love
Photo Radar Love
You’re gonna get caught

It’s highway robbery and a state-wide scam
You do your best to comply but one false move, then WHAM!
Cruise control is no sure bet, it can’t read signs
Just when you feel secure, you hit the radar land mine

The State thinks it’s hit the profit pot of gold
The citizens are sitting ducks along the road
I hope some State officials get their pictures taken too
See how they like it when one-eighty-one ($181) comes due

Photo Radar Love
Photo Radar Love
You’re gonna get caught

While I’ve been writing songs for many years, how they come about will always be a mystery to me. You could call songwriting a happy accident, or magic, or some other flaky term, but I try not to question or explain it much. It really just happens. I accept any song that comes my way, and most of all, I am very grateful for the gift that has been given me.

I admit to being a shameless self-promoter, but nothing feels better than when folks actually get to experience for themselves the songs you have written. I hope you’ll give it a listen yourself. With the mind-blowing technological playground in which we live available to us all 24/7, writing songs and having them “out there” for the whole world to hear is just too irresistible. I hope you will follow my lead and create whatever it is that turns you on, whether it be music, art, photography, writing, you name it. Then, display it for all the world to see. It is as rewarding as it is addictive.

Grant Brad Gerver is an entrepreneur and creative consultant for Filibi, a classified and online coupon advertising site and home business. He’s also a YouTube Channel blues singer-songwriter and guitar player with The Buzzard Brothers. Additionally, Grant writes political humor, thousands of bumper stickers, and humorous movie reviews. He has also worked with various companies as a product-naming specialist. He’s a retired elementary school teacher and published children’s author who works in the health care field.

How to Play Guitar for Beginners

The internet is a wonderful and magnificent thing. It is often said, but still very true, that young people today don’t know how lucky they are to have easy access to the worlds knowledge on the internet.

I’ve been playing guitar for well over thirty years having started out with the classic Bert Weedon’s ‘Play in a Day’ book, way back in the 1970′s. I could never afford guitar lessons so I would take every opportunity to obsessively study the playing techniques and styles of every guitarist I managed to see.

Modern technology has revolutionised the way that people learn to play the guitar. DVDs, for example, can be played over and over again, unlike face to face guitar lessons. And the internet provides an ideal medium for the delivery of some great guitar tutorials.

While there are many guitar tuition websites by far my favourite resource is Youtube. You can find instructional videos on everything from choosing guitars to making your own electric guitar. There are videos for every level of learner from beginner through to old guys like me who want to learn a few new tunes and techniques.

Learning new licks, techniques and tunes from Youtube has become one of my favoured pass times. If the weather is bad then you will generally find me learning a new tune or two from Youtube. I think that my guitar playing skills have improved more in the past five years, thanks to Youtube, than it did in the prior twenty years.

Another useful feature is that the system is interactive. When I find a video that I like I will always make it one of my favourites and maybe drop the performer a comment to say thanks. Also, I will often ask the presenter a question or two and they always come back with a positive answer. Youtube is a bit like having any number of personal guitar consultants who are always happy to answer your questions.

These days I find myself feeling a little bit envious of the young people learning guitar with all these great resources available to them. I like to fantasise that if I had been learning to play using all of these excellent resources who knows, I might have become the next Eric Clapton.