EAMON FRIEL

EAMON'S MANIFESTO

Let the Music Tell the Story

"Contemporary songwriting! Where are we now? I listen to a lot of contemporary songs because I present two radio music programmes a week. And not just rock and pop...I’m talking folk, country, roots and all combinations in between. Some of it is very good. I hear songs I like. Some I love. A few I would love to have written. But an awful lot of what I hear is awful. Sometimes I wonder where have the melodies gone. I think I know the answer to that. I think that lack of distinctiveness, that lack of melody occurs because of the particular way a lot of songs are written now. A songwriter comes up with a couple of verses, sits down with a guitar and chants the words above the strum."I love you so much.
I long for your touch".

So you start off in C. By the end of the first line you think you’ll try an E Minor on into G for the second line and maybe an A Minor for good measure. I call this compositional process "Chord Warbling". You end up with thousands of songs written by thousands of songwriters...and they all sound the same! The problem is a chordal approach to songwriting. I understand all this because I have been parked in the chordal cul-de-sac myself. In the 1990’s I made the decision to get myself out of this impasse. I decided to stop using the guitar as an instrument of composition. I sought refuge in the piano. There they are...88 notes that include all the melodies of the world and all the melodies that are still waiting to be written. Let’s get back to real tunes. I’m doing my best. 

"...... Eamon Friel

Eamon sadly passed away on 21st June 2019 and is sorely missed by his family and friends.