Lately, I've been Thinking...

By Scott Coner

Country Artist

         I have been thinking quite a bit lately. This isn't always a good thing for me, but it happens from time to time. I've been thinking about my music to be honest. I have been working on the writing side of it pretty seriously since I was around 15 years old. You know, early on, you find yourself taken back with this private love affair you have with writing songs. Being the stupid kid I was, and I was really a stupid kid, I wrote about my undying love for whatever cute girl stood by her locker that day. When you're a teenager, you have all of these crazy feelings running through you. You want to stand for something, but you don't have anything to stand for. You want to be heard, but you don't have anything of value to say. And as it was, I found myself alone quite a bit with a guitar that played a lot like a barbed-wire fence and piece of paper and pencil.

         That's how this process for me started. Truthfully, I would have been a singer in a band doing covers, but most of the music people my age listened to back then I couldn't begin to sing. I played a lot of those singer-songwriter types on my record player, and I studied their phrasings, their dialects, and the lyrics. I didn't have access to much where I lived, so I had to make do with whatever I could find. I didn't know many chords, so I would look through songbooks and copy down the little dots on the strings that represented fingers on chords. One of the early ones for me was "Sister Golden Hair" by America. Those chords killed my hand, but they also allowed me to move around a little bit on the neck and work on my rhythm playing as well. Another early song, maybe the earliest, was "Highway Song" by Blackfoot. I actually tuned my guitar to an E-minor from that song because I didn't know how to tune a guitar.

         As I have said, I don't do covers very well at all. But because I could halfway play some of those songs, I began to realize that I could piece chords together and create new songs. It started then and continues now. You probably knew some guy early on in life that loved working on cars and still does all of these years later? That's me, but I don't work on cars. I work on songs. I think the other thing that I spent a lot of time doing that has helped me has been my addiction to reading. There has always been something about reading and writing songs that go together for me. It's like reading excited the part of my primitive mind that writes lyrics and hears melodies.

         So all of this being said, I have been doing a little thinking lately. I think about those early days of playing and the excitement it brought. I can look back now and see the slow process of my development as a writer. I'm not saying I'm a good writer, but I have evolved to some degree I suppose. Even a monkey would evolve, so it's safe for me to say this.

         I put things on hold 19 years ago to attempt to be a husband and a dad. I never quit writing. I never quit hoping. And I never stopped believing that some day I would get a chance to play music at some other level. I have been so lucky as far as things go, and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't find myself thanking God for allowing me to play music and be a small part of something I love and respect so much.

         If you're reading this blog right now, there is a fair chance that you and I haven't met. But I do hope that life has been good for you. I hope you haven't lost that passion that you held a long time ago for something. My advice? Do something for yourself, something that you love no matter what anybody else says. As a Rock once said, "Kick the door in and introduce yourself!"

         Scott Coner is a singer-songwriter who has recorded with legendary artists such as Tanya Tucker, T. Graham Brown and Charlie Daniels. Listen to his music or watch his videos at www.ScottConer.com, www.YouTube.com/user/ScottConer, or www.Facebook.com/ScottConerMusic.