I was going through some old emails I had and came across this one that I received from Dennis Cameron, when his Cynical Limit site was up. I asked him about his songwriting as that is where I have the greatest difficulty and he sent me this reply. I'm going to give what he said below so it might help other guitarists. It's great sound advice that I use all the time. And, I had been doing it this way all along.

Andy:

"Thanks for the great compliment. As for my approach to songwriting, yes, it usually starts with a riff or a couple of riffs that I work into a decent melody and lyrics. I find it easier these days to jam along with a rhythm section(usually a drum loop) when I'm working out riffs for a song. And sometimes, things just fall together mysteriously. Having your own studio helps.

In the earlier days I experimented with all kinds of modes, modulations, etc which is why all the Angelica albums sounded so different from each other. I've come to like writing in Aeolian(6th degree of the major scale) and Lydian(4th) with some Phrygian thrown in here and there... come to think of it, I still mix it all up.... but the root of the songs usually remain in Aeolian. There's no formula, what ever sounds good is the key."


Hope you enjoy it

Andy(gtr1963)

Everytime I put on some Angelica tunes I always wonder aloud to myself "Where o where have you gone Dennis Cameron and why are you not still making music for our enjoyment?"

Dennis is not just a great songwriter. He was hands on with everything that had to do with creating his music. Singer, songwriter, guitarist, bassist, drummer, producer, engineer, ect...

Shame that someone is not paying this man duely for his wealth of talent. sigh

yea, i havent heard much of Angelica, but i loved his work on Michael Sweets solo album. Also got to meet Dennis in 1994. Very cool!