People deal with certain thoughts and emotions in very specific ways. In my case, I decided writing songs is a very good way for me to keep my sanity. I wrote Far Away while charged with feelings and thoughts that were constantly present in my life at a certain point.

This song was written in early 2014. At first it was only going to be an acoustic piece. The video below shows exactly how it was when I thought I was done writing it:

After recording one version like that and listening to it a couple of times, I started to hear some parts played on the electric guitar, as well as some orchestration. So I ended up adding some layers to the arrangement, drums, and a little melody on the guitars to lead me into the last section of the song.

All the parts played on the electric guitar were written totally based on what I wrote for on the classical guitar. I broke the chords down and split them up in ways to make it work with distortion. Some parts worked well with distortion, and the parts that didn’t I turned to the keyboards. That’s a technique I’ve learned watching John Petrucci’s Rock Discipline video so many years ago (excellent video, by the way). This is a short video of me playing a part once I figured how I wanted it to sound (I was very specific about playing it with upstrokes):

I also like how I ended up playing the main vocal line on the acoustic and electric guitar at the beginning of the song. I definitely didn’t think about doing that as I wrote the song originally.

I believe this song came out as a direct influence of Blaze Bailey’s Russian Holiday EP. I like that album so much, with mostly his vocals and an acoustic guitar. Blaze puts so much passion into singing those songs that I felt really inspired to write something like that. Of course, it’s obvious I can’t sing like him, but I’m still happy with the results. To quote Willian Hung, "I already gave my best, and I have no regrets at all". 😃

My two most favorites off Blaze’s EP are the title track, Russian Holiday, and One More Step (this one I always listen to when I need an extra push to go on with my day. Wonderful song for me).

The drums for this song are simple, but for me it was interesting finding something that worked in the 6/4 signature, and then turns into 4/4 (I think that’s it… I’m one of those musicians who write music but don’t know what they’re actually doing).

The bass lines were written borrowing melodies off the vocals and the main pieces I wrote on the acoustic guitar.

This song didn’t really ask for guitar solos. I only wrote a little melody over the transition into the final section of the song because I really heard something like that for the part.

The lyrics for this song are a representation of what I was going through at that moment. This is something I really started practicing in the last few years: whenever there are thoughts that keep coming back, that keep bothering me, I take them out of my head and turn them into lyrics.

It seems to help me recognizing the thoughts, getting them out of my mind, and turning them into music. Whenever I listen to the song, I remember how those thoughts affected me, what I was going through, and how I want to avoid it from happening again.

The vocals were written in the same way I normally do: I record a basic version of the song and listen to it over and over again, until I start hearing the melodies in my head. I keep humming to the song non-sense lyrics until certain melodies stick, and then I write the words, and fit them into the vocal lines. I like how it came out in this song, as it does represent my mood at the time.

So, everything in this song came out of the original pieces I wrote on the acoustic guitar. The vocal lines I came up with ended up also working out well for some of the pieces I played on the keyboards. I’ve created a mix with no vocals and no instruments other than the keyboards, and I think it sounds good. One day maybe I can get an orchestra to play it. 😃 You can listen to this mix below...

This song is about how hard it is to be far away from somebody you love. The technology today enables us to stay in touch and feel like we’re so close, but yet, we’re so far away. This song is also about my reflections upon going from not caring if I was alone to really feeling the weight of being in solitude.

I was feeling sad and lonely. I was reflecting upon my life, the choices I’ve made, and as I mentioned above, I had to get those thoughts and feelings out of my system. I think the song came out in a way that it sounds pretty much the way I was feeling at the time.

Much like the lyrics and the instrumental represent well what my mood was as the song was being written, the video adds images to the words.

Schecter Guitar

Cordoba Acoustic Guitar

BC Rich Bass

Roland VDrum

iRig Keyboard

MXL condenser mic

FastPro audio interface

Mixcraft

Sony Vegas

iPhone camera

Words can barely describe the torments of loneliness

And I've once valued being here all by myself

What a waste of life have I been through?

Notes and words, bouncing off me

It resonates around me, illustrating my moments of solitude

No, I need peace of mind, in times of desperation

Don't leave again, we should always stay side by side

In the best times of my life, I had you there by my side

And now I can only think it's so hard to let you go

Why must we cry for the morning that has not come

We can't deny the feeling that surrounds us

I've been sitting here alone

Watching you

So close and yet so far away, so far away

Don't leave again, we should always stay side by side

In the best times of my life, I had you there by my side

And now I can only think, it's so hard to let you go

I'm sitting here alone

Watching you

So close and yet so far away, so far away