Guitarist Dylan McFarling is obsessed with studying the work of other songwriters and composers, all the way back to Bach and his ingenious Musical Offering. In this episode of Composer Quest, Dylan shares his songwriting tips and explains how string quartets have inspired the way he orchestrates guitar and voice in his songs. Also in this episode, you’ll hear some beautiful, previously unrecorded songs that Dylan performed live in the Composer Quest studio.

[audio:https://charliemccarron.com/mediaftp/composerquest/composer-quest-063-dylan-mcfarling.mp3]

Right click to download Ep. 63, or open in iTunes.

Dylan McFarling’s solo EP will be coming out in early 2014, so stay tuned by following him on Twitter.

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Episode Notes

Here are the pieces of music Dylan and I talked about in this episode:

• Jackson Browne – “The Pretender“
• Maurice Ravel – String Quartet in F Major – 2nd Movement
• J.S. Bach – Crab Canon from The Musical Offering
• Ryan Adams – “Rosebud“
• Nick Drake – “At the Chime of a City Clock“
• The Beatles – “Glass Onion“

Here are the names of Dylan’s original songs from the episode:

• 0:00 – Original Composer Quest intro by Dylan McFarling
• 5:08 – “Dreamtime Tragedy – Epilogue” by Dylan McFarling (unreleased)
• 11:27 – “Call Me Crazy” by Dylan McFarling (unreleased)
• 19:26 – “The Night” by Paul Spring (Paul Spring, 2012)
• 21:26 – “Grey and Green” by Dylan McFarling and Paul Spring (unreleased)
• 23:09 – “A Work in Progress” by Dylan McFarling (unreleased)
• 31:38 – Unreleased instrumental piece by Dylan McFarling

 

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