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So I'll set a cycle in motion and pop it into record and I'll lay down a drum pattern, a bass line, a keyboard and guitar part, and once the groove is going I launch into the song and sing my song over the top.

I'll just start laying out the melody exactly where I want it to fall. And then I'll go back and fill it out. Whereas, in other pieces I'm really just going a couple bars at a time.

Doing the instrumental thing, you're really looking for the power of the melody to carry the record.

As long as I can sing and hit the notes, I want to do that.

I just sing. You have to use it.

I have a tape recorder, and I just sing into it. I like to write that way. Sometimes I'll just get melodic ideas, and then I'll go home and sit down and add the lyrics. Or sometimes I'll get a lyric idea that I love. Usually it's pretty combined. Usually I get some kind of a lyrical concept and a melody and work with that.

Writing the songs and producing the songs and arranging them and recording them is your canvas and your palette and your brush.

I would listen to something on the radio and try to tap out the melody, then the harmonies.

If I get an idea for a song, I have a melody for it. I'm a musician first. I'm not limited by the fretboard.

I just sing. I sing whatever I can.