One (sticky) note at a time

Feeling inspired at work, musician Dan Krikorian jotted down his ideas on little yellow sticky notes to save for later when he could work on his music.

Yellow sticky note after yellow sticky note later, Krikorian had his second album, “Colors and Chords,” and a whole lot of yellow notes.

“I actually have a huge box of sticky notes that I wrote my album on,” Krikorian said.

The Costa Mesa local is preparing for the release of his second album and getting ready for his first West Coast tour. The singer-songwriter said the music for his second album is inspired more by things outside of himself than his first CD — drawing from anything and everything. His second album showcases how Krikorian has grown as an artist, guitarist Mike Teague said.

“He’s a very good lyricist. I really enjoy his story telling,” Teague said.

Finding things to write isn’t a problem for Krikorian, 24. He already has most of his third album finished. Krikorian doesn’t get stage fright either. After playing sports in high school and basketball at Chapman University, he connects the time before he performs with the butterflies of preparing to walk on the field.

“That’s my favorite part — when you get on stage and connect with the audience,” he said.

Huntington Beach fan Katie Hyatt said Krikorian is great live whether he is performing for 10 people or 1,000.

“He’s definitely going to be someone in 10 years with his music,” Hyatt said.

Hyatt said he is an awesome musician, but Krikorian wasn’t always so enthusiastic about performing. The first him he played his music in public was on a street corner on Oxford Street — the busiest street in London, he said.

“I really don’t know what got into me,” he said.

The musician was studying abroad at the time and had just started to write songs. His friends pushed him to perform and one day he said he felt courageous. The experience helped him get over his fear of performing.

In college Krikorian started getting involved in music. A business major, he decided to take a music class on a whim. Krikorian said he was flipping through the course catalog looking for a general education class when he decided to take a guitar class freshman year.

“I absolutely fell in love with it and couldn’t get enough of it,” he said.

After the class, Krikorian said he continued to teach himself the guitar and has picked up the harmonica and piano. He said music was originally something he thought he could do on the side while he worked his full-time job, but he found himself wanting to go home to learn about music and study it and other people’s work.

“It was something that wouldn’t leave me alone,” he said.

Playing music allows Krikorian to fix things in life and takes him somewhere else.

“When you start making your own music you just feel something and you just want to go back to that place,” he said.

The release party for “Colors and Chords” is 8:30 p.m. Friday at the Gypsy Lounge in Lake Forest. He will also be performing songs from the album at 3 p.m. at Second Spin in Costa Mesa and at 11 p.m. at Marlin Bar and Grill in Huntington Beach on Sept. 20. For more shows, go to www. myspace.com/dankrikorianmusic.

If You Go

Who: Costa Mesa singer-songwriter Dan Krikorian

Why: The release of his second album “Colors and Chords”

Online: www.myspace.com/dankrikorianmusic

In person: 11 p.m. Sept. 20 at Marlin Bar and Grill in Huntington Beach