tempo in songs

[matador55]

:cool:

I'm a relatively new songwriter in a band for a year. Been
doing covers, but now we're stretching into original
territory.

My question is about tempo - our venue is alt-rock (think
Radiohead, Nirvana, that sort of vein.) My drummer and I
got in a small discussion about how in one song it's acceptable
for him to change the tempo to give the song more
'feeling'.

It would be ok to do this in the end, but right in the middle
of a song (it's in the bridge)? I'm talking beats per
minute. I don't mean halfing (or doubling) notes, depending
on how you look at it. To me, it just sounds unnatural,
like the song is sped up on a turntable or something.

What should I tell him? Am I taking this too seriously? I
think it tempo changes absolutely destroy a perfectly fine
song. I'm not talking about speed-metal here, where
different parts are intentionally sped up or down either.
I can understand tempo change works in some places.

Here's the song. Pay note to around 2:16

http://artistcollaboration.com/~monural_plural/19%20Wtng%2008_14_05_fast.mp3 :cool:

[matador55]

No opinions on this? It would be good to get some input from fellow songwriters... :confused:

[6strngs_2hmbkrs]

I'm on your side, now, it may have just not fit in this song, but might fit in other songs... but, I don't think that the tempo change sounded good in this song... it totally threw off the feel of the song. I did not like the tempo change, however, I think it might work, if instead of the tempo change in the middle would be faster, if it were slower... you know? like, be playing through a song, then have a section that's slower, switch the guitar to a clean channel, and then come back in at the faster tempo with the distortion on. I'm not talking about this particular song, I just mean that with a different song, a tempo change might work, but it didn't with this one...

other then that, I have to say that you are a really good band! I liked that song alot.

[aschleman]

I didn't listen to the song... but I will share with you my thoughts...

Tempo can mean different things to different songwriters because lets face it... some songwriters aren't classically trained in music theory. Tempo... to those that are classically trained would be the beats per minute... time kept by a drummer in most cases... For me... someone who likes to ignore most cases of musical theory and hit the artistic side of music right in the gut... tempo is simply the pace of a song... in which can be kept by a guitar, drummer, bass... or whatever... I see what you are saying by speeding up a song and making it sound like it's in fast motion... What I usually do when I change tempo of songs for added emotional value or to add a certain exclamation to a part of a song is I double time it... take a riff and instead of playing the same riff note for note... and double notes in and make it sound twice as fast but over the same beat... or you can double time the beat as well. This allows you to speed up and slow down without losing the dimensions of the song... As for parts that you're going to sing over... that's a different story. Trying to speed up a song and keeping the same melody would obviously make it sound like it's in fast motion. My suggestion for this is to work on a different melody for the fast parts... something that can tie in with the other melody... this way the music can speed up in the background and you can stay within the song lyrically without sending it into Alvin and the Chipmunks mode. This is very useful when trying to add a certain amount of emotion to a song... like a sense of desperation, urgency, fear, or excitement... to name a few... Try to come up with a melody that can go over the sped up pace without going outside the song lyrically and I think you and your drummer can work this out. I like the idea of speeding songs up and down... it gives your music depth and it keeps the listeners on edge. Good luck!

[FireAndIce24]

listened to it and didnt even notice the tempo change that much. sounded great to me.

[Hamberg]

Nirvanas song Aneryisum did tempo changes through out the verses. It sounded cool as hell. Actually now that I think about it I think they were half timeing. And the tempo change didnt sound good on the bridge. Mabey it would sound cool if you guys used a cadance first?