Stuff I Am Working On...

Hey there! :)

I haven't been around that much lately. I really enjoyed playing the GT Solo's but I am now working a lot more on my own stuff. Part of my process in writing is to record rough ideas into my sequencer and then render that as an MP3 that I can carry around with me all day. I have just updated my SoundClick page with two of these recordings, which are rough edits of two of the songs I am currently working on.

The first one, No Title 1, is something I am developing as more of an instrumental of sorts. The other one, No Title 2, is going to have lyrics added at some point, hopefully soon. At this stage I am fleshing out the melodic structure of the thing, so you will hear a bunch of mistakes here and there because I simply hadn't worked it out until I played it. The main motif is there but the variations still need to be finalised... but at least it has the melodic, rhythmic and harmonic structure I was hoping to get.

Essentially, with No Title 2, I just start off in the key of E minor, then when it gets bright and happy again, the key changes to G Major. The song is coming together quite quickly for this one as I only got the idea for it all last night. The idea here is for me to look at the big picture of the composition rather than end up with a bunch of random melodic phrases.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=737179

hey there.

Nice ideas u got there mate. Cant wait to hear it with some bass and drums...

I reckon, keyboards, maybe an organ or something would go well with this style of music...

keep it up

#2 is really great!!! wow, very flowing melody. Hope to hear the final version.

Really love the theme :)

Hey Luke
the opening chords in that first track sounds like the Doobies, was that deliberate? :) Always like listening to you play, maybe its cause im a new member and yours was one of the first posts i read when i first logged on....something about being stuck in pentatonic hell..which i could relate to since thats where im at. Im still playing your October solo and getting ideas from it as to how to get out of the usual patterns.
I love the sound of your guitar, very "Satrianish"...I have a Pod with a Les Paul and cant seem to get that sound out of it....
Anyway keep up the good work........

I use a stratocaster guitar with active EMG pro-series pickups for all of that stuff. I keep the pickup selection switch in the 2nd position (ie. so it plays through the neck pickup and the middle pickup at the same time). I use fairly thin plectrums.. my favourite width at the moment is.. oh.. I can't read the writing now.. I only bought it a week ago.. hrmm.. I think it's a .76mm one.. there's that popular range of plectrums that are colour coded.. The thinnest is orange I think, then yellow is the next one.. I use the yellow one. Hrmm.. what else.. Oh yeh.. I use fuzz rather than distortion.. and I always add delay even if it's just a little bit.

Other than all that I think the rest is just technique..


PS. To get out of a creative rut in your playing.. try learning some more music theory. Understanding music a little more opens up so many more possibilities. Even if you go over basic major and minor scales and their modes again.. it really does help.. a lot! Learning about the common uses of certain aspects of music theory also helps.. for example.. understanding how "chord leading" works is extremely important when creating your own chord progressions... "chord substitution" of course comes next and so on.... Try playing a standard triangle shaped D Major chord, next play a Bminor7 chord.. see how similar they sound.. yet there is a subtle difference. I think that in the key of G Major.. you can easily substitute these two chords.. anyway.. the point is really that a little bit of music theory can go a long, long way.

Now that I have learnt a lot of theory, I find it hard to be creative....

years ago, i didnt know anything much, knew about scales and keys and all that, but never really knew what i played, but stayed in key :p I listen back to my old songs and i think wow, how did i come up with that :eek:

But learning theory is also a good, main thing in music....

Although i wish i was more creative as I was in the past....

Originally Posted by: maestro shazNow that I have learnt a lot of theory, I find it hard to be creative....

years ago, i didnt know anything much, knew about scales and keys and all that, but never really knew what i played, but stayed in key :p I listen back to my old songs and i think wow, how did i come up with that :eek:

But learning theory is also a good, main thing in music....

Although i wish i was more creative as I was in the past....

Can't listen to the track at the moment cos I'm at work but re Shaz's comments, I agree with that way of thinking. Anytime I think about theory my creativity dies... it works better for me when I 'feel' the music rather than think about what I'm going to play within a framework. Anyway, not trying to hijack the thread - back to topic!

PS light, I'll check it out later and leave some comments

Yeh I guess that is also true.. I think though, that if you are in a creative rut and you can't find a way out of it.. then it's best to try something different.. like music theory. I don't sit there and use music theory simultaneously as I am playing but it helps lend a hand when I am feeling a bit of repetitiveness in my structure or melody or rhythm etc..

Most of the stuff I play I could already play years ago.. but I hadn't made all the connections between things. Like.. understanding the relationship between the chords in a diatonic chord progression really helped... also things like the fact that when I am playing predominantly in Eminor, rather than being in the key of G Major.. I am actually in the key of Eminor.. the key signature on the musical staff is identical.. yet the fact that I centring around the Eminor chord makes a big difference to everything else.. the harmonic structure as they like to call it.

Anyway.. music theory is not a magical wand.. it just can help if nothing else works.

Yeah Light, that's true...

Sometimes i get stuck, and knowing some theory can help u get out of the rut....

Originally Posted by: light487Hey there! :)

I haven't been around that much lately. I really enjoyed playing the GT Solo's but I am now working a lot more on my own stuff. Part of my process in writing is to record rough ideas into my sequencer and then render that as an MP3 that I can carry around with me all day. I have just updated my SoundClick page with two of these recordings, which are rough edits of two of the songs I am currently working on.

The first one, No Title 1, is something I am developing as more of an instrumental of sorts. The other one, No Title 2, is going to have lyrics added at some point, hopefully soon. At this stage I am fleshing out the melodic structure of the thing, so you will hear a bunch of mistakes here and there because I simply hadn't worked it out until I played it. The main motif is there but the variations still need to be finalised... but at least it has the melodic, rhythmic and harmonic structure I was hoping to get.

Essentially, with No Title 2, I just start off in the key of E minor, then when it gets bright and happy again, the key changes to G Major. The song is coming together quite quickly for this one as I only got the idea for it all last night. The idea here is for me to look at the big picture of the composition rather than end up with a bunch of random melodic phrases.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=737179

I hear lyrics for No Title 1 and not for No Title 2. I would call Title 1 "Livin' Easy".

Livin' easy, havin' fun.
Livin' easy, I just begun!

Or something like that.
What say you?

How do you do that? Make up the lyrics so easily.. hehe.. I spend too much time over-analysing the lyrics and never get anything written down.. haha.. I am reading a song-writing book now.. may be we could collaborate on a few songs and see what happens?

Originally Posted by: light487How do you do that? Make up the lyrics so easily.. hehe.. I spend too much time over-analysing the lyrics and never get anything written down.. haha.. I am reading a song-writing book now.. may be we could collaborate on a few songs and see what happens?

I keep my songs simple. I use plain english. I do not make the listener analyse what I meant. The listener will know exactly what I mean and they can relate. I use ideas from everyday life. Make it simple!

I will get you the info on the songwriting book you should be reading. I don't remember it right now, but it is a good one. I never used a book before, but I got this one because it spells out some legal aspects of songwriting. Though I have been doing most of the things in the book, it has improved my writing.

I would gladly collaborate with you. I really like some of the things you do, much more than most on this site, of course, I favor the acoustic instruments and the folk, old country, jazz, bluegrass, but I am open to all kinds of styles accept rap and satanic. If you want to work together, you have to get use to making money. I don't give my songs away and don't expect you or I to work for nothing. I will be willing to work with you and we split all expenses and profits 50-50 and both of our names go for the copyright on music and lyrics. We will both work on lyrics and music and embellish and rewrite, and so on and so on. I don't want to try to determine who provided what or what percentage or the value of their work. It's 50-50 or nothing. We will both have equal say as to the finished product and what we are going to do with it. I do not work on any time limit. I do not like pressure.

So, what say you? Are you still interested in collaborating? Oh, yeah! I am terribly honest and direct. You probably already know that.

Originally Posted by: "looneytunes"I would gladly collaborate with you. I really like some of the things you do, much more than most on this site, of course, I favor the acoustic instruments and the folk, old country, jazz, bluegrass, but I am open to all kinds of styles accept rap and satanic. If you want to work together, you have to get use to making money. I don't give my songs away and don't expect you or I to work for nothing. I will be willing to work with you and we split all expenses and profits 50-50 and both of our names go for the copyright on music and lyrics. We will both work on lyrics and music and embellish and rewrite, and so on and so on. I don't want to try to determine who provided what or what percentage or the value of their work. It's 50-50 or nothing. We will both have equal say as to the finished product and what we are going to do with it. I do not work on any time limit. I do not like pressure.

I agree with all of that.. If someone were to provide a single line of a lyric and that single line of the lyric were to be the line that really made the song, then that would be just as "worthy" as doing ALL the rest. 50-50 is fine with me, I wouldn't have expected anything else.

I also don't work to a time limit.. I try to challenge myself of course, to get things done by a certain time but that's a personal choice that I make for myself alone, and if I don't make the deadline then it's no bother.. I just set a new deadline. :) If I, however, have no time limit I could spend eternity on ONE track.. lol

So, what say you? Are you still interested in collaborating? Oh, yeah! I am terribly honest and direct. You probably already know that.

Definitely. I know you have a far greater knowledge than me and I would be grateful to you even if we ended up only writing one song together. Not sure how we will get it all done at this point but I would like to try in any case.

Originally Posted by: light487Definitely. I know you have a far greater knowledge than me and I would be grateful to you even if we ended up only writing one song together. Not sure how we will get it all done at this point but I would like to try in any case.

I wouldn't say I have more knowledge than you. I am not a musician and it will be hard, but with the internet it is possible. So, let's do it!

There is no contract between us so either one can drop out at anytime. If anyone drops out before it is finished, they lose any and all interest in that particular song. Agreed? If we have any problems with each other, let’s try to work it out instead of quitting. We are both adults. Well, I am in my second childhood and I intend to enjoy it more than my first.

The book I use is "The Craft and Business of Songwriting" by John Braheny. I purchased it for $20 on Amazon.com. You don't have to buy it, but this is the book I refer too with my questions.

I will send you a private message with my home office e-mail address. I can retrieve and respond to my e-mail from work or from my home office. Once you reply to my e-mail address, we will have direct line of communication. I will also send you other contact info. Since, you are in Australia and I am in the US, I don’t want to run up large telephone bills. Let’s try to do what we can via the web.

Think about what you would like to accomplish with our first song (radio, background for TV or movies, commercials, etc.) I insist on copyright and then after that, we need to decide how best to use the song. Do not post the song on the web. People are not going to pay for something they can get free. If it can be listened to, it can be copied. Don’t get me wrong. There are not a bunch of pirates waiting to copy our song. They will not be interested until and if it is a success. However, there are people who would copyright it in their name and lay claim to it, if it should be a money maker they will coming crawling out of the woodwork. We have to protect our rights now in the beginning.

Will this song be used to promote the song for now successful artists to do or will it be used to promote you as a performer? I do not intend to perform, so it will be you and any band, etc. Our agreement refers only to the making of the song. Any contract you may get from performing the song is between the label and you. Maybe we will sell the song for a large lump of money and pass on all rights.

Think about what style, what instruments, throw out ideas, are we starting with lyrics or the music? Messages? Experiences? Catch phases? Play on words? Remember the most common are the most successful. For most air time, the song should run between 3 to 3 ½ mins.

I have to go to a guitar ensemble now, I’ll send you contact info later.

See ya! Merry CHRISTmas everyone!

I am getting ready to go to church so I can't reply with a big message.

I was thinking of may be Skype or similar for voice/video communications, apparently the Skype and similar technologies are getting quite good now and should facilitate a fairly decent link between two or more musicians. Also Email, MSN Messenger (and similar) and other messaging type things would help for quick messages and things we don't need to discuss directly.

Hehe.. I'm reading "Songwriting for Dummies" :) It's a great book despite the name.. but the authors really latched on to the title and had some fun with it. It's co-authored by Jim Peterik (grammy-winning songwriter, e.g. "Eye of the Tiger" - Survivor) and has all these great insights from famous song writers such as Kenny Loggins who also wrote the foreword for the book.

I wrote these silly lyrics last night, they just popped into my head but it was just a rhyming exercise.. so not really intending to use them or anything:
the sun is shining
the birds are singing
no time for snoring
the world is changing

the clock is ticking is another line that could go in there.. like I say.. it was just an exercise.. lol.. The 3rd line originally began as "the old man is snoring" taken straight from that nursery rhyme:
it's raining,it's pouring,
the old man is snoring.

but that didn't work.. so I went with:
there's no time for snoring

but then I needed to match up the syllables a bit more, so I chopped off the word "there's" and there it is.. That simple change of words creates a completely different context to the lyrics.. anyway.. as you can see I am not so good with lyrics just at the moment.. but I am working on that skill.

Originally Posted by: light487I wrote these silly lyrics last night, they just popped into my head but it was just a rhyming exercise.. so not really intending to use them or anything:
the sun is shining
the birds are singing
no time for snoring
the world is changing

the clock is ticking is another line that could go in there.. like I say.. it was just an exercise.. lol.. The 3rd line originally began as "the old man is snoring" taken straight from that nursery rhyme:
it's raining,it's pouring,
the old man is snoring.

but that didn't work.. so I went with:
there's no time for snoring

but then I needed to match up the syllables a bit more, so I chopped off the word "there's" and there it is.. That simple change of words creates a completely different context to the lyrics.. anyway.. as you can see I am not so good with lyrics just at the moment.. but I am working on that skill.

That's how it's done. You have to practice ryhming like practicing playing. The more you do the easier it becomes. Also, it the music is fast the words can linger on. That's what is called singing. :)

The sun is always shing and the birds are always singing. How about the moon is shining and your eyes are gleaming? Just a thought.

Glad to hear you are going to church. It's ashame a lot more aren't. I will get back to you later. I've been pretty busy too!

Think about what you want to do for a song theme, title, style, etc.

Merry CHRISTmas!

Yeh I sent you a private message with a bit more detail.. not sure if you got it or not. Just got home from work, on Christmas Eve here in Australia, so about to whip out my guitar again.. haha.. It seems like the only thing I ever do anymore is play guitar.. I play it to learn, I play it for fun, I play it when I want to listen to music, I play it when I am sad, I play it when I am happy.. haha.. I just play it non-stop basically :)