Yeah Samson..!


3:35 is that a new theme? Such a clear intention and direct melody.

When you're happy with all the parts, go back and play it after a whiskey this time...

Your vids make me wanna practice, thanks man.

Hey Stickrad!

At the 3:34 mark I just changed the bass part to make it more interesting. Before I was just using the root-fifth-tenth triad to work out the melody side. I said it deserved a better supporting cast and it sure did! There's still a few parts I might tweak but I don't think I'll be adding anymore parts.

On to the arrangement stage then smooth it out with the proper timing. Then the hardest part of all.....naming it!

-Samson


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Hey Samson, heres my feedback......
Glad you tuned up.......
Get the metronome up and running and play with it all the time.....I cant tap my foot when you play, which makes me want to turn you off.....sorry. But I have watched both iterations in full though.
Your song sounds like 5 different songs......I need verse, chorus, bridge to get my jollys. Your piece is very fractured( IMHO) and needs direction.....
my 2 cents

cheers,
kev

Man, I'm digging the chord progressions! Back in the day I used to listen to a lot of Marillion, Saga and that kind of stuff and when I started your song after the first couple of chords I started getting that vibe. I love that music and for me your piece brought all that back. This is exciting!

Kevin, don't apologize. I would rather have someone be honest than to just say, "It has a funky beat and I can bug out to it."

Timing is always the last thing I work on. I'm using this thread to show how I go about writing a song hoping other Stick players will do the same. One thing we don't seem to share is the process, only the final product.



I rarely if ever write in a verse chorus verse chorus bridge chorus structure. I did in high school but I was never comfortable with it. You're not the first person to say that it sounds like 5 (or more) songs. I've been hearing that for years.

I truly do appreciate you listening to these videos the whole way through. It really does mean a lot to me. I understand how you feel though, I get the same way when I hear songs written in a way that doesn't do it for me.

I struggle with the question of do I play what I want to hear or do I play what others want to hear? I guess I just tend to play for me. Selfish I know, but I should work on some more broadly acceptable song structures.



Thank you Jwanka.

Hey man, you gotta please yourself first for sure.I think we all agree to that.......I guess I'm a sucker for pop song structure.......
Process;...........If I showed mine it would be a 4 week video with a lot of fret buzz and foul language.

Ver 2.0 definately an improvement dude
Keep tapping!

Going to the FHA in August?
cheers,
kev

Maybe I'll show the outtakes!



Not planning on it.

-Samson

That piece has clearly come much further, it's quite noticeable.
I like the chord changes at the beginning, reiterated at 1:57; they seem reminiscent of Steely Dan to me. Really nice.
I'm going to put my old drum teacher shoes back on for a moment. My little bit of advice when practicing with a metronome and playing with solid time: relax. Time can get funky and your playing can seem really broken up and not fluid when you tense up (this can happen especially when you're playing a passage with which you're not confident). Breathe, keep your arms and shoulders loose, and when you work with your metronome/drum machine/favorite recordings (work with all three if you got 'em!), play along with the quarter-note pulse, not with all the little subdivisions of 8th and 16th notes. (I got a reminder of that from Greg a while back. I was a really good teacher - but I continue to be a poor student sometimes. )
Hope it helps! Keep going, you're doing great!

Thanks for that Luc,

I've been listening to metronome rhythms all day today. I've settled on 88 bpm. I've been listening to it with 8th notes and skipping every other bar.

I'll definitely try it with quarter notes without any bar breaks and ease into it. 90 seemed rushed and 80 was too slow. I thought about trying it in a 3/4 to see what happens but I'm not so sure. Maybe I'll record it playing at different tempos and signatures.

88 gives me the ability to relax at parts and the room to get note-y without sounding cluttered.

Thanks for your feedback!

-Samson