Is this worth continuing?

Lightknight · 05-31-2006, 05:55 PM

I have been playing around with using pima and base notes for a bit and am wondering whether or not it is worth continuing. I've recorded one piece of work that I particularly like. Unfortunately, there's some fuzz one the recording which I can't get to go away so it takes away some from the clarity of the piece and the intended ambience. I also apologize that I have no program to convert this wav. file into an MP3. But the general sound and technique should come through clearly enough. Please judge harshly. I feel quite calm while playing this, unfortunately many people say it makes them depressed. But hey, I hear that evoking any emotion in people is hard to do.

The reason I need to know if this is worth continuing or not is that I can improvise a lot of new ways to play (for me, I'm not saying no one has done this by any means) using this style if it is pleasing to the ears at all.

**DaGeek** · 05-31-2006, 06:01 PM

Wow, that's very nice... The word that comes to mind is beautiful, heh. I'd say that it has more of a calming effect on me than depressing.

And here's a program that should be able to convert that to an mp3.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Lightknight · 05-31-2006, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaGeek

Wow, that's very nice... The word that comes to mind is beautiful, heh. It's say that it has more of a calming effect on me than depressing.

Thanks man

, yeah, that's how I feel about it. I feel extremely calmed by it and that's why I like it.

Quote:

And here's a program that should be able to convert that to an mp3.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Ooh, thanks much.

**Rainer.** · 05-31-2006, 06:12 PM

Or google: dBpowerAMP

Drew Neal · 05-31-2006, 06:22 PM

I like it. Some my find it depressing, but remember that alcohol, although I do not advocate its use, is also a depressant and people use it to unwind. Great for when your worn out and need to mellow. I play some mellow stuff on my acustic on occasion, but only when I am in the mood.

Lightknight · 05-31-2006, 06:24 PM

Ah, I recently learned that most of my own creations are mellow. Heck, check out the links in my sig. I believe they are all in MP3. Brandon (Dreamchaser) once told me he sometimes uses them to sleep.

**jamforchrist123** · 05-31-2006, 07:51 PM

I don't think I get what you are asking (about the bass notes and stuff). I do that alot in my playing. I don't see how poeple would put it down because it is "depressing" (but I like it

)

Nate · 05-31-2006, 07:56 PM

That's a very nice style for solo guitar stuff. A guy who teaches guitar at my school plays some stuff that's very similar (mostly renditions of irish folk tunes with the melody in the "bass line" when he uses this style).

I would say to work on putting a little more interest into the accompaniment part. It's analogous to using Alberti bass on piano; you can only do it for so long before it loses its charm and becomes something "just there."

Tarby777 · 06-01-2006, 05:33 AM

I like it. I think counterpoint (playing two melodic lines at the same time) would make it even better. At the moment, you're playing the melody on the bass strings and what I'm suggesting is that when you do that, you could also be playing something melodic on the high strings instead of just arpeggiating the chord.

You get counterpoint a lot in renaissance and baroque music, and Bach (the dead guy, not the Skid Row guy) is pretty much the benchmark (no pressure on you, then!). The guitar part for the Beatles' "Blackbird" is a good example of a song that has more than one melody note on the go. Something else that works really well is to have one melody note rising in pitch while the other is falling. A very simple example would be:

E ---0-----2-----3---------
B -------------------------
G -------------------------
D----5-----4-----2--------
A -------------------------
E -------------------------

I'm not suggesting that every single time you hit a melody note on a bass string you should also hit a high melody note, but you could certainly try to hit one every "nth" note. Even if you just vary the notes that you're playing on the high strings a little, that would help. It is a little unusual these days (for non-musicians) to listen to a tune where the melody is in the bass, and maybe that's why your friends had the cheek to say your song is depressing (which it isn't) ! I just think you need to add a little something to it, to keep the listeners' attention, and I think that counterpoint - or at least a little harmonisation of the melody line - would be a good way to achieve it.

Well done. If you revamp your tune, please post the new version so that we can have a listen to it.

Cheers,
Tarby

Lightknight · 06-08-2006, 11:47 AM

WOw, that's a really good idea, I'm working on something to post soon.

Nate · 06-08-2006, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tarby777

Something else that works really well is to have one melody note rising in pitch while the other is falling.

That's certainly the easiest (and default) way to achieve contrapuntal texture, as it really helps to distinguish the two voices / melody lines. There are, of course, other ways, as follows:

1) Contrary motion: what you just described.

2) Oblique motion: one voice sustains or repeats its note while the other moves; particularly useful when the sustained voice is either the highest or the lowest voice (which it will always be in two-voice counterpoint) or when you create and then resolve dissonances over the sustained voice (i.e. a suspensionc).

3) Similar motion: both voices move in the same direction, but by different melodic intervals; particularly useful at cadence points.

4) Parallel motion: both voices move in the same direction and by the same melodic interval; particularly effective with an interval of a third or a sixth between the notes (you should DEFINITELY work on parallel thirds / sixths, Gavin; they sound great on guitar); generally, avoid parallel octaves or fifths as they tend to blur the distinction between the two voices.

Work on those four types of motion, and think about the effect each has on the overall sound.

Tarby777 · 06-09-2006, 05:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate

That's certainly the easiest (and default) way to achieve contrapuntal texture, as it really helps to distinguish the two voices / melody lines. There are, of course, other ways, as follows:

1) Contrary motion: what you just described.

2) Oblique motion: one voice sustains or repeats its note while the other moves; particularly useful when the sustained voice is either the highest or the lowest voice (which it will always be in two-voice counterpoint) or when you create and then resolve dissonances over the sustained voice (i.e. a suspensionc).

3) Similar motion: both voices move in the same direction, but by different melodic intervals; particularly useful at adence points.

4) Parallel motion: both voices move in the same direction and by the same melodic interval; particularly effective with an interval of a third or a sixth between the notes (you should DEFINITELY work on parallel thirds / sixths, Gavin; they sound great on guitar); generally, avoid parallel octaves or fifths as they tend to blur the distinction between the two voices.

Work on those four types of motion, and think about the effect each has on the overall sound.

Jeepers Scoob! Did you swallow a textbook? Sounds like you've studied this stuff in some depth Nate... where did you learn it?

Lightknight · 06-09-2006, 05:36 AM

I once heard that Nate doesn't even go so far as to swallow the pages, he just dumps them all in a tub and takes a bath, learning via Osmosis...

Thanks Nate, that'll give me a lot more to play around with. Can't wait to see how it turns out.