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nice layered original chorus with iso examples

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Going by GneeTaps suggestion, I wrote a chorus only today. Worked numerous hours for an 11 second snippet lol.

workflow was along these lines:

1) Drums programmed yesterday

2) Started writing melody in D...starting on the highest note and working down. Starting note is (supposed to be anyway lol) a G#4 which is the flat5 in the key of D

3) started putting down a few scratch guitar parts using practice amp

4) sort of bounced back and forth between finalizing the melody and changing the guitar to fit better

5) Sang all the lead VX

6) Layered all the BGV. 4 separate lines, all doubled. It gets a little into the Eagles/Queen/Boston/Yes vibe

7) Redid all the guitar parts (still just used practice amp though). 2 main parts, both doubled

8) added bass

9) mixed....while falling asleep about 10x

 

Anyway, let me know how it sounds. if nothing else its pretty interesting

Here are all the various parts....pretty trippy hearing the layered vocal track by itself

 

Full snippet https://clyp.it/41g4esi0

Rhythm Track https://clyp.it/joo5tv4l

Full vocal tracks https://clyp.it/155rws0y

Lead Vx only, definitely at the top end of my range https://clyp.it/uv0tgitn 

BGV only, 4 separate parts, each doubled (see if u can pick out the parts) https://clyp.it/bvfb0lkn

 

 Enjoy

 

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FREAKING A.W.E.S.O.M.E.!!!!!

Those several hours working on just 11s worth of music really paid off.

This chorus sounds great man! Hard Rock, radio-ready, compelling rhythm, good guitar riff, and great vocals! If you didn't tell me I could easily assume it was a cover song. I am so jealous of you now, but in a good way.

Technical question: how did you come up with the melody? Did you sing it or play in an instrument? Did you already have the lyrics before the melody?

Congrats JonJon, and I can't wait to listen to the whole song when is ready. Keep them coming! :bang:

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hehe, AFAIK its original. Every time I come up with a riff or melody or lyric I always wonder if its just not a note for note ripoff of something I heard before lol

The melody. I did NOT have lyrics first. The first line is sort of my paraphrase of the Bible parable where He says "I dont know you or where you come from" lol. The lyrics were sort of worked out along with the melody. I leave it sort of flexible until I start singing. Like the line where it says "this might be a good TIIIME for you" had also been considered as "this might be a good good time". I had to sing that line numerous times. All of those high notes were a struggle because its right near the top of my range

I sort of decided the song would be in Drop D since the drums were more on the metal side and I havent done any Drop D stuff in a while. I think I had decided in my head to start on a high note and then descend to start the first phrase. So actually I did work out the melody on guitar.

I think I laid down some D chords or whatever just to get going. Then I started looking for a note near the top of my range but that I knew I could get. I just decided on G# since thats the flat 5 of D minor and it worked out conveniently. I just started on the G# and started goofing off working phrases going down. If I remember correctly I was goofing off working out the phrase by manually playing it against the low D string....playing at the 10th fret

Then the 2nd phrase "I aint really got time" is just ascending D minor pentatonic

I didnt work out every little nuance on the guitar. I was using 2 tracks for scratch guitar ideas. I had the general gist of the melody as one of those tracks but I didnt try to work out every little phrase. I just put down the main contours. For the phrase "to figure it out" im pretty sure I had something a little different laid down but when I got to singing it I just went with what felt natural

Not all of the BGV were worked out on guitar. Most of them were just a higher or lower octave or I just went by feel. The very lowest line is almost monotone which is sort of like the way he does it in Aerosmiths "Nobodys Fault" when he says 'Out of rhyme or reason..everyone's to blame" etc. He has the regular vocal melody but then he overdubbed a line that is pretty much just one monotone note

There is one actual harmony in there which is essentially a 5th lower. Now that one I had to work out on guitar because Im not to the level to hear that stuff in my head. I worked out the first part on guitar and then sort of went by feel on singing it once I sort of heard what it was going to be like. I muted all of the other vocal tracks and just pretended I was working out the melody started from that lower point.

I think I had most of the melody worked out and then I started working on finalizing the guitar chords etc. I sort of matched the opening descending vocal riff with the descending guitar line and then I goofed off and figured out I like the C chord and G major chord. The G chord was fingered like this, low to high 5x04xx and then on the 2nd guitar it was x554xx

So I had "scratch" versions of the guitar work laid down and I then put down all of the vocals. Then I went back and redid all of the guitars. On the scratch parts I hadnt even tuned the guitar lol. So I did get worried for a second hoping that all of those vox I laid down were actually in D hehe. Luckily when I checked my D string it was in tune lol. So I went back and redid all of the guitars and about 90% of that stayed the same

An interesting thing on the bass line. The first time I play C on guitar I played an F bass note lol. I just liked the way it sounded. On the guitar I almost did the same thing. On guitar it gives a nice big suspended sound that a lot of drop D guys use but I was worried that it might be a bit much since the song was already going to be pretty congested etc

bass line with rhythm gtr--> https://clyp.it/wssigf3n

 

to be dead honest....dunno if the song will ever get completed now lol. Thats the downside to NOT doing a one day wonder. Finishing songs is like eating leftovers. The original thrill is gone lol.

 

I aint gonna lie. Its pretty discouraging. Why spend all this time writing songs etc when maybe 20 people tops will ever hear them? lol

I can post it to my Fbook friends list. I think I have 143 friends currently. MAYBE 5 of them will even post a like and one of those will be my mother.

I have 2 coworkers that play guitar. One of them also writes originals and is a frontman. I used to message him when I wrote a new song, or id burn him a CD and bring it to work. I dont even bother now because he wont even really comment or he may say "yeah that was cool". I dont even waste his or my time anymore. Heck. he and I actually did 2 songs together which came out really cool. One was his and one was mine. That was before I sang so I got him to sing and play slide guitar. I wanted to work with him some more but it never worked out for whatever reasons. I guess he wants to do his own thing and be in total control. So for instance I wont even bother playing this snippet for him

So in that regard I cant EXACTLY answer why I spend time messing with music. Im assuming it must bring some sort of inner pleasure lol. I dang sure must not do it for external feedback lol

 

 

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JonJon, so that is the question my friend: why do you write and record songs? If it gives you pleasure and a sense of accomplishment, just do it man! You could also create a Soundcloud account and post your songs there. I bet you would get tons of followers and even collaboration requests. I am not saying that all your songs are 100% ready, pro-level, radio/consumer-ready, but man, you definitely have a lot of talent that should not go to waste. I wish I had more free time in my hands at the moment to dedicate to music (singing, playing guitar, recording, and performing), because I would ask you to collaborate with me on some compositions, as I think it would be so much fun. I think it would be a crime if you don't come back to finish this song, now that you now it kicks serious arse. Congrats man!

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9 minutes ago, Gneetapp said:

JonJon, so that is the question my friend: why do you write and record songs? If it gives you pleasure and a sense of accomplishment, just do it man! You could also create a Soundcloud account and post your songs there. I bet you would get tons of followers and even collaboration requests. I am not saying that all your songs are 100% ready, pro-level, radio/consumer-ready, but man, you definitely have a lot of talent that should not go to waste. I wish I had more free time in my hands at the moment to dedicate to music (singing, playing guitar, recording, and performing), because I would ask you to collaborate with me on some compositions, as I think it would be so much fun. I think it would be a crime if you don't come back to finish this song, now that you now it kicks serious arse. Congrats man!

yeah it gets pretty deep. How much of a sense of accomplishment can one get when only 20 people hear my "lot of talent" lol. a lot of time gets sacrificed...for what? I cant answer it.

Of course, the Bible says not to waste your talents. If the boss gives you $1000 to invest and he comes back 5 years later and you just hand him the $1000 back, what have you done?? not much

I guess I need to take the good side of it. That snippet WAS probably the most "pro" thing ive posted...so at least im heading in the right direction....and I only learned to bridge like 2 weeks ago.  Im thinking that if I continue at my current pace i'll be a great musician when im approximately 93

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1 minute ago, JonJon said:

yeah it gets pretty deep. How much of a sense of accomplishment can one get when only 20 people hear my "lot of talent" lol. a lot of time gets sacrificed...for what? I cant answer it.

The accomplishment I'm talking about doesn't come from praise. If this was the case I would not have spent several "monies" on music instruments and recording equipment. I believe you feel the same, or else you would have stopped a long time ago...

1 minute ago, JonJon said:

Of course, the Bible says not to waste your talents. If the boss gives you $1000 to invest and he comes back 5 years later and you just hand him the $1000 back, what have you done?? not much

Yeah, you can take the "higher" path and improve your talent

1 minute ago, JonJon said:

I guess I need to take the good side of it. That snippet WAS probably the most "pro" thing ive posted...so at least im heading in the right direction....and I only learned to bridge like 2 weeks ago. 

I think You are doing pretty good for someone who learned how to "bridge" 2 weeks ago. I "learned" how to bridge and access my higher range 1-2 years ago. Of course learning by myself, being lazy and inconsistent in the training do not help at all... 

1 minute ago, JonJon said:

Im thinking that if I continue at my current pace i'll be a great musician when im approximately 93

Yeah! That's the spirit! I'm glad I could help! ;-)

 

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Im probably going to ditch this one lol

going to attempt to get closer to an AIC/STP sound.

So far nothing I have done has been heavy enough for my tastes. My voice is too freaking clean for one thing lol...then when I double it, it just gets more weird sounding. Definitely gotta get more rasp.distortion in there.

Putting me a nice drum track together now...nice 82 BPM vibe lol

Gonna go for something with less syllables so I can actually sustain some notes

 

One problem I have as far as heavy stuff....I simply can NOT get a really heavy guitar sound. Its funny cuz ive got a Peavey 6505+ combo which is supposed to ONLY be good for really heavy stuff. People were saying you could NOT get a bluesy tone from it. Im the opposite...ALL I can get from it is crunchy/bluesy/classic rock vibes lol. (on this recording I just used my fender solid state amp with a pedal in front)

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15 hours ago, JonJon said:

Im probably going to ditch this one lol

going to attempt to get closer to an AIC/STP sound.

So far nothing I have done has been heavy enough for my tastes. My voice is too freaking clean for one thing lol...then when I double it, it just gets more weird sounding. Definitely gotta get more rasp.distortion in there.

Putting me a nice drum track together now...nice 82 BPM vibe lol

Gonna go for something with less syllables so I can actually sustain some notes

 

One problem I have as far as heavy stuff....I simply can NOT get a really heavy guitar sound. Its funny cuz ive got a Peavey 6505+ combo which is supposed to ONLY be good for really heavy stuff. People were saying you could NOT get a bluesy tone from it. Im the opposite...ALL I can get from it is crunchy/bluesy/classic rock vibes lol. (on this recording I just used my fender solid state amp with a pedal in front)

Hi JonJon, if you want to go for a heavier sound you could try tuning your guitar with dropped D and play those bar chords riffs. 

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6 hours ago, Gneetapp said:

Hi JonJon, if you want to go for a heavier sound you could try tuning your guitar with dropped D and play those bar chords riffs. 

actually this song WAS drop D lol. Of course that helps etc but its more than that, I just havent gotten that sort of Alice In Chains tone yet...or even Chevelle (id love to get close to the vibe of a song like "Face to the Floor")

Part of that is the tone out of the amp etc...part of it is production. Im pretty sure ill get close to figuring it out though, im in a good steep learning curve atm

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