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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Recording Corner »

Permalink Composing Myself

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Hi there you rockin rollers to the lesser gods. So I'd say if I had any real strength musically it would be composing rearranging and just generally messing up songs. I do this with every song I hear and every song I play. It is like a computer RBA. (Brian can translate that for those who are fortunate enough not to know).

My personal history made me this way. But enough about lab rats.

So I am going to share with all of you my many glitches that help me spit out song after song, arrangement after arrangement failure after failure.

And moments of gold.

In no particular order (as should be your inspiration)

SEMI PRO TIP #UNO:

Take that goofy little riff that keeps stumping you and play it in every octave and in every configuration that it can be played on your fretboard. If it sucks at all octaves discard or modify. Take the moifted riff and run it through all the octaves and configs as before and look for that groove. No groove? Move to the discard pile and take a break. Smoke smoke smoke that cigarette.

BTW:::
Discarding bad, trite, sucky, cliché , run of the mill and just run me over if I hear another song that sounds like THAT again. .. well, it's the way to clear your head to find that new something that the dreams we are making are made of.

Your garbage music output should roughly match the total garbage output of a normal family of 4. (see Noel for details)

All right; that was today's semi-pro tip. I'll come up with something else next week and we can fight over that. Just remember; I DON'T read music and struggle with many musical terms. I learned the word 'outro' from Ivan P. when he graciously critiqued a song of mine when I was just getting started (Now that was a nest of bad ideas)

In Lester's name,
-DVF

PS: Oh, and as proof that I am not just banging your cowbell I can supply week by week songs that, well, hell, I guess I just did a new arrangement on! Today's semi-pro tip was used on my cover of **T-Rex's Marc Bolian $$$GLITTER DAYDREAM$$$ METAL GURU.

It put the jelly in the roll, I'm just sayin...

yeah yeah yeah!

Da Vinci Flinglestein,
The quest for the Tone, the tone of the Quest

The Syndicate of Surf on YouTube

http://www.syndicateofsurf.com/

http://sharawaji.com/

http://surfrockradio.com/

Last edited: Oct 08, 2017 00:03:47

Take a riff and change it. Find a dozen different variations on it. Change timing and notes (what else is there?). Play it backwards. Play part of it backwards. String together several variations.

Change a riff so that it is a melody, no longer a riff that sounds like a scale or an exercise. What is the difference between a melody and a riff? If you don't have a feel for this, you're probably not writing melodies.

These were methods I followed. IMO they can be heard in the changes from my early album (Whimsical Surf & its version Two) to my most recent (Flying Guitars and Guitar Fun Version 2). Sean Berry (Continental Mag/Dbl Crown) wrote in a review that Whimsical Surf is mostly riffs not melodies, and this put me on the path to change.

Insanitizers! http://www.insanitizers.com

Last edited: Oct 07, 2017 17:08:23

And we are off!

Fight

Da Vinci Flinglestein,
The quest for the Tone, the tone of the Quest

The Syndicate of Surf on YouTube

http://www.syndicateofsurf.com/

http://sharawaji.com/

http://surfrockradio.com/

Last edited: Oct 07, 2017 18:06:26

I'm just writing down ideas. If we cover the same ground, well, it's not like that hasn't happened before.

Da Vinci Flinglestein,
The quest for the Tone, the tone of the Quest

The Syndicate of Surf on YouTube

http://www.syndicateofsurf.com/

http://sharawaji.com/

http://surfrockradio.com/

Last edited: Oct 07, 2017 16:12:45

Great examples of heart, not that you have to live in a cardboard box. Hey, was that Phillip Seymore Hoffman tippling some mead at the medieval fair at Sorochintsy?

Da Vinci Flinglestein,
The quest for the Tone, the tone of the Quest

The Syndicate of Surf on YouTube

http://www.syndicateofsurf.com/

http://sharawaji.com/

http://surfrockradio.com/

Last edited: Oct 08, 2017 05:17:34

This is great. Suddenly I feel pressure to actually accomplish somthing. I mean if I wiff my T Rex cover or take like 16 months to finish it, you are likely to say "Well that Syndicate som-bitch is all neck and no strings. Piss on that!" I've got my rhythm, drums, bass and base melody line all recorded. Some refinement and then it's time to get out the frosting!

So I just stumbled on a basic pro-tip: Commit to someone that you are going to compose or record something. I just happened to do mine to the entire developed Surf World.

No pressure.

Da Vinci Flinglestein,
The quest for the Tone, the tone of the Quest

The Syndicate of Surf on YouTube

http://www.syndicateofsurf.com/

http://sharawaji.com/

http://surfrockradio.com/

Last edited: Oct 08, 2017 16:19:36

Good morning Surf-Sound aficionados! The whole dang computer system at work just went ka-put so I have a few seconds (hours?) to kill.

I'm taking off early, getting groceries and then am hitting the practice booth (my couch) to prepare for tomorrow's recording session. I'll take a bit of time to go to my grandson's FB game (he plays defensive tackle and sometimes end) then it's early to bed and up before the chickens to RECORD.

My goal is to finish Surfin Guru and post it here in the DOWNLOADS section so I can reap your praise and abuse. I've worked a lot of things out in my head and am optimistic (note- optimistic attitude: GOOD). If I've learned any insightful insights I will pass them along as well. Mainly, I want to make a tune and then stick it into your head.

Permanently.

No need to wish me luck, I'll make my own.

Blah Blah

Da Vinci Flinglestein,
The quest for the Tone, the tone of the Quest

The Syndicate of Surf on YouTube

http://www.syndicateofsurf.com/

http://sharawaji.com/

http://surfrockradio.com/

Last edited: Oct 13, 2017 07:25:37

I'll be looking forward to hearing what you create.
Have a great time recording!

Cheers,
Jeff

http://www.facebook.com/CrazyAcesMusic
http://www.youtube.com/user/crazyacesrock
http://www.reverbnation.com/crazyacesmusic

So I did that song that I was going on about last week, what was it- something that rhymes with bird? Anyways, let's get all the disclaimers right out in front.

It's a rough mix. 'How rough is it?' It's so rough that if you rubbed it against sandpaper, the sandpaper would wad up and roll under your workbench where you couldn't quite reach it.

A couple of fills got buried and I didn't have the gumption to start the mix from scratch. Plus there was drinking time I was late for.

And of course above all I wanted to share it with you... alright, it was the late for .... well ...

Let's Git 'r Done!!!

I like my song. Listened to it about 60 times. That's how I know it's a good one.

HEY... hidden pro tip; If you can listen to your song 60 times it a row. you're good. Don't let anyone tell you anything about it cuz you KNOW every blemish, hicky and cold sore.

So we'll just be waiting on Sir Brian to make the song available in DOWNLOADS and then I'll set up the link and you can all start throwing tomatoes.

PS; The boys were victorious in one of the 2 best games I've ever seen. Literally down to the last 5 seconds. Final score 35 - 28 Plymouth Big Red Vikings. One for the books.

Worst refs E-VAH.

image

Da Vinci Flinglestein,
The quest for the Tone, the tone of the Quest

The Syndicate of Surf on YouTube

http://www.syndicateofsurf.com/

http://sharawaji.com/

http://surfrockradio.com/

Last edited: Oct 14, 2017 18:36:07

Song available. No hoopla. I just got up.

https://surfguitar101.com/downloads/details/754/

image

Da Vinci Flinglestein,
The quest for the Tone, the tone of the Quest

The Syndicate of Surf on YouTube

http://www.syndicateofsurf.com/

http://sharawaji.com/

http://surfrockradio.com/

Well, as a T Rex fan and a Surf fan I can honestly say that you made my day.
I also like the way you took yourself to task and followed through.
So cool.
Way to go Da Vinci!

Cheers,
Jeff

http://www.facebook.com/CrazyAcesMusic
http://www.youtube.com/user/crazyacesrock
http://www.reverbnation.com/crazyacesmusic

Syndicateofsurf wrote:

Song available. No hoopla. I just got up.

https://surfguitar101.com/downloads/details/754/

image

Well to wrap things up I'll say this- I tried remixing and even a bit of re-recording and it just didn't pan out. I really do suck at mixing. Sorry Jeff, I tried. The law of diminishing returns and all that.

Thanks for playing and I guess I'd better think about my next comp. lesson.

Why do the birds go on singing?

-DVF

PS: Just a note about my mixing habits- Starting out and still today I try to make solid listenable mixes. I mean this is music for pleasure right? Turns out, all of my mixes get remixed from scratch and mastered by someone else when they are being readied for commercial production via my record label, Sharawaji.

So I am relieved of the onus of providing the perfect mix. This is both a blessing and a curse. One, yeah, not my job mon. Then again, damn, getting someone else to hear things the way I do and then get them to do it that way... excruciating.

Bottom line, I'm not quite as obsessive about my home brew mixes as when I started out. Still guilty of the primary sin of trying to make the damn thing as loud as possible. So sue me.

Da Vinci Flinglestein,
The quest for the Tone, the tone of the Quest

The Syndicate of Surf on YouTube

http://www.syndicateofsurf.com/

http://sharawaji.com/

http://surfrockradio.com/

Last edited: Oct 18, 2017 09:11:35

To anyone who took note of this thread: It's not going as expected. I have pages of notes and topics but I feel the creeping onset of nothingburger. Personal project in the works but it may turn out to have more in common with elevator muzak than surf. I can not ignore it though- 2 songs consuming my grey matter. Yeah, one of those apparently random song combos that exist for what reason? I guess I'm finding out. Because I can. I will. I will gosh darn it. Stay tuned for my career ending opus-minimalist.

Da Vinci Flinglestein,
The quest for the Tone, the tone of the Quest

The Syndicate of Surf on YouTube

http://www.syndicateofsurf.com/

http://sharawaji.com/

http://surfrockradio.com/

Here is a new song to listen to. Ramones come through for me when nothing else will.

I was really stuck and spent a lot of time on a project that went nowhere. It was bloated, grandiose and (I suppose) doomed from the beginning.

So for an anti-bloat remedy, I went to an all time fave from (if pressed) my favorite RAMONES album- Leave Home. The one where me and my buddy started SCREAMING when Johnny broke into the riff on California Sun- JOHNNY CAN PLAY LEAD!!!

We simpletons were so... hungry.

https://surfguitar101.com/downloads/details/759/

image

PS: If you like it- say something nice like 'Cool' or even 'DUDE'

Da Vinci Flinglestein,
The quest for the Tone, the tone of the Quest

The Syndicate of Surf on YouTube

http://www.syndicateofsurf.com/

http://sharawaji.com/

http://surfrockradio.com/

Last edited: Nov 13, 2017 13:58:58

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