Let me just say up top, this is not a "what is TRUE SURF?" thread or anything like that. I'm curious what your tastes are for writing surf songs. It's subjective, plenty of ways to skin a potato and all that. We all know there are lots traditions, motifs, genre signifiers or cliches, if you will, for instrumental surf rock. Spring reverb, the twangy tone, tremolo picking, vibrato/whammy bar, glissandos, palm muting and probably plenty more subtle and not directly guitar related ones.

My question to you all is how much of that can you strip away and still feel like you're playing to surf rock. I know some people are "purists" in that they prefer everything sound vintage correct and not have any or many crossover genre influences (even if they're period correct or existed in some bands of the era), but in reality there doesn't seem to be one perfect prototype band/artist that uses all of those "classic" elements. Even some that do have the guitar more in the background and have horns, electric piano or organ as the lead melodic instrument. It seems to be typical of bands that take a wide variety of sounds from a distinct era and then later coalesce them into a single defined genre to sort of throw in all the most identifiable signature techniques/motifs all at once or frequently, but there are always some that keep it minimal or pile on a lot of their own ideas without going full on crossover.

So can you get by with a hardail? Amp reverb only? Does it all feel off without glissandos and can you stick to open notes or do you have to have some plinky palm muting? What are you surf rock essentials?

Melodies and chords progressions! A subtle point that I really believe in is that it has to have a solid chord-based structure. I think this is essential in order to have the strong melodies that make surf unique. When jamming surf with people who are less familiar with the style (especially people coming from a metal or hardrock background) it often turns into a garage or progressive riff-rock jam... but with the superficial elements of the surf sound (like the reverb and a surf beat).

Riffs are great for intros and transitions and what not but once you start riffing too much vs. playing melodically it stops feeling like surf to me.

I think the reverb is essential to surf and all but you can use echo or fuzz and still pretty much call it surf.

-Pierre
The Obsidians! (Ottawa surf)
The Obsidians debut EP

Last edited: Aug 25, 2016 10:07:10

Guitar, creativity, and a pencil.

Surf is life.

I hear stuff in my head and start trying to record it. Melody line and counter melody. Chord progressions come later to fit the melody. A lot of times there are words that accompany the melody that I have to drop for surf.

Once I have the initial line down, then I start hammering out a rough drum line and fit everything together. Some times lots of edits to the original line, sometimes very few changes. Second method is I hear a really cool drum beat and I just start humming a riff. The riff is expanded, a bridge added, and whatever instruments come into my head I add. I honestly think a lot of it is God given inspiration.

The most interesting thing is when I go to record and create variations of the main theme to fit the final "mood" of the song. It's kind of a Czech thing my Dad used to do. Finally I know I'm going in the right direction when I get lucky with a really cool hook that seems to come out of nowhere.

Surfcat

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Last edited: Jan 25, 2022 17:49:26

For me, inspiration can come from anywhere at any time.
Having a guitar handy is nice but all I really need is some way or recording the melody I've come up with in my head. My phone has hundreds of little song ideas recorded on it.

Weed helps too!

Voice notes app on my phone has always been my go to, whether it's recording something I've noodled or I come up with a melody in my head that I have to hum into it (often trying to look discrete and not like I've lost my mind in public)

Always good to refer back to when there's time to carve out more of a song.

See what I did there...?

Last Trout on the Left out now: https://linktr.ee/radioactiveelectriceelfactory

SurferBill wrote:

My question to you all is how much of that can you strip away and still feel like you're playing to surf rock.

Ha... we stripped away allot. But when new people hear our tunes, they always identify it as surf music. I think the Jazzmaster pickup through a tank or Twin Reverb, and with a Lindy beat behind it, is the soul of surf music, almost regardless of what you play.

And congratulations on using the term Lindy Beat. You sir, are a true scholar. The Lindy Beat has been with us roughly 100 years, and still going strong. Ain’t nothing new under the sun.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

Does anyone have the Lindy beat written out in standard notation?

synchro wrote:

Listen to Bennie Goodman’s Sing, Sing, Sing.

Through these cruddy iPad speakers, under the melody, all I hear is kick drum, floor Tom, and cymbal. ;)

Here's a link to an article in Modern Drummer containing an embedded video that demonstrates the Lindy Beat with variations.
(I can't seem to link to the video itself)

https://www.moderndrummer.com/2015/01/video-lindy-beat-grooviest-early-rock-grooves-february-2015-issue/

Here is the basic Lindy Beat notation (also called the Twist Beat)