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Topic ClosedMy 1st attempt at a song(prog of course)
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raindance2007 View Drop Down
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Points: 184 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: My 1st attempt at a song(prog of course)
    Posted: September 24 2007 at 23:21

It's an attempt at old style prog(in other words real prog) Big%20smile since prog and fusion is mainly the only rock style music I have liked since I was very young. I'm only 34 but I've always rated prog and fusion spanning from about 1968-1983 as the best rock music. It's the busiest, catchiest and most clever music I know of. Not much of a fan of so called prog of today(don't rate metal much and 90% of prog today is metal and if it's not metal based it pretty much sounds like a copy of the big prog bands of the 70s anyway) LOL. I'm not a musican but I don't have a problem coming up with melodies and bass lines etc. Being brought up listening to my dad play his jazz on the hammond organ is a good basis. Anyway, I hope you like my first prog song, which probably needs a bit of adjusting, but I only thought up the melody and produced the song over a few days. Tull, Gentle Giant, Camel, Yes, Van der graaf and Genesis are mainly my fave few bands, so if you like them you might like my song. The drum beat is a bit different but I'm just guessing it by feel. Hopefully the instruments sounds fairly realistic. I may add vocals to it too. The song is below. Enjoy Wink



Edited by raindance2007 - September 24 2007 at 23:26
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puma View Drop Down
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Points: 484 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 25 2007 at 00:47
This is an awesome collection of chord progressions. But it needs a melody and continuity, it's all over the place. It's definitely a start.
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raindance2007 View Drop Down
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Points: 184 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 25 2007 at 00:53
Originally posted by puma puma wrote:

This is an awesome collection of chord progressions. But it needs a melody and continuity, it's all over the place. It's definitely a start.
 
The verses are the main melody with the organ and guitar. I purposely fitted the bass line to make it interesting. I just added the jazz organ at the start middle and end to break it up. Which part is all over the place? Big%20smile
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puma View Drop Down
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Points: 484 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 25 2007 at 01:41
the instruments change with little indication of what's next, it isn't a fully composed piece. It goes from string synth to piano to harpsichord in a matter of seconds, and motifs just stop to make room for other ones. If you take 2 of the musical ideas you have here and develop them further into this song, and save the other 5 or 6 for later, you'd have at least 4 good songs right there.

And it's good to not think of a song as "prog", which in my experience has shown to be a completely abstract idea and never ends well. Just ask the bands my band has played concerts with; it's not pretty.

Don't tack on alternate time signatures because you can, do it because you have to. Write a melody that will succeed in both 4/4 and 7/4. Or you can do what folk musicians do and play a melody in reel time, then play the same melody in jig time with more ornamentation, then go back to reel time with the same ornamentation. Simple A B A B A B A B song structure with clear musical ideas and progression. Now if that's not "prog" I don't know what is. Keep up the good work
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mystic fred View Drop Down
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Points: 4252 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 25 2007 at 02:00
A very brave thing indeed putting your music up for scrutiny Clap
 
i've been working on my "pieces" for the last 5 years and still fiddling! Your piece sounds nice quality wise but is a bit repetitive and mechanical - the first few seconds are crucial and should hold the listener, and as mentioned above have some structure with a few twists and turns to keep it interesting.
Writing music seems easy till you try it..! Wink
 


Edited by mystic fred - September 25 2007 at 02:01
Prog Archives Tour Van
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raindance2007 View Drop Down
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Points: 184 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 25 2007 at 03:15
Originally posted by puma puma wrote:

the instruments change with little indication of what's next, it isn't a fully composed piece. It goes from string synth to piano to harpsichord in a matter of seconds, and motifs just stop to make room for other ones. If you take 2 of the musical ideas you have here and develop them further into this song, and save the other 5 or 6 for later, you'd have at least 4 good songs right there.

And it's good to not think of a song as "prog", which in my experience has shown to be a completely abstract idea and never ends well. Just ask the bands my band has played concerts with; it's not pretty.

Don't tack on alternate time signatures because you can, do it because you have to. Write a melody that will succeed in both 4/4 and 7/4. Or you can do what folk musicians do and play a melody in reel time, then play the same melody in jig time with more ornamentation, then go back to reel time with the same ornamentation. Simple A B A B A B A B song structure with clear musical ideas and progression. Now if that's not "prog" I don't know what is. Keep up the good work
 
yeah i just slapped it together a bit quickly. I'm happy with all of the melodies below, I just may have put too many melodies into 1 song or maybe i can make the song longer. These are the parts of MY song. I plan to have vocals on the song later on
 
intro-jazz funk
verse 1-guitar riff merging with organ
break-flute
verse 2-organ riff merging with guitar
instrumental passage-mellotron with organ
mid section-jazz funk
chorus-piano and violin with funky clavinet
verse 3-guitar riff merging with organ
break-flute
verse 4-organ riff merging with guitar
instrumental section-merging of verse and jazz funk
ending-jazz funk
 
I think should either take out the mellotron part or make the song a couple of minutes longer with 2 more verses
 
 


Edited by raindance2007 - September 25 2007 at 03:21
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raindance2007 View Drop Down
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Points: 184 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 25 2007 at 03:39
Originally posted by mystic fred mystic fred wrote:

A very brave thing indeed putting your music up for scrutiny Clap
 
i've been working on my "pieces" for the last 5 years and still fiddling! Your piece sounds nice quality wise but is a bit repetitive and mechanical - the first few seconds are crucial and should hold the listener, and as mentioned above have some structure with a few twists and turns to keep it interesting.
Writing music seems easy till you try it..! Wink
 
 
Pretty much all songS have at least 3 verses and a chorus or 2, so they will repeat themselves. They just add a bit of variety in the drums and keys which I did. But prog isn't as standard as most song and quite often doesn't have any solos, but more of an instrumental section. I'm mainly going for the 70s prog formula and may lengthen the song or take a part out Big%20smile
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puma View Drop Down
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Points: 484 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 25 2007 at 16:03
The beauty of 70s prog is there's no formula. The goal of this piece should be to introduce a musical idea and develop it until it's more powerful and reaches a realization point at the end of the piece. Thats essentially the only generalization I can make about 70s bands.
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Points: 234 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 04 2007 at 21:57
What did you use to make this?
"Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love. Love is not music. Music is THE BEST."
-FZ
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raindance2007 View Drop Down
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Points: 184 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 04 2007 at 23:06
Originally posted by MonkeyphoneAlex MonkeyphoneAlex wrote:

What did you use to make this?
 
Steinberg Nuendo 3, combined with Sonic Synth 2 and Sample Tank. I'll put my 2nd song up in a few days and I'm about to do my 3rd song Tongue
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MonkeyphoneAlex View Drop Down
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Points: 234 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 04 2007 at 23:08
I'll keep my eye out.  I think you have serious potential.
"Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love. Love is not music. Music is THE BEST."
-FZ
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raindance2007 View Drop Down
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Points: 184 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 05 2007 at 07:11
Originally posted by MonkeyphoneAlex MonkeyphoneAlex wrote:

I'll keep my eye out.  I think you have serious potential.
 
someone has to continue the old style prog Tongue
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Atkingani View Drop Down
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Points: 12288 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 05 2007 at 23:34
And what's the artistic name to be placed in the topic's title?
Guigo

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raindance2007 View Drop Down
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Points: 184 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 06 2007 at 03:39
Originally posted by Atkingani Atkingani wrote:

And what's the artistic name to be placed in the topic's title?
 
not sure yet lol. I only have 2 songs and a third coming soon. But I've only been making up tunes for a month or 2 Big%20smile
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