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Posted by dorfsmith on 12-29-2002 at23:24:

  Where did you get the music?

Those of you who submitted to the DAmb disk had to figure out the music one way or another. Did you all just figure it out or did you find it somewhere. I want to start experimenting for vol. 2

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Posted by wes berlin on 12-29-2002 at23:40:

 

well this place is a pretty good place

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Posted by dorfsmith on 12-29-2002 at23:44:

 

Woo Hoo I just checked it out. Thanks!

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Posted by wes berlin on 12-29-2002 at23:47:

 

no problem...my pleasure

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Posted by brdhsnyrsoul on 12-30-2002 at16:43:

 

Wes is one cool cat! Thanks again, Wes.

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Posted by wes berlin on 12-30-2002 at16:55:

 

quote:

Originally posted by brdhsnyrsoul Thanks again, Wes.

no really, you're welcome! let's get together again(and soon) and make some more music.

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Posted by brdhsnyrsoul on 12-30-2002 at16:57:

 

I'm game. Just say the word.

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Posted by Joey T. on 12-30-2002 at17:34:

 

quote:

Originally posted by wes berlin well this place is a pretty good place

Jasoooooon rocks! We were both going through a divorce at the same time and he e-mailed some encouraging words to me off-list from the dadl...

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Posted by BD on 12-30-2002 at17:43:

 

quote:

Originally posted by Joey T. quote: Originally posted by wes berlin well this place is a pretty good place Jasoooooon rocks! We were both going through a divorce at the same time and he e-mailed some encouraging words to me off-list from the dadl...

Thanks Joey, I was just going to post that BPlusChords was Jason's web site.

(Jasooooon did Outdoor Elvis on MORE dämb it BTW)


BD

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Posted by Carlctic on 12-30-2002 at23:30:

 

quote:

Originally posted by wes berlin well this place is a pretty good place

I used it. The rest I figured out on my own and played it my own way.

Not that it matters... The track turned out pretty horrendous.

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Posted by Mark on 12-31-2002 at20:45:

 

A Horrendous Disc?

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Posted by arcticsunburn on 01-02-2003 at02:48:

 

A Horrendous Track, maybe.

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Posted by Theo on 01-03-2003 at11:39:

  angels tuck you in

Just uses E, A, B and once in a while F#
Then at the end it uses C, D and E

Give it a try. These, of coarse, are not the original chords. Originally it was in the key of C or D--something like that!

Guitarzan!

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Posted by carl on 01-03-2003 at11:55:

 

I just keep messing around with the guitar until I figure it out.... although it helps to have a "key" song to get you started -- for example, The Who's "Substitute" is the ultimate D song, and there was a song our band did called "Slamming Door Repeats" that I always use for G (although, for a more readily accessible reference point, I ripped off the piano line from Bob Seger's "Against the Wind" for the bass line for that song so that'll work too)....

carl
can't read a lick of music
(but can usually figure it out inside of 15 minutes)

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Posted by Mark on 01-03-2003 at22:12:

 

Jim needs to read that. He was just talking about Against The Wind.

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Posted by dorfsmith on 02-12-2003 at16:27:

 

I think this needs to be at the top.

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Posted by Dr Rich on 02-14-2003 at15:49:

 

that is a cool link!

Thanks! )

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Posted by Mark on 02-14-2003 at18:57:

 

To the top

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Posted by Buffalo on 02-19-2003 at03:00:

  Dorfsmith:

To figure out a song, I first look for guitar tab (like on the B+ site) or sheet music, as a starting point. If it's not available, or to improve upon what was available, I pick it out by ear, playing the song over and over while playing guitar (or a keyboard) along with it until I figure out some of the details.

One recent addition to my software has helped as well. I purchased (from CompUSA.com) Guitar Tracks 2.0 by Cakewalk Software. It is a recording program designed for use by guitar players. One fantastic feature it includes is called "Slow Blast." This tool lets you record part of a song (from a CD or .wav file) and slow it down WITHOUT changing its pitch. You can then play that slowed down section over and over while playing along using your ear to pick out the notes, chords, whatever. (You might be able to purchase "Slow Blast" by itself; search the internet for "Slow Blast.") I had tried figuring out the intro to Randy Stonehill's "Christmas Song For All Year 'Round" many times but was never successful. Using "Slow Blast", I figured it out in about 20 to 30 minutes by having it play the intro over and over at about half speed and using our electronic keyboard to (by ear) figure out what guitar notes were being played.

Another idea I haven't employed yet is to record a song from a CD into a .wav file (I use Creative Labs' "Wave Studio" that came with my computer's sound card) and then use that software's ability to play a highlighted section of the song over and over. For example, if I could tell that one measure (or small section) of the song was basically one chord, I could highlight that portion of the song, have the software loop it during playback, and then play different chords on my guitar or keyboard till I found the one that seemed best. Or, I could play individual notes, noting which ones were in tune with the section, and then determine chord possibilities based on those notes.

One could even get down to the single note level in this manner: If there was a lead guitar part I wanted to figure out I could highlight the section containing just the first note, then using a guitar or keyboard, play with it until I found the correct note. Make a note of what note that is, highlight the next note in the song's lead part and figure it out, add it to the note(s) previously figured out, lather, rinse, repeat, until I've got all the notes figured out, then practice until I can play the lead part decently.

Whew!

I have another tool at my disposal, my wife. A long-time piano player, she has a good ear for pitch, especially piano pieces. If I'm having trouble with some part of a song I'll ask her to help. She's usually able to get something that sounds about right after a little bit. Or, at least get me looking in the right direction...

Now, a practical example:

For "In The Calling" (DAmb it disc 1) I put the song on repeat on the CD player and I just strummed my guitar, matching by ear the chords as closely as I could. This took a number of repeats of the song to get most of the chords and chord changes. I got some help from my wife ("What sounds better, this or this?") and went back through it some more. This gave me the basic chords. I wrote out the lyrics and put the chords above them. Then, for a part for Melody ("Dolpin") to play on the keyboard, I used the keyboard to figure out the melody line; sometimes with the song playing, sometimes not. This was only two phrases of a verse's melody; all that Melody plays on the recording. I decided to see if I could incorporate the melody into my guitar chord strumming (thinking of the Beatles' "Here Comes The Sun" which I had learned while in high school.) I tried a couple of capo positions until I found that playing the song capo'd at the 5th fret and using chords in the key of G (makes the actual key played to be C) was the best way that I could include the melody line in my strumming. I then used the guitar set up like this to figure out the rest of the melody for the verses and chorus and incorporate them into the chord strumming. I added a couple of hammer-ons during my strumming and one little riff at the end of the chorus and that was that.

Since I'm quite an amateur in my musical abilities it takes some work but it's very rewarding in the end. Hope this gives you some ideas of how you can put something together...

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Posted by brdhsnyrsoul on 02-20-2003 at13:26:

 

quote:

Originally posted by wes berlin quote: Originally posted by brdhsnyrsoul Thanks again, Wes. no really, you're welcome! let's get together again(and soon) and make some more music.

we still need to do this. I was on a field-trip to LA yesterday and went through Monrovia. I couldn't talk the bus driver into stopping for a couple of hours though. I'm not sure you would've wanted 25 highschool kids in your studio anyway.