Very happy at the moment, and ridiculously excited. There's a lot going on today, so I'm gonna be rather busy. For a start, since there was a change in schedule, I have an episode of DBZ Kai to watch. Later tonight, there's also a Lumineers concert that I'll be listening to live, on the radio. But in-between those, I have blog posts to write!
Starting with this one. I actually wrote an entire song, well and true, properly WROTE the song.
Well, for the most part.
I'm missing the bass guitar for the chorus, and since the song is founded on that (it's the strongest, main instrument--this is a variant on THE tune), I can't write the chorus until I figure out for sure what it'll be.
But otherwise!
Start to finish, I've written the entire song. The bass drum, the hi-hat, the snare, the bass guitar that provides the foundation, the electric guitar that provides support (this is an inversion of the norm, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn that it's been done before), I figured out everything for the song. It's not that unusual.
Eight measures of the bass guitar (which uses the one-and-two, three, four variant on THE tune), at some point with the electric guitar joining in. When the electric guitar joins in, it matches the beat that the bass drum does. (Though it's not playing the same note over and over again, obviously.)
Then, eight more beats with the percussion: the bass drum hits on one, the hi-hat on two, and the snare I've currently got matching the one-and-two, three, four, with the 'two' being both sticks hitting at once (I forget the term, and am too lazy to look it up).
Then, the first verse begins.
I know,
I wanna be free
Just go,
Wanna be me.
Saving from
Those oppressing
Using love
In what we preach.
(As it) just so
Happens to be
Laying low
Is temporary.
Yeah I know
I wanna be me
So with love,
I'll plant my seeds.
Then comes the chorus. If it matches verses (the above verse was double-length), it'll probably be 8 measures.
While I don't know the most essential two parts, I can tell you that the bass drum and hi-hat are now at 1, 3 and 2, 4 respectively (double), and the electric guitar has doubled its notes as well. The snare is now set at 1-and-2, 3-and-4, with the hits on 2 and 4 being both sticks.
After one time through (or two, if the chorus ends up only being 4 measures in written words, most likely), we get to the second verse, which I'm just now writing for this blog post. (Both time and space constraints prevented me from writing it before.)
Rivers flow,
Neverending
Sometimes slow,
Always progressing.
(Do ya) stand alone,
Against history
Or join the boat
Be accepting.
Then you get the chorus again, and a transition into the bridge. For that, no percussion, no electric guitar. Just the bass and the singer. In this case, the bass is modified to be closer to the tune (specifically, the "string instrument" part): kind-of staccato (that is, as sharp as can be), and in the original one, two, three-and-four formatting THE tune uses. (This song was built using that tune as a template, deliberately rather than accidentally.)
The lyrics for the bridge go as such:
My prayer,
My dream,
Is fair
For free
My hope,
To see
I've sown
Some trees.
My prayer,
The dream,
For fair,
And free
I hope,
I'll see
My sown
Kind trees.
...It miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight be obvious, but on a spur-of-the-moment writing (I literally wrote the music first, and needed lyrics to fit it, rather than the normal vice-versa, so I...improvised), the song has an obvious message in it about being pro-love, all kinds of love, especially of the !cishet variety.
I absolutely love what I made. The best part is, since I wrote this all down, both in here and on the original piece of paper, and it's based on THE tune (which I have burned into my brain), I can never forget this. I can replay it, endlessly, as often as I want to. Now, granted. Me being human, I can't bring all of the elements to life at once. It'd be impossible enough in reality, but it's actually not easy to do even in my head. I've meshed two or three parts together at the same time, and they work well together, but the only way I could confirm it all works together is to actually write the song in the first place.
What I do need to do is give some additional notes. When I wrote the lyrics, the voice I was mentally singing it to, the tune, was definitely Curt Cobain, as in, some Nirvana tune. (Maybe Rape Me, but I'm only like 40% on that.) I was not writing the lyrics to be an exact duplicate to the bass notes, and if you try saying them out loud, you should be able to tell as much. There may have been some Foo Fighter influence as well, which probably came in about half-way through the first verse, where I decided to name the song "The hope". (Result? In an absolute split second, my mind instantly went, "It sucks" and began throwing around extras like "The pain, it's real", and such forth. Dave Grohl, this is what you've done to me.)
The electric guitar? Takes heavy cues from two songs. One, What I've Done by Linkin Park. The second, using similar notes and timing, is some other song by some other artist. I don't actually know the song, I don't actually know the artist. I can't recall the full nature of it, either, because Linkin Park is blazing through my mind dominantly right now. It might be a band that uses trumpets prominently? Something like Cake, then? But I can't be sure on that, either. (I'd say like maybe 10%.)
So, yeah. Neither the vocals nor the electric guitar are meant as an exact duplicate of the foundation bass guitar, though the electric guitar is closer.
Anyway!
One down, two to go! (At least two.)
Starting with this one. I actually wrote an entire song, well and true, properly WROTE the song.
Well, for the most part.
I'm missing the bass guitar for the chorus, and since the song is founded on that (it's the strongest, main instrument--this is a variant on THE tune), I can't write the chorus until I figure out for sure what it'll be.
But otherwise!
Start to finish, I've written the entire song. The bass drum, the hi-hat, the snare, the bass guitar that provides the foundation, the electric guitar that provides support (this is an inversion of the norm, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn that it's been done before), I figured out everything for the song. It's not that unusual.
Eight measures of the bass guitar (which uses the one-and-two, three, four variant on THE tune), at some point with the electric guitar joining in. When the electric guitar joins in, it matches the beat that the bass drum does. (Though it's not playing the same note over and over again, obviously.)
Then, eight more beats with the percussion: the bass drum hits on one, the hi-hat on two, and the snare I've currently got matching the one-and-two, three, four, with the 'two' being both sticks hitting at once (I forget the term, and am too lazy to look it up).
Then, the first verse begins.
I know,
I wanna be free
Just go,
Wanna be me.
Saving from
Those oppressing
Using love
In what we preach.
(As it) just so
Happens to be
Laying low
Is temporary.
Yeah I know
I wanna be me
So with love,
I'll plant my seeds.
Then comes the chorus. If it matches verses (the above verse was double-length), it'll probably be 8 measures.
While I don't know the most essential two parts, I can tell you that the bass drum and hi-hat are now at 1, 3 and 2, 4 respectively (double), and the electric guitar has doubled its notes as well. The snare is now set at 1-and-2, 3-and-4, with the hits on 2 and 4 being both sticks.
After one time through (or two, if the chorus ends up only being 4 measures in written words, most likely), we get to the second verse, which I'm just now writing for this blog post. (Both time and space constraints prevented me from writing it before.)
Rivers flow,
Neverending
Sometimes slow,
Always progressing.
(Do ya) stand alone,
Against history
Or join the boat
Be accepting.
Then you get the chorus again, and a transition into the bridge. For that, no percussion, no electric guitar. Just the bass and the singer. In this case, the bass is modified to be closer to the tune (specifically, the "string instrument" part): kind-of staccato (that is, as sharp as can be), and in the original one, two, three-and-four formatting THE tune uses. (This song was built using that tune as a template, deliberately rather than accidentally.)
The lyrics for the bridge go as such:
My prayer,
My dream,
Is fair
For free
My hope,
To see
I've sown
Some trees.
My prayer,
The dream,
For fair,
And free
I hope,
I'll see
My sown
Kind trees.
...It miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight be obvious, but on a spur-of-the-moment writing (I literally wrote the music first, and needed lyrics to fit it, rather than the normal vice-versa, so I...improvised), the song has an obvious message in it about being pro-love, all kinds of love, especially of the !cishet variety.
I absolutely love what I made. The best part is, since I wrote this all down, both in here and on the original piece of paper, and it's based on THE tune (which I have burned into my brain), I can never forget this. I can replay it, endlessly, as often as I want to. Now, granted. Me being human, I can't bring all of the elements to life at once. It'd be impossible enough in reality, but it's actually not easy to do even in my head. I've meshed two or three parts together at the same time, and they work well together, but the only way I could confirm it all works together is to actually write the song in the first place.
What I do need to do is give some additional notes. When I wrote the lyrics, the voice I was mentally singing it to, the tune, was definitely Curt Cobain, as in, some Nirvana tune. (Maybe Rape Me, but I'm only like 40% on that.) I was not writing the lyrics to be an exact duplicate to the bass notes, and if you try saying them out loud, you should be able to tell as much. There may have been some Foo Fighter influence as well, which probably came in about half-way through the first verse, where I decided to name the song "The hope". (Result? In an absolute split second, my mind instantly went, "It sucks" and began throwing around extras like "The pain, it's real", and such forth. Dave Grohl, this is what you've done to me.)
The electric guitar? Takes heavy cues from two songs. One, What I've Done by Linkin Park. The second, using similar notes and timing, is some other song by some other artist. I don't actually know the song, I don't actually know the artist. I can't recall the full nature of it, either, because Linkin Park is blazing through my mind dominantly right now. It might be a band that uses trumpets prominently? Something like Cake, then? But I can't be sure on that, either. (I'd say like maybe 10%.)
So, yeah. Neither the vocals nor the electric guitar are meant as an exact duplicate of the foundation bass guitar, though the electric guitar is closer.
Anyway!
One down, two to go! (At least two.)
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