Music log

Might as well write about music. Never a bad move to do that.

On Saturday, I invited a friend over. She had a little go at my bass guitar, though she had no idea what to do with it. I suggested we could just play whatever jingles back and forth, see what would happen. We did that, a little bit, but she just felt like she was at a loss with an unfamiliar instrument. I hope she gains a bit of confidence in doing little silly things like that, it could become something very fun one day.

Today, I did some of my homework. I signed up for some classes, and actually doing what homework I get from there is surprisingly fun. My mind is still tainted by the homework of all my years in school, that it is a burden. But this is what I want to learn, not what I have to learn, I just need to overcome the barrier of actually getting around to doing it.

I'm learning some blues things, some scales and jingles and little embellishments. And funky chords. I think I'm getting the hang of vibrato notes, a little bit. Doing it on the high e string is a challenge still.

How do I write lyrics? I know the answer at this stage is "write a lot of whatever ideas you have until you find something you like". But I still want to ask.

I'm stumbling a little bit less when I play my favourite songs than I've done before.

trinityparadox

Usually I play my own chord progressions like II ii I i VIIb viib VIb VIsus4 I and then continue playing ii I, there are pros and cons however since you can't really make a more complex melody out of the progression that I mentioned for example, nor would you be able to make lyrics out of it, but it is a good intro to a song and as for ii I could fit perfectly with lyrical part since it's simple and effective. Chord progressions and tempo allows you to better understand how to provoke the emotion that you are going for as well.

leeksoup

That's a pretty nice set of chords, I finally got around to try it out. Definitely one to make an atmosphere with more than a melody, indeed.

I'm currently fiddling around with an idea in E, I'm trying to fit E, Emaj7 and Asus2 together into something nice. Where to go from there, I've yet to figure out. Something jazzy, if I knew how to do that.

trinityparadox

Now because I'm an amateur I don't really know how to write the chords but you can do (Bb B and E) chord and then (C Eb F) chord which by the time I'm writing this I noticed that the second chord I mentioned can work on Smoke Under Water by Deep Purple pretty well since it's part of the melody xd.

leeksoup

Hmm, Bb B E goes into quite some quite dissonant territory. I kinda like it! I've fiddled around with sevenths mostly, a good tritone coule be fun. I need to experiment.

trinityparadox

Love playing sus4 chords like I start vamping Csus4 and Dsus4 and then at some point I use D#maj D#min A#maj, the progression almost feel like you are flying on an airplane with the sus4 chords just for you to land the airplane with the rest of the chords. Sus4 chords are more uplifting then sus2 since frequencies are higher on the second and third note, thus sus2 usually goes with minor chords and sus4 with major, unless you want to do the picardy third twist :D.

leeksoup

Sus chords are very nice. Sus4 chords have that very airy vibe to them, but I've got to admit that I like the pensive mood of sus2 a bit better. Still, your progression is very cool! A half step jump from D to D# makes that IV-iv-I resolution *very* satisfying. Or indeed IV-iv-i as I accidentally played it first.

If I feel like floating in the air or in space, my go-to chord voicing is the maj7. It just... floats. It's not going anywhere. Add9 is also a very floaty sound.

I like vamping Cmaj7 and Fmaj7, and occasionally dip from a Cmaj7 into Dsus2. And then from Dsus2 to Gmaj7, stepping down G7, G6 and then back to Cmaj7. In the (easiest) open string positions, it keeps the high e string stable on the top most of the time, while the rest of the sound flies around wondering what it might want to do.

I should grab myself by the neck to really beat into my head some new chord positions. Gotta get my CAGEDs into order. There is a whole world of voicings out there for me to discover.

inquiry

> How do I write lyrics? I know the answer at this stage is
> "write a lot of whatever ideas you have until you find
> something you like". But I still want to ask.

Simple is good. Repetition after a bit of meander can bring meaning full circle. Don't feel ashamed of rhyme. Experiences familiar to many people can be less boring than "I I I me me me", but then we all feel *that* way too, so of course that's not off limits.