Songwriting Workshop

[Lee Knight]

New digs!!! I see they've added the ability to embed vids. S'good.

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Listen to this.

I wrote a piece very much like this when I was 16. Mine was for Rhodes piano, fluglehorn and flute (my Mangione/Bellavia phase) and was no where near as sublime... But the root of its appeal is similar. I love this kind of music. Simple with well thought out "tricks" to heighten the impact of its intended emotion. Here, the emotion is an aching beauty.

For sake of easy communication, let's pretend this is in Am as opposed to Cm. The tonality of the piece is mapped out in a beat and a half. That left hand plays A B C E C B A. Those are the first 3 notes of the A minor scale, then that jump to E, the perfect 5th, neatly frames the chord and key, in case there were any doubts.  2 full bars of that little tonality defining motif. Then... that wonderfully simple harmonized melody. Ahhhh. But listen to  the 2nd bar of that melody, bar 4 in the piece...

...we want to go to the G chord, as in the 2nd chord of the AllAlongTheAndAsWeWindOnDownTheRoad change. Am, G, F, G... Apparently Granados dug Dylan and Page? Right at that 2nd bar of the melody, he still starts his left hand bass part with the A, B...

That's the point that made me listen to this piece 30 times this week. A is not part of our desired G chord, but B is. So, he gets to it, we just don't know he had, due to the precedent he set. (Epiphany moment, the precedent he set, and our expectations along with it.) The 2nd note in that bass pattern in that second bar is still B like before but is followed with the change to notes D, G. B - D - G. Spelled another way is G - B - D. The G major triad. The initial A was a clinger on'er from his establish precedent, then we find he has slyly landed us in the G chord. But for a moment, the B is both the 2 step in the Am scale, still playing within an Am chord, and is the 3rd of the G chord. And that melody above is achingly beautiful because of it...

[rsadasiv]

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Lee Knight wrote:

New digs!!! I see they've added the ability to embed vids. S'good.

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Epiphany moment, the precedent he set, and our expectations along with it.

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In a linear art form that's what it is all about.

[rhino55]

"I'm gonna keep my skillet greasy if I can"

What a great line

[rsadasiv]

Been listening to this Afro Beat band a lot

[Lee Knight]

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rsadasiv wrote:

Been listening to this Afro Beat band a lot

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Sheesh, that's cool!

[blue2blue]

Just rediscovered this Zappa/Mothers-related album that I owned back in the day (stolen in '75) via the ThisIsMyJam site...

It's really wonderful. In an appropriately twisted sort of way.

[blue2blue]

Tinariwen, a musical collective of Tuareg-Berber musicians from northern Mali  -- with the Dirty Dozen Brass band...

Sadly, there are those who would repress this infectious, socially conscious music. From Wikipedia...  

After large parts of Northern Mali were captured by Ansar Dine, [Tiniwaren member] Abdallah Ag Lamida was arrested by the Islamist authority in January 2013. ^[12]

In August 2012, an Ansar Dine spokesman announced: “We do not want Satan’s music. In its place will be Quranic verses. Sharia demands this. What God commands must be done.” ^[13]"

[rsadasiv]

Sad times for Mali. I posted some Malian music last week.

[Lee Knight]

To

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blue2blue wrote:

Tinariwen, a musical collective of Tuareg-Berber musicians from northern Mali  -- with the Dirty Dozen Brass band...

Sadly, there are those who would repress this infectious, socially conscious music. From Wikipedia...  

After large parts of Northern Mali were captured by Ansar Dine, [Tiniwaren member] Abdallah Ag Lamida was arrested by the Islamist authority in January 2013. [12]

In August 2012, an Ansar Dine spokesman announced: “We do not want Satan’s music. In its place will be Quranic verses. Sharia demands this. What God commands must be done.” [13]"

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For me...

It all stems from the age old belief that the people can't figure it out for themselves. That "the people" need a stopgap. Or rather, a saftey net from themselves. While much of this control does come for a poorly disguised attempt at maintaining control... a lot of it comes from the sincere, though in my view misguided, attempt to help those that don't "know better". The good ol' USA still has its electoral college to protect ourselves from ourselves.

Thank you so very much.

So, while I don't know anything about this situation ^^^, I want to. I'm of the belief that mankind is intrinsically good. And that the voice of people, through *counterpropaganda and back again and volleyed to and fro, will all work out in the wash. I want Rush to keep talking. Bury yourself, **bleep**.

Which is why free voice should always be supported. IMHO.

Now back to digging that awesome groove. I mean, really, listen to the way the gut string guitarist pulls his upstrokes with the tabla-like player.

*I don't mena countering propaganda with propaganda, but rather, countering it with truth, as you see it.

[oldgitplayer]

Some good reference to music in Mali and other collaborations in this Guardian article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/jan/18/mali-magical-music

[Monkey Uncle]

...SHAMELESS NEPOTISTIC PROMO ALERT...

Here's a track from my boy.  I can honestly say he's been a big influence on me, because he's been playing and writing longer than I have, and he's a whole lot better than I am.

http://calebkarriker.bandcamp.com/track/no-silver

[Monkey Uncle]

Mike Ness may be a 4-chord hack, but I like a lot of Social Distortion songs anyway.  This is one of my favorites.

[rsadasiv]

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Monkey Uncle wrote:

Mike Ness may be a 4-chord hack, but I like a lot of Social Distortion songs anyway.  This is one of my favorites.

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I think I once described Social D as 'Punk Americana in four chords or less" but the HC 3.0 migration seems to have confused Google search.

[rsadasiv]

Songwriting isn't an end in itself. Songwriting just exists to give performers a platform to work from.

and boy is this some kind of performance....

[rsadasiv]

Bring it Leon!

[bee3]

Should I go see the Billy Cobham Spectrum 40th Anniversary Tour on Thursday night?

[Lee Knight]

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bee3 wrote:

Should I go see the Billy Cobham Spectrum 40th Anniversary Tour on Thursday night?

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Yes! That's a very cool album if you don't know it. Very guitar oriented (Tommy Bolin did a lot on it). I did see Cobham in the late 70's and it was a fantastic night of music. There's good fusion and there's bad fusion, that album and that night I saw were good fusion. Great fusion.

I can't imagine where Jeff Beck got the idea...

[bee3]

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Lee Knight wrote:

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bee3 wrote:

Should I go see the Billy Cobham Spectrum 40th Anniversary Tour on Thursday night?

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Yes! That's a very cool album if you don't know it. Very guitar oriented (Tommy Bolin did a lot on it). I did see Cobham in the late 70's and it was a fantastic night of music. There's good fusion and there's bad fusion, that album and that night I saw were good fusion. Great fusion.

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Oh, I know the album inside-out.  Not sure who's playing on this tour other than Cobham.

[rsadasiv]

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Lee Knight wrote:

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bee3 wrote:

Should I go see the Billy Cobham Spectrum 40th Anniversary Tour on Thursday night?

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Yes! That's a very cool album if you don't know it. Very guitar oriented (Tommy Bolin did a lot on it). I did see Cobham in the late 70's and it was a fantastic night of music. There's good fusion and there's bad fusion, that album and that night I saw were good fusion. Great fusion.

I can't imagine where Jeff Beck got the idea...

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from Jan Hammer?

as to where Jan Hammer got the idea from, well ....

[bee3]

Stratus - one of the greatest bass lines.