Jump to content

Same chords troughout the whole song


bluesfella

Recommended Posts

  • Members

Yo, just a question. I'm pretty new to songwriting. I've been playing guitar for around 8 years now, and started playing around with songwriting two years ago or so. I've written a whole bunch of riffs and i got around 5 almost complete songs now.

 

I've written this tune. Troughout the whole song there are the same chords used all the time. Namely: F G A# C and D. So it's in basic G. There are 2 guitars and 1 bass in this tab i made in GP5. Our singer made some great, dynamic vocal lines over it, and our drummer thought of some cool fills for the song. We all think it sounds pretty rad, but do you also think so? I'm afraid people may think it's boring because of the same ascending line over and over.

 

This is how the song is built up:

verse - mini solo - chorus - verse - mini solo - chorus - break - final guitar solo

 

 

Here is a midi file of the entire song, without vocal lines and drums unfortunately:

http://rapidshare.com/files/23424050/Charlie.mid.html

 

Tell me what you think and gimme some constructive comments please.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I dont see a problem with running the same progression thoughout the song .... a bazillion songs are like that and have made a bazillion dollars doing it. Sometimes i think people tend to screw up a song trying to make it too complex with the chord progression. Some of the greatest songs in the world have very simple chord progressions.

 

Lyrics and melody are what make great songs ... the progression is just the backbone, not the body and soul. rat

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 



Lyrics and melody are what make great songs ... the progression is just the backbone, not the body and soul. rat

 

 

AMEN!! there is nothing wrong with that at all, hell i do this alot actually. i mean look at all 12 bar blues songs! the same thing for 4 mins and i find everysong individual and cool in its own way

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

What do you guys think about the midi dump of the tab by the way?

 

 

This is the first time I have seen anyone upload a midi file, so I pulled it down and loaded it into FL Studio. I didn't find a good Slayer (the FL Studio midi guitar instrument) setting, so I wound up with a synth track, a piano track and a bass track and added an FPC loop as the drum track, which sounded reasonable enough.

 

But to answer your original question, I got tired of the chord progression well before the song was over. Also, the tempo change up to 150 BPM didn't do anything for me either - I would much rather that you had changed the chords instead of changing the tempo. Maybe hearing the melody would help.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Can you load up a streaming version as an mp3 or something? People are not so inclined to download things, myself included.

 

 

I don't know how i make an mp3 of a midi.

 

 

This is the first time I have seen anyone upload a midi file, so I pulled it down and loaded it into FL Studio. I didn't find a good Slayer (the FL Studio midi guitar instrument) setting, so I wound up with a synth track, a piano track and a bass track and added an FPC loop as the drum track, which sounded reasonable enough.

 

 

The easiest way is to play it with windows media player though.

 

 

But to answer your original question, I got tired of the chord progression well before the song was over. Also, the tempo change up to 150 BPM didn't do anything for me either - I would much rather that you had changed the chords instead of changing the tempo. Maybe hearing the melody would help.

 

 

Hmm... i see. If the vocal melody is totally diffrent troughout the song, do you think it can sound good enough for you?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

from the final products point of view...make sure theirs something acting as the hookline no matter how simple the music is make sure theirs something to capture the audience be it a melody or a drum beat from hell something needs to be a hook! "stacy's mom has got it going on" prime example

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Can please some more of you comment on the midi file?


It's a tiny download really.

 

 

Well, I listened to it. Its decent, but I'll be honest with you---I got bored after about a minute and a half!

 

I think if it were recorded with "proper" instruments, it'd sound much better. Midi really isnt suited to showing that style of music in a good light.

 

Sam

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

As long as there are other aspects (vocal line, drums, dynamics, bass ect.) of the song that keep it interesting, having the same chord progression throughout the song is fine. Definitely go with your gut when writing, if you don't feel that you need to add or change a part, don't.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Was cool, but yeah. Midi's haven't been around for about 15 years for a reason bud.

 

You can't really throw a blueprint at someone for a song and expect real answers.

 

Anyway, I dug the song, and a bazillion bands play the same chords throughout songs, or the same 3 bar riff, and are successful. Hell, look at Nirvana.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Well, I listened to it. Its decent, but I'll be honest with you---I got bored after about a minute and a half!


I think if it were recorded with "proper" instruments, it'd sound much better. Midi really isnt suited to showing that style of music in a good light.


Sam

 

 

I know, but the MiDi file is the only thing i have to show you guys at the moment.

 

 

As long as there are other aspects (vocal line, drums, dynamics, bass ect.) of the song that keep it interesting, having the same chord progression throughout the song is fine. Definitely go with your gut when writing, if you don't feel that you need to add or change a part, don't.

 

 

I do feel i don't need to change anything about it anymore.

 

 

I listened to it. Nothing kept happening. It sounded like someone dicking around with a 50 dollar Casio keyboard.

 

 

That's cause it's a midi file.

 

 

Was cool, but yeah. Midi's haven't been around for about 15 years for a reason bud.


You can't really throw a blueprint at someone for a song and expect real answers.


Anyway, I dug the song, and a bazillion bands play the same chords throughout songs, or the same 3 bar riff, and are successful. Hell, look at Nirvana.

 

 

Thanks for that comment.

 

 

 

Well, i'm happy with your replies. Thanks for the tips and views, i'll keep them in mind, and i will post the final result when it's recorded with the band.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...