Second week of work, and things are going pretty smoothly. We've got all the frameworks for our songs down, we know one of the covers we'll do. Pretty cool. We also have one song completely done and ready to record, and it's sounding good. One minor problem (hey Hassan) that we've encountered is putting lyrics behind the melodies we have. It's a lot harder when the lyrics are not written while listening to the melodies. Alas, we'll deal with it. Another problem is that some of the lyrics I've written for Max's rapper persona, PhRe$h Nu KoNpHlIkT, are not "school appropriate". And by that I mean very inappropriate, for school and even for everyday life. In fact, if they came into contact with any human who isn't entirely corrupt, their little innocent heads would melt from the inappropriacy. Anyway - to take a closer look at the songwriting and learning process, I'll talk about an event that transpired yesterday, and an event that shows some of the difficulties of practicing quite well. Max was over my house, and we were in the basement, where all the music stuff is. I was showing Max a riff I'd written on bass, and trying to get him to learn it on guitar. The thing about this riff is that it was for a song in 5/4, which is a fairly strange time signature. So, I show it to Max, and he seems to get it. Except he plays it in 4/4, which is just missing the last beat. I say no, that's not how you do it, and play it again. He plays it again, but same as before. I try again, to no avail.
This goes on, repeating, for twenty minutes, until he finally gets it.
At this point, I'm about ready to smash my bass against Max's head, or the floor, or maybe both. So he plays the riff, and it's how it's supposed to be. I start to play the bass part, and he plays the riff over it. It sounds alright, but he suggests that he play the chords, and I play the riff on bass. We continue to do so, and we both come to the conclusion that it sounds better on bass anyway.
I was, to say the least, frustrated.
Anyway, that's just one episode of the minor difficulties we've encountered, and are yet to encounter. But we're making progress, and lots of it. I've been reading more of this book that teaches you to play in the style of famous drummers, and I think I'll record & post a video of me doing some John Bonham or Keith Moon. Now for pictures of my dream kit:
Till next blog,
O-diggy
Owen, I think it's really cool that you and Max are working together. Similarly, Hassan and I (I like the Minor Problem reference) are working together to learn how to DJ. I completely understand what you guys are going through with the frustration as Hassan and I often do not agree with a way that the song should be mixed. My advice is to play the music both ways, and then see which way sounds better. If you still can't reach an agreement, ask a third person their opinion. Anyways, I love the tone of your blog, and often find myself laughing while reading, keep up the good work and I'm excited for your TED talk and ultimate presentation/album. Good work!
ReplyDeleteWhile I'm slightly skeptical that you and Max actually accomplish any work together, I have to commend you both for how well you seem to be handling this. Early on, I wasn;t sure whether or not you'd be able to pull it off, what with max's Spring Musical obligations and your.....whatever it is that you do with your free time, but you both seem to be handling this quite well. I would have to agree with Aayush and say that you should mess around a bit with various organzations before picking which one you want to present to the class. As always, your writing style makes for a very fun blog to read. Until next health class, live long and prosper! (or don't, either way)
ReplyDelete~~SM