Composition Challenge #21 - A New Year: Time to set new ...

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stratman3142stratman3142 Frets: 2176
edited December 2017 in Making Music
COMPOSITION CHALLENGE #21

Time for round #21 of the Fretboard Challenge, courtesy of me (!! - I'm adminning these now, in place of AntiqueG's who's now swamped at work)  and @TTony

Every few months there'll be a composition challenge. It revolves around individuals or groups of forum members composing or covering songs based on a set of rules or guidelines laid out for that particular challenge.


No prizes for this challenge. It's just for fun, a spur to creating, sharing, discussing music/recording and learning. Plus a way of testing the water with your creations and getting some feedback.


GUIDELINES

The theme for this music composition challenge is as follows:

***A New Year: Time to set new trends or update music from the past by putting a new spin on an old style***


Interpret the theme as you wish.

If you're stuck for ideas on how to start, below are some rough indicators on how the theme might be interpreted, but I'm sure others will take a different slant on it.
  • Do a guitar based rock style dance track
  • Do a heavy metal disco style track 
  • Do a electro synth blues style track
  • Pink Floyd meets jazz...

You could ignore the theme completely but, in general, people give more votes to the entries that relate to the theme. But who cares about winning anyway

Picture: In addition to the music, try to create your own picture that relates to your interpretation of the theme. This isn't mandatory but, as a small incentive, those that provide a picture will be awarded a free point to add to their voting score. Note the picture can be anything from a hand drawn sketch, photo, photo edit or something generated in a graphics package.


DATES AND VOTING

Fretboard Challenge #21 starts NOW! - Submission deadline -  Midnight 28 February 2018

Voting will start soon after the submission deadline with each voter selecting their 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice.

First choice gets 5 points - Second choice gets 3 points - Third choice gets 1 point

The entry with the most points wins.

Voting ends 11.30pm 14th March 2018

The order and scores of the three people with the most votes will be announced soon after the voting ends.


SUBMISSION DETAILS

All recordings and pictures need to be sent via email to Compositions@theFB.co.uk

All songs and pictures will then be uploaded to the Fretboard Challenge SoundCloud page here - https://soundcloud.com/thefretboard

Songs to be submitted in mp3 format.
Pictures to be in jpg or png format.

It's not a competition.
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Comments

  • TTonyTTony Frets: 27342
    Pete - I've just edited the OP slightly, to remove Antique_Guitars from the reference given that he's entrusted you with organising these, and to update the email address (which I'm just about to create - it'll autoforward entries to your address).

    Shout if either of those aren't OK with you!
    Having trouble posting images here?  This might help.
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  • stratman3142stratman3142 Frets: 2176
    edited December 2017
    TTony said:
    Pete - I've just edited the OP slightly, to remove Antique_Guitars from the reference given that he's entrusted you with organising these, and to update the email address (which I'm just about to create - it'll autoforward entries to your address).

    Shout if either of those aren't OK with you!
    OK. I just don't want it to be forgotten that we're indebted to @Antique_Guitars and that he's not out of the picture if he wants to return when he's not so busy. So I'll probably give him the occasional mention, but not keep referencing him :)
    It's not a competition.
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  • BRISTOL86BRISTOL86 Frets: 1920
    Few days off after Xmas and a Logic training manual coming from Santa....great timing :) 
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  • fnptfnpt Frets: 735
    So, how's everybody doing so far? I've tried two different approaches by now but I don't think they are really in line with the theme.
    ____
    "You don't know what you've got till the whole thing's gone. The days are dark and the road is long."
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  • stratman3142stratman3142 Frets: 2176
    edited January 2018
    fnpt said:
    So, how's everybody doing so far? I've tried two different approaches by now but I don't think they are really in line with the theme.
    I force myself to just keep going (trying to adding a little most days), whilst hoping that I'll eventually get an idea of how to make some sort of reference to the theme.
    It's not a competition.
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  • FretwiredFretwired Frets: 24601
    fnpt said:
    So, how's everybody doing so far? I've tried two different approaches by now but I don't think they are really in line with the theme.
    I have started and have a basic backing track laid out - it sounds weird though so it needs some work.

    Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
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  • fnpt said:
    So, how's everybody doing so far? I've tried two different approaches by now but I don't think they are really in line with the theme.
    I've started putting an idea together, even laid down "a" percussion track that may or may not be part of the finished version.  One of my favorite ways of creating music that I will never have to play live is to record every idea in one great big mix and turn tracks off and on as I edit.  I read that this was how the Talking Heads came up with "Once in a Lifetime".

    “Theory is something that is written down after the music has been made so we can explain it to others”– Levi Clay


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  • I had a germ of an idea based on resurrecting something from a long abandoned project and I've been busy procrastinating ever since,

    I find a period of 'thinking about it' isn't necessarily a bad idea.

    Also I need to solder some repairs to my board/setup as I currently don't have a true clean sound available. I've been procrastinating over that as well. :)
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  • fnptfnpt Frets: 735
    edited January 2018
    fnpt said:
    So, how's everybody doing so far? I've tried two different approaches by now but I don't think they are really in line with the theme.
    I force myself to just keep going (trying to adding a little most days), whilst hoping that I'll eventually get an idea of how to make some sort of reference to the theme.
    That's been my approach too. I've got a chord progression and have been adding layers of guitar/ bass/ drums/ brass/ piano and it's actually not sounding bad but I lack a melody/ hook and some connection to the theme.
    ____
    "You don't know what you've got till the whole thing's gone. The days are dark and the road is long."
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  • stratman3142stratman3142 Frets: 2176
    edited January 2018
    fnpt said:
    fnpt said:
    So, how's everybody doing so far? I've tried two different approaches by now but I don't think they are really in line with the theme.
    I force myself to just keep going (trying to adding a little most days), whilst hoping that I'll eventually get an idea of how to make some sort of reference to the theme.
    That's been my approach too. I've got a chord progression and have been adding layers of guitar/ bass/ drums/ brass/ piano and it's actually not sounding bad but I lack a melody/ hook and some connection to the theme.
    Well, as is says in the original post:

    "It's just for fun, a spur to creating, sharing, discussing music/recording and learning. Plus a way of testing the water with your creations and getting some feedback"

    and

    "You could ignore the theme completely but, in general, people give more votes to the entries that relate to the theme. But who cares about winning anyway"

    I had this initial idea of combining military marching rhythms with reggae, but I've since gone off at a tangent. I'm currently experimenting with rhythms and sounds but everything I come up sounds unoriginal in terms of style. I guess it's all been done before. But having a germ of an idea at least helps me create something. I'm not sure my end result is going to have an obvious link to the theme yet, but I'll still put it out there

    When I'm looking for a melody/hook, I try to hear things in my head but often resort to randomly jamming over the track until I hear something I like that I can build on.

    btw: I should point out that I got the lowest number of votes in the previous (End Of Year) Challenge. So what do I know.
    It's not a competition.
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  • flying_pieflying_pie Frets: 1806
    fnpt said:
    So, how's everybody doing so far? I've tried two different approaches by now but I don't think they are really in line with the theme.
    I've got a concept... which is frankly a bit daft. It will either be fun or a total car crash - turning a classic old school Broadway number into prog metal.

    I've transposed the main melody from major scale to harmonic minor (ish), changed the time signature then had a play around to create original riffs/licks around it with both harmonic and dissonant sections. I'm not going to just do a literal transposition from major to minor.

    Prog metal isn't a genre that I'm totally at home with so I don't know if it will be anything other than a series of badly played old school metal clichés with no prog but we'll see. I've got a demo of the verse and rough drums for the chorus and hopefully record the chorus riffs this weekend. I'm still unsure if I'll keep it entirely instrumental or add vocals as I'm not a metal vocalist. 

    This is my first ever composition challenge. I'm very new to recording and I know nothing about drumming or bass but I figure is the best way to learn is by jumping in balls deep. Expect some silly questions over the next month or so.
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  • FretwiredFretwired Frets: 24601
    This thread reminds me of the old prog rock joke ..

    Guitarist of band Vendelinus: "this is our last number tonight"

    Audience (four fat blokes and a dog called Colin: "boo .. you've only played for 15 minutes"

    Guitarist of band Vendelinus: "don't worry it lasts two hours and we 'll throw everything at it - the song's called kitchen sink"

    :-)

    I bet @steamabacus gets 100 tracks laid down ....

    Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
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  • Haha - 100 tracks of shakers and maracas?

    Personally, I try not to 'overthink' it. I wait to see what spark of inspiration/interest arises and then run with that, often with no clear idea of how it relates to the 'theme'. If I'm lucky It'll start to make sense as the track grows.

    I leave it to intuition, mostly.


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  • Fretwired said:
    This thread reminds me of the old prog rock joke ..

    Guitarist of band Vendelinus: "this is our last number tonight"

    Audience (four fat blokes and a dog called Colin: "boo .. you've only played for 15 minutes"

    Guitarist of band Vendelinus: "don't worry it lasts two hours and we 'll throw everything at it - the song's called kitchen sink"...

    Well that's uncanny!!!

    If a possible title occurs to me, I save the Reaper file with that name. See the picture below for a possible title I considered yesterday.

    https://i.imgur.com/wdSduvc.png


    It's not a competition.
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  • BezzerBezzer Frets: 581
    edited January 2018

    This task melts my brain.  I mean surely "a guitar based rock style dance track" is a rock track and "a heavy metal disco style track" is a metal track?

    That said, metal disco is probably what I'll do ... falling a million miles outside of scope but hey.  Will try and do something this weekend, wanted to play with my new plugins anyway.  

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  • FretwiredFretwired Frets: 24601
    Bezzer said:

    This task melts my brain.  I mean surely "a guitar based rock style dance track" is a rock track and "a heavy metal disco style track" is a metal track?

    That said, metal disco is probably what I'll do ... falling a million miles outside of scope but hey.  Will try and do something this weekend, wanted to play with my new plugins anyway.  

    Remember Shaun Baxter and his album Jazz metal ... did what it said on the tin ....




    Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
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  • BezzerBezzer Frets: 581
    edited January 2018

    That's true ... although I'd've said they were either metal tracks with a lot of wrong notes ... or jazz tracks with distortion.  Probably the former



    That said ... that example in particular is about as metal as Bieber.

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  • stratman3142stratman3142 Frets: 2176
    edited January 2018
    Fretwired said:
    Bezzer said:

    This task melts my brain.  I mean surely "a guitar based rock style dance track" is a rock track and "a heavy metal disco style track" is a metal track?

    That said, metal disco is probably what I'll do ... falling a million miles outside of scope but hey.  Will try and do something this weekend, wanted to play with my new plugins anyway.  

    Remember Shaun Baxter and his album Jazz metal ... did what it said on the tin ....



     I saw him perform that material on the London pub circuit. Amazing stuff. I've still got the album on CD.

    It's not a competition.
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  • flying_pieflying_pie Frets: 1806
    Bezzer said:

    This task melts my brain.  I mean surely "a guitar based rock style dance track" is a rock track and "a heavy metal disco style track" is a metal track?

    The key can be in the lyrics. Write some extreme satanic lyrics over disco keyboards and distorted metal style guitars and you'll get heavy metal style disco.

    Sorry. I've just realised you won't. You'll just sound like Ghost. 

    I can see your quandary. 
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  • FretwiredFretwired Frets: 24601
    Fretwired said:
    Bezzer said:

    This task melts my brain.  I mean surely "a guitar based rock style dance track" is a rock track and "a heavy metal disco style track" is a metal track?

    That said, metal disco is probably what I'll do ... falling a million miles outside of scope but hey.  Will try and do something this weekend, wanted to play with my new plugins anyway.  

    Remember Shaun Baxter and his album Jazz metal ... did what it said on the tin ....



     I saw him perform that material on the London pub circuit. Amazing stuff. I've still got the album on CD.

    I have one as well. Had some lessons from him. He had a bad accident and dropped out for many years.

    Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
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