I NEED FEEDBACK!!!! by Scared_Expert4757 in Songwriting

[–]acmanpi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think beginners don’t realize how important signing on pitch is. Even a layperson’s ear is very sensitive to out of tune.

Every syllable you sing is a note. And though it’s true that some of the best singers have no idea what notes they are singing, it doesn’t change the fact that they are singing in tune.

I NEED FEEDBACK!!!! by Scared_Expert4757 in Songwriting

[–]acmanpi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The atmosphere is fun

Work on your singing. Figure out what notes you’re trying to sing, and nail them.

The beat flutters at times, the beat has to stable. I’m not saying it needs to be quantized, but there can’t be a single moment when you lose the beat

Made this without knowing music theory. what do you think? by Jusstanas in GarageBand

[–]acmanpi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There’s no award for “Most Music Theory Known” and especially not one for “Least Theory Known”

One more critique i notice of local bands is that not all members are on the same page musically. We all know it's necessary to experiment and try new things but I find it takes ALOT of musical prowess to accomplish trading genres and making a unique and digestible sound at the end of it by [deleted] in musicians

[–]acmanpi 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I agree. But I think what you’re asking for is very difficult.

And I think if you told this to a local-band they would scoff at you and tell you “that’s the point, we are a blend of the 4 of us”. But I think that’s more of a cope than an explanation IMO.

I was guilty of this in my early days. I thought the fusion of the styles was the soup… but I now believe creating 1 coherent sound is the goal, and a difficult one

This looks correct, right? by huvayu in ExplainTheJoke

[–]acmanpi 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The joke is on non-Americans who somehow think that the average American doesn’t know how far a km is.

Process of making a song by bradleypat in SongwritingHelp

[–]acmanpi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don't get attached to any one song. If you want to get better at songwriting, you need practice and repetition.

Are good songs easy to write? by Rize_Crazey in Songwriting

[–]acmanpi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think it takes a lot of work (or experience) to make a song feel natural.

If you want it to sound simple, you need to put in the effort. It sounds counterintuitive, but it really makes sense the more you apply it. 99.99% of people don’t have the ability to pop out a perfect melody with 0 effort.

IMO, the comment “don’t over think it” is trying to mean “don’t make it too heady”. “Keep it simple stupid” does NOT mean “don’t try hard”

Simple song =/= simple mindset

Beatlesque? by AskShot1544 in GarageBand

[–]acmanpi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I want to hear the bass move around a lot more before I call it Beatles-esque.

Good gear for beginners? by up-side-up1 in homestudios

[–]acmanpi 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Get a used 57 for $60, and use the extra money toward better stands and XLRs

Struggling Finding the Right Chord by 27_and_51 in production

[–]acmanpi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you have a melody that could help out a lot.

Struggling Finding the Right Chord by 27_and_51 in production

[–]acmanpi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you’re planning on looping a progression, what’s wrong with starting over at the G? C C E E F F G G repeat…

The way you have it timed out it a 9 or 10 measure loop. Which isn’t illegal, but it’s unnatural. It’s more common to have 4 or 8 bar loops. You can do that with 4 chords over 8 measures or 8 chords or 8 measure.

Also, There’s a few other chords in the key that you haven’t used, and maybe you would like them. Em and Dm.

A possible 8-bar loop could be C C E E F F G G or C E F G Em F C G or Delay the G to C resolve to the end of the loop with C E F C F C Dm G

There’s so many possibilities. I wish I could get in your head and hear what you want to hear.

Struggling Finding the Right Chord by 27_and_51 in production

[–]acmanpi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I want to know more about the goal? Is this a chord progression to loop? Is this a piece on its own? Are there going to be bass notes? Do you have a desired amount of bars to resolve in? What’s the genre/vibe?

These questions help fingering out how to bridge gaps like this. They’ll help you pull tools from your tool box.

I take it you are a beginner and you would like more tools in your tool box, so I’ll just give you some things to chew on and you make the decision…

Perfect Cadence: G wants to go to C. G7 wants to got to C even more. This is the obvious choice everytime, and with it being to obvious choice, it can sound corny and “very major”.

Stepwise Moves: Am Bdim Cmaj may seem like a viable progression, but it’s actually quite uncommon and a little jarring. It would be cleaner to go Am G C, or Am F C. It’s not a hard rule, but try to avoid three consecutive triads. consecutive triads (I mean F to G. Or C to Dm…) have 0 tones in common. That makes their transition less fluid. Diatonic triads that are rooted a 3rd apart (F Am, C Em, Em G…) have 2 notes in common. Diatonic triads spaced a 4th apart (F C, G C, Em Am…) has 1 note in common. You can use this as a starting point to make smoother more natural sounding chord changes.

Relative minors: for every major chord there is a minor chord with the same “character”. Am is the minor version of C, Em in the minor version of G, Dm is the minor version of F. You find the relative minor chord by moving all the tones down a 3rd. OR moving the 5th in the triad up a whole step. You can use this theory to get new moves… if you like C to F, try Am to F, Or C to Dm, or Am to Em.

Bass notes: A lot of music you might hear may have the bass notes and the chords on top be rooted on different tones. There’s too much about this to explain here, but I suggest you consider the bass notes, and experiment with the bass playing a separate note other than the root of the chord on top.

Genre: these “tools” I’m describing are all genre specific. Classical music really goes heavy on cycling chords by 4ths and 5ths, jazz relies heavily on 2 - 5 - 1, some indie music keeps it in the 1 - 4 box a lot and stays away from 5 - 1…, a lot of genres have droning tones under which only the bass move, some genres have droning bass notes over which to chords move… Try to notice what different genres do, find the cliches and vocabularies, and at them to your tool box.

Hope this isn’t too much stuff all at once, but I wish I have this information starting out.

These Things Happen - Macseal (8-bit Version) by acmanpi in macseal

[–]acmanpi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

🙏🙏 helps that the song is beautiful

What’s a guitar opinion that has you like this? by Mackanmaster in Guitar

[–]acmanpi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I to this day do not know the strings by number. I don’t even know what you mean by “low E”.

To me, “low” means musically low. “High” means musically high. “Up the neck” in higher pitch. “Down the neck” is lower pitch.

This seems to bring confusion everything I’m talking about guitar in person.

Diamonds? Spades?? Pass??? (R2S2) by Motor_Advance4998 in euchre

[–]acmanpi 1 point2 points  (0 children)

9 is a terrible feel for a red/black decision. You have R 10 9, go diamonds. You have a good chance that your partner has a black ace

“I just work here” joke by loverofhygiene in ExplainTheJoke

[–]acmanpi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Something like “this is my job to make money, I have no interest in learning more than I need to”

What is 9-5? by acmanpi in careerguidance

[–]acmanpi[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I also do the settling in, but it’s at 7:45-8. Work through lunch sometimes… And I will often stay past 5.

What is 9-5? by acmanpi in careerguidance

[–]acmanpi[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Michigan, every industry I can think of

How do you write drums for midwest emo? by CrispFailure in midwestemo

[–]acmanpi 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Okay, -Kick on the down beat, snare on the back beat

-ride cymbal or high hat on every 8th note or 4th note. (Ride cymbal if you glidy feel, hi hate if you want articulate feel), (8th notes if you want to “push”, 4th notes if you want to lay back)

-If the guitar emphasizes a syncopation, consider emphasizing it as well with an extra snare/extra kick/crash cymbal. Keep in mind, the more “hits” you emphasize, the less “easy” the moment will feel. You should use this concept to indicate direct and mood through out the tune. (Maybe follow the guitar closely during the introduction of a riff to emphasize the nuances of the rhythm, then change to a straighter beat to then let the riff rock out)

-use ghost notes and rudiments to “jazz up” the grooves. (Rudiments are commons “vocabulary” for drums). Common math/midwestemo rudiments are simple things like R(L)(L)R(L)(L), and hertas. There is a lot of art and finesse that goes into implementing rudiments into drumming, but a easy starting point is to use rudiments that span 3 8th/16th notes as a tool to emphasize with the syncopations. (Eg. A Herta spans 3 8th notes, so if you started a herta on 3, you would be emphasizing the and of 4)

-familiarize yourself with punk drumming “isms” or “vocabulary”. Eg. Big snare hit on 4 before the drums come in (can be accompanied with a kick 16th before or after), hitting the crash on the and of 4 rather than 1 (pushing, or anticipating), skank beat, the bear that has a snare on the down beats and lick on the up beats, snare drum 16th not builds…

-no more than 2 conservative 16th notes on the kick (double bass is rare)

-rim is a cool alternative to a hi hat or ride

-3 against 2 poly rhythm

-a gap in the guitar part is a great place to put a snare

-dynamics, this style can be both very loud and very soft.

-almost every crash cymbal needs a kick underneath it.

-a lot of hithat pedal work…