Forums > Songwriting > The Daily Melodies April 7 - 11
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Forums > Songwriting > The Daily Melodies April 7 - 11
Original message:34 days 17 hours 44 minutes ago
+ 2  
Member: Cabsy
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I've started a a new project called the Daily Melodies.

Every day after brekkie and a coffee, I compose, record and upload a tune, then email it out to subscribers.

I've done 74 since mid Dec 2007

Check it out at http://dailymelodies.com

here are this weeks melodies:

monday
http://dailymelodies.com/player/?file=2008-04-07.mp3

tuesday
http://dailymelodies.com/player/?file=2008-04-08.mp3

wednesday
http://dailymelodies.com/player/?file=2008-04-09.mp3

thursday
http://dailymelodies.com/player/?file=2008-04-10.mp3

friday
http://dailymelodies.com/player/?file=2008-04-11.mp3


This is a love project, so spread the word to anyone you think would be into it.

I'm just plugging my Maton acoustic straight into a MOTU 828mkII and running directly to Logic

The simplicity has been great for my writing as I have to stop relying on gear to colour up my playing...

Cheers guys...
Listen to the Daily Melodies: http://dailymelodies.com
Reply:34 days 16 hours 36 minutes ago
Member: JTC
    0  
659
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This is a really cool project.
What will be included in the "full site coming soon" portion of the web site?

Kudos on the guitar playing and recording quality as well.
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Reply:34 days 8 hours 11 minutes ago
Member: Cabsy
    + 1  
47
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Thanks a lot mate...

Because the project is not about selling anything or making money, i want people to focus very heavily on just listening

that's why the site design is so bland and simple... i want computer illiterates to be able to listen to a song without trying...

the main addition will be access to every melody via a calendar... so that people can back track and hear all the past melodies

also some composition notes for certain tracks... for example 2008-02-13 was a track written to mark the 'reconciliation day' here in Australia when the federal government apologized to the aboriginal community... so the track had some conceptual meaning that i would like to tag onto the piece.

RSS feed is also a possibility so people can have the day's track automatically imported into their i-tunes

and probably a blurb about the concept... so new visitors understand what the concept is about...

Thanks again for taking the time to listen and comment... it's nice to get feedback... and because it's a love-job, there's no advertising or anything so spread the word if you can think of anyone that would enjoy getting some free compositions everyday... a daily soundtrack.

cheers man
Listen to the Daily Melodies: http://dailymelodies.com
Reply:34 days 7 hours 31 minutes ago
Member: G_Barber
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142
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Interesting concept...if only I could be that creative every day...
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Reply:34 days 6 hours ago
Member: Cabsy
    + 2  
47
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well that was the whole point... i read that your creative brain goes to sleep when you don't use it, so i started doing it everyday to see if it would help prevent creative blocks - and it did...

so why don't you have a crack at a riff-a-day and watch what happens after a couple of months dude... it starts flowing nicely...

Listen to the Daily Melodies: http://dailymelodies.com
Reply:33 days 22 hours 58 minutes ago
Member: Kenski
    0  
59
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Wow, really cool stuff, both in terms of tune and rhythm.
The Fillmore Five Project (fillmorefive.blogspot.com)
Reply:33 days 22 hours 44 minutes ago
Member: Kenski
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59
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BTW, I'm just getting to the point where I want to start writing/recording multi-layer tracks. If you're managing to do one such high quality track per day, do you have any tips for those starting out?

For example, do you think of a chord progression then work on that? A bass lick? A guitar lick or scale? The rhythm?
The Fillmore Five Project (fillmorefive.blogspot.com)
Reply:33 days 15 minutes ago
Member: Cabsy
    + 3  
47
WebCred
hey man, i guess the biggest tip i would have at this stage is to always start from a different point...

a melody first will dictate a chord progression that you may not have thought of

a chord progression first will help create a melody you haven't thought about

a rhythm first will lead to some interesting forms

a style choice will open up some fresh ideas too

a tone might lead you play with a different feel

a certain tempo will help you hear a different idea

I try to vary my starting point each day and this helps me to move through different patterns in my writing...

then depending on the starting point I have different follow up approaches from there... so it branches out to many many alternatives...

eg. If I start with a melody....
1. I don't worry about time signatures to begin with... bach often let melodies flow over the edge of a bar... the melody is boss... if the phrase wants to go for 6 beats, then 5, then 3 then 6... just let it.... count it later
2. loop the melody and try various things behind it... a drone? a diatonic progression? arpeggios? a counterpoint?
3. choose something that's working and then try to compose a completely different thing over the same melody so I can let the melody be the listeners 'comfort' and the backing can be the journey that you go through
4. explore some build-ups, like dynamic? extra layers? rhythm variations?

this would be one avenue for one morning...

tomorrow start somewhere else

i think writing so regularly has really highlighted the things i revert to a lot... rhythms, progressions, intervals etc... so it's helped me to purposely try different paths...

hope this brief analysis is of some use.... thanks for taking the time bro
Listen to the Daily Melodies: http://dailymelodies.com
Reply:32 days 19 hours 32 minutes ago
Member: JTC
    0  
659
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That's really good info. It makes allot of sense.

Thanks!
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Reply:31 days 21 hours 51 minutes ago
Member: Kenski
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59
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Cool, that actually makes a lot of sense. The thing that I struggle most with I guess would be rhythmical counterpoint (which you seem to have down!) Some mornings I wake up with a melody in my head and I can get that down, figure out which key it's in and decent chord changes / voicing behind the melody, but more often than not I end up with something that sounds like a pretty generic pop song. Gotta break that pattern!
The Fillmore Five Project (fillmorefive.blogspot.com)
Reply:31 days 20 hours 18 minutes ago
Member: Cabsy
    0  
47
WebCred
yeah i know what you're saying... and I forgot one totally crucial element

listen to everything - especially what the radio doesn't play

i was lucky enough to have a guitar teacher for a dad

he studied with Joe Pass, ike Isaacs, John Schofield, John Williams, Steve Erquiaga, and others... so he was a huge influence in my life... one of the massive helping hands he gave me was music every night since the day I was born - literally...

after bringing me home from hospital Joe Pass - virtuoso #2 was put on next to the crib... then pat metheny bright size life, then wes montgomery bumpin, then bach brandenburg conciertos... and so on... I would sit at his feet everyday and listen to him practice jazz, classical, fusion, latin etc etc... so my ears were filled with so much diverse music from the beginning

then as I got older more things started to come in... Toto, lee ritenour captain fingers, yes, king crimson, secret chiefs, mr bungle, boards of canada, aphex twin, squarepusher, tortoise, jim hall, chick corea, paco pena, joe zawinul, Living colour, the beatles, carlos bica, phillip glass, steve reich, Tchaikovsky, world music...

I have friends with a lot more music than me, but i don't know many people that rotate through as many styles as I did regularly over the past 30 years...

I credit all the sounds in my head to that diverse listening regime the old man started all those years back

he had a great saying... "grow up in germany, speak german"

meaning the more you've heard the more ideas you'll have... fill your head with more sounds man...

if you feel that you've heard loads of generic stuff in your time, start balancing the equation with more classical, or flamenco, or jazz, or fusion, or latin, or avant garde...

Thanks for noticing the counterpoint stuff... bach is a huge influence for me and that guy - holy s**t - he is the master... listen to the JS Bach Inventions and you'll know what counterpoint is... WOW

I love music.

Listen to the Daily Melodies: http://dailymelodies.com
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