Hey folks-

First off....
Many thanks to DWbass for turning me onto zshare, very cool to have a resource like this to share files and ideas.

I've not much of a songwriter, (major understatement there) but I've been working on trying to get some of my few ideas down in recorded form before I die and I'm finding this is much harder to do than I imagined.

Anyway, this is the intro to what's turning into an "epic" rock/blues/jam song....not that it's all that good, but it'll for sure be very very long

It's tentatively titled "Parched", and I'll explain that later.

Everything is played by yours truly, except the drum midi, which is "borrowed" from Ivan in Cakewalk; I'm finding it to be a powerful but somewhat tedious program to use. I may try something else, if you guys have any experience in other software, let me know what you use.
I know, you get what you pay for most of the time...cheap means lots of stuff you have to fiddle around with.

The guitar is my "pawn shop" Schecter, the effects are a cheap digitech multi-effects box.
Used my Warwick Rock Bass 5 string for this part of the song, with just a touch of chorus and reverb, but otherwise direct.
Recorded thru the "line-in" jack of my soundblaster card. Expect a bit of hum...

You'll hear lots of mistakes, like some popping and scratching sounds when the bass is clipping and between wave patches....haven't figured out "punching in" etc.
And the timing of the hits isn't perfect, but...it is what it is.
I aint no musician.

Remember, this is just "under development" and has a looooong way to go. I probably shouldn't post unfinished stuff, but wanted to get some input from other ears....hopefully this doesn't sound too much like anyone else's stuff, not intentionally plagarizing anything.

Sample is about two minutes, give it a chance to build; where it stops is about halfway into what I'm calling the intro; I haven't even gotten into the verse chords that got me started on this yet.
It'll continue to grow from here, more leads etc, and more crash cymbals....

There's a couple licks in there on lead and on bass that I'm fairly happy with, considering my advancing age.... :p

Tony\'s tune

Let me know what you guys think, and thanks for giving it a listen- it's rare I ever do anything like this, so it's a fun diversion.

Later- gosh it's late, this is an easy way to burn time!

TonyY

PS I modified this one that's linked just a tad from the first one I posted, the lead around 1 minute was starting a bit late.
It's little stuff like that that makes this software a bit tedious....

Dude! Seriously, this can't be further from the truth! I dug it! I can't wait to hear the finished product. As far as alternative programs, I am a proponant of Acid Pro software! You can import 'live' loops and create your own 'live' loops to work with! Basically, I can have the foundation for a 3-1/2-4 minute song laid out in about an hour!

Thanks Dave!

I've heard of Acid Pro, and of course Pro Tools.
But I've never tried anything else other than Cakewalk. I'll look for some downloadable samples of Acid, I think I remember seeing that it was available as a trial version at one time.
And I get emails from Sam Ash and Guitar Center, Musician's Friend, etc, pushing their products.
I'm sure they all carry what I need....just have to take the time to look, I guess.
An hour would be much better than what I've spent on this for sure...as far as actual record and edit time, maybe three.

Glad you liked it- I respect your opinion.

Later
TY

Hey Bassix, I'm runnin' 'round right now,but soon as I get back in the house, I'm gonna take a listen. I'm looking forward to hearing your material.

Dang. Can't get there from work. I'll definitely take a listen over the weekend.

Tony, That sounds really cool, man. The key of A minor is always soothing for me. Can't wait til you finish it. I would like to hear where the tunes goes when it's completed. I Dig it.

Thanks Bruce!

Good ear there also- it's basically in Am7 etc.
I'm not real good at naming the chords beyond the basics, I just know what sounds good to my ear, and go for it. That's what I find so cool about guitar, there many different voicings for each chord, and the more you tinker around with them, the more you find pleasing sounds. I love the blue notes too.

On bass, I'm more used to playing in flat keys, since we usually have horns involved, like Eb or Ab. But a regular guitar makes those keys a bit more challenging fingering position wise, unless you use barre chords all the time....and what's the challenge in that?

Anyway, thanks for checking it out.
More to come later....

Tony

Hey Markus-

no, not fishing, just being honest....If I was getting PAID for it, then maybe.....

Glad you like it, and thanks for the compliment. Being similar to Pink Floyd is a high honor in my book- part of it may be that the "patch" (settings) I used for the lead lick is from Digitech's online library, one called "Gilmour". I've always loved that guy's tone...

By the way, if any of you guys are looking for drum samples, I got this in an email from sony...

Vitale drum samples

Apparently James Gang drummer Joe Vitale's son is putting out a library of drum samples for users of stuff like cakewalk, acid, etc.

Check out Green Maple Groove, I like that one...

Hey Bruce, maybe you could do one of these things!

Later
Tony

Hey Markus. I guess I do, and it's from melodic percussion instruments (piano, vibes, xylophone, tymani, etc.) I had and needed to learn. For me being a drummer, It helps that I understand keys, chord structures, and the structure of a tune in order to understand and be in tune with what the writer or composer is trying to communicate when performing his/her tune(s). This way I'll know what and what not to play.

Oh, Hey Tony, if you want, I could put live drum tracks down for you.