Research
How to get inspired by a song:
There are many ways how you could be inspired to make a song one could be about things that happened in your life. The best lyrics comes from moments that impacted the song writer life like “Help!” by the Beatles that is about the struggle of fame and how it affect John Lennon's life. That is why is normal to have a good story and lyrics because then the music comes easy. Also you may want to focus on opinions, life events, beliefs, hobbies, and passions. Another big inspiration is visual art. Just see a painting or drawing and tell what it says. Another are poems and Literature, just get inspiration from poems because they already have an especial way to say it. Another big inspiration can be nature. Walk in the nature and there you can get inspired by seeing those beautiful landscapes and like the visual arts tells us what it sounded for you like.
Vocal and Instrumental Music:
Music is an art form and cultural activity whose medium is sound and silence. In music you can have both vocal or instrumental or even combines in such a way to produce beauty of form,harmony, and expression of emotion. Sound is a form of energy that can be caused by the vibration of an object meanwhile music is a sound that you find pleasurable. A short piece of vocal music with or without lyrics is what you can call a song. An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing. The instrumental piece can have different instruments that can play from percussion to the woodwinds.
Musical Theory:
The musical alphabet is C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B C.This is what we call a chromatic scale. The sharp note can be the flat of the note next to the left like instead of F# it is Eb. In the scale there can be mayor chords which have a different pattern than the minor chords. You mark the chords with numeral numbers the mayor chords are upper case and the lowercase b minor chords. Chords in chords you can use the first note then go to the third note and then to the fifth note. The Circle of fifth is a progression for example if you start with C then you got to G because that is the fifth of C then after G is D because is the fifth of G and so on until F. When you are composing the music you don't need to use the same scale all the time.
Styles of music:
There are different types of music and each has different style Baroque Style, Classical style, Romantic style, music about legends, and nationalistic music. Each one is unique but I want to focus on the Classical style. This is because the music is instrumental. Symphonies and it was conservative music and not so of an emotional. One of the most recognizable composers were Chelkowski, Beethoven, Mozart, between others.
Rock:
You can classify a rock song if the tempo shows a 4/4. That is why you can still consider slow songs like “Yesterday” a rock song.
Classical music vs instrumental music:
The difference is that everything that was written in the Classical period up to Beethoven meanwhile Instrumental song comes after them.
Guitar chords:
These are one of the most basic chords. With these chords, you are playing all the six strings of the guitar. These are one of the most commons one that you can play various songs with them like “TNT” by AC/DC or “Twist and Shout.”
Piano chords:
Here you can have the root chord, the first inversion, and the second inversion. For example for the root chord in the C chords the first note you play is C then E and then G then for the first inverse you chords ends with C then the second last is G and then you begin with E. And on the second inverse the C is in the middle in the right is E and the left G. You can do that with any type of chord.
Rhythm vs lead guitar:
Rhythm guitar is the guitar that provides the rhythm of the song. It the one that uses the chord progression and they rely on the drums. The lead guitar is the one that provides the melody of the music. For example in AC/DC “Thunderstruck” the lead guitar is the first thing that you hear with those fast notes meanwhile the rhythm guitar comes next playing the chords of the song. The lead guitar are the ones that play the solos in the music. If the lead guitar isn’t being played for the solo or for some other melody arrangement then they jump in and help the rhythm guitar and also play that part. To play the rhythm guitar you need to know the chords, the sense of timing, the music theory meanwhile for the leading guitar the most important knowledge is know well the notes scales, an understanding of music theory, improvisation, and everything the rhythm guitar needs to know.
Understanding the Drums:
In the drums there are different parts. The Snare is the center of the drum kit. The snare has the responsibility of the loud crack, which means is the loud sound you hear during songs. These part is the most basic part of the drum and that is why it is really important. The bass or kick drum is the most recognizable one because is the big drum. When you play the bass drum you use a pedal with your foot to make a thumping sound. You need the bass drum because it helps alot with timekeeping. The toms are either above on the bass drum or held up by adjustable legs. There are two types of tombs the ract toms and the floor toms. There is also the cymbals, the hi-hat, crash, and ride cymbals, they help from transitioning from one point to the song to another. Also they have their abbreviations for reading music.
CC – Crash Cymbal
HH – Hi-Hat
Rd – Ride Cymbal
SN – Snare
T1 – Hi Tom
T2 – Low tom
FT – Floor Tom
B – Bass Drum
HF – Hi-Hat (with foot)
O – Bass Drum hits
X – Snare and Hi-Hat hits
Here is an example of the rhythm called “two and four” and this how it is described..
HH: X X X X
SN: X X
B: O O
Garageband:
First you need to start with a new project. The default tempo is going 120 bpm but you can change it by double clicking it. There is a plus bottom where there you can choose any instrument between vocal, guitar, piano, or drums. To record there is a red bottom in the top of your screen. With the drum option then you can have rhythm options where you can modify if you want to go faster or slower. If you click the side of the music piece you can crop it or add a loop of the music section.
Solos:
Solo are more memorable when they are making an impression of a “composition within a composition” this means that it sounds like a song that is inside another song. For example the most memorable songs of songs are “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns’ N roses and “Something” by the Beatles. This solos has something in common that is that you can sing the guitar solo. You can go throw different octaves to make it sound much better and you can play the chord. You can go to the high octaves or to the low octaves to make it sound better.
How people play the piano in the 50´s:
In the chord you play for example the C chord play first the fifth interval and then the sixth. Then pop to another chord like F and do the same thing. Little Richard play his chords like that in “Long Tall Sally.”
Bands for inspiration:
In here there are some band for inspiration and some of my favourites are CHON which is a group of rock, with an upbeat tune it is they have cool tunes like Sleepy Tea. Another rock band is Covet that finger tapping is the most dominant sound that you can hear. And Deaf Scene that with those rock band I can get inspired to write songs for my mission project.
Annotated Bibliography
Sources Used
Gutierrez Dávila, Raúl. Personal Interview. 10 March 2019.
My expert for this prototype was a music teacher called Raúl. He knows how to play different instruments such as guitar, piano, Cajón, etc. He has played them. Raúl has more than 30 years of experience. He knows about the music theory, and he helped me understand the different parts of the songs.
Andrew 'The Real Musician' Muller (Andrew Muller). "How to Get Musical Inspiration (When Song Writing)." The Sound Junky, TheSoundJunky.com., www.thesoundjunky.com/how-to-get-musical-inspiration/. Accessed 29 Dec. 2018.
Muller's article helped me so I can have an idea of how do I get inspired to write a song. He tells us different techniques the most bigger one is to use our life experience and try to use it for inspirations. Others are religion, poetry, visual arts, and more things that impact your life, which is helpful to have an inspiration to write a song. He also recommends programs to record the songs which one is Garageband. For this project, I am going to use two of this experience, which both of them were moments in my life. That is why I am going to use this site because it helps to write my songs. The author of this page called Andrew Muller is a music critic and also the page where they sell instruments, including promoting the new ideas and creativity as their mission says for creating music.
Albright, Dann. "How to Use GarageBand: A Step-By-Step Guide." MUO. www.makeuseof.com/tag/download-guide-to-garageband/. Accessed 27 July 2017.
In this article I learn the basic of how to use Garageband, this will help me a lot to understand what I need to do for my song because I will use this program to put my song together. Here I learn how to make loops, and to see all the drums kits they have, to see what to use. Also, I learn the basic of how to use it in my iPhone, and that will help if I have an idea in my mind but I am not with my computer, and I always have my phone with me. The site also taught me to see at what tempo I am going to have if it is going to be fast or slow. It is easy to read, and it has pictures to follow, plus it has videos if you have any doubts. The page the article is written is called Make Use Of and its mission is to help users to understand and navigate in new trends in technology, which makes this page reliable.
Aledort, Andy. "How to Create Guitar Solos That Convey Melodic Continuity." Guitar
World, Future plc, 29 Jan. 2019, www.guitarworld.com/lessons/how-create-guitar-solos-convey-melodic- continuity.
Here Aledort tells different types of solos like “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” “Smoke on the Water,” “Something” etc. What he wants to teach us is that the solos sound like that they were only a song, and then the melody is another song he called it “composition within a competition.” Also, I learn that when you play a solo, you don’t go to different chords; instead, you stay in the same chord and move around the chord scale. In this web site, you have a pentagram that shows what notes he uses for an example solo that he plays. To understand it much better he explains everything apart from that web page in a video, where he goes step by step to have an idea in this incredible solos, and I will use it to have an idea of the solo I want to use in my song. This page purpose is to help others by sharing out their knowledge and expertise.
Brozyna, Piotr. "11 instrumentals Bands that Prove You Don't Need A Vocalist to
Rock." ALTPRESS,
www.altpress.com/features/instrumental_bands_to_listen_to/. Accessed 26 July
2017.
In this page, I learn some of the bands and some descriptions of the bands. I am going to use this so I can hear some bands to have an idea for my songs. This writer describes a bit of the January of the bands like Covet that is a band that is a finger tapping music or Deaf Scene that is jazz fusion with rock metal band. The authors explain each band in short sentences. Apart from that, he shows the video of the music so we can listen to the song. Now with this, I have an idea of what to do for my songs. Piotr is a music critic, and this article was posted on a music web page.
Bruce, David. "Piano Chord Chart." 8notes.com,
www.8notes.com/piano_chord_chart/.
In this site, there are different types to play the piano chords. They teach us about the roots of the chords, the inversions of the chords. This will help me to understand what to play in the piano. I am going to use this for my songs because I will also play the piano. Although I knew before about the individual's notes now, I will learn much better on how to play them with chords. This site has step by step process, so it is easy to understand and learn. This web page is a business that helps others to understand essential music. The creator David Bruce has a Ph.D. in Composition from King's College.
Guitar Gopher. "Lead Guitar vs. Rhythm Guitar: What’s the Difference?"
Spinditty, 8 Mar. 2018,
spinditty.com/instruments-gear/Lead-Guitar-vs-Rhythm-Guitar-Whats-the-Diffe
Reince.
In this web site, I learn the difference between the rhythm guitar and the lead guitar. The author explained that the rhythm guitar plays the chords; meanwhile, the lead guitar has the
melody, and in guitars, they have the solo in the song. This will help me with my project because I can now differentiate between the rhythm guitar and the lead guitar. This will help me, especially in my second song because in my second song I have a guitar solo so now I know which guitar will play it. This site proves with photos and some music videos to
understand better. The author of this page called Guitar Gopher is a musician who knows how to play the guitar and bass with over 30 years of experience as a musician.
Leibel, Jordan. "Play Rock 'n Roll Piano Like It's the 50's - Piano Lesson (Pianote)."
YouTube, Pianote, www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mMQQDcVEDM. Accessed 10 Oct. 2017.
This will help me to understand how, in the past, they play the piano in a rock band. This will help me because I am using that for my project. The experts tell you an example of how they played, and it is very visual so you can understand better. This will help me to guide myself for my songs. In this video, where it is easy to understand, I now know what to do with the piano. The person that explained in the video is called Jordan Leibel, a pianist, and a songwriter.
Ross, the Music and Guitar Teacher. "Understanding Music Theory in One Hour -
Animated Music Lesson." YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvGYl8SQBJ0. Accessed 1 Feb. 2017.
This is an hour-long video of the music theory and how to understand it. This will help me because when you’re a writing a song to understand better of what to do to so it sounds more musical. There I learn about the chords and the note durations. Here I can use math to change notes and is still looking good adding and resting notes. This video is informative, and now I understand better the music theory. The person explains the music theory is called "Ross the Music and Guitar Teacher" he is a teacher of classical guitar, fingerstyle guitar, and music theory.
Scheetz, Jeff. "10 Beginner Chords You MUST Know." TrueFire.com , TrueFire,
truefire.com/guitar-chord-charts/10-beginner-guitar-chords. Accessed 4 Dec. 2015.
This site teaches you some guitar chords that I know, which will help me to put for my song. There are photos for the hand position for the chords, and there is a video explaining them. This will help me because I discover some new chords and remember how to lay another's ones. This article is easy to understand with the photos and videos. The author is have released 8 CDs he had a tour with his band in the USA, Europe, and Mexico and having two live DVDs appeared in magazines in Europe and Japan which means that he is a reliable source.
S. John. "How to Play Drums: The Complete Guide for Beginners." takelessons,
takelessons.com/blog/how-to-play-drums-z07. Accessed 29 Oct. 2015.
In this web site, it explains the parts of a drum kit, how to hold the drum sticks, and the basic on how to read the music sheet and tabs for drums. I will use this for my project because I am going to need a drum to have a rhythm in my music. In these sites, there are pictures so you can learn much better the parts of the drums. There are also videos if you want to check them to understand better. This will help me too because now I know some symbols of drums and that will help when I put them in Garageband. This author is a percussionist instructor at Saint Paul, Minnesota. He is a music teacher and has two bands, which make him realiable