Tag: composer

Tip #228 – Dressing-Up the Walking Bass

For people looking to write out a walking bass line, today’s tip might be useful.

Regularly, you don’t want to write out note-for-note the bass line. Most bassists prefer a chord chard and they will construct a line from there. However, if you want to be specific on what notes to hit when, then do write it out.

You might have some personal “rules” as to making a walking bass line… such as having each chord change play the root first and then the rest of the chord members. Or maybe the direction or pattern of it. That’s a great start, but it can become too formulaic.

To dress it up and make it a bit more interesting, try adding some chromatic approaches. So, before hitting the root of the next chord, play a note a half-step above or below. You can even make this a string of chromatic notes (or a diatonic scalar run) for a bit of added emphasis to the root you want to hit.

Try it out and see!

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Tip #227 – Understanding the Vagadhisvani Scale

The Carnatic music of South India has 72 scales (melakartas) comprised of seven different notes in either an ascending (arohana) or descending (avarohana) fashion. These scales are used in a kind of India music called rāga and are extremely beautiful. In addition these scales are grouped into different chakras, based on certain similarities.

Today’s melakarta is the Vagadhisvani scale, the fourth scale from the sixth chakra.

Below is a representation of the scale as if it was put into Western notation:

Both the first (SA) and fifth (PA) scale degrees are in a placement normal to most scales found in Western music, but now you have a raised second degree (RI) acting as an augmented second from the root.  In addition, there is the raised sixth degree (DHA).

Try playing around with the scale, possible harmonies, and progressions!

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Tip #226 – Starting a Critique Journal

While this tip isn’t a compositional tip exactly, it can help with your compositional skills.

With all the compositional skills you acquire and use, be sure to reflect on it. Evaluate it. Did what you do help the composition, or did it hurt it? Does a skill apply better to a different kind of musical work or genre more than another? Did it work well, but maybe another variable made the outcome not-so-good? If you did something new and creative, how will be able to do it again?

By starting a “Critique Journal” you can look back at all the compositional skills that you have gained and see what works well for your next piece. Constant honest evaluation of yourself will refine your skills and help make your workflow for writing better – because now you have solidified in your mind on what works and what doesn’t thought the journal.

Try it out. Get a journal made of recycled paper or make one on your laptop/phone. With every piece you start to write, jot down a few notes of what could be better or what is already amazing.

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Tip #225 – To Resolve In or Out

Say your song is based off of a group chords on repeat.  Do you have you progression resolve within the loop…

…or outside the loop…

…or does it really matter?  Do the two options really make a difference?

While one can argue that they don’t, there is a difference in motion between the two.  When you resolve within the loop, you have a return to “home” and completion.  Think of this like picking up a book, coming to an ending, and then picking up a new story.

As for when you resolve outside the loop, your momentum is continuous because the resolution takes place on the start of a new loop.  This is like reading a book then ends off with a “To Be Continued” cliff-hanger to lead into the next book.

Experiment with the two and see which feels right for your piece.

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Improve Your Lyrics – Tip #46

What is a bridge?  If you were thinking in music terms or in anything else, it is something that connects two areas together.

In addition, from a music standpoint, the bridge offers something different (both musically and lyrically) to catapult with motion from one section to another.

Musically, bridges offer harmonic variation, rhythmic contrast, new melodic movement, modulation, etc.  Lyrically, bridges might contain a change in character focus, a change in timeline, or inclusion of in-depth detail on the subject/story.

Basically, offer something new when you want to include a bridge into the song.

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Tip #224 – Using sus2 and sus4 Chords for Surprises

This is going to be a quick little informative tip:

In the past, we have talked about how the use of power chords can create ambiguity between the key possibilities because there is no third voiced to tell if it is major or minor.

In a similar fashion, using your tonic (or at least opening chord) as a sus4 or sus2 chord that gives you a “triadic” harmony without the third present can also aid in creating that key signature ambiguity while giving the harmony some color with the suspended notes.

Try using it as a tonic chord and experiment as to how you can resolve it in surprising ways.

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Tip #222 – Sound Effects in Songs

This is going to be a quick tip.

Besides thinking that your music should be constrained to just instruments, why not incorpoarate sounds that would be typically used for sound effects?

This can help give your song more of a “story-like” or epic quality.

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Tip #221 – About a Line Cliché

What is a line cliché and is it really a cliché?

Commonly found in jazz music, a line cliché is…

  • A line moving between relatively stagnant chord harmonies
  • Either ascending or descending
  • Going chromatically (more typical) or diatonic
  • Staying at the bottom, top, or in the middle of the harmony
  • Usually the root, fifth, sixth, or seventh of the harmony

An example would be like such:

We have talked about these before in previous posts, especially with inner lines movements between harmonic changes.

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Improve Your Lyrics – Tip #45

Another form that you can use is the AABA form.

Similar to the AAA form, it contains repeated A sections. However, this time there is a B section right before the last A section that acts as a “bridge” section. As you would imagine, the B section is different from the rest.

Typically, the form is 32-bars in length with each section having 8-bars in dedication to it… but that is not a strict rule. The entire length can vary greatly to the shape/flow of your lyrics. The B section, in fact, can be longer or shorter in length compared to the other A sections, or even split into two. Also, the last A section can be stretched couple of extra bars.

Titles and/or hooks should be saved to the beginning or end of the A sections, but it is typically saved for the end of the last A section.

The AABA form can even be expanded using the same principles into an AABABA form.

Take a listen to many songs that utilize this form and see how they creatively craft it to the lyrics.

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Tip #220 – Tresillo Pattern

One way of incorporating some rhythmic interest in your piece is to use a tresillo pattern.

Basically, think of it as trying to take the 8 eighth-notes in a 4/4 measure and trying to divide it evenly into 3’s.  Without the use of triplets, it is near to impossible.  So, what you would have to end up doing is group the first couple of notes into 3’s while the last two are grouped into their own.  This creates a forward motion based on the unstable/uneven rhythm.  It would look something like this:

Notice how this looks very similar to the “3-side” of the classic Cuban clave figure – that’s because it is.

Use it as a repeated figure or as an interjected figure.

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