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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
How do you make your music?
How do you make your music?
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Preston
102 posts
Jan 26, 2009
8:21 AM
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I find I am more interested in making my own music up rather than learning songs that others have done. (not saying I don't do it, I just have more fun making my own).
So how do you all come up with new riffs or melodies?
Do you hear something in your head and try to work it out on the harp?
Are you just riffing around and hear something you like and then go back to it and expand on it?
I do both. Sometimes I put a riff away for a long time and come back to it and add to it. Sometimes I find two riffs that sound great together and make a melody.
On another thread Buddha wrote:
....but I think in terms of notes, shapes and sound.
Can you elaborate on thinking in terms of shapes, Chris? (I once read an article about a lady who had a medical condition that caused her to taste and feel in colors. When she ate chocolate it made her breath smell purple. But I'm guessing that's not related to what your talking about)
After thinking about it a little, I guess I do improvizational stuff in terms of riffs. But when I am making new riffs, I think in terms of scale degrees. I'm not really concerned about the notes, just the sounds.
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99
7 posts
Jan 26, 2009
8:31 AM
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Bob Dylan once said that his material comes in "flashing chains of light", or something to that effect. I can visualize the concept.
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Buddha
29 posts
Jan 26, 2009
11:02 AM
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do you hear music already? I constantly hear music flowing through my head. It's good stress level indicator for me, if I hear music then all is well.
To play what you hear in your head demands complete mastery of your instrument. You need to know where every note and sound is on every harmonica.
Each note has shape and sound to it, a C sounds different on a G harp than it does on a C harp or A harp etc....
By shape, I also mean contour. Runs scooping and sloping up and then tapering off. Hard angry plunge etc.... it's hard to describe.
I whistle all the time, so much that I am not even aware of it and it annoys others. At least I whistle in pitch. Practice whistling or humming... that will help you get out what you hear in your head.
Last Edited by on Jan 26, 2009 11:04 AM
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Preston
103 posts
Jan 26, 2009
11:27 AM
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Yes, I hear music all the time. I have ideas for tunes and melodies run through my head constantly. Sometimes I space out what people say because I'm thinking of a riff. Unfortunately I am not able to pick up a harp while I am at my job to work on an idea. I'm sure I've thought up of great riffs that by the time I got the harp I'd forgotten how I wanted it to sound.
I believe I understand your shapes. It is the qualities you give to the note itself. Rising pitch, vibrato, decay, etc. etc.
Sometimes I have a hard time getting the sounds in my head to play on the harp, even though I can whistle it. I guess that means I need alot more work, which I knew already.
Anybody else got .02 worth?
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isaacullah
24 posts
Jan 26, 2009
11:47 AM
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Preston, It's interesting that you just posted this topic because I was just thinking about this very subject. I'm still in the intermediate/advanced intermediate level, but I've gotten to the point where I can just sit down and start inventing riffs. I guess the main way I come up with songs is to just start jamming out on stuff I can already do, and when I get to the "plateau" where stuff is just coming out before I think it, that's where new things are created. Riffs just coalesce for me, and sort of pop out. I usually have turn on a recorder (I usually use Audacity and my computer) to remember what it is that I've just created. Occasionally I'll also just be walking down the street or sitting ont he bus or something, and a riff will just pop into my head.
But either way, once I get one riff that I like, I start playing that over and over while trying to throw new things at it, figuring out a chord progression and such, until I've got the beginnings of a song. Usually I'l record it at that point, cut an Mp3, and send it to a friend for an opinion or some additional intsruments or whatever...
I'd also like to say that, like you, I'm finding lately that I like to play my own stuff more than learning other's songs. I don't know if it's due to the old addage that every author loves their own work, but I find it more interesting, and I like it better.
I'm kind of past the stage where all I wanted was to emulate my blues heroes. I've got a small repetoire of blues standards that I like and will play occasionally, but they don't hold my interest for very long anymore. I still can't play Juke all the way through (I only know the first 3rd by heart), and you know what? I don't care. I don't want to play Juke. Not by myself, not in a band, not on the street, not anywhere.
That's why I'm really getting into guy's like Son of Dave. Taking blues riffs, bules ethic, the essence of the blues and perverting it. changing it into something new. something different, yet still familiar. I love that sound! I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm still in love with the Blues. I listen to it constantly, but I also listen to other music. newer music. That old/new juxstaposition is what inspires me, I guess... I know I have tons to learn from the old blues masters, which is why it's still good to try to play those songs, I guess.
But for me anyway, the point is not to be able to play faithfully through a blues standard with no mistakes, but to take lessons from those old songs and use them to start making my my own songs.
Anyway, that's where I'm at. Anyone else out there feel the same way?
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The magnificent YouTube channel of the internet user known as "isaacullah"
Last Edited by on Jan 26, 2009 11:49 AM
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XHarp
9 posts
Jan 26, 2009
12:46 PM
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"I once read an article about a lady who had a medical condition that caused her to taste and feel in colors. When she ate chocolate it made her breath smell purple."
Wow, I think I had an experience like that in the 70's.
Anyhow, the music flows through some all the time and through others only on inspiration. I usually get to writing when something has inspired me.
Several things that come to mind recently that resulted in tunes that have ended up on our recent CD.
The struggle of an acquaintance to recover from drugs and a violent lifestyle and his desire to correct his life.
The "Life is good" attitude of another friend that is always happy go-lucky but had a few troubles with the ladies. (Man, my life is so normal) Anyhow, These tunes were built from the ground up. Idea, lyrics, chords, riffs to match chord progression but the most critical thing that always leads it along for me is that the idea has to invoke a cadence or rythym while writing. It has to have flow. That's what I look for. Get the cadence/flow of the tune down then work on riffs and fills/leads.
I would like to have the music running through my head all the time like Chris has but, then I may believe that I'm back in the 70's again... or at the very least I would be able to make a living at it like others do.
"Each note has shape and sound to it, a C sounds different on a G harp than it does on a C harp or A harp etc...."
I agree with this for sure, not just accross different keys but also in the same way that the 2 draw and 3 blow are the same note but sound and feel different. You can hit the same riff and end on either and its a different riff. It makes for different tones and can inspire your writing in a different direction.
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"Keep it in your mouth" - XHarp
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bluzlvr
112 posts
Jan 26, 2009
1:57 PM
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All the songs I've written, I've written in my head while doing other things. I once wrote an entire song while having a root canal done. When I try to sit down with my guitar and write a song, it usually just doesn't happen. I've been able over the years to get into the studio and record a lot of this stuff (including the root canal song) and one of these days I'll post some of it. (I'm currently without a computer, having to use the library....)
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Buddha
30 posts
Jan 26, 2009
2:48 PM
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preston,
if you can already hear the music then you need to get to know your instrument from a tonal perspective rather than positions and licks.
The first thing you need to do is get out of your box. Play a few notes of what you hear in a totally oddball position for you. This will force you to use your ear rather than muscle memory.
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Andrew
90 posts
Jan 26, 2009
2:52 PM
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Bluzlvr says
"I once wrote an entire song while having a root canal done...one of these days I'll post some of it"
Someone beat you to it: -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOtMizMQ6oM
Last Edited by on Jan 26, 2009 2:54 PM
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harmonicanick
121 posts
Jan 26, 2009
3:08 PM
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it all comes down to how do you play the music in your head??
I have only recently, I am 58 years old, been able to play what I think is in my head but then I could be wrong. Technically I can do most stuff and I can satisfy myself...what more is there?
Enjoy your music..I lie awake and play rythyms in my head/mind.
Folks like what I play live because, I think they have played that in their minds too..its not technique, its the sound, and the pockets between the sounds.
The space between sounds is it....silence and repetition and rythym.. I dont know its late and I am going to bed:-)
Last Edited by on Jan 26, 2009 3:17 PM
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bluzlvr
114 posts
Jan 26, 2009
3:22 PM
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Very funny Andrew. Actually, the song isn't about a root canal, I was trying to take my mind OFF the root canal. It worked.
Last Edited by on Jan 26, 2009 3:23 PM
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oldwailer
466 posts
Jan 26, 2009
4:07 PM
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Very interesting thread.
Buddha--you said:
"The first thing you need to do is get out of your box. Play a few notes of what you hear in a totally oddball position for you. This will force you to use your ear rather than muscle memory."
What a cool point! My muscle memory sometimes gets boring as hell--but you know, that cycle of boredom will eventually drive me to the woodshed to learn something new--I think I'll start getting more into third or fourth position.
When I make music it usually comes to me in the form of a lyric or melody. To me, practicing riffs is all about how to sound cool at my next open mic--but nothing at all about actually making music.
The lyric way--it will just be something I observe--once I was walking home from school and it started to rain like a banshee--the roads looked like rivers in just a few seconds. The line "Roads they run like rivers" popped into my head. I had a new song for a gig the next evening.
The melody usually, for me, flows from the lyrics--once I can sing it--I can easily come up with something on the guitar to accompany it--that's the easy part. Writing the melody with the harp is also fairly easy--but I have to be careful that all songs don't sound the same--because of the box I am in at the time.
Whenever I write a cool melody without words, it is hell to come up with a song--I've had a great guitar accompaniment running for about three years for a very cool melody--I call it "the useless melody" because I can't find any words for it. Maybe it was meant to be an instrumental.
As far as the music I hear in my head 24/7--that is a different thing--(I whistle and hum a lot too) I can turn it off or change the tune--but it will just be a variation on whatever I am working on to learn at the time--lately, I've been working on some John Lee Hooker sounds--so my head music pretty much sounds like John Lee Hooker. I learn a lot of stuff from this head music--I get home at night sometimes and can't wait to get on the guitar to work out stuff that comes to me. The harp is great for getting this kind of music into shape, because I always have it handy.
I guess this has to happen for a person however it happens, I would have no clue of how to teach anything about the process--to me it just happens--a song rarely takes longer than a few hours for me to write it, once the inspiration whaps me upside the head--if I have trouble with lyrics, I just ask my wife to help me--she is better than I am with that part. . .
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geordiebluesman
140 posts
Jan 27, 2009
1:00 PM
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Hi Harpers, Well this is very interesting stuff! It's cool to find out that other people go round with stuff pouring through their heads! With me it's always the words, My daughter said to me a few days ago, Dad do you know you always look drunk, And then did an impression of my face, And i said, thats coz i'm constantly distracted by the cascade of words and sounds in my head, She is 13 so she just gave me a look that said You sad old freak! But i know she loves me really! Anyway with me it works two ways, The first way is hard work involving thinking of an idea and actually structuring a song or lyric from the ground up, The second way though is by far better, First i get a tickling sensation deep in the back of my brain at a central point at earhole height (this is the same sensation that used to preceed an Acid Trip when i was a bad boy) Then a whole fully fomed song with lyrics,melody,tempo,etc will just popp into my head, Sometimes straight after the tickle some times hours later but it never fails once i get the tickle i know i'm going to get busy!
Last Edited by on Jan 27, 2009 1:02 PM
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Preston
105 posts
Jan 27, 2009
1:52 PM
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This is all very interesting. I like you guy's stories. The amount of drug use on this thread amazes me.....
I used to write lyrics in college before I got into the harmonica. My roommate and I were trying to write Rock/Rap songs like Kid Rocks first album. Back then lyrics were running through my head ALL the time, and maybe an occasional beat or rhythm.
When I grew up a little bit, got married and moved into my house, I found my next door neighbor was a singer/songwriter/guitarplayer/keyboard player/drummer and he coaxed me into singing with him. We started writing songs together, and I thought, you know I really need to learn how to play an instrument. I picked up the guitar for about two weeks and was very frustrated. I had always been a fan of the harmonica, and my Mom had bought me one when I was 16. That harmonica moved around with me for several years, and there it was, an old Hohner Standby in the bottom of my son's toybox.
I pulled it out and got on Youtube and started to really learn how to play instead of just chugging and train whistles. Now I hear music in my head all the time instead of lyrics. I'm not sure where the lyrics went. Oh, I get an occasional lyric or two, but mostly just music now.
I'm a big fan of whiskey, but maybe drugs would make the lyrics come back...
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GermanHarpist
51 posts
Jan 27, 2009
2:40 PM
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I have music in my head all the time. When I have a lot of stress it somehow gets pushed back. But when I'm happy I sing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op7GsUAiRnM
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http://www.youtube.com/germanharpist
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Axident
11 posts
Jan 28, 2009
5:22 AM
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Something that has put a few riffs in my head is listening to a rock song from a crappy radio at a distance. I know this sounds weird but on a cheap radio at a distance the guitar begins to sound like a harmonica to me.
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