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Post subject: Re: Honest opinions on my music
Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2013 5:43 pm
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Thanks for posting Riley. You're making progress. The songs have potential. You have tons of potential which will pan out in time. Keep up the good work, follow everyones heartfelt advice, we are all in your corner that is why I'm not a good critic for you, lol. Working on your timing/using a metronome helped me greatly. The effort put in for timing will benefit you always. :wink:

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Post subject: Re: Honest opinions on my music
Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2013 6:20 pm
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3. The piano piece was killer
+1
DEFINATELY

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Post subject: Re: Honest opinions on my music
Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2013 8:52 pm
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I like what I hear, and I've been listening since the 50s. R&R isn't meant to be digital perfect. You have progressed so much and I don't see any reason for the disclaimer anymore. You're a tough little stud, and I respect you a lot. I like your music. Keep on truckin. :D


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Post subject: Re: Honest opinions on my music
Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2013 10:20 pm
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Hi Riley,I gave each one of your compositions a listen but as others have said they didn't have quite enough to hold my interest and became somewhat repetitive after just a short while.The use of distortion was over the top and so intense that it actually sounded dischordant and of course the feedback certainly didn't help matters.

I know that as I do,you have a neuro-muscular disorder that involves your hands and arms that can make playing to be always painful and difficult.Just as Les Paul did,those of us trying to cope with a crippling disorder must apply ourselves so much harder than most others just to achieve a bare minimum degree of proficiency and that takes a huge amount of resolve,dedication and tenacity,so already we're at a great disadvantage and have to make a Herculean effort to become what others would regard as good.

I think that at the present time you should try to put most of your effort into bettering your timing and other important components of your playing rather than trying to turn out a large number of songs that all sound very similar in structure.Most of the great songwriters concentrate on quality rather than quantity.

The best thing for you to do is to work on one song at a time until you have a proper structure to it containing all the vital parts that others have mentioned,a song with a lot of complimentary changes will keep a listener's attention much more than anything that repeats its chord patterns to the point of monotany.I have written and performed songs to favourable reviews-still no record contract....lol-but I have honed each one until I had it the way I was sure that it would be liked by people other than myself.

Having said all of that though I must say that my respect for you has grown considerably because you were confident and brave enough to post your music on the forum and invite honest critiques of your efforts,that shows a great deal of maturity that isn't all that common these days in your age group.Anyway keep plugging at it you have the whole forum in your corner and you have gained a lot of fans with this post-if not for your music,then certainly for you mature and sensible attitude.Keep on pickin' and grinnin'.

Derek


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Post subject: Re: Honest opinions on my music
Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2013 3:33 am
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rileymcc wrote:
An I know there are some people on this forum who just can't stand a slightly flat string, or out of time playing.


It's not a matter of "not being able to stand it", it's matter of basic musical laws.

There's a big difference between "claiming obvious mistakes as being personal style" or playing out of rhythm by purpose because the latter is a professional way of creating tension in a song or solo by still following rules!

Same goes for tuning!
Either tune it down in given steps or tune it correctly.
Disharmonic notes in a chord distroy a song unless you don't follow rules AGAIN.
There are disharmonic notes used in music sometimes but then again they're dictated by general musical laws/rules.

It's like building a house: you can't just pile up stones without fixing them and then claim the swaying building as being your personal architectural style! :wink:

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Post subject: Re: Honest opinions on my music
Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2013 3:39 am
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GilgaFrank wrote:

Perhaps a bit more constructively ... I don't necessarily agree that songs have to have more than three chords but what they do need is some variation to hold the listener's interest or it just turns into a drone. Sure, changing the chord pattern can do this but you can also experiment with dynamics - play the verses quieter than the chorus or alternate a picked pattern and a strummed section. Or change the strumming rhythm, go double speed, damp the chords quickly to leave a funky gap, even combine all those ideas in one song.


That's exactly what I meant when I said "it's awefully difficult to keep the audience's attention" when NOT following the standard song pattern.
Probably too difficult for a beginner but definitely possible. Lots of bands have proven it!

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Post subject: Re: Honest opinions on my music
Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2013 3:52 am
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GilgaFrank wrote:

I've said it before, I'll say it again, musicians should welcome constructive criticism. You don't improve your playing by believing that everything you play is good and you don't help anyone by telling them that.


+1

Unfortunately most musicians don't have the guts to give honest feedback, especially on all those so called music sites, where everybody kisses your ***** just to get positive comments themselves to improve their rank! :(

The day you are satisfied with what you're doing is the day when you actually have lost it all.
My wife literally gets angry when I complain about what I CAN'T do and says: "You're fantastic and you know it!!"
It's impossible for her to understand that no matter what I'm doing good, i may be proud of one or the other piece of music I play but still being generally unsatisfied with my performance because I MYSELF hear every mistake which was NOT INTENDED!! :wink:

There's days when I literally want to smash my guitars on the wall because there are so many guitar players who are better than me! ha ha ha :lol:

That's what keeps me going (within the time frame available! I can't afford practicing 6 hours a day!)

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Post subject: Re: Honest opinions on my music
Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2013 6:42 am
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Hey rileymcc, thanks for sharing your work, this is my favorite part of the forum.

I liked the 'vibe' on these tracks, some people said your vocals are 'Kurt Cobain-ish' which I agree with. I would also say there's a certain quality in there that kind of reminds me of Syd Barrett, particularly on his 'The Madcap Laughs' album.

It sounds like you have some good musical ideas, the chord progressions are mostly coherent and the vocal melodies work. Your guitar playing is a little shaky, but so was Kurt's. It works for this kind of music. I wonder what you would sound like with a capable band behind you.

I really like your lyrics, it was good that you posted them below the tracks. The lyrics are good, but there needs to be more. It seems like you get a verse in and stop. We need verse 2 and 3.

My advice to you is that you'd get the most benefit by plugging along on guitar as you have been, become a very capable rhythm player. At the same time, concentrate on your vocals, take some singing lessons or view them online, and keep writing song lyrics, a lot of song lyrics.

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Post subject: Re: Honest opinions on my music
Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2013 6:50 am
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I can see exactly where Smokin' Frets is coming from.I had an experience on another guitar forum when a teenage player who regarded himself to be Hendrix incarnate posted some of the most dischordant cacophony that I ever heard that was purported to be a Hendrix cover.He asked for honest critiques of his playing and I replied with very gentle critque of his playing so as to not hurt his feelings and offered kindly advice as to what areas of his playing that he needed to work on.His response was confrontational and downright vicious-as an old Newfoundland saying goes,"He called me everything but a Christian".

When I made my rebuttal I gave him a no holds barred critique of his playing and told him straight up that I had tried to be as diplomatic as possible and offer him very helpful advice but he lashed out at me so the gloves were off.I told him that he obviously had no musical aptitude because he hadn't progressed to the level that he should be at for the length of time he had been at it and that I had students who could play better after just 2 months plus I made some other points about his obviously being tone deaf also.

His mother and her friends had been telling him how good he was as too the other forum members which I pointed out emphatically did him more harm than good in that it instilled a false sense of his playing being much much better than it actually was which could lead to a very rude awakening further down the road.With that I was attacked from all sides by other forum members for being truthful to the arrogant little prat and was actually barred for a few days until some people who agreed with my philosophy pleaded my case and changed the minds of the administrators.

I never tried to sugar coat any remarks about the playing of anyone that I taught and always was truthful but kind and never mean or insulting and they all appreciated that and have told me that sometimes years later.A cousin who I had taken under my wing briefly many years ago told me this past summer that I was his inspiration to become the guitarist that he is today because I set such high standards for myself and was never fully satisfied with my own playing.Ironically it was this cousin's father who planted the guitar seed in me when I was only 3 or 4 even though John and George were the ones who brought it to blooming.

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Post subject: Re: Honest opinions on my music
Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2013 6:58 am
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GilgaFrank wrote:
I don't necessarily agree that songs have to have more than three chords but what they do need is some variation to hold the listener's interest or it just turns into a drone. Sure, changing the chord pattern can do this but you can also experiment with dynamics - play the verses quieter than the chorus or alternate a picked pattern and a strummed section. Or change the strumming rhythm, go double speed, damp the chords quickly to leave a funky gap, even combine all those ideas in one song.


Definitely agree very much with the above. Listen to a guy like Bob Dylan. Sometimes it was 3 or 4 chords repeated through the whole song, but he knew how to keep it interesting. It's all about the little variations.

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Post subject: Re: Honest opinions on my music
Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2013 9:11 am
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Just to illustrate the point about chord changes ...


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Post subject: Re: Honest opinions on my music
Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2013 9:38 am
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This might illustrate the same :wink:

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Post subject: Re: Honest opinions on my music
Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2013 9:51 am
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How about 2 chords? :lol: This song was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.


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Post subject: Re: Honest opinions on my music
Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2013 4:57 pm
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Riley my friend, I love your voice. as you said in your original post, there's no mic - that's the first issue. i'm sure we'd all love these songs even more if we could really get a sense of what you're singing about... what little bit I could pick out sounded pretty awesome. i'd love to read lyrics for the 3 you asked us to listen to. If it reminds me of anything, I'd say go listen to "sad sappy sucker" by modest mouse. holy $@!&. love / hate that record. have to be in the right mood for music like this. :)
I've had someone I respect a ton musically refuse to collaborate with me because what I sent to him didn't stay perfectly in time. He gave me the whole metronome speech and I tried... i really did.... but those things aren't made for everyone. I think you and I are a lot of like, the way we think of music.... I'm way too repetitive also, methinks.
That would be my only real criticism, like a lot of other people said- mix it up some... maybe not follow a verse/chorus/verse/solo/structure but, you know... intros are good. :)

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Post subject: Re: Honest opinions on my music
Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2013 3:56 pm
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Hi Riley, I took a listen to your music when you first started this thread, but today the only thing I see on your Soundcloud page are the acoustic pieces. I tend to agree with playing in tune and in time, but noise rock bands like Sonic Youth have made exceptions to the rules, although bands like that tend to have small niche appeal.

However, I disagree with the people saying every song must have the same structure. For example, if you listen to the songs on Black Sabbath's Paranoid album, none of them have choruses. I think you should feel free to experiment more with structure instead of being bound by artificial rules. There is an old saying for all types of artists - "Learn all the rules and then forget about them".

I also liked the fact that you were working on some doom-style music, although it sounded like it still needed work. To me it sounded a bit formulaic - riff-riff-riff / a few lead licks / back to the riff-riff-riff. I suggest you work on your lead licks and try improvising more, that should really color it up.

Also, I agree with the comments on your voice and the piano piece both sounding pretty good.

Instead of a metronome, try downloading a drum track from the internet to play along to, it's a lot more fun. :D Also, try making some multi-track recordings instead of just having one lone guitar.

Keep at it, the more you do it, the better you will get. And most of all, have fun!

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