#Frail Autumn,, #GarageBand,, #Lyrics, #music

Mistaken Identity. Progression #4. Bass guitar added. And Punched Up. Now, two guitars.

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The Devil is in the Detail.

NOT A FULL SONG. JUST AN EXPLANATION IN HOW A SONG PROGRESSES. WILL KEEP UPDATING THIS AS PROGRESS CONTINUES.

Tonight? I began writing a song completely differently to how I normally do this songwriting thing. I usually have a tune and an idea of lyrics. But not this time. And when recording?

Usually it is always drums or percussion beats down first. That currently comes from a choice within the GarageBand library. I can edit the drums at any time to suit purpose. Albeit naively. But they can be tweaked and tailored as the song progresses.

Drums of a basic nature did go down first tonight as is standard. Result is below. But usually the first thing recorded are the guitars. They go on top of the drum beat and layered with three or four different rhythms. Bass, even though I play bass guitar primarily, is not often included in many songs uploaded here on the blog. Weird but true. But, I do have a few songs here on the blog site with bass inclusions.

Back to tonight. This time, after a chosen drum beat, I played four simple harmony keyboard parts. I began to develop the semblance of a vocal melody by humming an old song tune and lyric along whilst hitting little keyboard tunes. The old song melody wove in and out of its own tune. Began to find new paths. The guitar sound I wanted to get for this project was a hard, but melodic, driven one. So the drum beat was chosen as appropriate to what I am hearing guitar wise in my head. The drums can have a few sensitively added cymbal crashes added by myself too. The keyboards seemed a nice juxtaposition of dynamic. Weaving in nature to a more solid guitar sound.

I would like this song to build on build. Over sixteen (eight of each low and high) part sequences keep adding another layer of sound. The seventeenth low part is an outro to be faded out. So layers will be chosen ad hoc and added bit by bit. Maybe empty out the build, back to this basic rhythm below, at around three quarters of the song and then get a big crescendo sound coming back in and slamming into the last sequences.

It’s late at night over here in the UK. My wife is sleeping so no guitars to experiment with tonight. Tomorrow is hopefully the beginning of guitar experimental day. Depends if Frankie the Fella cat behaves himself. But, definitely Bass Guitar included this time too. I have no real idea of nailed down guitar sound. Just a riff rhythm tune in my mind. Don’t even think I may be able to play it adequately anyway. But let’s see.

The trick with a song is to not sing the same tune to every verse like a mantra. Let the voice subtly go into different places in the verse certainly. The chorus is more cemented. But. Different developing harmonies on each chorus changes the mood and dynamic of each chorus as the song progresses. Choose a nice guitar lead tune too. An added new melody to the verse and chorus.

SOME OF YOU WHO ARE MUSICIANS YOURSELVES MAY BE HEARING YOUR OWN MELODY OR TWO TO ADD TO THIS ‘BASE TRACK’. IT MAY BE DEVELOPING AND BLOOMING IN YOUR OWN MIND AS YOU LISTEN.

BEST HEARD THROUGH HEADPHONES OR EAR BUDS. 🎧 OR WEARING A TIP TOP HAT. 🎩

MISTAKEN IDENTITY. TENTATIVELY.
PROGRESSION #2. ADDED A BIT OF RUNNING BASS GUITAR. STANDARD STUFF SO MAYBE NOT THE FINISHED ARTICLE, BUT GIVES AN IDEA TO INCREASED RHYTHMIC DRIVE.
PROGRESSION #3. PUNCHED IT UP A BIT. ADDED PERCUSSION AND A FOURTH KEYBOARD TUNE. …..TWEAKED DRUMS TO MORE OF A ROCKABILLY TYPE NATURE.
PROGRESSION #4. ADDED A SKIFFLING ELECTRIC GUITAR RIFF WITH SIMILAR ACOUSTIC GUITAR OVERLAY. NO IDEA OF ELECTRIC GUITAR SOUND CHOICE YET. OR THE CLARITY OF THE NOTES IN THE SKIFFLE RIFF.
PROGRESSION #5 BRIGHTENED UP OVERALL.
Three tracks! Not four. Tried the Glockenspiel choice, but no synergy.

Tentative lyrics below sung whilst playing the keyboards: these were from an original 1970s song. So in reality these won’t be used. The whole vibe could well end up completely different. Certainly needs a lot more lyrics and ideas added for this song above anyway. But I do like the song title. Good theme to run with.

MISTAKEN IDENTITY:

I need you

To prove my innocence

I’ve no alibi

It’s up to you

To make them see sense.

Goodbye you

Hello me

Mistaken identity

Unified, unified, unified, unified

Goodbye you,

Hello me

Mistaken identity

Unified, unified, unified, unified.

What’s his name?

Find out.

What d’ya mean

It’s the same as mine.

This ain’t no game

I’ve been sentenced

To a life inside.

Goodbye you…..etc.

Middle:

Wonder what I’m doing here. (Whispered…..Inside)

Wonder what it’s like there. (Whispered……Outside)

I need you.

I need you.

I need you

To prove my innocence

I’ve no alibi

It’s up to you

To make them see sense.

Goodbye you. Hello me………..

16 thoughts on “Mistaken Identity. Progression #4. Bass guitar added. And Punched Up. Now, two guitars.”

    1. The keyboard sounds are inherent GB effects really. It’s still single note playing and the results are from the sounds within the GB system. The melodies are what I aim for. Like a guitar effects box on electric guitars. They change sounds too. I like to show the building part. I usually send myself the stages by emails. Helps to assess sounds through iPad speakers and normal everyday headphones.

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      2. I am reminded now to transfer them all onto my new external hard drive. It’s good to see progress. I don’t want to alter any GB changes to see what individual tracks sounded like before tweaking. With you doing the same email scenario, you could maybe transfer to another drive too Sheila. Emails are crowded with so much other stuff too. Things get difficult to find amongst it all.

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      4. I admire the people who are organised. Trouble is, I can search okay if I know the song title, but forget working titles as they progress. So what starts as ‘new song’ changes to ‘keyboards experiment’ to ‘beefier rock and roll idea’ to ‘Ta-Da’ to ‘Mistaken Identity’. Okay, that sequence one was made up. But past song progressions do actually have that process. I change the GB name for good once I have a proper working title, but the emails have those multiple titles! Hence, what do I search for amongst the hundreds of rubbish in my mail folders.

        I just replied to Shep with a bit about Frankie involved. Cheers Sheila. All the best.

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      6. Sounds like a plan. On the hard drive I hope to create individual song files and put all the bits and bobs of progression to each song in one single ‘proper song title’ file.

        Just played and recorded a bit of basic bass guitar for the new one. See if it drove a bit more. Put it up on the blog now too. Progress #2. So now two progressives emailed to self so far. Noticed the working title on GB is indeed ‘TADA’. Not as in ‘thank you and goodbye’. But ‘eureka’. When I catch something nice I tend to say ‘Tada’ now. It’s the sound the Mac mini M2 makes when it’s turned on. I think Netflix does it too.

        Anyways, I’m not going to do anymore on this presently. Thinking lyrics now. And going to send the GB whole recording to my brother to see if he can add electric or acoustic guitar to it on his own Mac M2. First time with this experiment, so fingers crossed.

        Cheers Sheila.

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    1. Cheers Shep. I had to go and look for what the Bowen treatment was. I did a meditative instrumental a week or so ago. If you have to relax with the Bowen therapy it may be kinder. The drumming in this one is a bit frantic. 😊

      With not being able to play guitars, as it was late at night, I was focusing on the silence of keyboard playing and headphones. Was up until about 1 o’clock with this and looking at the ‘keyboard’ offerings in GarageBand. There are hundreds of choices. I added reverb, echo, etc. to see where it could take me. Hence techno vibes. I had a song idea in my head as I was playing it. I heard a beefy guitar inclusion and some vocal melody. Thought this would make an interesting background to a rockier vibe. John the drummer replied when I sent it to him on Messenger.

      He said. ‘Interesting drumming, sort of tribal, you can go anywhere with this track, with vocals and guitars etc.’

      I replied. ‘I chose the drums for the tribal style. I’ve always loved ethnic drumming from days when I first bought and played the djembe. My djembe was from a Senegalese drum master. Bought off eBay. I hang a Kente cloth strip from Ghana on it to dampen the skin’s ring. It’s a really loud drum. I do play this track and wonder what guitar sounds I can play to go over it to provide a beefier vibe. Tune and melody wise I can hear loads of options as you say. Once the guitars and vocals/harmonies are in place, this keyboards mixture can fall into the background as a filling melodic backdrop. Having no real musicians at the moment I am experimenting mostly’.

      In my mind the phrase ‘wonder what I can play’ had emphasis on the word ‘I’. As in could I have the ability to play a beefy vibe. My brother Steve could easily. So will send him this track and see what he comes up with. He now has the same Mac system as me, so I can send him the GB file for him to work on the same as I can.

      Also Shep. Frankie the Fella cat is full on in the daytime and I can’t get to record anything much any more. He won’t stay still and wants constant attention. Follows me around the house. Very vocal cats Bengal/Maine Coon crosses too. I took him outside into the garden with a harness and lead a week or so ago and now he just howls at the windows wanting to be outdoors. Keeps running upstairs and downstairs leaping onto different window ledges looking out. I spend a few hours a day with him running around the garden with either a 15 or 50 feet lead choice in place. The longer one gets tangled around pots, plants and trees. He ran up the large Silver Birch tree yesterday and got a good 12 feet up. Great exercise for me untangling the longer lead! But having recently been really ill, it’s exhausting. He’s gone with Angie today to the vets for neutering and micro chipping. Fingers crossed it will make him calmer. Frankie the Full-on Frantic Fella is his new name. At present I am calm enough not to add a Fifth F word. 😆

      I welcome your feedback Shep. Never not give it. My soul is in old school and rock and roll, so the overall Frail Autumn vibe will be real musicians and what you and I both know and love about decent music. So many musical eclectic choices. But techno isn’t my cup of tea at all. So it may well fade into the background massively. But I have a gut feeling the keyboards will weave against melodic riffing and driven guitar rhythms. I hear them in my mind as I play the track. The drums though…… love them. All the best Shep.

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    1. Nah. Furball. 😊 He is going to be one huge furry cat Shep. The size of him now at 6 months is pretty impressive. He’ll be like the Tiger who came to Tea. Disrupting the Gray Summers quiet and gentle retired lifestyle. Maybe I needed a kick up the pants. Cheers Shep.

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  4. 🤣..I should have said I agree about the drumming and love the djembe…and yeah a bit frenetic for a Bowen session…If Frankie’s anything like a horse (sounds like he might be by his size) having the major gear change will make a difference..it’s all about balance even in retirement. Cheers Shep

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    1. I even hear a repeated kitten squeal miaow in one of the keyboard tracks. True. Subliminal Frankie vibes. It is there in reality. Thought I was hearing things.

      I did a fair few dance and drum workshops with a couple of mates, they were also on djembe and dunun, and that’s why I bought it. Absolute total therapy when playing along to some CD djembe drumming patterns I own. Also why I now own lots of percussive instruments too. Cheers Shep.

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