'Slick Grease' - New Original Music! Jazz/Rock/Instrumental + Walkthrough!
This song came together last night
and wound up turning out pretty awesome. I wasn’t intended on writing anything specific, just sorta started jamming with the electric piano in Track 1, then started layering things on top. I actually left the track with just drums/piano/bass initially, but thought it could use a bit more, and wound up with the added synths, which I think sound awesome. Let’s go through it!
Listen to Slick Grease here.
Track 1 is our electric piano
with a vibrato effect that increases and decreases in speed throughout the riff. We have two sections, Yellow and Blue. We're in 5/4 here, though I'd probably call it 10, as each chord change takes two bars of 5. Each Yellow section is also five bars long, so it adds an extra move at the end of a typical 4 bar thing, which stretches it out and makes the resolution that follows a lot more powerful. The Blue section is a little filler, with 4 bars, and some slight variations on the chords from the Yellow part. We're in Dminor, with a pretty diatonic progression throughout, though a Bminor is used pretty often in the Yellow sections. However, because all the chords have so many extensions from the top line movement, the Bminor feels very much like it belongs.
Track 1, Yellow section.
Listen to Slick Grease here.
Track 2, 4 bar filler section, Bass Guitar.
Track 2 is the bass,
using the ‘classic bass’ from Native Instruments’ Komplete Start Package. The transition between the two sections needs to be ironed out a bit, as the Yellow section ends with the same note the Blue begins with, so it feels a bit off. Other than that, I’m happy with the outcome. Track 3 is our drums, using the ‘Pop’ kit from the aforementioned package. Track 4 is a distorted guitar VST which only plays over those filler sections, and Track 5 a jazz organ, only used over the very end of the tune. Finally, we have our synths; Tracks 6 and 7 do a little call and response thing, while Track 8 comes in later, adding a little extra harmony and texture to the tune.
Hope you dig today’s song! Thanks for listening!
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Now that @mvkean finally has a Steemit account, it's time he starts meeting fellow composers and musicians like you! I love "Slick Grease." I love the explanations too, even if I don't really comprehend it all because music is like math (beyond my mental reach).
Miles, you'd appreciate this! Earth to Miles!
Ha. I actually do kinda-sorta get it!
Finally, we have our synths; Tracks 6 and 7 do a little call and response thing, while Track 8 comes in later, adding a little extra harmony and texture to the tune.
And as an aside @manorvillemike's Scary Mary brought this song to mind, and this video brought you to mind (recording in tracks):
nice! i'm following him now.
hehe well, it quite literally is math!