I've been doing a fair amount of songwriting recently; after deliberately abandoning it for a while now. You know... it's one of those things you'd voluntarily neglect upon realizing that you don't have the knack for it. Something I should seriously start consider doing about -- as the majority of women would approve -- my pick-up lines. In a sense, I've been quite blessed to have friends who have a pretty good sense of musical composition. Collaborating with them has provided the avenue for me to leverage on their talent, while learning a thing or two in the process. For I, possess the songwriting prowess of a deaf llama. The whole exercise, in itself, is filled with discoveries. For we are talking about melodies here; which not many things out there are capable of being more subjective than. So the challenge can come from a variety of angles as you proceed. Fitting the right melodies to a particular chord progression (and vice versa), sustaining the groove of a certain riff, knowing where to permit space, tempo, hooks, pauses, bridges... down to the ad-libs (e.g. "Maheeya hee... maheeya haa..."). In sum, I have learned, am learning and plan to learn, quite a handful. But what is knowledge then, without a sharing of it. On that note, I'm planning to share with you the progress of the songs that I'll be working on with the band. It may be in the form of pictures, audio/video clips, tablatures or even a few simple lines of notes. Some, may be my own while the other, may be materials I found over the endless hours I spend on the the force that is the Internet. Just a way of assuaging this strong urge I get after every session. One that makes me just want to throw whatever I'd just documented out there for the people's senses. Not necessarily for approval. More like, a mean of garnering their feedback, positive or negative; to 'fuel' my 'train' of thought. Eh? And I'm going to call the project -- wait for it -- Innervisions'. Well, it is up there in the title already. So anyway, 'Innvervisions' is the title of Stevie Wonder's Grammy Award winning 1973 album featuring masterpieces like Higher Ground and Living for the City. I thought it sounded cool and I can't quit loving Stevie so if the project is a success, by any measure, I'd like to dedicate it to him. To kick things off, I'll start with something that we all have. No, I'm not talking about guilty pleasures. I'm talking about the voice. Yes, the voice... nature's musical instrument. Of which mine... needs major work. Here is a video from a while back by Eric Arceneaux, a recording artiste and vocal coach, on warm-up techniques. You'll be surprised as to how simple they are. It's a 4-part video so if you wander around his YouTube page you'll find the other videos. Eric you're a top guy. Much love. Peace out, brother!
|
About
Fed Hi is a Blues Rock band from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The band was formerly known as The Big Pink. They are currently working on their debut recording in the studio. Asrif Yusoff: Vocals, Guitar Uda Bahar: Guitar, Vocals Ikram Omar: Bass Naim Aminnudin: Drums Contact 
Videos (Thanks Zhin!)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Malaysia License. |
Post a Comment