Musings on Covid

First, I chose the key (the key of C is always easy) and the tempo, then I listened to the choices and chose one. It’s kind of like someone saying to you, can you write me a song using these chords? Now, once you have chosen to write/compose in this manner, you are using midi format instead of notation. There are several ways to input notes into midi: you can mouse them in, you can play them in via a midi keyboard or you can create them in notation and then convert the file to midi and import it to your creation. I am not proficient in the keyboard so I was happy to use my notation software.

Now I have the chord structure so creating a simple bass line is easy. You can simply take the bottom line of the chord structure and copy it to a new midi track and voila… a bass line. Then you take a couple of samples and or loops and try some of them out and choose something that works for you. I then created sections for the song and marked them as such. I then went to MODO DRUMS and choose loops for the different sections. I Choose MODO BASS for the bass and improved on it so it would not be so boring. 

Now with this in place I take my trusty PURA Landis Custom guitar and plug it into my Focusrite Solo and try out the sounds from IK multi medias” new AmpliTube 5. 1st channel, I choose a nice amp. that gave me a warm sound (slight distortion) American Clean MK111 with no effects, for the 2nd channel I chose something really gritty, the Orange RockerVerb 50. with a tape echo and tube drive. This provides the contrast to the song. Now I am ready to rock & roll. With this, I jam or improvise over what I have created, and eventually voila… a wonderfully crafted song emerges, mixed into a wave file and mastered and ready for distribution. 

So am I done? Well yes and no… I … being a composer, want you … the talented guitarist that you are, to be able to play it. Those of you that do not read music … well it’s a snap. You learn it by ear. Those of us not so blessed and trained in reading music, rely on what we call notation… yes reading notes. So now comes the next step. How do I make a notation score and parts from this? I found no easy way to convert midi to notation. So I lay down the chord structure, create the bass line and take what I played and put it into notation. Now I have a score and parts that I can sell you if you wish to purchase it, sometime in the future when I have that part working on my website.

Any questions? Comments? I would love to hear them…email me. 

Keep Safe and Well!

Landis