Vcl.Melody troubles II see Mindwave21 for I

[timmerman]

Dear Mindwave 21,

Sorry for the new tread, not to create more confussion, but I could only get to reply nr.4 then a filter blocked off all the other replies, so in order to response to your questions I had to set up a new tread, so far the explanation.

To get back to your questions:

If you feel your singing is not up to it and could do with some more strength, why not practise scales with your voice?, just as what you may do with your guitar-playing. It will not do your voice any harm. You could just sing a scale, and play the same scale on the gtr. as well. Another way is to set up a chordsequence and sing over the sequence. Just go for fun rather than perfection. If you keep up this routine for a while you will feel that your vocal melodies will not only be stonger but more natural as well.

Most guys start out as guitar-players, and then later figure out that it takes more than just gtr. to make a song, so they will take up singing, but for some of them guitar will remain first love. Well if you feel that you are in this category accept that your voice will be a little weaker that your guitar-skills.

A little about theory: Yes make sure you know the key of the song you are playing in. But I am sure you know that anyway, just look at first chord or the last one of your song [yes you may even change keys in the middle of the song] and they give the story away.

Now for the vocal-melody, make it stand out, think melodic, you could play it on the gtr. and then sing it back. Some of the other guys who replied mentioned facts about large-or not so large melody jumps. It is all very personal, and depends on taste. If you want to keep your melody natural and smooth go for a small jump [notes following each other or just being a third away from each other], if you want a more dramatic effect use big interval jumps such as an octave or even higher[ you can alway sing the whole melody an octave lower with your voice]

Things to listen to for inspiration? All the old blues-guys, yes as anyone would say, they have a lot of emotion to offer, their technique come just from sheer experience rather than clever studing or hard practise. Then there is the guy who drowned in the Mississippie, in 1994[just forgotten his name but you probably know him anyway] His dad was also a singer/songwriter with a gift for melody as well. Why do I think you should listen to him? It is melodic, raw and smooth at the same time, and also the guy has got a good voice.

Interested to see what you other guys think of this, only hope I will not get any more filters on this side.

Eddie de Timmerman

[mindwave_21]

See your email for the last few responses. Anyways, to reply, I actually have been working on my voice this summer. I've been doing scales, humming, cord adduction and all that jazz (but no lessons) and I've stretched my range from low low F# (2nd fret on 6th string on the guitar) to about middle C (1st fret on 2nd string). However, I've only recently acquired this, so I can't say I've been writing melodies that fit inside this range. I've pretty much learned that the moral of the story is to keep doing it until you're satisfied with what you've written. Apparently it takes 100 songs to write 1 good song. I dunno if that's because of the writing experience or because you've gotten used to what you write .
Later.

[timmerman]

Hi Mindwave 21

Have not got to my mails yet which you send to me, thank you for doing so, I will catch up with them later,

so about the songs: Well if there are certain things you do not like about your writing, let's say, you do not like your choice of harmony, well than you could look into it and find a way to improve upon it, instead of carring on in the same vein. All too obvious eh? Well you could also approach a different way to writing: Let say you tend to work from one location, perhaps you could try writing on different locations. You could take an instrument with you and just travel to a different place [ a friend's house, or somewhere near the coast....] just use your imagination and keep it practical, so if you play piano then a note book may be of more help, since an acoustic piano is a little hard to handle.

Perhaps you could also change your listening habits, and then let the new influences filter through you, see what works for you.

Eddie