favorite new song

[wolfpits]

Hey josh,
You almost got that right. Every fret on a guitar equals a half step. So, capo on the first fret raises the pitch a half step or 1 semitone. Capo on the second fret is one whole step. For example: an open A chord on a standard tuned guitar is an A chord right? well if you capo on the first fret, and play the same A chord shape, but this time its up 1 fret right? Well that now becomes an A#/Bb chord. if you capo on the second fret, and play that open A chord shape up 2 frets now, it now becomes a B chord.

Since mike seems to tune his guitar down a half step for every record so far, his strings are tuned to Eb,Ab,Db,Gb,Bb,Eb. If he wants to take that guitar, and instantly turn it into a standard tuned guitar, add a capo on the first fret and walla!!!! its now E,A,D,G,B,E. You get the point.

there are many reasons why people use capos. first, if you write the song, and later feel like you want to bring the pitch of the song up a little to accomodate your voice better, you use a capo.

secondly, Sometimes, people write with a capo already as part of the guitar because in a certain key, you may not have all major chords of that scale available to you in open position chords. This is why you tend to see capos used much more on acoustic guitars in folk and country type music because open chords are almost always used more than barr chords.

finally, Often times, the chord shapes in a certain key are just plain easier for certain guitar players over other chord shapes and they use a capo to "cheat" a little to make it more comfortable to play.

<font color="#FFFF00" size="1">[ March 03, 2003 09:39 PM: Message edited by: wolfpits ]</font>

[joshroush]

thanks A BUNCH, i get it now, can you explain to me one more thing alittle off topic, im definetly not a singer but would like to be, but (and you may laugh at this ) exactly what does singing on key mean singin the same songs your playin?,

thanks, oh by the way if you got a slow connection dont worry bout it but i gotta instrumental demo on my site www.joshroush.cjb.net, obviously your damn well trained in music any advice or comments are more than welcome. THANX

[wolfpits]

sorry josh, that link did not work. Now for your question. The whole concept of singing in key can be hard to put in laymens terms, but then again, it can be so very easy to understand so i will do my best.

First, if you listen to just about any song ever recorded in any genre, time period, or style, you will notice one thing every time never changes. Those songs all have an established key that the song is performed in. All that means is that the most prevelant chord, otherwise known as the "tonic" or the I chord, is where the song seems to always move away from and then back to.

Perfect example: with headphones, listen to "Ball and chain". This song is in the key of Db (D flat) the entire song, the chord progression takes you from the I chord (the tonic) to the V chord, to the IV chord, and back to the I chord. This means it moves from Db-Ab-Gb-Db. this repeats itself over and over throughout the entire song. The song moves away from and then back to the I chord, the Db, before it starts over and over again. Since the chords keep winding back at the Db, that is the key of this song.

Now, to sing in key with this, listen closely to the melody of the song. I bet you never noticed this, but listen to mike sing every word and hear what chord its sung over. Listen to the words, for example, "Well its been ten years and a". every word in that phrase is sung at pitch to Db and that is the chord playing at that moment. when you go to "thousand tears", listen closely, its sung at pitch to Ab, which is in turn harmonized perfectly with the chord Ab thats playing at that moment. This is what it means to sing in key to the song. Now, your melody of the lyrics dont have to be exactly the same as that chord, but it must HARMONIZE with that chord meaning you sing at a pitch that does not create a dissonence with any note of that chord. Example: if you were trying to HARMONIZE over a G major chord, you know that the G chord contains a root, a third, and a fifth, or a G-B-D, and if your voice was singing an Ab over that chord, well, it would sound dissonent, or just "wrong".

In laymens terms, we know that ball and chain's key is Db, because the guitar progression always starts at, and goes back to, Db before it repeats itself. If mike, at this point, sang the melody and was a little off pitch from the key or the tonic, say a D or a D#, then it would stand out like a sore thumb and he would be painfully singing "out of key".

Hope this helped a little. This is the kind of shit you learn in theory classes.

----steve

[joshroush]

hey thanks a bunch steve ive been wonderin that for a while, do you have any advice how to learn how to sing a pitch (play it on the keyboard and try to match it?)

sorry the link didnt work, i added a comma on the end by accident try this www.joshroush.cjb.net

[wolfpits]

basically, this is what you do to sing a scale, You know, the "do re mi's". pull out your keyboard and, in the privacy of your bedroom (only because from my own experience, i tend to sound like a screaching cat fight). Start by usng the easy C major scale on the keyboard. It is the only key or scale that does not use any sharps or flats. Start at middle C and go up to the octave or beyond singing "do re mi fa so la ti do". you know that right? from the "sound of music" (rent it if you have never seen it. the best musical ever i would say) or from grade school. Each time, listen to your voice and compare its pitch to the corrosponding pitch on the keyboard. If your in school right now, i highly recommend a singing or voice class. if you are attending a community college, there are probably about 3 or 4 to choose from. It helped my voice bigtime.
---steve

[joshroush]

sweet, thanks for takin the time to write all that out its greatly appreciated.

[wolfpits]

Josh,
I commend you for doing that. your demo's sound quality is very very good. I loved the song, very catchy. My first impression was Devo plays surf rock. Very cool. if you know "walk dont run" by the ventures, and if you love devo like i do, you will know exactly what im talking about. Im not at liberty to say what i think could be done differently because everyone has an opinion about that, and mine, or anybody elses shouldnt matter. What matters is you have fun and you like recording. Like i said, it was VERY cool. It is very satisfying to create something and put it down on tape and play it back and enjoy it isnt it?

----steve

<font color="#FFFF00" size="1">[ March 04, 2003 05:54 PM: Message edited by: wolfpits ]</font>

[joshroush]

yes it is, i just recently got a multitrack and its great to finally put down what ive had in my head for years. Im glad you liked it i consider it a real compliment from so who know alot about music and guitars.