Building Your Repertoire - January 8, 2008

[Bing Futch]

What about styles, how do yall customize a song to fit your style?

I'd say, take big liberties and feel comfortable about taking them. In developing your own voice, your style is like the way you speak - it's a combination of learned behavior and your personal interests. Many reggae stars of the 60's and 70's had a love for western culture and their accent was the style that colored the tune. That's why so many tunes like "Help Me Make It Through The Night" and "Angel of The Morning", country tunes, were also big reggae hits.

Just go with the flow - they say "free your mind and the rest will follow." I think it was P-Funk, but I cleaned it up for this forum.

[Bing Futch]

Well its nine oclock...and the forum is now closing

Thanks for starting off the year with a GREAT Forum!!! I learned alot tonight!!!!

Thanks again everyone!!! See ya next month!!

P.S. Feel free to stay around and continue to post

Thanks a bunch, Jeff!

[Joe Collins]

What about styles, how do yall customize a song to fit your style?

Great question! In my previous not, I talked about spending time with a song and allowing it to evolve. It evolves when I experiment with it. Most of my experiments don't make the cut, and I don't "keep" them in the song. But the ones that I really like, I keep. My "style" is built around those little decisions. If you are true to yourself, and play the things that really sound good to you (as opposed to those that please the crowd, or someone else), then your songs will evolve in such a way that they are consistent with your style.

I love lush chords that evoke a lot of emotion. But I also like hearing a lot of separate notes. My style evolves out of those leanings.

[Lucille Reilly]

Joe,

Please explain 'color chords'. Don't think I have heard that term.

Thanks,
Kay

The more I think about color chords, well, actually >anything< can sound colorful! I love the sound of open fifths and find them to be particularly colorful, but this is an interval, not even a chord! So, any sound is a color. In fact, some people attach colors to different major or minor keys or modes. Something to think about!

[Jeff Hames]

Goodnight everyone.....