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What exactly are we recording? I mean if it's just a shred fest, I'm not very into that kind of thing. Who gets to decide?
Do Something Challenge Discussion Thread
- Thread starter DrewJD82
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TSJMajesty
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My understanding is it can be whatever- a riff, a solo, a cover song or part, something of your own, etc. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's up to you. As long as it's not Smoke on the Water.
Which, btw, is Stairway off the table?
Bruce
Shredder
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Many DAWs are subscription based these days and come with everything you need to make at least decent demo quality recordings. Studio One Sphere is 15 bucks a month, you can cancel whenever you want and will come with everything. If you go down this road dont be afraid to ask plenty of questions. With YouTube today there is a huge wealth of beginners tutorials and if its something you’re into, its a ton of fun.
metropolis_4
Shredder
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I love this idea!
I suck big time at writing original material so this sounds like a really fun way to push myself. I don’t know if I have time to keep up with the pace of a weekly submission though.
What do you think of the idea of having themes for at least some weeks submissions?
I’ve done photography challenges in forums before where we’d pick a theme and everyone would submit photos based on that theme, the winner got to pick the next theme. It was a lot of fun having that context and it helped having something like a prompt to get the creativity flowing.
I suck big time at writing original material so this sounds like a really fun way to push myself. I don’t know if I have time to keep up with the pace of a weekly submission though.
What do you think of the idea of having themes for at least some weeks submissions?
I’ve done photography challenges in forums before where we’d pick a theme and everyone would submit photos based on that theme, the winner got to pick the next theme. It was a lot of fun having that context and it helped having something like a prompt to get the creativity flowing.
Bruce
Shredder
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I take the worst approach to writing. I sit down with the guitar with no idea what I’m going to record. Sometimes this results in a brilliant accident. Often it ends up with a deliberate failure because I had no plan. No riff. No song idea. Nothing. Just dead air and see where it takes me. Everything I’ve recorded to date on my own has been that. Some decent, very little actually good and an awful lot in the vault that’ll maybe only pop in here from time to time.
Piing
Roadie
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#41
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Anything you want. It can be a cover, a synth solo over a backing track, a complete song with every instrument that you hired Vai, the ghost of Jaco, and the kid from Hanson on drums, or just a single track of acoustic guitar playing a chord progression you came up with. It just has to be started and completed that week, no reaching in the archives! I’m personally not a big shred guy, half the stuff I write doesn’t even have solos!
There’s no one making any decisions. I haven’t decided how to do points yet, but points are just to keep a tally of who is participating. 1 submission = 1 point, the only thing you win is the satisfaction of knowing you did something creative musically that week. The only competition aspect to it is the healthy competition thing that kicks in when you don’t want to break your record of 2-3 weeks in a row, or when you’re neck and neck with someone else because everyone else dropped out.
And if you only jump in occasionally, at least you’re jumping in!
Hahaha it CAN be Smoke On The Water, but if you’re just playing that riff over and over without going to the verse or chorus…..well, if that’s the extent of one’s capabilities I won’t bust their balls for it, but I have a gut feeling we‘re all above that level at this point.
And Stairway is more than allowed! That’d be f*cking killer!I’m down with themed stuff in the future, but for the beginning I want/need to keep it simple. It’s hard getting everyone’s ideas and trying to incorporate into something that’s going to hit everyone’s wants, I’m more focused on covering all the needs to get as many people contributing as possible. I’d actually welcome a themed challenge to get me out of Cm, Dm or Em all the time.
(Not really joking)We also brought up having 2 challenges running alongside each other, a weekly challenge and a bi-weekly challenge. I know some weeks I’ll be too tapped to put something out, so I might just opt for a bi-weekly one. It’s all just meant to get us playing a bit more than we normally would. Hahaha you’re one of the exceptions to this just from the nature of your work.
Yeah, no worries. It’s not that. It’s easy to mix the words up, I’ve had to correct myself a few times before hitting the reply button. Like I said, healthy competition only. This is all way too subjective of a thing to have a “best” and I think that’d ultimately cause more people to not contribute. I never participate in stuff like that, always feels like it’d be a waste of my time.
Piing
Roadie
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And, before we spend more time on the analysis paralysis of this, the one @DrewJD82 mentioned in the OP from the other forum has evolved over the years. It's more important to get started and tweak it as we go than to spend weeks deciphering the perfect distillation of all the nuanced rules.
You own gear. Use it.
You own gear. Use it.
woody
Roadie
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woody
Roadie
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I find the "blank canvas" difficult, especially in the beginning.I’m down with themed stuff in the future, but for the beginning I want/need to keep it simple. It’s hard getting everyone’s ideas and trying to incorporate into something that’s going to hit everyone’s wants, I’m more focused on covering all the needs to get as many people contributing as possible. I’d actually welcome a themed challenge to get me out of Cm, Dm or Em all the time.
Some kind of theme or parameter to narrow the box could be helpful for some.
It would make sense to make it optional, because not everyone will react to a writing prompt like "30bpm black metal country with flanged reverbs" the same way...
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And, before we spend more time on the analysis paralysis of this, the one @DrewJD82 mentioned in the OP from the other forum has evolved over the years. It's more important to get started and tweak it as we go than to spend weeks deciphering the perfect distillation of all the nuanced rules.
You own gear. Use it.
Yeah, I’m going to finalize stuff today and it’s going to be rather simple. The longer it goes on without me doing so is just bringing more suggestions that are making it harder for me to finalize anything.
TSJMajesty
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Real Meaning: I had to run those 2 new guitars through their paces before I could do anything else!Yeah, I’m going to finalize stuff today and it’s going to be rather simple. The longer it goes on without me doing so is just bringing more suggestions that are making it harder for me to finalize anything.
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Real Meaning: I had to run those 2 new guitars through their paces before I could do anything else!
Hahahahah in that case I need another week or two! I’ve been so busy today I just have little windows of time where I remember I have it and how stoked I am to get home and play it!
TSJMajesty
Rock Star
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I didn't say you were done.
Glad for you man!! That's just a fantastic place to be, when you have something you really look forward to.
Piing
Roadie
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Can you do something in 9/8 with some swing to it?
