Danidog

This sounds interesting. I wouldn't mind participating to whatever extent I can right now. In a few weeks as I heal I'll be able to more fully participate. Seems like anyone doing what we do would want to learn how to market themselves. I know I'm at the eleventh hour personally, would love to have had this opportunity years ago. I also know a local young lady who seems somewhat driven to build a following locally, I'll pass this on to her also.

Randy was one of the artists I looked for when I was active here in the past. Really enjoyed getting to know him in a more personal format (the vid interview). Good stuff, keep on keeping on,Randy! Well done, John!

I agree totally. But, I ask myself, who makes the 'rules' of too much similarity? How did they arrive at that conclusion? A title is not copyrightable, nor chord progressions. And, as someone earlier stated there are a limited number of notes to be placed in some particular order. Not really looking for a definitive answer here, just wondering about the legalities of the issue and how they 'divided the baby'. On a personal level, I want a work to be my creation, not someone else's that I changed the words to. For me, I make the rules for whether or not something is too similar and my standards are tougher (I think) than the legal system since I don't even want chord progressions to be same/similar. Interesting thread

Since this topic was started, I started actively looking for works with very similar chord progressions. I am amazed. A "typical" rock and roll progression of C,Am,F,G,C, and a dash of E7 has MANY very recognizable songs (I'm up to five with that particular set of chords. Two examples would be L. Cohen's HALLELUJAH, and a song made popular by Marty Robbins (and others) named, YOU GAVE ME A MOUNTAIN (not sure who wrote it). Still looking or more to fit this progression.

Thanks to both of you for that insight. The process for me is very much as you described for yourself, Peggy. Sometimes it is a word or phrase that is emotionally driven and sometimes while I'm just freewheeling on the guitar, a melody developes along with the word(s), or thoughts. Was curious if everyone "hears" their song. Thanks again...

I know there are a number of people here who write lyrics but not the music for their songs, and was wondering, do you hear a melody when you write or after you write? Or, how does that work for you? Regards, Dan

Thanks John, you just made sense of what my audiologist tried to tell me two months ago but she was talking way over my comprehension level and she's not a musician so she could not relate to what I was trying to tell her, so her explanation didn't include a solution other than, 'you need a hearing aid'. Thanks for pointing me in the direction I need to go to improve. Dan

Hey, thanks guys for all the input. Part of my 'daily' now consists of keyboard with a third above and a third below to teach myself to be able to hear it in a different way than I used to be able to (also helps me with pitch correcton). Monitors are being worked into the budget, so, for right now I'll just leave off the harmony parts in the uploads until I get this resolved. I used to mess about a bit with old harmonizers (10+ years ago) and I agree with David, they were iffy at best and were better for special effects rather than a true harmony part. I was looking on youtube at the TC Helicons and ran across a few demo's from Laura Clapp and it looks like the harmonizers have come a long way since I used one. She does a very decent job with it (good enough to be a company rep for them). My ear isn't good enough to tell if it is 'good enough' to get by, but seems decent enough to me. I know nothing can take the place of the real thing, but it may have some usable application for me in the future So, the monitor will come first and then I may look at TC's Harmony G-XT just to play around with. Thanks for your time and efforts, as always you guys make this site the go-to source for those of use trying to better ourselves and our music. Dan

Hi@ all, I used to do a lot of backup harmony in the two bands I sas associated with years ago (bluegrass/folk). Over time, I've lost much of my hearing (all in left, more than 50% in right). So, it's difficult for me to stay on pitch singing lead unless I am in a very familiar key (which tends to be G or D). When I try to stretch out into other keys, there is no muscle memory there for it and I tend to be flat. With backup vocals, I am hit and miss due to the hearing thing. So, I've been looking for a way to be able to harmonize with myself to some degree of competence. I've been looking at some of the vocal harmonizers and was wondering what you all think of their ability to produce an acceptable harmony and would you consider this 'cheating'? I also realize that I'm only going to get out of the device what I can input to it vocally. Appreciate your thoughts, Dan

So, I'm sitting here grooving to the tune and wifie walks by and does a double take. She spots the quilt in the background and starts going on about THAT. Go figure...,. Good stuff!

Hope I'm posting this in the right place. I've been wondering, let's say you are a lyricist looking for someone to put a melody to your words. And, lets say you have an 'idea' of how you want your lyrics/song to sound. How do you express or convey your vision for your lyrics? Or, do you just turn it over to them and say, "have at it"? Most of the time when I'm writing lyrics, I'm fuddling around with the guitar and from somewhere the lyrics and melody start coming in. Usually, it's just an idea, one sentence I turn into a verse and then it grows from that point forward. So, for those of you who 'do it' with or for others, how does THAT process work? Thanks, Dan

I know, old thread. I tried to use a SM58 with a cable adapter to the usb port. All I got was white noise. The driver loaded correctly and the computer and software recognized the mic, but still no go. Went out today and got an AT 2020 usb. I know it's budget stuff, but sounds lightyears ahead of the internal mic on my laptop. I was worried that it wouldn't work with my Windows 7 as I'd read posts to that effect online. Didn't have any problem with it, loaded fine and started using it right away.

I was oh-so-very pleased when I posted my first 'song' here. I couldn't have imagined that I'd do so well with the chord progression and melody, because typically, I use a very basic I, IV, V pattern of major chords (yeah, I write and play very basically and simply). On this song, I used majors and minors and man, did that thing sound GOOD to me! Until, David (Hobo Sage) pointed out that my song chord progression and melody was VERY similar to THE WRECK OF THE EDMUND FITZGERALD by G. Lightfoot. Now, I live in fear of 'stealing' someone elses melody, I owe David a debt of gratitude for catching that for me (and other things as well...). This is a great site, I'm so happy to have found it and am learning more every day. Thanks to all of you who make this site what it is.

Rudi, Take this method you are describing, keep expanding and teaching as you go until you have fifty or sixty pages and then market it as a short on overcoming writer's block, or how to develop ideas for your next book or song and publish it as an ebook and you'll have a success on your hands. great idea

My reply will be short, ergo, not as intelligent nor detailed and may not even be factual. I've always believed that the replicated models were taken from the 'cream that rose to the top'. If they were popular, they were popular for a reason, like playability, dependability, sound, etc. I don't know much about the electrics, although I did almost buy a real Les Paul many years ago. We are seeing the same recurring theme of replications in acoustics that you mention for the E's, Rudi. Some are from the parent companies of the originals. THAT, I find strange...,