john

Very good Roberto. Beautifully produced, as usual! My only real suggestion was that vocally the chorus, especially the first chorus, felt to reserved, too flat (dynamically, emotionally, not pitch wise). One Of these days I would love to see you doing some originals!

Hi and welcome to the Songstuff family Gabe. As a software developer and songwriter I share your passions! At least those ones Is it a mobile app? Web app? What platform/framework are you using? Where do your skills lie? Funnily enough I was talking to one of the other Songstuff staff who also shares these passions about the scope for VST, VSTi development and for songwriting and music marketing mobile and web apps for Songstuff. To be fair we have talked about and dabbled in software for a number years. My problem has always been I have no end of good ideas for products, and not enough time to do them and run Songstuff. We have some awesome info/training/services in development, some pretty well ready... who knows, maybe after that we will get back to some Songstuff software. We have a great platform, it would be a travesty not to do more with it! Perhaps we will add 3rd party software to our shop first? Sooo many choices, all of them good lol Cheers John

Hey Praz Welcome to Songstuff! Great to have you with us. Cheers John

Hey SCN, welcome to the Songstuff family!

Hey Richard, great to have you with us.

Welcome to the Songstuff family Jeremy!

Welcome to Songstuff Ahmad!

I enjoy some bluegrass. A guilty pleasure of a few albums I play from time to time. I do enjoy playing the odd tune on guitar too.

Hey Michael / Don? Welcome to Songstuff. Looking forward to hearing some of your tunes

Have a good gig my friend! Are you playing any originals or is it a covers band?

Hi, welcome to the Songstuff family! Where are you based? What kind of music do you like/write? Have you been writing long?

Hey Samuel, welcome to the Songstuff family! How can we help you?

Technology has been at the centre of so many musical innovations. People have asked the same thing about every single one of them. They question the creation of the synthesiser. They questioned the electrification of the guitar. They questioned the various stages of the evolution of the piano. I suspect the question was asked when log drummers first thought to stretch animal skin over a wooden shell. I think you lose something when what is learned using previous music tech is bypassed, and then forgotten. For musicians at the transition, you carry with you the knowledge of that former tech. It bleeds from one tech to the other. We try to apply previous knowledge and experience using that new tech and gradually new methodologies emerge, and tools are used at specific times for specific purposes. Often it is survival of the fittest, but sometimes we keep using both. Where we do lose is when laziness dominates, where convenience wins over art. Where we collectively lose out is in the new generation who only know that new tech and don’t bother to learn the lessons of previous tech. I don’t know any guitarists who bothered learning the lute, for example... but I know many who play both acoustic guitar and the electric guitar.. which is one of those few examples where both old and new remain popular... largely due to the instruments and applications being quite different and complimentary. The closer the tech the more likely the survivor (not always the new tech) will replace the old tech, not sit beside it. Of course iPads etc are general tech that augment the working environment, or have some sort of music making application often based on leveraging someone else’s knowledge or skills. For example a loop based sequencer. Such apps allow even unskilled (though sometimes inspired) users to create music that their lack of musical skill in other arenas just wouldn’t allow. It is here, more than in other ways, that such music tech provides the possibility of creating something reasonable based upon nothing other than the creator’s taste. They need no skill at all. That is an issue in science almost as much as music these days, though I will grant you that the contrast in the music arena is much more stark. No amount of telling people that they are best served by learning at least the fundamentals will encourage them to spend time on something that feels glacial and distant in terms of the results versus effort. In this day and age of speed and convenience, skill development is an under-represented choice or outcome. Just saying

Hey Luis Welcome to the Songstuff Family!

Good info, though some demonstrations would be very useful. It would help make it more engaging too. A good start. I did love the liquid center lol made me laugh. It injects a welcome light hearted sense of humour in what is a dry topic.

Hey Nenopro welcome to the Songstuff family! Great to have you with us Glad you are liking the forums too! Cheers John

Doh! I forgot to say.... welcome to Songstuff!

I look forward to it

Hey Lemonstar I’m working on a few on the keys: Stevie’s Wonder “Superstition” The Doors “Riders On The Storm” Led Zeppelin “No Quarter” also I’ve generally been teaching myself boogie woogie on the piano. Instead of dots on a page I’m very much learning this as left hand patterns and right hand licks. It;s a good fun style to play. and on the guitar an arrangement of The Beatles “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, Improving my own arrangement of Radiohead “No Surprises” and Led Zeppelin “Ramble On” There’s another few for other instruments. Expanding my range of beats on my Bodhran. I need a new mandolin. My last was dropped and badly damaged. Unplayable. Most annoying. That reminds e, I have to get a new bass guitar. Sorry. I am wandering off topic lol

Lol as topics go, it’s been a slow-burner. Don’t be too hard on yourself!

The lyrics board historically had a lot of Work In Progress lyrics, but the Song Critique grew from the recording and production board, and I think members often fell they had to produce far more of a finished track. We certainly used to get more tracks in progress, but you are right that the dominant usage has been for more complete tracks... which is not the intended purpose. I have created a trial restructure that currently only staff can see. Once happy, I will push it out for all members to see. In that restructured set up, all Critique boards are sub boards of Work In Progress categories. The proposed strategy uses redirects to the existing boards, at least as a way to bridge to a final re-.org, or possibly to sit alongside the existing structure. As a parallel stream effectively adds more visible boards, that would not be my preference. The fuller restructuring would also see a few boards merged, which is not something we can simulate. When we present it to members for feedback, we’ll post up the full proposal. If it were a minor change we would probably just go ahead and do it... but as this is forums wide, I want to get member’s input. The dual set up is likely to last up to a month to allow members to really try as much of that new structure as possible, and to become as familiar with it as possible. If you don’t mind I would like to move this convo to it’s own thread as it is becoming a bit off topic now?

Welcome to the Songstuff family Valderine!

Hi i wondered what your biggest challenge would be? Is it relating to writing a song (Lyrics writing, music writing, combining the two), or recording and producing a song, or perhaps getting a handle on the business side of music? Perhaps it lies with performing, or getting gigs, or maybe it is growing or connecting with fans? In all honesty, by personal biggest challenge is time! Cheers John

Who would you say is your favourite artist(s)? Are they a major influence on your songs? Your sound? I ask because when I think of most of my favourite artists, although I can spot some influences, I don’t think my music has any of them as a really strong flavour. Weird! Some artists are very obviously influenced by one or two artists. Where do you sit in the grand scheme of things?

Not that I remember, but it is a good idea. I agree that garnering praise is not what it should be about. It certainly isn't what we want to encourage.... constructive discussion with analysis and qualiity suggestions is the aim. We plan to add a how to video to drive improvement in the critique board, and a promo campaign to recruit focused member groups. All should help. We do have some good contributing members... indeed a few honed their critique skills here... but we can always do with more