john

Hey Chris, welcome to the Songstuff family! Good to have you with us! go ahead and post up your song. If you use @john in your post I will get notified and will comment. out of interest, how are you getting the strings? Simple string patch? Does the patch have inline effects? Loads of preset patches already have effects included. You might get an improvement switching off those effects. When I can, if going for a degree of authenticity, I create separate string parts (1st and 2nd violins, Viola, cello, bass. It gives a much better sound overall imo.) What type of EQ & settings are you using? Effects? What sort of sound are you going for and what issues are you having? If you can include all of the above In your post it would be appreciated and it might save some time.

So, I saw your topic again and, rightly or wrongly, thought you were dissatisfied with the outcome. I realised, I don’t really know what you are asking? Are you looking for a collaborator? In which case perhaps a post to our collaboration board might be a good idea. Are you looking for suggestions over what you could do with a finished song? For example record and copyright the song in order to pitch the song to performers, versus keep it to be included in an album release of your own material, for example. What are your goals for your music? If you have goals, they would largely determine your next steps. If you don’t have goals, set some. If nothing else it would set some limits and allow you to draw a line under your songs.

Hey Marko! Welcome to the Songstuff family:) Do you play any instruments? What are your goals for your music?

Hey Mac, I think you already instinctively know the probable outcome. Length wise, it certainly seems a long enough section for the basis of a claim. From what you describe it would seem to fall under accidental plagiarism (though that would be the basis of an infringement defence... to be determined by court). The level of the infringement would be largely determined by a musicologist’s report to the court.... all of which would be in response to a claim by the copyright owner. I do not know the song in question. When was it written? Do you know if it is still in copyright? If it is no longer in copyright then simple attribution might be enough... though you have to be careful. For example, if there already is an adaption that is still in copyright, you would be infringing that. This is, of course, all the more legalistic perspective. Then there is the court of public opinion. If you think that even remotely, awareness of this song could have somehow influenced your song, then you should give attribution... and that too is an indicator of the likelihood of a court determining that your work is a derivative work. Intentional or unintentional is a separate determination. Being fair is central to the ethical/moral issue. If you are fair you will generally guide yourself appropriately. The legal position would have to be determined by a court, however, if you can see the similarity, so will a musicologist, jury and judge. In other words, I would expect any infringement case to be more about level of compensation and future licensing. Does that help?

Good luck to you both! I was just hanging back... observing lol Good forums, good relationships and good music all mature with age. Sure there is the odd thing with instant appeal that burns bright, but often it just takes a little patience. There’s time wasters in all fields, and sure they chaff, they burn, but fortunately not everyone is like that. Luckily some are brilliantly awesome people who have no idea just how good they really are.

Hey Jacob, welcome to the Songstuff family! Sounds like you have a load of interesting experience. I look forward to hearing some of your tracks!

Hey Pinto, welcome to the Songstuff family! Your chord changes are generally pretty clean. The notes sound pretty clear. So well done for that. Nicely done for such a new player. A few things: relax your right arm your left hand thumb should not be sticking up. Some players, including Hendrix, use their thumb differently but it can cause problems s. It only worked for Hendrix because he had large hands. For good technique your thumb should be running parallel to the frets, but at the back of the neck. Exactly where depends on the chord/scale, but the pad of your thumb would be just above the center line for say a D chord, and almost at the bottom of the neck, between fret 1 and fret 2 (nearer fret 1) for an E chord. It’s almost like your left hand creates a giant letter C, so that as your fingers reach towards the top of the fret board onto the low E string, your thumb slides towards the bottom edge of the neck, and as your fingers sit on the High E string, your thumb slides above the Center line of neck, where the heel of the thumb pad is on the center line. Try and keep a gap of a finger’s width between your fingers and the fret board, with your fingers pressing into the fret board at as close to a right angle as possible. You need to practice scales. I suggest the major scale, the minor scales and the pentatonic scale, also called the blues pentatonic. Try practising everything 3 ways. 1. Slow, accurate and clear. (You can look at your left hand While you play) 2. As fast as you can play, mistakes and all (You can look at your left hand while you play) 3. As quickly as you can play WITHOUT making any mistakes, up to the actual speed it is meant to be played. (You are not allowed to look at your left hand. Pick a point to look at and keep looking at it. A maxim to live by: An amateur practices until they get it right. A professional practices until they can’t get it wrong There’s loads more but that is some distilled brilliance right there lol

Hey Mac, welcome to Songstuff

Nah, it's all good John. I understand.

Hi John, a big welcome to the Songstuff family! It's a pretty large site but the members are a great bunch of people and the staff are always happy to help. Can I ask what your goals are for your song writing? Purely fun or something more?

Hey Nicolas, welcome to the Songstuff family. I look forward to hearing some of your music. What sort of music are we talking? Who are your influences?

@Mahesh, @Peggy, @geographyhorse, @Steve, @Steve Mueske @Cody @Michan @Nightwolf @thelevellers @tomcollins @Rebekah @Danidog @Richard Watashi @SYMO @fasstrack @ImKeN To name just a few... It would be good to get a broad collection of answers to thses questions. Please "invite" other members by including their member name as above in your replies and by pointing members and non-members to this topic with a simple link. Much appreciated!

So much of what musicians do, either from a performance aspect and especially as a writer, we are constantly looking inwards and outwards. We take real world scenarios and project ourselves into those secenarios, we empathise with the characters in our own songs. We also deal with undependable income, lack of support and poor working conditions. The changes due to covid-19 only accentuate the problems and amplify feelings of isolation. "Fake it to make it" can help. Puting on a smile does make a difference, but an important aspect of this approach is action, doing something while you are smiling. We cannot control most events around us. Often we might feel at the mercy of our feelings and how we react to events, but we can learn new ways of doing things, change how we react. Unfortunately, waiting for change to just happen leaves it to chance. If you work on it, you can make much more positive, definitive change. Now, if those changes also help your performance and your writing, boost your mental wellbeing, your resilience and they don't cost you financially... why not at least try them?

Hey gang I thought it might be interesting exploring our relationship with Music, why we love it so much, what it is that makes it so special to us? So for example, how old were you when you got the bug? Was it something in particular tha opened you up to the world of music? What about what opened you up to the world of music creation? Why has it been so eduring? Did you ever dream big? Do you still? Cheers John

Hey Mike, welcome to the Songstuff family! Good to meet you.

Hi Lou and a big welcome to the Songstuff family!

You are very welcome Lisa

The bit that always annoys me is the install paths for plug ins. What is the point of industry standards when companies install to their own chosen folders.

Hey Joseph, welcome to the Songstuff family!

You can blame me for two!

Sounds like a fun project!

You'll find your notification settings are pretty granular giving a good level of control

Yeah Studio One is probably the DAW that has given the most thought to the user interface. The older DAWs I think are more set in their ways.

Hey Cody, a big welcome to the Songstuff family I'm looking forward to hearing some tracks! If you ahve any questions about the site etc. just give me or any of the staff a shout