A dance song instrumental to end the album with. Why not, eh? It is Fridy after all.
What makes this sound Celtic, in the ears of the moon? The triplets in the guitar picking and the drums. The pentatonic-based riffs. The tempo (210 bpm, the fastest song on the album.) The emphasis of melody over harmony.
Why surf? The pedal of the E string throughout (I’m playing this on a 7 string so I have the luxury of pedaling on E but going lower for the ‘barrel’ riff), the tempo and guitar tone. And because it’s all inspired by surf. And our relationship with the sea. It’s very much inspired by the Earth. Each of the riffs is a different phase of surfing a wave. Both a literal and a metaphorical wave. That’s what I’m going for, anyway.
This is a fun song to play. In fact, last night I came up with a new riff that I will work into the final version. Me likey. I’ve had one of the main riffs in here for a while - it used to be called ‘Cave Frolic’ - hence ‘Sea Frolic’ now. I came up with the other guitar parts in the last couple of weeks. The wailing lead guitar part in the distance / background is improvised. I did a few takes. I liked this one the best, mostly because of the way I drone out near the ending on a single chord. It’s supposed to be a little chaotic. Waves are chaotic.
The bass was fun. Semi-improvised, I would say. I had practiced it a lot going in, but not this fast, so I stumbled in parts and had to improvise, but decided to go with it anyway. I think mistakes add character. But then I’m not a good player so I would say that haha! I am no bass player. I play bass on the album because I have to. (But I do love to play bass, nonetheless). Likewise, I’d love to play with a real drummer. I’m working on it.
Here’s just the drums and bass:
It’s long and self-indulgent, like many of many songs. But at least this time I spared you the singing and lyrics this time. It’s the transition song between this album, Dark. And the next album, Light. Light is about me turning it around.
Keeping in mind that obviously I’m just making this up as I’m going along because I don’t know what I’m doing, I should explain my ‘creative process’. My songs arise from guitar riffs that I come up and glue together into songs. Then I practice the song - it’s never the same way twice. Then when I think I have a good song, I come up with a drum track, and record it. I usually do a few takes - they are different. I select the best one.
Then, I add a bass line. I usually semi-improvise this too, selecting the best take. Then, if I have vocals, I record them next.
Finally, I add/modify drums and fills for a while, then fiddle with buttons in Ableton for a while, and then eventually I run out of patience and energy and it is ‘done’.
I hope you like!
These are demos. I know that when it comes to recording for real, and playing this with others, I will have to stick to and learn the parts. I just found a reasonably efficient process to get my amateurish music ideas down into (hopefully!) listenable songs. The next phase begins ….
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