Here’s a song idea that I threw together a few weeks ago. I’m usually very hesitant and actually quite shy when it comes to letting people hear my stuff but I’m just going to throw this out there, as an exercise in “opening up” and for the curious interest in the opinions of others.
I only wrote enough lyrics to lay down the vocals but I’m going to finish the lyrics at a later time, once I choose the arrangements of the song.
Any comments, good or bad, are welcome.
Very uplifting! 
Sounds a bit like a cross between Pink Floyd and Alice in Chains
Great melodies, beautiful harmonies. I like the simple song structure, and I like the sounds you’ve gotten overall. The melodies are very catchy.
It’s really a case of getting the lyrics and the arrangement to create interest and variation. I imagine you’ll write some more lyrics to flesh out the song’s story a little better…
The rhythms sound like they need a bit of work to get the parts to gel altogether - it’s a little loose at present, timing-wise. The bass is rushing, which kind of works against the laid back feel of the song.
Cool track!
Sounding good. I look forward to hearing the progress.
Cool song! I do think the tempo could go up a few bpm. I realize it’s a slow song and vibe, but it seems to drag a bit. I’d probably put an 1/8th note hi-hat (or click) in there at least for tracking purposes, you can always remove it later. With a slow groove, timing does become very noticeable.
This is the comment I was waiting for, and was expecting to hear eventually. But apparently I didn’t have to wait very long for someone to catch it! 
I wanted to see how apparent the looseness was to other"s ears. To me, it sounds like the song is going horribly off the rails at certain points. It reminds me of a crooked house that’s about to topple over. The timing issues are mostly with the acoustic guitar, but it makes the bass sound out of time…and also makes the drums sound out of time even though the drums are just a midi loop. I haven’t gotten around to the drum arrangement yet.
Thanks for your comments! I appreciate it!
I’ll come back to this song in the future to straighten it out and complete it.
Thanks for listening!
That thought had crossed my mind. I might consider picking up the tempo slightly but I like the depressing, dragging vibe for this song. Maybe a very slight increase in BPM would benefit the song though.
Oh definitely! It can feel awkward to play the really slow grooves, especially when you typically play much faster. This song almost feels like it’s moving in slow motion.
Thanks for the comments, Stan!
Wonderful ooohs at the beginning, Wicked! You voice has a Stone Temple/Metallica vibe but a tad higher.
I like the slow speed, and even though it’s already 5:17, I can imagine a gradually ramp up on the tempo at the very end and going out with a big heavier rock guitar/vocal/drums/bass verse with some final epically wise lyric for about one more minute or two. To me, that would erase the drag problem and make it a feature. I’d even consider ending it on a totally new chord for extra grandness. Why? Because it is a very good idea and can handle that extra treatment.
I totally see where you’re coming from with the ideas for song arrangements. They make perfect sense to me. I had planned on adding a distorted guitar to the chorus, to accentuate the mood and make it more dramatic. Maybe I’d leave the distorted guitars out of the first chorus but use them in the following choruses.
I like your idea of slowly ramping up the tempo towards the end and making it a heavy outro. Maybe I’ll create a vocal at the end of the song that builds to a dramatic, epic ending. I’m going to be using midi drums for this song because all I have here is an electronic kit and they sound way too artificial. It’s almost impossible to create decent dynamics with my electronic kit. I used to play and record using my brothers acoustic kit when he had them over here at my place, but lately I’ve just been using the free version of SSD midi drums. I don’t know how to increase the BPM as the song progresses but I’ll research that topic. I’ve got a few original songs that have abrupt time changes and I’ve been meaning to figure out how to record midi drums with those kind of tempo swings.
I’ve got about 15 songs that I’m in the midst of recording at the moment and I’ve got another enormous amount that I have to get recorded after I’ve finished these songs. All my songs have their vocal melodies and chords fully realized but I have to create arrangements for many of them…It feels like an overwhelming task and I tend to get lazy when things feel overwhelming. My favourite part of the process is writing the song. When it comes to the recording part I become swamped by alternate arrangement ideas, harmonies, guitar parts, bass lines, drum arrangements…(there’s an endless array of ideas to consider). Lyrics are my least favourite thing to write, so that’s probably why I have quite a few songs with half written lyrics. Vocal melodies, harmonies , guitar and bass are my favourite things to work on…There’s literally endless possibilities with songwriting, arrangements and production. The volume of ideas that go through my brain tends to overwhelm me and I become OCD with the most ridiculous things. It feels like a real chore when I’m recording an original song if I think it’s a good song…I feel much more relaxed when I’m recording an original song that I don’'t like very much. Most of the other songs that I’m recording right now are ones that I like and they’re also more complete than this one, so I’ll be working on them for now, but I will be revisiting this song sooner or later, so that I can get a stronger version of it.
Thanks for taking the time to listen and comment!
Hi could have had the voices come in a little later and don’t need that many. Gray hair?? ha ha Like to hear more variety in that verse although soung well. Pink Floyd? Great harmonies. Decay?? I feel like I should be smokin something??? Great vibe with this. Nothing to pick at with this. Is that a real bass? sounds like it. Song too long for me…had to leave at 3:30 Good stuff bud
Now that you mention it, it does sound kind a of like a stoner’s song. Haha
Yes, the bass is real.
These really slow songs take a lot of time to play out. I understand the urge to leave a song that goes on too long though. It requires a high degree of interest and/or commitment from the listener to hang in there through the whole song. I usually get the urge to pull the plug on a song if it goes on too long unless I’m fully committed to the artist or if I’m just chilling out…Usually I’m too restless to fully commit.
Haha, only in my beard, so far.
Thanks for your comments Paul!
I understand where you’re coming from on writing the “song” as opposed to nailing down an arrangement. That’s not my forte either, and not being so great at all the performance aspects doesn’t help either.
But if you use Reaper, I discovered how easy it was to ramp the tempo. Not as easy for my drum kit to change from a 7/4 to a 4/4 beat though, but going from 100 bpm to 102 or 110 or whatever is quite easy.
Can you tell me how to change the BPM half way through the song? For instance if I have a BPM of 105 BPM for the first 2 minutes and want to switch to 125 BPM at that point, what would I have to do?
First, you right-click in the time track at the top on the 2 minute mark. Then you select Insert tempo/time signature marker menu item. On that screen you type in 125 in the bpm box and you are done! That will change the tempo immediately.
If you also wanted to then gradually increase the tempo from 125 to 140 starting at at the 4 minute mark to reach 140 at the 4:30 mark, you right-click on the time track at the top at 4:00, set the bpm to 125, but this time also check the box that says Gradually transition tempo to the next marker… Then right-click on the time track at 4:30 and set the bpm to 140,
I hope that helps!
I know you can also change the time to 6/8 from 4/4, but that might do strange things to your drums. At least it does for me.
Awesome! Thanks so much for sharing that info with me. I really appreciate it !