Hello,
I'm a high school student and our class was recently introduced to the Blues scale. I was interested in this style of music, so I looked for a music creation program on the Internet. I've used other programs before, such as Anvil Studio, but Psycle seems to be the best (freeware) program.

I've worked with it for about two weeks and done a good deal of experimenting. Just recently I finally tried to write a Blues song. Having never written or played (heck, barely even listened) to the Blues before, I'm having quite a bit of difficulty. If you would like to download what I've written so far, here is the link:

http://navigator.destronmedia.com/accion...ccion=descargar

Here are some questions:

1. Is it possible to make a sample loop for a certain amount of measures (i.e. this would be helpful for drumbeats)
   
2. What is the best method for doing percussion in Psycle? I've used the drum synth and 'Shakers', but the things you'd commonly see on a drumset seem to be missing, such as a bass drum, snare, cymbal, etc. Is it necessary to create all of these by setting the parameters of certain machines?
   
3. Is there an uploader on this site? If not, where do most people upload their songs?
   
4. Chords. (See below)

I can play the trumpet and baritone horn well, and I picked up guitar about a year ago, but I've never played piano and don't have a very good concept of chords. I understand that they are a vertical arrangment of notes (textbook answer ) , but I don't know what makes a "good chord" and what makes a "bad chord".

I appreciate the help!

__________________
If there's a meaning to life, it must involve music.

OurStage!

Welcome to Psycledelics

The best thing to use for percussion is samples. Find some high quality samples of the drums you're after (there's loads of free ones about!).

A good place to upload your mp3s is www.soundclick.com.

I've written a tutorial about chords and their usage here:

http://www.serious-sounds.net/forums/ind...?showtopic=5493

Once you get the hang of some of the common types of chords, then you might like to read up on chord progressions

__________________

www.quantinuitymusic.com

Thank you!

__________________
If there's a meaning to life, it must involve music.

OurStage!

I haven't taken a look at the tutorial, but I might be able to help with Blues stuff - ie the chord progressions mentioned above. i'll try and put it into an easy to digest Rock-and-roll context.

Chord progressions are patterns in which chords can be played. the most common chord progression in Rock music is a I-IV-V chord progression. Simple rock songs like "Louie Louie" are minor variations (I-IV-V-IV) but still stick to the basic 3 chords. It's even evident with more modern music. Lots of Punk, such as "Beat on the Brat" by the Ramones is pure I-IV-V.

A majority of blues is 12 bar blues, and loosely follows a I-IV-V progression. So if you take your major scale as such (Using the C Major Scale as an example)

code:


I  II  III  IV  V  VI  VII  VIII

C  D    E   F   G  A    B    C

a I - IV - V pattern consists of C, F and G

A generic 12-bar blues song (akin to songs like "Kansas City", "The Thrill is Gone", etc) all use the following 12 bars as a basis:

code:


    1        2        3       4 

  I (C)    I (C)    I (C)   I (C)

            or

          IV (F)





    5        6        7        8

 IV (F)   IV (F)   I (C)    I (C)





   9        10       11       12

  V (G)   IV (G)    I (C)   I (C)

                             or

                            V (G)

And of course the reason Chord progressions are numbered, is because it makes it easier to transpose. watch:

code:


         I  II  III  IV  V  VI  VII  VIII

C Major: C  D    E   F   G  A    B    C

F Major: F  G    A   Bb  C  D    E    F

A Major: A  B    C#  D   E  F#   G#   A

Thus, if you know your major scale, you can easily build/transpose your chord progression into a different key. They will still have the same tonal distance, so they sound relatively the same.

End of lesson
-----------

Of course blues is much more complex - there's 8 bar blues, there's Jazz (Which in it's basic form is technically a form of blues). Rock music is HEAVILY blues based - Listen to Chuck Berry, The Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Big Sugar.... The list goes on. Blues is a fundamental part of today's music... Why else would Aerosmith make an album like "Honkin' on Bobo", or Eric Clapton make an entire album of Robert Johnson cover tunes....

As a side note, Robert Johnson is a very interesting blues artist of his time. Supposedly, he sold his soul to the devil in order to learn how to play guitar. It doesn't hurt that image with songs like "Crossroads", "Me and the Devil Blues", "Hellhound on my Trail... All worth a listen.

------------
And an aside for High School music (and completely off topic, but I feel like corrupting the youth of today ):

If by chance you start talking about the Beatles, and why parents found them evil (aside from drugs, etc), they actually have some horrible lyrics and themes to their music. Here's a few songs that didn't make it too big, but parents would certainly object to:

Run for Your Life - "I'd Rather see you dead, little girl , than to be with another man.... You'd better run for your life if you can, Little girl. Hide your head in the sand, little girl. If I catch you with another man, that's the end, Little girl."

Getting Better - "I used to be cruel to my woman I'd beat her and kept her apart from the things that she loved".... The rest of the lyrics after this one make it seem like it's really hard not to beat your woman and treat her badly. This song is actually pretty well known... Especially after a recent car commercial featuring this song. And I thought Paul McCartney was against Cruelty to anything.....

Happiness is a Warm Gun - 'nuff said

Helter Skelter - The Charles Manson theme song - arguably the first punk/metal song written. This one is the perfect arguement if YOUR parents/teacher don't mind you listening to the Beatles, but won't let you listen to Punk music today.... Heck all these would be worthy of being banned by a school or parent... But, EVERYBODY LOVES the Beatles these days..... They were such nice polite boys... Uh wait... Maybe they weren't...

See? there's more than one reason to listen to oldies...

__________________
I thought you beat the inevitability of death to death, just a little bit...

Heh, I actually did know about the Beatles' songs. Got to Get You Into My Life and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (naturally), are about marijuana and LSD, respectively.

Personally, though, I'm more of a Pink Floyd/Yes fan. I also like Radiohead and a few indie bands like Clinic, The Helio Sequence, and Built to Spill.

(Among others)

Changing subject:
Seen as the 12 bar blues are the most common, I guess I'll go with that. I'm using an E♭ Major scale in this song, but I could easily start over to make it easier for myself (I'm only about 30 seconds into the song).

Thanks for the help. I appreciate it very much.

__________________
If there's a meaning to life, it must involve music.

OurStage!