Cool Amber! You've got a wild imagination, friend

Random thought:
In keeping in the vein of the current personal music discussion in the addicted thread, without clouding the thread - Have any of yous guys wrote a neat riff/song/phrase etc. that you thought was really cool when you wrote it, but when you come back to it later, and it it doesn't seem quite as cool as when you initially wrote it?
Often if I think something is good enough to write down, I am happy with it. But sometimes...
That usually happens when waking abruptly from a deep sleep, and think of something; write it down, think it's brilliant. Then I try to play it the next day, if I can even read it. Upon playing it, it becomes apparent that I was totally still asleep when I wrote it down, and it makes no sense at all


It's the worst when you write down something really cool, and you really like it; but if you write in tabs, the rhythm isn't annotated - and is sometimes forgotten - rendering the riff hard to remember, or lost a bit.
I suppose it's either write things down in proper musical notation, or get a recording device.

First thing, get Guitar Pro. Pay for it if you want, but you can download it just about anywhere.

Guitar pro is the best thing you can use for composition if you're writing by yourself and want to just remember riffs correctly.

Have you used it for long?

I've been using it for years now, and honestly... HOW THE HELL CAN COMPOSERS BE WITHOUT IT?!

Firstly, Can you imagine a "pro" band like, i dunno, Meshuggah, sitting down on a computer with GP loaded up, listening back to what will be their next groundbreaking, loved and followed by thousands, new album in MIDI. It just makes me chuckle... such an "average joe" software for such "Gods"

But at the same time, how the hell can they write albums like that without it?! I mean, i'm sure they have their methods, either transcribing or rough recordings etc. But riffs like that... It'd just confuse the hell outta me. I'd need something like GP...

I'm certain i'll be using it (or similar) for the rest of my composing life.

Is it just me though?.. or does it also seem a bit funny to you? (major composers in the modern music world, either USING IT ( ) ... or not (in which case, imagine yourself not having heard of it...))

But yeah, GP is really helpful D,sD!

Haha. Well I know the band Threat Signal did everything on their first album in GP...

Guitar Pro is awesome, for some things. But it's also somewhat of a pain in the ass to get certain rhythms notated correctly in it.

On another note; Woo. I'm back. Anybody miss me and/or even notice?

Haha. Well I know the band Threat Signal did everything on their first album in GP...

Haha awesome. Just seems so weird to me...

Like Dream Theater, on their Systematic Chaos DVD, where they've just got all their songs/riffs either transcribed on a whiteboard or written out in big lists like "E minor scary riff, B major transition, Pre-chorus short version" etc.

Would be so funny if they used GP for one of their albums in the future. It'd make me chuckle anyway...

Hey thanks Alucard, Aden, and Grimview. Helpful stuff.
Yeah it doesn't have to be anything fancy, just something to record what I've done so I don't forget how
it's supposed to go!

Since tabs can't really convey a rhythm, I could use something to capture that.

What I've been doing is writing out tabs, and writing notes in corners and in margins, like "shuffle feel," "emphasis on upbeat," or "staccato...." kind of random stuff that doesn't help when out of context of the moment. Anyways, perhaps the problem is solved.

Uhm...thats the thing DsD...Guitar pro, you notate EVERYTHING. Every tempo, every beat, every note. I do all my drum programming in GP along with writing of my songs. It keeps everything in order, allows me to really work out what I'm doing, find the right tempos. And it makes composing accurate drum parts that fit the music a breeze. Guitar pro is still to this day the best thing I ever did for myself musically. (Powertab was first for me, but GP is so much better!)

Uhm...thats the thing DsD...Guitar pro, you notate EVERYTHING. Every tempo, every beat, every note. I do all my drum programming in GP along with writing of my songs. It keeps everything in order, allows me to really work out what I'm doing, find the right tempos. And it makes composing accurate drum parts that fit the music a breeze. Guitar pro is still to this day the best thing I ever did for myself musically. (Powertab was first for me, but GP is so much better!)

Oh snaps, I think I misunderstood how it works, but I just googled it. I see what it is - I was under the impression that it was something really different.

I think it should help out a lot though - I'll look into it some more while I'm not typing and watching a crappy Lifetime Movie.

Failing that, it does help to live with a sound engineer My brother has lots of resources, but I'm pretty scared of wading through his colossal programs and equipment, it's like Greek to me

[swervedriver]

Guitar Pro is so easy to learn, but can be a bit of a bitch to get a riff/section written down fast. Once you get used to it you'll develop your own tricks of writing down something quickly. Before GP I used Modplug Tracker and a shitload of samples to compose music.

This also refers back to your (DsD) original thought on coming back to riffs written in the past. I think that about 10 % of all the shit I've written (both in GP as in MPT) I still like nowadays, and that's from a collection that I've been building for over 10 years! When it comes to big outputs I suck, but I like to think that which does work and then continue to work on sounds pretty great. To me at least, and that's what I care about.. until it comes to the phase of releasing to everyone... However, only a small fraction of that 10% ever makes out into the great wide open, so I don't have much to worry about.

13 days left til I can leave college, hopefully for good. This makes me rather happy.

Also - Guitar Pro is good, although, sometimes there is interesting results with people trying to note out the vocals...

Impressive. Look who's topping the Play.com Pre-Order charts:

http://www.play.com/Music/CD/6-/PreOrderChart.html

Take That?

Personally I'd have a stock of every Take That release in history before I wasted a cent on Dream Theatre!

Good job Dream Theater!

I pre-ordered it not too long ago. I know there are some haters on here but I'm excited to hear it.

Good job Dream Theater!

I pre-ordered it not too long ago. I know there are some haters on here but I'm excited to hear it.

I heard it sucked. But then again, the only DT song I can actually said I "like" is "As I Am"

Good job Dream Theater!

I pre-ordered it not too long ago. I know there are some haters on here but I'm excited to hear it.

Good.



I really don't see how they are worth "hating". Disliking as music, fair enough. Disliking as people, no idea why. Hating because of the vocals, and therefore labelling the whole band and everything they spawn as garbage, not fair. They are good musicians. They are good composers. They are good people.

Some of my friends can't get into them because of the vocals...

Its fair enough, i've not been able to get into bands because of the vocals, but the music is often worthy (and in many cases awesome IMO).

I'm sure you don't necessarily "hate" them... do you?

In typical fashion: I'd like to see you try!

...ramble ramble ramble...