Help me improve my little classical piece...

[BluDChyLD]

Hi guys,
i was bored yesterday and I decided to have a go at making a classical guitar piece up, I figured it out on guitar and transribed in to midi/tab with guitar pro 3 as I went along.

It's about a minute long at the moment (with a 5 bar repeat at the start), I'm happy with it so far considering it's the first piece i've ever written on the guitar (despite playing for two years )

My only problem is the bass lines, im finding it hard to be creative with them while working with the melody. Most of the time I'll just play the melody line an octave or two lower, have you got any tips for being a bit more inventive with them?

Here's a copy of the midi, once it's finished i'll post a recording Hope you guys like it, tell me what you think.
Thanks
Dawson

P.S Still trying to think of a good name i've chosen "bach attack" as a work in progess title In my small collection of classical guitar music he's probably composed the most pieces and influenced me the most so it's only fair

[szulc]

Analyze the chord movement ( sounds a lot like i V in the beggining) use root/5th notes from chords to start , from there many ideas should present themselves to you.

[Guni]

I did listen to the midi file a few times. There are some nice lines in it but it's really hard to get a feel for the tune as midi sounds pretty dead, ie accents are missing.

Best would be to have you record the entire thing.

Anyway, 2 things:

- the melody in the midi file sounds somehow awkward. To me the first 2 notes do sound like a pickup (maybe because of the midi), yet you have a bassnote on the 1st note, which makes it sound like a 1. I think you should try to play the first 2 notes as single notes and add the bassnote on the 1 (i think it's the note 'a').

- later on you do have a lot of 2 octave lines. One line I think is g - a - b. Instead of doubling the notes 2 octaves lower try creating a counterpoint line. Here's one example:

[BluDChyLD]

thanks for the help, i'll try that technique with the bass lines I think i see what you're getting at.

I'll post a recording later on once i've sorted it out.
Thanks

[Guni]

cool - looking forward to listening to it.

Guni

[BluDChyLD]

hi guni,
i've worked on it for about an hour now and I've sorted out a few problems and improved the bass line alot

I've yet to try out that counterpoint technique, but it seems like it will mean some awkward stretching in some places. I'll try it out tomorrow and see what I can come up with.

I've simplified the bass line which sounds better and makes it easier play, plus i added another repeat which makes the piece a little longer...

I'm still not 100% happy with it but I hope to get it done for the weekend. I think i'll extend the ending or maybe just improve on what i've got.
Cheers,
Dawson

Bach Attack

Still the midi, i havent had time to record it tonight. I might get a rough recording posted tomorrow.

[Guni]

Hi B.

Yeah, to me this does sound a lot better. Nice work. Will be interesting to listen to your recording.

Well, the technique I showed you is just a tiny example of one counterpoint technique. Counterpoint is a huge topic on its own.

As a variation of the example above you could move the bassline up an octave so the 2 lines start on the same g. This will be easier to play. And you could add another separat line for the bass...... or just one bass note that rings through ....

Laterz,

Guni