Bibliography

Blog Bibliography (Semester 2)

Do I Wanna Know Chords by Arctic Monkeys @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com (no date) Available at: http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/a/arctic_monkeys/do_i_wanna_know_crd.htm (Accessed: 2 June 2015)

eHowMusic (2010) Singing Tips: How to Learn Harmony Singing. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChZzJuYbfYA (Accessed: 2 June 2015)

Jackson,J.(ed.) (2006) Guitar Chords; Easy-to-use, Easy-to-carry. One Chord on EVERY Page. United  Kingdom; Flame Tree Publishing

Horwood, F. J. (no date) The Basis of Harmony. Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=slnGgPr-2bwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+basis+of+harmony&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YoZtVfyzC4iu7gaE2YHABA&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=the%20basis%20of%20harmony&f=false (Accessed: 2 June 2015)

Mazer, S. (2002) Harmony Singing: A Guide to Creative Harmony and Arranging. Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=7Z77BIpJmtoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=how+to+sing+harmonies&hl=en&sa=X&ei=R35tVb60G8Gy7Qb84IDYCw&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=how%20to%20sing%20harmonies&f=false (Accessed: 2 June 2015)

Official Arctic Monkeys (2013) Arctic Monkeys - Do I Wanna Know? (Official Video). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpOSxM0rNPM (Accessed: 2 June 2015

How far have i come this semester

At the beginning of this semester i set myself high goals and aims, my main one being to learn a musical instrument,upon deciding on the  Acoustic Guitar I found myself a local teacher and began private lessons, and also self taught myself using the book Guitar Chords (Jackson, 2006).

I have had 20 private lessons and although i was good for the first few lessons, as i felt i was all fingers and thumbs i have improved massively, however i still have a long journey ahead of me.

Final individual performance

As i wasn't confident in playing the guitar piece live, as i was struggling playing the whole tune through without stopping, i used the app Magix music studio and recorded my material, transferred it on to a USB stick,I played it for the final performance and although it wasn't live the performance went well , however i feel for my next performance my challenge to myself is to play live.

My chords

 For my intro and my verses i used the chords
Em7
Gsus3
G
D

For the chorus i used the chords
Em
C
G

For the bridge i used the same chords as the verses , however i slowed the tempo down and created a more dynamic colourful sound.

The structure of the tune
Verse
Chorus (Repeat)
Verse
Chorus (Repeat)
Bridge
Verse
Chorus (Repeat and fade) 

Creating my melody

I found creating a melody was very challenging, I was hoping to achieve a soft sensual tune, but after hours of experimented with different Guitar chords and creating lots of different tunes, i was still no further forward with the task. I researched the guitar tabs for the the Artic Monkeys song "Do i wanna know?"(Do I Wanna Know Tab by Artic Monkeys@ Ultimate-Guitar.Com,no date). After looking at the music tab i understood there was only a few chords used to create this tune, so this inspired me to do the same and use just a few chords in my Indie piece.

Arctic Monkeys - Do I Wanna Know? (Official Video)

(Official Artic Monkeys.2013)

Individual performance

For my individual piece I decided I was gonna try something new to me and create an Indie melody using my new guitar skills.Up to date I have had 20 independent Guitar lessons and during this time i have learned a lot but my chord vocabulary is still pretty basic.
Before creating my melody i researched various indie artists the main one being " The Artic Monkeys" after listening to the melodies and the lyrics to some of there current hits , it was clear these songs where love songs, this inspired me to go along the same route and write a love melody.

The final performance

The final performance of both songs went really well , I was overall pleased with the work we had produced as a group, I preferred the 60`s piece to the 70`s piece, for the simple reason I found it hard to adjust my memory and my voice to change from the original version which I am familiar with to the new adapted glam rock version. If I was to do a cover version of a song in the future, i think rehearsing more would help my memory and voice to adapt to changes.

Singing Tips : How to Learn Harmony Singing

This video, was a really good guide that i used to practice harmonies.(eHowMusic2010).

Harmonies

Although I have experience as a singer, there is a wide range of areas I still have to learn one of which being harmonies. For the 70`s piece harmonies are being used which I have no experience in performing or any knowledge of the skills needed to produce a good harmony." One definition of harmony is the combination of tones that,when played or sung together,are pleasing to the ear "( Mazer 2002). I also read " Harmony is the basis of all good music" (Horwood, no date).Reading these books I learned the skills needed to create a harmony to compliment my tone of voice which is quite low and would categorized  myself as having a tenor voice.

70`S Group Piece

For the 70`s Glam Rock piece it was decided that to use “Girls just want to have fun” (Cindi Lauper) and create a Glam Rock version, we are going to achieved this by changing the melody, but keeping the same lyrics, we are going to add in our own harmonies, using double harmonies and single harmonies. The Garage App was used to record a drum and electric guitar piece that was used for the 70`s melody.