midweek riff reviews

well here i am. after a pork sandwich and some chocc milk im anything but sleepy here at 2 am so what better to do that look through the recent barrage/tirade/influx/torrent/ tidal wave of riffs sent from sir dan.? not much really so here goes:

(most of these recordings here are straight of a digital handheld recorder, so for reference we are going by the tags generated by dan's machine)

DW_c0302 - some lovely sustained grunging off here, it reminds me of a tune by black rebel motorcycle club 'spread your love' yes, but also has elements of formula one racing and im getting a creamy overtone, sort of like dairylea

- Yeah, ta. I think we did this one last recording session. It wasn't anywhere near distorted though, so prob sounded way different. And yeah, I checked out that black rebel puppy club song, n yeah it has that sort of vibe don't it. Cool!

DW_c0303 - moving on, what sounds like a solo , its pretty interesting! very melodic and expressive and improvasational, i am getting to the bit where it appears to be on the second half like you are re-visiting the first half. yes some very oriental sounds coming accross here.

- yeah, it does sound oriental don't it. As if we were on one of those Chinese style sailing boats, harboured off Hong Hong, looking over to shore thinking of a way to  import Jammie Dodgers without paying tax.

DW_c0304 - this begins off sounding like a palm-muted thrash riff , and carrys on in that vein i would say! pretty hard and extreeme here, i think we could get some heavy shit on the go here! :)

- Yeah, heavy shit indeed. This sounded very good when I played it speeded up to double speed on the recorder. I just gotta play it faster for real next time!

DW_c0305 - yes, now we move onto black sabbath?, hmm maybe, but there is a change of pace, nice tune here i think this could well be a good one!

- Yeah, I quite like this one too. If I can ever remember how to play these things again, lol. Is black mudbath the one ozzie osborne was in?

DW_c0306 - im liking all the variation here, its a solid little tune, great the way the muted bit is contrasted

- Yeah, goin between mutin n not mutin is a good way to make me sound like I'm doin different things, when I'm . just playin the same riff, just mutin it. So it makes me sound better. I like this one. It's got energy. When you first hear it, it gets ur attention. I like that! Glad ya dig it!

DW_c0307 - yes, more solo - it reminds me of the tune from the big breakfast a bit, it could well be a theme tune to morning with anne and nick or good morning too! pretty bright and cheerful.

- lol, it is isn't it. Not all of these I can think of ever usin, but I record it just in case it might be useful. As in this one, it is rather cheesy soundin, so may pass on it. I think ur spot on, it is like a breakfast show or something. I think Borat could host it.

DW_c0308 - i am getting freshly cut grass, more specifically lawnmowers , probably

- yeah, first few goes were tryin to get it into, then found the flow. I think this could work in a song to change the pace. Something to keep in mind for when we do the lawnmower song. Maybe freshly cut hair. I just got mine cut today. You virtually needed a lawnmower my hair was so damn long, lol.

DW_c0309 - sounds like you are moving around the frets a bit , and getting to some new surprising sounds

- Hmm, yeah. I can't feckin remember wot I was doin. But fuk if it sounds clever then, yay!

DW_c0310 - terminator

-  If you think about it, as the terminator lived in 2020 or something, he doesn't yet exist, so when he does exist I'll send this to the corporation and we'll make a billion! Cool!

DW_c0311 - yes,,, im liking the driving rhythm, and the thick crunchy tone coming from the tiny amp.. this could do well in itself its a great sound byte,, i might just take this wav in and paste the rest onto it and build around it, or maybe we could all do this one friday? great one!

- Yeah I have my headphones in, full blast, makes the amp sound so much louder. So when I'm playin this stuff I'm really into it. It's a goodun, yeah. Glad ya dig it.

DW_c0312 - this also sounds fantastic, very slow and meandering, but fizzy and crackly , just in a sort of relaxing way. this could be great with some slow drums , bass and solo or duo vocal wailings over the top.. then maybe a short interlude to listen to the sound of the wind in a sea shell or some ants crawling accross a potatoe.

- Yeah, well I had in mind Jason was talkin gettin an 'epic sound'. This sort of reminds me of 28 days later or some film like that. Sort of when all hope seems lost, the fallout of a disaster, people are lookin around thinkin shit wot do we do, which way shud we walk, all that dramatic shit. EPIC! situations. Peopel found out wot they're made of, all that kinda scene. It's very crackly but it doesn't sound the same without distoirtion so there was no point sendin u an undistorted version, coz yeah u cud hear it clearer but it wouldn't be the same. I'd lvoe to do a soundtrack, have our music in a film. I'd fekin love that. I always dream of it. It will be!

DW_c0313 - sounds like it could well be a bass line, there are some nice natural sounding harmonics coming accross here, how have you achieved these?

- Yeah, could be a nice bassline. I've been interested in harmonics since I first picked up a guitar or even knew wot harmonic was, when I just had an acoustic spanish guitar. In fact I preferred to not fret the note most of time, but to play with it to get a diff sound. I remember when I first heard Rory Gallagher, it was exciting coz I'd never heard someone use harmonics so well. I think it's a personal thing, I not really sure wot I do. Sort of a mixture between very slight right hand mutin, then left hand I think hold down string but not fully down. There's so many miniscule variations, you gotta do wot works for you n wot sound u like. I love the possibilities from just one note.

DW_c0314 - this could be a classic rock track, i am getting zz-top and all kinds of that stuff here, classic . rock. nice ending :)

- Earlier that day before recordin these, I was watching the endofentertainment youtube channel. Only the next day I realised this riff sounds a little bit like this rhythm:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9qeUl08YL8
I wasn't thinkin of the song at all, dunno if it's a cover or wot either. Anyway just goes to show things stick in your mind. I guess that's why I try not to listen to so much music. I mean I'd rather music be a representation of many aspects of life, so when I go to record I don't want it to be a rehash of wot I've been listenin to "song wise". I want it to be about my day, my attitude, a new perspective, my feeling. Music's everywhere, but most say music is wot u listen to by a band or a DJ, and that's music. That's so limiting. There's music in a smile, or in the trees, or in some big jugglin tits u saw today. So yeah, you never switch off. So in fact I do listen to music, all the time. You gotta show it in a different way. Turn that smile into a tune. Happy days!

DW_c0315 - this is like DW_c0314 - part 2 or something.. yes that is what its like!

- Yup. Think I was tryin to do summit, not sure wot, but summit, lol.

DW_c0316 - very heavy , dark and dangerous sounding, the amp sounding again like when you scrape the black bits off toast really hard... i really like the middle section, it has a sense of completeness when you return to the original theme. cool

- Yep, I liked playin this one. It has got a change, as you noticed, and it does work I agree. I think we did this last recordin session, but again it wouldn't have sounded the same, as would've been too clean sounding. Yeah we biscuits r dead hard, we scrape the black bits off toast, and sometimes we don't! So Don't mess with us!

DW_c0317 - this is a pretty solid idea for a riff.. some timing issues to iron out but i am liking the shape of what that could become.

- Yeah, it's ok. Simple enough. It's a start, could go somewhere, like you say. Cool!

DW_c0318 - nice change of pace, im getting meat loaf and bread sticks. thats it for now! haha

- Yeah had to squeeze one last riff in, lol. It's ok I guess. I could've gone on n on, but I was mercifull. Untill the next day!....

DW_c0319 - this has certain rings of metallica .. very nice sympathetic ringing of the unplayed strings coming through , which makes it sound unusual and rather eerie. i like the way it develops, veers off and sort of arrives some where

- Yeah, cheers. I just wanetd to play around with one riff here, and get diff sounds from the notes. Sort of like wot I was saying before, getting the most from just a few notes. So little bit of slidin here n there, vibrato, mutin, etc. It lasts a while because I wanted to see if I could use a riff to work for a whole song, n I think it would. That's the idea, to get some or all of these to work in whole songs.

DW_c0320 - a delicate descending melody, just like when a feather falls gracefully from the underbelly of a wood pigeon that has just scratched it's nether regions. short but very sweet

- Yeah, it has got a sort of postman pat about it (with wood pigeons scratchin there nether regions of course).

strong woman (take 1) 323 - ahh now , i like the sound of this, that amp really does shine on this recording, i am really thinking dan, that you should create a video for this on its own, it would be interesting to hear what you do with the spritely middle bit.

- Yeah, I see you've done a little vid. Well I not sure it really worthy of a vid, but I guess it's doin no harm. I'm thinkin of lycis for this one all the time. Little bits come to me now n then. It'll be a goodun. Glad ya like the sound of it.

strong woman (take 2) 324 - yes can hear you must have either changed guitar pickup setting, sitting postion , position of recorder or some other factor.. but a different sound altogether, a lot softer - has a lovely gentle movement like water when its not a bad storm. the middle section is a lot more mellow too and returns more slowly to the main bit.

- I pretty much played it just like the first take, but turned the distoirtion off on the amp. I thought you wouldn't appreciate the first take as it may have been a bit too harsh, so I recorded this second take. Just goes to show wot I know, lol, as you liked the first take. Good job I sent it! Nice one!

strong woman (take 3) 325 - starts and i can hear a bit of phone interferance... then strong woman picks up again - i can hear some new development using higher strings, im getting a little bit of paradise city for some reason - (where the girls are strong and pretty),,, yes nice sounds i reckon some good ideas to think about there, im liking the changing bass string work right at the end of this one.. lovely! great

- Yeah, I wanetd to play it without the middle section, n add a little more higher string change, all fingerstyle. This is my fav version, but I do see the value in the first two takes with the middle change. Something just came to mind actually. The slow fast change in take 1 and 2 reminds me of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smUFDvltYrA
So i guess it can work.

Super, smashing, great!!!

Dan.