Seven Nation Army Midi File

[Slikk Huisenga]

PresentingSeven Nation Army with bass line

White Stripes - Seven Nation Army with bass

and

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean with bass

Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing with Bass

New songs to go in my other thread here

Before this will work you will have to upload this drumset which contains the Bass to the drumsets folder.

Rock Drums with Bass

To upload this drumkit please follow this excellent video tutorial from Psalm40.

Edit: I have experienced problems on the beatbuddy I think due to the size of the drumset. I have deleted splash 2 and crash 2 instruments and now it is ok. The BB was and then after about 10 seconds would reboot. I have uploaded a new version of the drumset.

The only problem I have with this now is that when the bass note is cut off due to being a short note there is a small crackling noise like using a killswitch on a guitar or changing pickups. The shorter the note and hence louder it is when cut, the louder the crackling. Maybe needs some sort of decay setting implemented. Appreciate any help with this.

This has worked really well on a simple song like One Nation army and will do on songs that have fairly repetative bass lines. Instead of making a one bar track and looping you will have to make the loop as long as the chord progression but I think it will be workable. As with those who have found using the BB live keeping things simple will be the key. Adding in a bass riff like a fill will be interesting

Cheers.

How to create your own bass lines:

I advise learning to program the midi beats for the beatbuddy before moving onto the bass notes. Creating the bass notes is similar to the drums but extra work required due to having to program the length of the note or the time the note rings for.

The first step is learning the midi numbers to program to. You can open the drumset in beatbuddy manager and find them that way. They start at Low E at midi64 up two octaves to E at 88 and should lineup with the corresponding notes on the midi keyboard.

(Minor nit. I think your part C line is messed up a little. Your song part C does not use the C Fill 1 MIDI file. When I attempted to load that MIDI manually, I got an error message from the BB manager.)

Thanks, Dan

Ha Stu, You have just unveiled the second product for the company, bass buddy! Actually, once the software bugs have been worked out, a Bass buddy would be a great option. A catalog of baselines in different keys/chord progressions is a monumental task and would require immense programming. Thanks for the innovation!

Edit: I have experienced problems on the beatbuddy I think due to the size of the drumset. I have deleted splash 2 and crash 2 instruments and now it is ok. The BB was and then after about 10 seconds would reboot. I have uploaded a new version of the drumset. Will be up in about half an hour

To get a low EB you will need to add it to the drum set but you will first need a EB sample in wav form to add. The samples I used were two octave from E to E. You might have to search for a sample or create your own. Cheers

I am only passingly familiar with some of the concepts. I do use various music theory apps but mostly to try out scales that I can feed to apps like Aphelian, Piano Motifs , Riffler, etc to see what they create and how it sounds. Also to try and move to a different key.

One thing you can look into is the concept of tension and release: for example if your melody only ever uses the same notes as the underlying harmony (ie you only play chord tones over any given chord) then it could sound rather boring. If you introduce non-chord tones that still belong to the scale as melodic elements over the chords, that will create some mild dissonance (tension) that can then be resolved with a chord tone, or even better with the root note or the fifth of the scale/key.

A great example is the riff to Seven Nation Army: it's unbelievably simple in terms of intervals, it's essentially just a walk up and down the E minor scale. What makes it so effective is the rhythmic variations in the riff, and the long pause before the final note which resolves on the fifth - your ear is waiting for that resolution, and the pause makes it more satisfying (tension and release). Just tap out the rhythm on a table to hear it without the actual notes, and you will hear the variation in the rhythm - it's much more intricate rhythmically than it is musically.

Everything @richardyot said can be a good start to incorporate musical theory and feed your songwriting with new ideas.

Very simple concept can get your very far. For exemple you can explore chord super structure simply by stacking two different triads played by different instruments.

Music theory can also help you improve your arrangements, for exemple, quartal harmony can lead to very interesting textures.

A better understanding of the diatonic scales (major/minor, harmonic and melodic minor etc...) Can also help create better progressions by understanding the relation between each chord in the scale, and where they like to resolve.

Once you have a better understanding of the diatonic scale, you can start looking for modulation in order to shift the key center. A basic understand of the cycle of fifth can help you knowing close scales sharing common chords which you can then use as passing chords for key modulation. Secondary dominants can also be used for modulation. I recently learned that the augmented chords can also be great passing chords, just by moving one of their voice up or down a ton to modulate in a different key.

Negative harmony can help you transpose chords of a major scale to its minor counterpart. This is also great to find unexpected chords to add to your chord progressions.

Recently, @McD posted a nice upright piano piece in which he used a cord progression based on chromatic mediants chords. The concept is very simple but can create amazing results which we're hearing all the time in cinematic tracks.

But in any case, it should remain just a way to enrich your musical vocabulary. When you learn a new concept, always ask yourself "how can I use it and incorporate it in my own creation". That's the beauty of it : Once you managed to incorporate a new idea, a new type of chord, it is like this new idea becomes yours, even if you don't own it !

Practical tip - watch some videos by people that are really good at explaining music theory -- in the process of explaining it, they will also reveal things that are helpful. It is probably better to start from scratch than trying to overlay onto what you know -- and at some point those things you know will make sense.

My short summary of how music theory can help: it can provide ideas about what notes might work in a melody or what chords you might use (or chord voicings you might use) or what other notes will work as harmonies or for other parts.

AND -- don't go TOO fast. A lot of people "learn" theory (as in they can recite the rules) but don't really LEARN it (be able to hear it). The hearing part is way more important than being able to recite rules. A lot of people "know" the theory with their ears only -- and they are capable of being world-class musicians. If what you know is only in your head, it won't be transformative.

It might not help you produce, but it is likely to give you an appreciation for how theory can help deepen your understanding of what's going on (in compositions you like), which may then help you produce.

I am mostly self educated (should have got a teacher when I was young, that would have helped me a lot). I do understand the concept of tension and release, borrowed chords, landing on chord tones, different modes, intervals, etc.

What helps me a lot is the Band in a Box software on PC, specially the function to create a solo over a chord progression, in a chosen music style,and a personal style. That gives me new ideas I didnt think about myself. For me this is like having a teacher, when it comes to theory (a teacher does a lot more, I know...).

Interacting with it directly, I basically learned a bit of piano playing and scales from composing my own stuff which has helped me to jam more. It also helps when I pick up a new musical toy to get started playing around quickly. I use the circle of fifths on occasion when composing to change moods in pieces. I like using scaler or suggester to build progressions and then play on top or extend the chords, create bass lines, etc.

I had a bit of a hard time figuring out accmpainment for part of a melody I did a few months ago, though it was very satisfying to semi-stumble upon a progression that sounded nice along the melody. I have one of those Idiot's guides to music theory and the author kind of boiled down finding chords to that as "a simple matter of applying one of the common chord progressions." I can't remember how I did it but I think I may have gone the hard way (use the apps to try and find a scale that seems to match the melody, and trial and error the chords in that scale).

That's one of my favorite riffs. I was looking a much simpler one from Motley Crue (Looks That Kill). All I was able to do was write down the intervals and ape the style by changing the key and the placement of the fifths (maybe the rhytm a little bit). I didn't really know what it all meant in the terms you put it. Were you using functional harmony concepts to describe what SNA was doing?

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