https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl en-us 2018-05-24 11:07:41 UTC 2018-07-06 13:16:34 UTC hello@padlet.com ryfairweather https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/263303203 In the first rehearsal lesson, we spent some time choosing another song to match a decade we all still needed to cover. As a result, the group decided on playing Tainted Love by Soft Cell. To stay true to the instrumentation of this 80s song, I rehearsed the parts for the synth. In this cover we also have two sets of vocals, a guitar, a bass, and drums. We have almost completed the structure and intend to perform it the week after half-term. I think the use of synth is a good portrayal of my ability to play other instruments, and should help to showcase my range of musical skills rather than just playing the bass guitar.

In the second rehearsal lesson of this week, our guitarist/vocalist wasn't able to come in. So, we spent the two hours writing a new song on guitar and bass, as well as tried out using open tuning in order to show off our skills in songwriting in different keys and tunings. Next session, our group intends to practice the songs we have as well as plan the rest of our 70s song. The others are completed, but we still need to work on our last one a little bit more before they're all ready to perform.]]> 2018-05-24 11:09:36 UTC https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/263303203 ryfairweather https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/263304908 For our cover-based session this week, we were ready to perform our 90s cover of Song 2 by Blur. I think we had put a lot of effort into the rehearsal of this song, and as a result the performance was to a high standard. As this group had been changed randomly from our previous, I can confirm that we worked and performed well together despite never working as that group before the previous week. The only thing I would change about this particular performance would be that more of the group contributed to the backing vocals or at least had fun with performing to make it a little more lively. We had struggled before with the song's ending, but I think in the performance it turned out perfect.

In this week's second lesson, we decided to write an 80s based song for the next composition. We used a main riff played by myself on the synth, and then had the bass, played by Heather, follow a similar pattern. Through some improvisation, we added in the guitar's chords and also the drum patterns. We later added in the part that the synth will play in the verse, being a simpler riff. I think that with one more session dedicated to this song, we'll have it completed and ready to perform.]]> 2018-05-24 11:18:07 UTC https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/263304908 ryfairweather https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/263308227 The first of these sessions, we had to find a song suited to a chosen era and then prepare to perform it as a group. For our first song, we decided to do Song 2 by Blur as a known 90s song. To begin the session, I practiced the bass part with Ben's guitar part in order to figure out the structure in the song. To help, we also listened to the original a few times in order to reference it. Meanwhile, Joe learnt his part for the drums, Jess H went over the lyrics and Jess B practiced the chords for the guitar part. By the end of the session, we had all the individual parts of the song down. All we had to do was work on perfecting the ending as it was the only thing we had struggled with.

For our original-based session, we worked on our original 'Just Like You' and the other unnamed original song. We had previously written the first for a gig, and so only had to routinely practice the song to make sure we remembered it. For the unnamed song, we worked to extend it by working on the lyrics and the structure of the song. By the end of this session, we were pretty confident in being able to perform our first original song. The second still needed working on, but had progressed a lot.]]> 2018-05-24 11:34:37 UTC https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/263308227 ryfairweather https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/268852448 In the covers lesson, we decided to learn One Way Or Another, with Jess H joining the group on vocals for this song. We spent a lot of time learning and perfecting the song, especially the solo as this was the hardest part to figure out, especially for the rhythm guitar and bass guitar. Though, we recorded the song in a following week after we were sure it was perfected enough. We also decided to drop Tainted Love, our previous cover idea, as there were problems with the majority of groups that week which meant that a lot of people were moving around.

In the originals lesson, we decided to use another song that had been written in the past by Louis, and that we had practiced previously. This song would stylistically fit the genre of indie-rock, or the 2010s genre, mostly because of the use of riffs and the beat. I played an upbeat, memorable bass line for this song, that suited well to the chords and riff being played on the two guitars. Next week, we would like to try out new song ideas.]]> 2018-06-28 11:26:59 UTC https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/268852448 ryfairweather https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/268852594 For the first lesson, we needed another cover and decided as a group to try The Chain by Fleetwood Mac. We had Emmie and Louis both on guitar and vocals, myself on bass guitar and Heather playing the drums. We progressed pretty far with the song, and decided to all spend time at home practicing in order to use it for one of our covers. We also worked on Love Machine with Kyle and Jess H joining our group, and recorded this in the lesson. Other than this, we frequently practiced the songs which I think shows our dedication to the work and that we put as much practice as we can into the songs to be able to remember what we're playing confidently.

In the second lesson of this week, we needed a new idea for a song. We messed around with the idea of a psychedelic based original. So, we all worked at some chords and melodies on our instruments to see what we could come up with. We also decided to work a little more on our 80s synth based piece. We had the main melody and needed to work on the structure, so we tried to come up with a chorus part to have a change to the song to make it more interesting. We also toyed around with the idea of having lyrics but decided to leave this again for a bit as we had no ideas for the lyrics yet.]]> 2018-06-28 11:29:05 UTC https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/268852594 ryfairweather https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/268852606 In the first lesson we spent some time going over all of our original songs and covers, so we had some practice down for an upcoming gig. We also spent time going over the covers we already had so we remembered them for the assignment too. Another song we decided to practice was Love Machine, with Jess H joining our group on vocals and Kyle adding a rap, Love is Gone by G-Eazy, to the song. We already had this song finished within the previous lesson, but practicing it helped us if we needed to rerecord the song in the future. 

In the second lesson of this week, we practiced the three songs we had written for the originals assignment. Though, there were some issues in playing our 80s synth song as the connection for the keyboards to the PA system had been broken. So, we decided to skip this song for this week. Instead, we came up with another set of chords to write a new song to use at any upcoming gigs we had.]]> 2018-06-28 11:29:14 UTC https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/268852606 ryfairweather https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/268853440 I had missed out on this week as I was away, though with my time away I progressed my bass part for The Chain by Fleetwood Mac, as well as going over all the other original songs to make sure I would still remember them when I came back. Therefore I think I still met the requirement of what I would have done anyway.]]> 2018-06-28 11:40:00 UTC https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/268853440 ryfairweather https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/268853458 Performance week. We spent time practicing the songs before performing them as a setlist for Mike's lesson. However we did have issues with the number of songs we had ready as the amount required changed over the term. The evaluations for our performances are below.]]> 2018-06-28 11:40:19 UTC https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/268853458 ryfairweather https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/268907570 Song 2 - Blur
The final performance of this song went very well for our group, as we ran through the song without messing up and managed to stay in time. We also had previous problems with the dynamics of the group, especially the vocals, but this problem didn't arise in the final performance. Consequently, I think we worked well as a group despite not having worked together before. ]]> 2018-06-28 21:51:29 UTC https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/268907570 ryfairweather https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/268952292 Just Like You - 2000s rock
Personally, I think the performance of this song went really well; we ran through it perfectly in time and transitioning through the structure easily. This was because it had been frequently practiced and we knew the song practically perfectly. I don't believe we would have to do anything to improve the performance.]]> 2018-06-29 08:41:05 UTC https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/268952292 ryfairweather https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/268952630 Love Machine - Girls Aloud
Despite working with people who didn't entirely suit the style we usually played in as a band, being Jess H and Kyle, I believe we did really well on this cover. We had worked a lot on the dynamics and they ended up sounding great at the final performance, as Jess usually sings quite quietly. For Kyle we did incorporate a rap into the song as it was hard to find a song he could rap on that Jess could sing for and we could all play for, which was the only major issue.]]> 2018-06-29 08:45:10 UTC https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/268952630 ryfairweather https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/268953141 Hypnotise - 2010s indie
I had personally had problems with the flow of this song's structure during rehearsal, which is something I had to work on a lot on my part. I don't believe this was a problem in our final performance though as I didn't mess up, which in my opinion made it fairly successful and I don't think we would need to change anything to improve the overall performance. I also think this shows my dedication to the team effort of learning my respective part as well as I can.]]> 2018-06-29 08:53:49 UTC https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/268953141 ryfairweather https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/268953383 1, 2, 3, 4 - 80s synthpop
This was a song we had worked on in previous lessons, but then later had no intention of performing so it wasn't practiced frequently compared to other songs, especially due to the change in instruments. Therefore, when told we needed 4 rather than 3 songs I think the lack of practice and the quick need for structure made this song less than distinction worthy. However, we never thought we would have to play it until last minute. I think all this song needed was more practice so we could remember our parts and the structure a lot better. It wasn't intended to be lyrical.]]> 2018-06-29 08:56:59 UTC https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/268953383 ryfairweather https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/268953892 One Way Or Another - Blondie
I think this son worked great for our covers, as we put a lot of time into it. There was a balance between easy, memorable choruses and a complicated solo especially for the bass and rhythm guitar. I think we performed well and the only thing we had a huge problem with was incorporating a rap into the song for Kyle, as we had previously spent hours trying to find a song that worked and never could. I would have loved for us to have found a way to make the song work for everyone, but Kyle gave in due to the endless time spent deciding. However the final performance went very smoothly.]]> 2018-06-29 09:04:07 UTC https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/268953892 ryfairweather https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/269552185 All It Takes - 90s grunge
This song had a lot of effort and practice put into it, and I thought that this was recognisable through our performance. Our use of grunge-based riffs also made the performance quite obvious as our chosen decade. Overall I think we performed this song well together and I am confident in it, so I don't think we need to change anything or do the performance again.

]]> 2018-07-06 10:02:58 UTC https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/269552185 ryfairweather https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/269556653 The Chain - Fleetwood Mac
Our final cover was relatively easy for us to learn and perform as an extra, after we had gotten everything else out the way. This performance went smoothly as we had all practiced our parts at home and in free time as a warmup song. We all enjoy playing it too, which I think was significant to how we performed especially. Overall, I am confident in the performance of this song and I don't think anything needs changing.]]> 2018-07-06 11:23:59 UTC https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/269556653 ryfairweather https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/269557147 2018-07-06 11:36:57 UTC https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/269557147 ryfairweather https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/269557221 2018-07-06 11:39:11 UTC https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/269557221 ryfairweather https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/269557302 2018-07-06 11:41:14 UTC https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/269557302 ryfairweather https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/269557410 2018-07-06 11:43:47 UTC https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/269557410 ryfairweather https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/269557494 2018-07-06 11:45:23 UTC https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/269557494 ryfairweather https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/269557534 2018-07-06 11:46:21 UTC https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/269557534 ryfairweather https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/269562081 2018-07-06 13:14:53 UTC https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/269562081 ryfairweather https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/269562162 2018-07-06 13:16:06 UTC https://padlet.com/ryfairweather/mabpmjiivpgl/wish/269562162