Arrange a melody

[Doug Young]

Nice idea, and nice little melody. Here's my very quick and somewhat sloppy recording. Now I can go listen to the others and also see how much I mutilated your melody while putting together my take on it.

[Grinning Boy]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

Nice idea, and nice little melody. Here's my very quick and somewhat sloppy recording. Now I can go listen to the others and also see how much I mutilated your melody while putting together my take on it.

Wow absolutely beautiful Doug. Thanks for sharing that.
Paul

[Nailpicker]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

... Here's my very quick and somewhat sloppy recording.

Sloppy recording?? Then you haven't heard mine. Just one of several reasons I quit attempting to record several years ago. I never developed the skill, time, patience and critical ear to make decent, not good, just decent sounding recordings. Mine makes your "quick and simple" sound like a master class recording, labored over for months. Oh, and your playing is very good on the ear too.

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

Nice idea, and nice little melody. Here's my very quick and somewhat sloppy recording. Now I can go listen to the others and also see how much I mutilated your melody while putting together my take on it.

Nice one, Doug! That sounds very much like what you would come up with. You definitely have your style, so that within a few notes, we can definitely tell who is behind the guitar.

Tony

[EllaMom]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

Nice idea, and nice little melody. Here's my very quick and somewhat sloppy recording. Now I can go listen to the others and also see how much I mutilated your melody while putting together my take on it.

That was lovely, Doug. What was really helpful for me to hear in your rendition is that you at times gently strummed the strings. It wasn't all strictly fingerpicking. That softens it a lot. I had one fingerstyle player poo-poo ANY strumming. To him, that isn't fingerstyle. Well, after hearing your arrangement, I beg to differ!

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by EllaMom

That was lovely, Doug. What was really helpful for me to hear in your rendition is that you at times gently strummed the strings. It wasn't all strictly fingerpicking. That softens it a lot. I had one fingerstyle player poo-poo ANY strumming. To him, that isn't fingerstyle. Well, after hearing your arrangement, I beg to differ!

I don't think I'm actually strumming in this (at least I don't recall any). What you probably hear is a sort of rippled plucking of chords that can have a similar effect. But there's certainly nothing wrong with strumming (or any technique) in fingerstyle. I do it at times, as do lots of well-known players. Tommy Emmanuel is one who even plays "hybrid" style, sometimes fingerpicking with a flatpick in his hand so he can use it for strumming or flatpicking individual notes at times. Any technique that works is ok!

[EllaMom]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

I don't think I'm actually strumming in this (at least I don't recall any). What you probably hear is a sort of rippled plucking of chords that can have a similar effect. But there's certainly nothing wrong with strumming (or any technique) in fingerstyle. I do it at times, as do lots of well-known players. Tommy Emmanuel is one who even plays "hybrid" style, sometimes fingerpicking with a flatpick in his hand so he can use it for strumming or flatpicking individual notes at times. Any technique that works is ok!

Doug, is what you do a kind of "peeling" away of your fingers from the strings? But done in such a way that it sounds similar to a strum?

Yes, I had a teacher who wanted me to play hybrid style. But for some reason, I'm just not drawn to playing with a pick. Go figure.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by EllaMom

Doug, is what you do a kind of "peeling" away of your fingers from the strings? But done in such a way that it sounds similar to a strum?

I guess that's one way to get into it. I just sort of think of it as a rolled pluck. Sort of doing p-i-m-a but really fast, so that it feels like a single motion. Sounds smoother and less "blocky" than literally plucking all strings at once. I just do it without thinking, and these days I'd have to focus to not do it :-)

Glad people liked what I did with this. It was a pretty simple treatment In case it wasn't obvious, I was in DADGAD tuning, and I transposed up to D. I tried it in C, and it worked, but there were a few rough spots and D seemed to work better. The chord progression I ended up with is something like:

|D Bm|Em A| D Bm| GA D|
|Bm Em|F#m Bm| Bm Em | GA D|

[rick-slo]

Good one Doug. From the various versions posted it becomes apparent that people apply
the style and details what they have tended to use in the past as the framework to the
arrangement of a new tune. Of course no real surprise there.

[mr. beaumont]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

Good one Doug. From the various versions posted it becomes apparent that people apply
the style and details what they have tended to use in the past as the framework to the
arrangement of a new tune. Of course no real surprise there.

Agreed...what would be even more interesting, perhaps, for a future thread, is an "assignment." Arrange for such and such idiom...there's plenty that'd trip me up!

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

Good one Doug. From the various versions posted it becomes apparent that people apply
the style and details what they have tended to use in the past as the framework to the
arrangement of a new tune. Of course no real surprise there.

Probably true, partly it may just be a tendency to hear a raw melody a certain way. To me, it sounded like a folk tune (tho with a certain "if I Only Had a Brain" slant :-)), to Jeff it maybe sounded like a jazz tune. An assigned idiom would be an interesting idea. In one of the interviews I did with Pete Huttlinger years ago, he went thru Mary Had a Little Lamb in a half dozen styles, James Taylor, Jobin, Country Blues, classical, and so on. It was pretty cool.

[Gitfiddlemann]

A little late to the party, but I've been following this very interesting thread and was just noodling on Rick's melody this morning as my nylon string guitar was in drop D tuning. Another rough recording (on Garage Band) just to add it to the diversity pile for what it's worth. Interesting point that Doug just made about different styles. Very true. We're all trying to bring out what we hear, and it doesn't have to be all polished up to get our own take across.
Nice idea Rick!

[Rudals]

Thanks Rick for the link to this thread. I'll participate!

[Grinning Boy]

Originally Posted by AndreF

A little late to the party, but I've been following this very interesting thread and was just noodling on Rick's melody this morning as my nylon string guitar was in drop D tuning. Another rough recording (on Garage Band) just to add it to the diversity pile for what it's worth. Interesting point that Doug just made about different styles. Very true. We're all trying to bring out what we hear, and it doesn't have to be all polished up to get our own take across.
Nice idea Rick!

Wow very nice Andre. Great tone and feel and a very nice bass line. And I really liked the ending. Those upper registers always sound so nice, especially on nylon. Thanks for posting that.
Paul

[EllaMom]

As an arranger-in-training , I am learning TONS just by listening to all of the interpretations of the original, simple melody. It's opening a whole new world for me, and illustrating in a very concrete way why I want to step away from pre-arranged pieces as quickly as possible and work only with lead sheets and chord suggestions. Thanks, all of you who have posted sound clips!