New Member - Question About Suitability

[Rick Waugh]

Hello everyone. I'm an instrumental composer, an old guitar player. I've been working on my ear, my reading, my theory and composition skills.

Most of the people in this forum seem to be inclined to write classical music. I'm a lover of classical music, but I don't compose classical. My instrumentals consist generally of acoustic guitar and bass, some electric guitar percussion/drums, and then whatever other instruments I decide would suit what I'm trying to get at. My music consistently gets described as "progressive" in other forums I have participated in, which has some meaning, though I think it's more just often means, "I don't understand."

I'd enjoy participating in the discussions in this forum, but I'm a bit unsure about the appropriateness of my music. So I'll post my latest piece, and hope that you can give me an indication as to whether it suits.

This piece is called "Fracture", and it's about the things that happen and reoccur in life that can slowly beat you down to the breaking point. But there is a recovery from it. The description on SoundCloud is more detailed as to what the different sections mean. It's a short piece, 3 minutes long. This is acoustic guitar, bass, electric guitar, bit of synth, drums, flute, violin. I wrote it in Notion on my iPad, exported it to Auria, (my DAW,) on my iPad, recorded the guitar, bass and synth parts live, and the drums.

https://soundcloud.com/rickwaugh/fracture

[T.T. Gaudynski]

Hello and thanks for posting!   I dont think that the piece you posted, or the other pieces posted on your Soundcloud page are inappropriate at all.  The fact that you do not compose classical music should not discourage you from posting or participating.  Some of the best pieces that I have heard on this site were not classical in nature.   The only piece I ever posted for comment on the site was actually a new-agey improvisation for banjo and piano that received some interesting and helpful feedback.

"Fracture" is a very interesting an engaging piece that has a lot of possibilities.  I very much enjoyed the guitar work, both acoustic and electric.  I think the glissandos and pauses separating the sections are particularly effective as are the sections where the synth/glock and electric guitar enter.  I am always hesitant to offer advice, but as I listened to the piece, I found myself wondering what it would sound like if the violin and flute parts were omitted and possibly replaced with a single voice, perhaps another guitar, or a synth part that interacted more directly with the guitar part.  To my ears, the acoustic guitar part lays down a very interesting foundation that seemed to be calling for something with a little more movement than the parts played by the flute and violin.  The overall structure of the piece holds interest and the introduction of the new voices, works very well.

Take those suggestions for what they are worth and by all means post some more!

[Rick Waugh]

Thanks, TT. I will. It's refreshing to get some comments from an actual listen and thoughtful consideration.

The piece started out with the acoustic guitar riff, as my pieces often do, then morphed from there. My issue often is that I don't have much of what I'd call a melody, more like a structure, so I'll end up laying a melody on top, but I'm always aware that my original focus was the guitar, which can result is my not featuring one side enough. I'll have to keep the thought you have provided in mind. I was happy with how I was able to stay with the theme, rather than wandering too much, another of my tendencies.

[Rick Waugh]

Thanks Bob. I still have a lot to learn around mixing. One wise thought passed to me was that that it's often the arrangement that is at fault. I wrote a piece for guitar, flute and cello, and it worked very well. But cello is mostly definitely different sonically from violin. I will have to keep that in mind going forward.

I wanted a basic groove at the beginning and end, with some confusion and angst in the middle. Hopefully I achieved that.