Frustration. That was the key experience to take away from that exercise. Oh, I think I got there in the end, but, clearly, making up tunes is not my strong point.
I think the problem lies in that for every tune, there’s a an established tune that sounds very similar to it. Don’t know if there’s a term for that. Should be if there’s not: “The tendency for a new pattern to align itself with an existing pattern.”
The Beat or the Bass?
I tried a few approaches to getting something going. First I thought about a march, one-two, one-two, bump-ba-bum, bump-ba-bum, tiddly-tiddly-tum. Yeah. Nah. Why not? Everything ends up as the Liberty Bell March. Or the William Tell Overture.
So then I tried laying down some bass, trying combinations of chords to give me something to work with, and that helped a little. I could hear how the tune might change as I adjusted the interstitial notes (A, A, D#, G | G, D#, D#, G). It was tempting to add in accidentals and staccato and whatnot, because, hey, it’s a boring patch of what, really, is a combination of four notes.
Besides, does the bass drive the melody? Does the beat? No, not it doesn’t. Nor the accompaniment, nor the harmonics. These things support the melody. No point laying down foundation if one doesn’t know what the house looks like, right? Right? Ah, I dunno, it sounds good so I’ll run with it.
Back to the Melody
I came full circle, then. As a plan: First I shall work up a couple of tunes, then I shall refine one or two of them, then I shall place these choice few into Anvil Studio to tweak, add a beat and listen.
Let me just… almost… going to… bear with…
Annnnd there. I think I’ve settled on a ditty. It’s simple, which isn’t altogether a bad thing, and it was inspired from a tune I remember from when I was first learning how to play the piano. Playing it over a few times, I think it needs a couple of rests, but, all in all, it’s workable.
I’ll not throw the other ditties out. May as well put them into Anvil and store them in midi format for next time. Anyway, let me add a quick beat and bass to make it a bit more solid.
Now, I did get an invite from a certain muso with a certain flair for musical advice to give me a helping hand. Let this be a lesson to you indies out there: If someone who knows what they’re talking about offers you help in relation to something you know nothing about, you’ll do well to accept.