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Niffe - Posted - 02/21/2007: 14:50:40
Hello.
I have started to write my own instrumental music on the banjo. Well, at least I have been trying. After some months of somewhat hard creative work I've come up with quite a few really interesting ideas and melodies and chord progressions etc.
But the problem is that I just can't seem to create nice banjo arrangements for the songs. Whatever I do, I just feel that I'm repeating myself. As if I had just been doing a forward roll and moved a barre chord up and down the neck (it's not that bad, but the frustration is there nonetheless).
Does anybody here write music for banjos? What methods do you use and where do you start? I'm not trying to copy anybody's style (such as the Scruggs style or the Fleck style etc.). I just want to find the ideal arrangement for the melodies I have in my head (not saying that it couldn't be the Scruggs style though).
It could have been easier to just drop the banjo and sing the meldoy accompanied with a rock band or jazz band etc etc. But I know that it is possible to make it with the banjo. - 'cause Fleck did it. 
I am a mere beginner, since I only played for three years. But I really don't want to miss this opportunity to create, now when I have the time. So that's why I made this thread.. thanks for reading
NINJO - Posted - 02/21/2007: 16:37:16
Good for you for writing music. I feel a little lame not having any of my own music on here yet, but I can tell you that it was not until after my ear, knowledge of the fretboard, picking technique, and imagination had developed that I could create what I have. When you feel that your music seems fairly simple, it may be because that is how most fledgling song writers sound. If you play melodic style then work out the melodies in a way that you can comfortably play. Sometimes I need to rework melody lines to different positions on the neck in order to be able to carry the song fluidly. Your ear will always benefit greatly from transcribing songs and from playing with friends. If I feel stuck with a musical idea, I will grab one of my buddies and get some creative input. I am pretty sure that Wes Corbett is going to be playing with the Biscuit Burners in Stockholm this Spring. He is a great banjo composer about your age. You could probably pick up good advice from him. I'll let you know when that tour is happening.
The best picker is the one having the most fun.
Banjocoltrane - Posted - 02/22/2007: 10:21:29
I spend most of my time writing new originals...A lot of the stuff on my hangout home page are originals...
How do I write originals?...i wished i could tell you, but i dont understand the process myself...I'll just get inspired by a piece of music, move through some chord changes and find a new melody...crazy as it may seem sometimes i just get banjo out and start playing total chaos, with no thought to key, chords, or anything and see what happens...
peace
Jody
garyblanchard - Posted - 02/22/2007: 10:42:37
I am also happy to hear you are looking to create new music on the banjo. My suggestion is to just keep working at it; creating something new is a process. What you have done so far is to take the initial steps toward your goal.
If you listen to the early music of Philip Glass, the focus was on repetition, with subtle shifts in rythym that gave movement to his music. His newer music uses the repetition as a groundwork for some wonderful melodies. This is a wonderful example of the process of building your own voice.
Keep at it, keep trying different things, break any and all of the rules you need to, and it will come in time. Good luck with your project!
Gary Blanchard
Preserving the Old-Time/Good-Time Tradition
http://www.brookfieldsmusic.net
Buy our CDs at http://kunaki.com/msales.asp?PublisherId=111162
Yopparai - Posted - 02/22/2007: 12:47:29
Add my voice to the chorus here. Don't worry about playing banjo music. Create music on your banjo.
bindle stiff jim - Posted - 02/22/2007: 18:44:59
if you have a melody in your head, get it down first. find out what fill notes you feel are needed, or will fit, after you get the melody straight.
play with things, like moving a melody note ahead an 1/8th note and fill behind it or leave some melody notes as 1/4 notes instead of 1/8 with immediate fill behind. when changing chords, throw lead in notes that build to the chord you're headed to before you get to the actual measure where it changes......
there's a lot you can do.
dave - banjo pickin' backpacker
midlothian, va
Edited by - bindle stiff jim on 02/22/2007 18:46:50
bluemusic4us - Posted - 02/22/2007: 22:04:37
Other people's music can serve as inspiration as well. It sounds like you might like these two solo CDs by Jens Kruger:
The Bridge and Profile.
Both excellent!
kjrman - Posted - 02/22/2007: 22:26:23
Glad to hear your writing!
Keep writing when your inspired to do so even if you don't end up with "complete songs". I've written parts of songs that have I have forgot about over the years. Then I'll write another song years later, a light will go off in my mind and I'll pull up that part I wrote years before. It will be the part I was missing all along!
Keep writing!!!!!!
Kelly
Niffe - Posted - 02/23/2007: 08:38:44
Thanks for all the replies! It means alot to me - perhaps even more than you might expect.
And I'm slowly starting to break through the barrier. I got a creative rush this morning and have completed a whole song that I'm now trying to transpose to the banjo.
I've written a sort of intro, and have the rest of the song pictured in my head now. I really didn't think that was possible when I wrote this thread a few days ago, so you've really given me the kick start I needed!
maxmax - Posted - 03/05/2007: 03:44:20
Tjena Niffe!
Can you "create nice banjo arrangements" for songs that are not your own? I had (and often still have) problems just like you to to create interesting arrangements to music I was trying to get out of my head, but then I kinda put that on ice and just worked on learning a bunch of "banjo tunes" by ear, and that helped me a lot when I now make arrangements for my own tunes.
Max
janolov - Posted - 03/05/2007: 08:59:42
Tjena Niffe
I think that own banjo arrangements and compositions are interesting. I have made some attempts with Swedish folk songs, blues, pop hits and classical music. Most of them are half-ready...
I think that we Europeans often can think more freely then Americans on banjo music. We have our own music tradition and some of us have adopted the banjo. When we combine our own traditions with the banjo traditions there is a lot of possibilities to create new music. Many Americans are more stuck to the own music traditions. They know their own style(s) from early childhood, and they master their own styles, but many have difficulties to look beyond their own traditions. The banjo was developed when African and Europeans (mostly from the British Isles) music traditions were met on the new continent. I think that mixing banjo with other (non-American) music traditions is a challenge for the future and may give rise to new banjo genres.
Now to your questinons. My advice if you want to compose or arrange is:
1. The best ideas get up when you have neither banjo nor paper and pen nearby, for example in the middle of the night. The best way to lose creativity is to sit down with the banjo, tab paper and a beer and think "Now skall I compose". So try to have a piece of tab paper (or usual music notation paper) at hand 24 hours a day, and don't hesitate to use it.
2. Think reversed and contrariwised. Often our minds are restricted by a lot of written and unwritten rules that obstruct our thinking. If you have tested one idea that doesn't work, try to find an opposite and test it.
3. Learn music theory. Then you know what you are doing. Let the music theory give you advice, not rules.
4. Composing and arranging is a trial and error work. A musical genius may find the right way from the beginning, but for the most of us, we have to test and reject, test again and reject, and test once more and reject until we are satisfied.
5. Sometimes we need unconventional input. I once saw a movie with a Swedish composer (Povel Ramel). He had a table with five straight lines and a jug with dice. He casted the dice on the table and the dice were distributed as notes on the lines (random creativity). Other possibilities is to listen to other genres: jazz, blues, classic music to find other ideas and new patterns that can be used.
6. The banjo is excellent as both solo instrument and accompaniment and is useful for composing and arranging.
So don't give up.
Janolov
Ryan Cavanaugh - Posted - 03/05/2007: 23:45:55
Janolov, great point about the European mindset for the banjo! I try to follow that open mindedness. I make a good portion of my living playing in Europe. The reception I've recieved is more than warm. The band I'm with is playing a brand of heavy jazz-fusion with rolling banjo pads (bluegrass) thrown in there. I think the French and italians were a little weirded out, but the Germans definately knew what bluegrass was. I was pretty embarassed when a German couple asked me what "cow tipping" was. Hilarious.
Tom Hanway - Posted - 03/06/2007: 21:13:02
Great advice here. Also remember the Keith (Keef) Richards midnight-rambler approach -- and follow some of it: He dosed up and regurgitated the opening riff to *Satisafaction* just before he crashed. He somehow managed to press the start and stop of his little bedside tape recorder, capturing the moment, later playing it for Mick, who found the opening lines in no time. It all begins with an idea, a spark, and capturing the moment....
Cheers,
Tom
http://www.tomhanway.com/
stanger - Posted - 03/07/2007: 01:45:59
Hi, Niffe...
I create new tunes all the time... so often, I forget a lot of them. I get inspiration from listening to others, from learning new chords and messing around with them, substituting them for more common chords, or just get a little melody line going and take it from there. I also use different tunings from time to time and explore different harmonies in common chords. Sometimes I'll try to learn a tune, don't get the tune I wanted correctly, but find something cool and original from my learning mistakes.
I got a lot of inspiration from learning some good plectrum banjo chords. I found that they often work in open G tuning, but have a jazzy sound. The plectrum is like the 5-string, but only has 4 strings. It's commonly tuned in C.... CGBD.
regards,
Stanger
