Into the City - Samuraiguitarist's Random Notes Challenge - Synthwave Instrumental
Thank you for listening!! This is my entry into Samuraiguitarist's 'Can YOU Make Music With This???' challenge. First of all, thank you @samuraiguitarist for the opportunity to join in on the fun and make some music for your challenge! Second, after I finished my entry, I had a blast listening to everyone else's submissions I could find on YouTube. It was really cool getting to listen to what everyone else came up with from the exact same set of notes in addition to seeing the different approaches to the challenge, since it was so open ended. I am looking forward to seeing what Sammy G comes up with for this!
For my challenge submission, my goal was to make a full length piece of music that would be able to be enjoyed regardless of whether the listener knows about the challenge aspect. I definitely wanted to make sure I included the set of notes throughout the piece though, which is highlighted by the note tracker that appears at the top of the video. There are a few times the challenge notes appear again but are not tracked, like when the intro portion repeats and shows up later in the song and when the verse melody repeats with slight variations.
For the challenge aspect, I wanted to use the exact set of 18 notes in order without adding or removing any of the notes at least once in the track, which is what the initial verse melody is. It then repeats with some harmonized parts and a few melodic variations. I also wanted to include a guitar solo to end the track, but this time approached with using the 18 notes in order and adding extra notes where I thought it sounded better. I did compose it on my guitar and recorded a bunch of takes, but I didn't really like how it sounded and preferred it on a synth instead.
As for the inspiration of the instrumentation, I enjoy listening to synthwave and wanted to give it a try while I made this track, plus I thought it would fit well having the synths and guitar. I had to make sure that I included some actual guitar playing of course. Sorry, no videos of me playing though, but do know that all the guitar parts are actually me playing them! If anyone is curious, it is on my Squire Bullet Strat. It was given to me for free a few years ago because the neck was incredibly warped and I managed to fix it myself. It doesn't stay in tune very well when I use the whammy bar. 🥲
I did make the video picture myself, the skyline is of Tokyo (kinda), and it is Mt. Fuji behind it.
If you haven't seen the prompt video yet, check it out here: • Can YOU Make Music With This??? (Deadline ...
If you somehow came across my video, but haven't heard of Samuraiguitarist, please do yourself a favor and check out his main channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@samuraiguita...
Listen to this track on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/benshamin/into...
#samuraiguitarist #challenge #synthwave