Originally Posted By: rayc
Enjoy the learning.

That's exactly what I'm doing Ray.

And thanks for sharing a little about your journey and song writing methods. Everyone's journey is unique.
Mine started less than 7 years ago (just a fraction of your 50) when I bought my bass and a practice amp. I then started watching YouTubes on bass instruction and bought a Hal Leonard book or two. Then a couple years ago bought the entry-level version of BiaB. This allowed me to jam along with very simple backing tracks that I could create. Along the way I discovered the Ultimate Guitar website for chord sheets and then learned how to download popular songs (audio) so that I could practice them via the chord sheets. This then forced me to teach myself how to transpose since the chord sheets and audio files don't always align in the same key. Then Audacity allowed me to record myself which allowed me to better critique my playing. Studio One came along this year.

Regarding music theory. For years I noticed that rhythmically bouncing from the root to the 5th was pleasing to the ear. One of the things that the theory has given me is a partial understanding of why this is . . . the Circle of Fifths. So for grins a couple days ago, I constructed a BiaB Circle of Fifths "song" that walks around the circle from 12 O'clock to 12 O'clock. This is giving me insight I didn't have before. I believe if you run the circle backwards you move in steps of 4ths. It may be true that knowing theory is not required to play or write music, but I'm finding that the more theory I know the better. It's somehow comforting to know that musical genius' going back hundreds of years put together a coherent body of knowledge that the rest of us can take advantage of. And I'm sensing that this knowledge might be somehow based in mathematics; perhaps the purest and most useful tool man has devised.

Attached Files (Click to download or enlarge) (Only available when you are logged in)
Screenshot 33.jpg (86.24 KB, 131 downloads)
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677
BiaB 2026 Windows
For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.