DEVELOPMENT The chords and melody with a placeholder title 'I want it more' were written in 2005, but this song remained that way until early 2026 when I finally added lyrics and renamed it 'No matter how'. Even without lyrics, I’d always liked the chorus melody to this song and knew I needed to get around to finishing it one day. It was originally in the key of E major, but when beginning to write the lyrics and sing it, I realised some of the passages might be too low for me, so I put it up to F# major, but I still play on my guitar with the capo on the second fret. This avoided the low notes but also meant the highest note was F# above the treble clef – which is falsetto range for my limited vocals. When recording, I *almost* got there, and needed Reaper ReaTune only on that note to keep it clean. In the last chorus, I added a bass run-down of sorts which led to some interesting bass notes underneath a couple of the chords. I had the pleasure of swapping out the F#m in this last chorus to F#m7b5/C … because I could. The chord sheet is attached. The lead guitar solo uses two sections of the same track 3441:Guitar, Electric, Soloist BritPsycRockMarch and I like how they play around each other.
Video - for complete transparency, I rarely go more than 2 metres off the ground, and even preparing the video gave me bouts of vertigo!
SONG SUMMARY Style is _GRANITE.STY (Granite Hard Rock w Guitar Solo) RealTracks in style: 1523:Bass, Electric, PopPowerA-B Ev 120 RealTracks in style: 2758:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm RockHeavy8thsMurray Ev 120 RealTracks in style: 2757:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm RockHeavy8thsCraig Ev 120 RealTracks in style: 3441:Guitar, Electric, Soloist BritPsycRockMarch Ev 110 – only used in the solo section RealTracks in song: 1278:Synth Pad, PopUplift Ev 120 – only used in the chorus RealTracks in song: 5008:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm HardRockHiArp ev 125 – only used in Verse 4 RealDrums in style:RockHardKick^01-a:Closed Hat, Snare , b:Open Hat, Snare Me: vocals Recorded in Reaper
LYRICS INTRO
VERSE 1 I’m going to give it much more, I’m not thinking of my inherent flaws But that is my call The struggle is real, I’d rather think about the things I have won Than things I’ve not done
VERSE 2 The longer I wait, it’s getting harder each step that I tread I won’t live in dread I know I can rise, all I have to do is keep it in sight Eyeing the prize
CHORUS 1 No matter how I try to fight it, I end up falling down The things that I want to do I might, but I’m not giving ground
VERSE 3 I dreamed of it all, even though there was a chance I could fall But I won’t be stalled Before I am primed, it’s only during that I increase my doubts But I’m climbing out
CHORUS 2 No matter how I try to fight it, I end up falling down The things that I want to do I might, but I’m not giving ground
VERSE 4 I’m down but not out - that’s just rehearsals for a challenge out front I’m up for the hunt One step at a time, I’ll just say ‘yes’ and I will work out a way Proclaiming it’s mine
SOLO
CHORUS 3 No matter how I try to fight it, I end up falling down The things that I want to do I might, but I’m not giving ground
CHORUS 4 One day I’ll have the passion to win, and that day is now I have the strength to not give in, I’m note being taken down
This is a great groove. I love the lyrics and the whole presentation. To my ears, there's a hint of British rock in this production. It sounded great and I really enjoyed where you took me. Your singing was full of confidence and it was very easy to hear all the words
Super tune, Andrew. Very cool Bowie-esque classic rock vibe with tons of hypnotic hooks. The progressions are quite nice, too. Really like your vocals on this one and the streamlined (to my ears) vocal FX chain. Nice use of BiaB instruments, and those soloists do sound great together. Another shiny little pop gem!
DC Ron BiaB Audiophile Presonus Studio One ASUS I9-12900K DAW, 32 GB RAM Presonus Faderport 16 Too many guitars (is that a thing?)
I agree with Noel, it immediately says "I'm British". Good vocals with a nice Bowie touch, and the chorus has a super cool chord progression. I love it
Great chord structure here! I also thought the 2 guitars in the solo worked so well I'd liked to have heard more.
Some favourite Waoist Adages: #1: Play on the Way. #13: Ask not for whom the flower blooms, it blooms for you. #58: Bring consciousness to it. #63: On the road to effortlessness, effort must be made. #92: Be Love Now, the rest will come on its own.
This is a great groove. I love the lyrics and the whole presentation. To my ears, there's a hint of British rock in this production. It sounded great and I really enjoyed where you took me. Your singing was full of confidence and it was very easy to hear all the words
Thanks Noel! Glad you liked the lyrics - they were a late addition. I just brain dumped; word-smithed to get the flow and variation in rhymes; and made some of the lines have a more positive outlook. Confident singing - I tend to take the approach (despite not having the best vocal) to say 'What the heck! Let's go for it!'.
Originally Posted by rsdean
Very nice job on this song. I like the way you approach the vocal here. A really solid performance. Great video as well.
Thanks Bob. I thought that falsetto note was going to be tricky but after a bit of doubling and a very minor pitch correction, it came out well.
Originally Posted by DC Ron
Super tune, Andrew. Very cool Bowie-esque classic rock vibe with tons of hypnotic hooks. The progressions are quite nice, too. Really like your vocals on this one and the streamlined (to my ears) vocal FX chain. Nice use of BiaB instruments, and those soloists do sound great together. Another shiny little pop gem!
Thanks Ron! I have a project template for any new songs with FX that have worked already in place, then I tweak them (or remove them) according to what the new song requires. Not foolproof, but it helps with my memory. Being a 10 pound pome (assisted passage to Australia from the UK; pome = Prisoner Of Mother England - a reference to Australia's convict past, but not us here in South Australia - we were a 'free settler' colony) in the mid 60s, we were immersed in British rock - more so than American - which was a later discover for me. It helps that I still have residual south UK accent that comes out when I get excited.
Originally Posted by B.D.Thomas
I agree with Noel, it immediately says "I'm British". Good vocals with a nice Bowie touch, and the chorus has a super cool chord progression. I love it
Hi B.D.! It should say "I *was* British." Ha ha! Thanks for noticing the chord progression - always been interested in good progressions from an early age.
Originally Posted by WaoBand
Great chord structure here! I also thought the 2 guitars in the solo worked so well I'd liked to have heard more.
Hi Chay! Same comment to you about the chord progression. I am going to consider extending the solo.
Originally Posted by laurent4114
Great work on the guitars. I agree with WaoBand, we would have liked more guitar solos. Great energy.
Hi Laurent! OK - if I get two more votes for a longer or additional guitar solo, I'm going to do it. Where would you put the additional solo?
Thank you everyone for listening and your great comments and suggestions!
glad you went back to get this one finished. It opens with a lot of attitude and keeps building throughout. I particularly liked the drum pattern and the two guitars duelling it out for supremacy in the solo. I like the vocal contrast from the end of the verses and goes into the “no matter how” falsetto of the chorus, that’s a winning hook right there. Another good video also, now I know what you get up to in the Blue Mountains!!
Wow, Andrew, what a melody! The punk styled verses drew me right in and then the terrific surprise of the Beatle-esque orchestrated chorus. Great choice of guitars! I love it! You mentioned changing keys in writing the song. When I send a song to a vocalist, I often send it in three different keys and let the vocalist choose the most comfortable one. It's one of the beauties of Band in a Box. I'm playing this a third time I like it so well. John
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Band-in-a-Box 2026 Video: AI Stems & Notes - split polyphonic audio into instruments and transcribe
This video demonstrates how to use the new AI-Notes feature together with the AI-Stems splitter, allowing you to select an audio file and have it separated into individual stems while transcribing each one to its own MIDI track. AI-Notes converts polyphonic audio—either full mixes or individual instruments—into MIDI that you can view in notation or play back instantly.
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MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
MIDI SuperTracks Set 46: Piano & Organ
Instrumental Studies Set 24: Groovin' Blues Soloing
Artist Performance Set 19: Songs with Vocals 9
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FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
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Instrumental Studies 25 - Soul Jazz Guitar Soloing
Artist Performance Set 20: Songs with Vocals 10
RealDrums Stems Set 10: Groovin' Sticks
SynthMaster Sounds & Styles Set 2 (sounds & styles with audio demos)
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