Dear PG Music:
Here is my submission for the Xtra Styles contest (Jazz category). I love these Xtra styles. The STARLIT.STY style, which is a jazz rock players dream, enabled me to go back to the Prog Rock glory days of groups like Yes. During the composition of this piece, I had been studying the songwriting and production in the album Close to the Edge, which I tried to reflect in style, energy and feeling.
https://soundcloud.com/david-snyder-gigs/long-distance-runnerThis was presented in a forum last week. Below are the lyrics, following that is the Style I used and the additional real tracks I added, and a description of the parts I played myself.
Finally I have pasted a forum post where I explained how I produced and arranged the piece from start to finish to get that “Yes” sound.
Genre: Progressive Rock/Jazz
Long Distance Runner
By David Snyder
Prologue (The Delirium):
Blue Haze, Summer
Long Distance Runner
Blue Phase, Summer
Long Distance Runner
Verse 1
Think fast, moon blast
Seagrass, long past,
Love right, hang tight
Seems right
Light dust, moon rust
Clock out of water, clock out of order
Mariner’s daughter
Ch:
Twist and shout
Cool haze of summer
Blue haze of summer
See past the border
Ring flash, sea splash
Twist and shout
Roundabout
Cool haze, cool haze,
Cool haze of summer
See past the border
Long Distance Runner
Knights of the Order
Long Distance Runner
V2
There is no dark side of the sun
It’s dark for everyone
Into the water
Long Distance Runner
Learn past, run fast, seagrass
Ten past the corner
Long Distance Runner
CH
Learn past, run fast, seagrass
Ten past the corner
Long Distance Runner
Long Distance Runner
Epilogue (The Redemption)
Think tall, see small
Run for the border
Run for the border
Long Distance Runner
All lyrics and music copyright David Snyder 2016
****** Song Summary *************
Title: Long Distance Runner
Key=C , Tempo 100, Length (m:s)=3:57
23 bar intro, 73 bar chorus, from bar 24 to bar 96. Repeat x1 chorus
Basic Style is _STARLIT.STY (Star-lit Dreamy Jazz Rock) Xtra
Styles (User Defined and Modified)
David Snyder, Acoustic Guitar, 12 String, Sitar, Electric Lead and Rhythm, Ibanez Hollow Body, Synth, Organ
Lead and Backing Vocals, Production
RTs:
RealTracks in style: 1759:Bass, Electric, Pop16ths Ev 085
RealTracks in style: 912:Piano, Electric, Rhythm SmoothPoppy Ev16 090
RealTracks in style: ~542:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm Dreamy Ev 085
RealTracks in style: 2603:Guitar, Electric, Soloist JazzRock16thsJon Ev16 090
RealTracks in song: 381:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm Syncopated Sugar Ev 102
RealTracks in song: 1596:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Pop16ths Ev16 065
RealDrums in style: RockModernSyncEv16^8-a:Snare, Closed HiHat , b:Snare, Ride
Production Notes
Hey thanks for the nice comments everybody. For those who wanted to know how this was done, I have some source material. In the drop box with my user tracks I put the organ part in both Finale and Midi. The instrument in Garritan/GPO5 is "full organ." For Finale users it should open right up. This part I had to play myself of course.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/y4ujowwpqh5y42t/AABnCcRP8YYL6ydXzoebe2Nza?dl=0This Rick Wakeman style part moves fast and goes against the BIAB backing tracks--kinda sorta you have two keys stacked on top of one another. The song is in C, but this part is playing in a ringing G modality--basically G7sus and Dm7 with a few odd notes--the G Bass note operating as a pedal throughout. This is what creates the momentum.
Over that, I am playing a hollow body electric with a riff that is in A minor, basically doing a lot of pull offs starting on the A on the 10th fret and walking down, hammering on the third and fourth string around the fifth fret then working my way back up. That creates the swirl. I laid out the entire composition in one Chorus in BIAB and killed most of the other instruments except for drums and bass until the opening is over, and then the whole band kicks in in that Starlit style (Xtra style.) The drum pattern is reversed. The intro uses a Chorus pattern (green) and the next section follows with a Verse drum pattern (blue) switching back and forth. One half of your brain is insisting the song is going Chorus Verse Chorus while the other half insists it is Verse Chorus Verse. That is when the hallucination kicks in.
The rest is just 4 separate vocal tracks doing a different melody with one "main" vocal track.
Anyway, with the Xtra styles and some homemade playing, it is possible to get that prog rock sound. It's fun. Give it a whirl!!
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