The amount of times I've seen a video from Guy and thought, oh, 24 minutes?! I'll watch 2 or 3 mins and then save the rest for when I have time to fully watch it later, then notice I've watched the whole flipping thing & forgot why I didn't have the time to watch it in the first place. Fantastic insight and teaching as ever. Cheers Guy.
Feels so good to have that honest types of tutorials that show struggle can be there during process even when you are experienced. And it is just okay. Thanks for all that information. 😊
It's all so human and certainly makes me feel better about the process we all go through as composers. The uncertainty and spontaneity is where the magic happens.
I love your phrase "Rythmic Identity", I have been trying to put that musical thought into words for many years. So Wonderful watching and learning from you, Thanks Guy.
Awesome video as always! For those asking, the controller he has on his keyboard is a Blackmagic design controller, but it''s for the video controls, not the DAW
i'm not watching this channel for almost 2 years. it's nice to see you so energetic in the first video i watched after a 2-year hiatus. i guess I'll be back to the music...
For me, this is one of the best of your videos. You gave a few very important advice for composers. As bonus, we can see that you sometimes struggle while composing. Good to see because usually you look as super-duper successful in rapid composing.
Usually I write a main theme around the main chord progression (sometimes the tune comes before the harmony), I write two more chord progressions and develop the main melody accordingly - with some elements repeating themselves not to stray too much from the main theme rhythmically - and then go wild on a "bridge" progression that takes me back to the main theme. I reserve the counter melody of the main theme for the "solo" which I try to sing and try to treat as an altogether different piece of music (sometimes I get inspired by the "bridge" melody). It is a very mathematical exercise, really. I loved your canon trick - I've always wanted to write something in the vein of "On Reflection" (Gentle Giant) and "Incantations Part iv" (Mike Oldfield), thank you for making it feel less of a herculean task.
This is a wonderful example of the very blurred line (arguably no line at all in fact) between improv and composition. Much good composition is arrived at through improvisation and really good improv is really well composed 🙂
I’ve learned so much from your videos both here on youtube and on Thinkspace education. I appreciate your way of explaining theory in a straightforward way and I believe I’m a better musician because of it. Your sharing of music theory and orchestral composition are truly inspirational and educational! This means more than I can find words for, but I wanted to say thank you!
I just started my musical journey a year ago and don't know what the hell im doing. I started producing beats and electronic music, but always been in love with film music. It's so rich and deep. But actually I don't know anything about music theory, nor can I properly play piano, BUT, your videos encouraged me to dig deeper into music theory and learn more. Plus, you're by far the best tutor I came across on TH-cam! Seriously, you not only make it look easy, but also explain exactly what you're doing. Plus, I live your humor 😂🫶
Thanks for this Guy. It reminded my of my late dad who loved singing "Descants" above music he listen to or during hymns sung in church. Sometimes meandering, sometimes beautiful, always joyful.
Not even 10min of watching my first video of yours and you've got a subscriber. Very real real-time presentation and you're not afraid of being yourself 😄
As a wonderful illustration that simple tunes are really hard to write this takes the cake. At your most sunglasses of doubt moment you remain the champ. Loved this video.❤️ thank you.
Your videos are amazing, Guy - thank you! After playing guitar for over 30 years, I’ve just gotten into music production the past year. Love to see your approach and creating something out nothing, making it interesting, and showing your thought process. Wish I had more time aside from my day job and family to create more. Appreciate your content!
I reside many levels below you in this Devine folly. But I was able to completely parallel all of it within my working patterns. Laughed hysterically and walked away hopeful. Thank you
Guy, I love, love, love this video. This was just what I needed. I’ve been writing songs with lyrics for years but I’m relatively new to composing instrumentals so this really helped. Thank you!
You're a musician but you're also a magician. I do music from my 7 and i have 50 now, i played music with many peoples and i know some musicians very goods, you're one of them. You're also a poet, we ear that in your productions. It's a good idea you're on youtube. A real stimulation to improve my english for me =)
I dont think you realise how helpful this video was, and probably not in the way that you originally planned. To see you trying and trying to make something 'Fit' echo's how I work. I have just 'Binned' my Sunglasses of doubt as I now realise that this is how even someone of your massive expertise and experience works as well. Thank you so much :)
This is what I'm working on at the moment (doing How to Write Music), so really good. I've been doing it for many years, to be fair, but totally by instinct, and a lot of my tunes end up meandering into the dark forest where no sunglasses of doubt are necessary, because, it's just impenetrable anyway. But this 20 mins gives me much more clarity. I use chord tracks a bit in cubase 12 pro, based on the paino track or whatever, but when I'm playing a guitar first (actual guitar), I use the marker track.
I must also admit, having recently moved (not far) away from my ABACABB structure, I've become "guilty" of a bit of through-composing, but I always seem to return to a version of the intro, as an outro, usually with some minor twist if it was major, or the reverse.
Hello Guy I watch all videos from you always a little joke with built very easy explained to play it yourself just great keep it up Thank you George (Germany)
The bbc symphony orchestra sounds absolutely great! 🔥🔥🔥 I´m wondering how my own compositions would sound with it. At time i use the old East West Quantum Leap.
You're one of the few online teachers with any talent for composition. The others teach you really sophisticated ways of sounding ok. That's the difference between knowledge and talent. The latter is intangible and a bit mysterious. Otherwise so many artists wouldn't peak at 25 or 30 if it just came down to knowledge. A few peak much later if at all. That's the X factor. Not only natural talent but the ability to maintain it. The inspiration that comes from somewhere.
Thank you so much Guy, this is just what I needed to take my music to its next level. You make it so much fun to learn and smile at the same time. Keep up the excellent work.
Seeing Guy get frustrated with his attempts is so reassuring. If Guy can still get frustrated, then I have no reason to beat myself up for the same reasons. I mean, I still will, don't get me wrong. But it's still reassuring.
It’s amazing how many times Guy starts composing and I feel as if I already know the song. 😃 I was literally picturing a carriage moving through the English countryside before he mentioned the show Countryside of which i am totally unaware.
Hey Guy, I wonder if you could do some break down of a progressive rock track. I'm looking specifically at the artist Steven Wilson and struggling to understand how he develops his productions.
@ThinkSpaceEducation why did you choose to work with Cubase? I am looking to learn a DAW for long use. I have Macbook with Native Instruments, hardware and software + 3rd party.. Currently, I am going thorugh multiple musical styles, as I am learning. Fruity Loops is not a solution, as it is a memory hog, after adding 3 instruments, it already started clipping. Native Instruments Maschine does not recognise some 3rd party plugins. With 3rd party, it takes a lot of memory. It has a cumbersome flow Apple Logic seems ok, even memory wise, it is fast, no clipping,but I had some issues with mapping and its instruments do not sound natural and what I produce with it sounds low quality. With sound quality, I am pretty sure it is my fault, something I did not set up right. I have not tried Ableton, Cubase, ProTools, Sonar and all others. I need your wisdom . Thank you!
Very cool video. What I usually struggle is with rhythmic composition. How to make it all fit in a groove, and make it more dense, making rhythmic variations and motiffs. Usually i dont have trouble picking the chords or the notes for the melody, but making a good rhythm section is hard. Could you make a video about that?
Hello Guy :) In Cubase you have “recall” function in Midi track hehe with recall you are always recording “underneath”..now we don’t have the “rec” mental pressure
I was 'predicting' where the notes would fall (a couple of beats ahead) and got it about right. I'm far too 'Countryfile' for my own good! Brilliant channel, thank you. P.s. Maybe a bit too 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' at 9:22 ? :)
I vividly remember me explaining this exact way of writing melodies and countermelodies to my music theory teacher when I was studying at the conservatory. We really had quite an argument about it. He was frantically against this for I had to be far more considerate. Then I showed him countless examples of "well known" composers who did basically the very same thing. Some people make it really WAY too complicated, while it isn't and it was never supposed to be like that (well, we've done it for a few hundred years, but still) I basically said something like: well, the melody just has to be diatonic - just follow the information contained in the given chords. But he said something like: nope . . . you have to take into account every voice within a chord and let the melody (mostly the soprano part of the SATB) dictate the ATB - AND they have to follow certain set of rules. Now, I've tried both ways of course. And I found out that he was kind of right . . . melodies stick out way better within a context of chords that follows its development. Especially when writing orchestral work. Sometimes it may involve a very complicated tetrad to do the job. Otherwise any melody AND countermelody will sound lazy af. But sometimes, especially with singer songwriter stuff it works out really good and one can get away with anything. Today I see a lot of fellow composers using the first way of working (the singer songwriter approach) for making underscores for movies and series. It happens so often that we all got used to it. I don't really mind, but I still think - quality wise - one can stand out more by being more considerate in writing good melodies WITH the accompanying harmonies that would fit like a glove. It challenges you to come to your own original choices instead of the same choices that everyone else makes, making everything generic. However, I really love the way you explain this to give other people a chance to think about how to consider developing a countermelody.
I’m trying to add a sax counter melody to a pre existing vocal line. Could it works even if the vocal melody is quite already busy and covering most of space? Thanks
The amount of times I've seen a video from Guy and thought, oh, 24 minutes?! I'll watch 2 or 3 mins and then save the rest for when I have time to fully watch it later, then notice I've watched the whole flipping thing & forgot why I didn't have the time to watch it in the first place. Fantastic insight and teaching as ever. Cheers Guy.
Your sense of humor and showing the mistakes are so inspiring!)
Feels so good to have that honest types of tutorials that show struggle can be there during process even when you are experienced. And it is just okay.
Thanks for all that information. 😊
It's all so human and certainly makes me feel better about the process we all go through as composers. The uncertainty and spontaneity is where the magic happens.
Guy plays beautiful melody: "Sorry you had to see that."
I love your phrase "Rythmic Identity", I have been trying to put that musical thought into words for many years. So Wonderful watching and learning from you, Thanks Guy.
Awesome video as always!
For those asking, the controller he has on his keyboard is a Blackmagic design controller, but it''s for the video controls, not the DAW
Thank you!
i'm not watching this channel for almost 2 years. it's nice to see you so energetic in the first video i watched after a 2-year hiatus. i guess I'll be back to the music...
love the little dance at 0:58, now I know I'm not the only one doing weird stuff whilst composing 😅 the best way to work
For me, this is one of the best of your videos. You gave a few very important advice for composers. As bonus, we can see that you sometimes struggle while composing. Good to see because usually you look as super-duper successful in rapid composing.
yeah he usually looks like that guy (oun intended) who "just composes"
So true.
Honesty is a rare gift nowadays.
Čovjek je kralj (Absolutely agree)
Usually I write a main theme around the main chord progression (sometimes the tune comes before the harmony), I write two more chord progressions and develop the main melody accordingly - with some elements repeating themselves not to stray too much from the main theme rhythmically - and then go wild on a "bridge" progression that takes me back to the main theme. I reserve the counter melody of the main theme for the "solo" which I try to sing and try to treat as an altogether different piece of music (sometimes I get inspired by the "bridge" melody). It is a very mathematical exercise, really. I loved your canon trick - I've always wanted to write something in the vein of "On Reflection" (Gentle Giant) and "Incantations Part iv" (Mike Oldfield), thank you for making it feel less of a herculean task.
This is a wonderful example of the very blurred line (arguably no line at all in fact) between improv and composition.
Much good composition is arrived at through improvisation and really good improv is really well composed 🙂
I’ve learned so much from your videos both here on youtube and on Thinkspace education. I appreciate your way of explaining theory in a straightforward way and I believe I’m a better musician because of it. Your sharing of music theory and orchestral composition are truly inspirational and educational! This means more than I can find words for, but I wanted to say thank you!
I just started my musical journey a year ago and don't know what the hell im doing. I started producing beats and electronic music, but always been in love with film music. It's so rich and deep. But actually I don't know anything about music theory, nor can I properly play piano, BUT, your videos encouraged me to dig deeper into music theory and learn more. Plus, you're by far the best tutor I came across on TH-cam! Seriously, you not only make it look easy, but also explain exactly what you're doing. Plus, I live your humor 😂🫶
I'm glad you do this all in real time, really sets you apart from any other channel on YT
Thanks for this Guy. It reminded my of my late dad who loved singing "Descants" above music he listen to or during hymns sung in church. Sometimes meandering, sometimes beautiful, always joyful.
This is great. Didn't know it's called Counter Melodies but I do this all the time. Lot of music had this in the 80s and I always love those.
You’re a funny Guy , Guy. I would love to sit in your classroom. With the humor you’re a perfect teacher for me.
Not even 10min of watching my first video of yours and you've got a subscriber. Very real real-time presentation and you're not afraid of being yourself 😄
As a wonderful illustration that simple tunes are really hard to write this takes the cake. At your most sunglasses of doubt moment you remain the champ. Loved this video.❤️ thank you.
I really like this .. seeing professionals struggle is refreshing .. shows that we aren't the only ones who get frustrated
Your videos are amazing, Guy - thank you! After playing guitar for over 30 years, I’ve just gotten into music production the past year. Love to see your approach and creating something out nothing, making it interesting, and showing your thought process. Wish I had more time aside from my day job and family to create more. Appreciate your content!
I jumped off my seat at the chord sequence! It's exactly the same I often run into, when I'm fiddling on my keyboard looking for a tune!
I've been trying to get people to understand this. Now Guy posts the same thing I've been saying for 6 months.
Guy, you are such a pleasure to watch and learn from. Please keep the tutelage coming
I reside many levels below you in this Devine folly. But I was able to completely parallel all of it within my working patterns. Laughed hysterically and walked away hopeful. Thank you
Guy, I love, love, love this video. This was just what I needed. I’ve been writing songs with lyrics for years but I’m relatively new to composing instrumentals so this really helped. Thank you!
I like your positive cheerful demeanour. Nice tips.
Your brew sounds good, SLURP! Excellent info as always
Seeing you make mistakes and also struggle to get your ideas right is why I'll keep producing. Thank you.
Nice stuff Guy, You're a breath of fresh air. John Williams springs to mind with lovely counters.
You're a musician but you're also a magician. I do music from my 7 and i have 50 now, i played music with many peoples and i know some musicians very goods, you're one of them. You're also a poet, we ear that in your productions. It's a good idea you're on youtube. A real stimulation to improve my english for me =)
Sir you have earned an instant subscribe on my behalf due to your great way of explaining and genuine appreciation for creativity.
I love watching you create or explain something you seem so happy doing it :)
I dont think you realise how helpful this video was, and probably not in the way that you originally planned. To see you trying and trying to make something 'Fit' echo's how I work. I have just 'Binned' my Sunglasses of doubt as I now realise that this is how even someone of your massive expertise and experience works as well. Thank you so much :)
I love when Guy gives out to himself. He's just like me fr.
LOVE THE HONESTY OF THE STRUGGLES
Your videos just always makes me so happy. Thank you Guy
Thank you for your time creating these awesome videos. You’re always so inspiring!
just aside from me absolutely loving your energy and the whole video in general. I also love the cup!!!!
great examples of counter melodies... thanks
Beautiful with acoustic Guy! Channeling some Beatles with that progression.
This is great Guy thank, so nice to see it in real time instead of after the fact.
"It's not exactly Schoenberg, is it?" Thank you Guy, I literally erupted in laughter, I really needed that.
I also enjoyed that bit very much.
amazing lesson, thank you!
You do a remarkable Michael Cain impression, guy 23:19
Great topic. Thanks!
This is what I'm working on at the moment (doing How to Write Music), so really good. I've been doing it for many years, to be fair, but totally by instinct, and a lot of my tunes end up meandering into the dark forest where no sunglasses of doubt are necessary, because, it's just impenetrable anyway. But this 20 mins gives me much more clarity. I use chord tracks a bit in cubase 12 pro, based on the paino track or whatever, but when I'm playing a guitar first (actual guitar), I use the marker track.
I must also admit, having recently moved (not far) away from my ABACABB structure, I've become "guilty" of a bit of through-composing, but I always seem to return to a version of the intro, as an outro, usually with some minor twist if it was major, or the reverse.
I intently love the energy of this man
Only just seen this. I wish I had a teacher like you. Fantastic video and great sense of humour:) H
Countryfile has a banging theme tune! Thanks Guy - useful video. Looking forward to doing some composing over the Christmas holidays!
Good to see you back! Back with great content
Youre a tank of firefull ideas man :)
Thank you Guy! You make compositional techniques readily understandable and show how hard work can pay off. It gives me hope and gets me working!
Ha! "Sunglasses of doubt"
No doubt I love your approach.
I hear a killer 70's prog rock song from your piano-based tune. Really cool. Bass and drums build up.
Guy, this was very helpful. Please do more. Thank you
Hello Guy
I watch all videos from you
always a little joke with built
very easy explained to play it yourself
just great
keep it up
Thank you
George (Germany)
The bbc symphony orchestra sounds absolutely great! 🔥🔥🔥
I´m wondering how my own compositions would sound with it. At time i use the old East West Quantum Leap.
Watching you discarding these failed attempts is priceless, I feel so much better about myself failing too many times when writing. :D
Love your explanations, keep them coming!
Guy, love your channel and content. You’re hilarious and full of useful information music related. Another great video as always.
I am truly loving your videos!!!
I write lyrics first, then write the melody. It's really good because the commas and punctuation becomes natural pauses.
Eight minutes in and I want to give up music and become a Yorkshire Veterinarian. It just seems so perfect.
I love your energy, please keep creating man!
You're one of the few online teachers with any talent for composition. The others teach you really sophisticated ways of sounding ok. That's the difference between knowledge and talent. The latter is intangible and a bit mysterious. Otherwise so many artists wouldn't peak at 25 or 30 if it just came down to knowledge. A few peak much later if at all. That's the X factor. Not only natural talent but the ability to maintain it. The inspiration that comes from somewhere.
Thank you so much Guy, this is just what I needed to take my music to its next level. You make it so much fun to learn and smile at the same time. Keep up the excellent work.
Seeing Guy get frustrated with his attempts is so reassuring. If Guy can still get frustrated, then I have no reason to beat myself up for the same reasons. I mean, I still will, don't get me wrong. But it's still reassuring.
I really love your spontaneous approach to music creation its very refreshing. Love your videos😁🤩
Just great 👍🏼
Everyone loves experience in action , incredibly watchable.
Thank you for the very good Tutorial today . I learn a lot today. Keep up and well done, Sir.
He's God! How beautiful the melodies were
Just the "argh!" in frustration trying to write something that your just not nailing is so relatable haha.
Love you, Thanks for all the help ❤️
You are AMAZING!!!
Thank you for doing what you do!!!! 😁
Thank you Guy! Heaps of useful information in that one, very much appreciated 🙏🕊️
Hi Guy interesting look at counter measures thanks for the video.
It’s amazing how many times Guy starts composing and I feel as if I already know the song. 😃 I was literally picturing a carriage moving through the English countryside before he mentioned the show Countryside of which i am totally unaware.
Countryfile just for accuracy 🙂
Hi Guy. What's the controller you're using on top of your keyboard?
Excellent stuff - thanks mate
These sunglasses of doubt 🥲🤣
"Say we like that.....do we like that?" My exact process for writing any musical anything
Thanks, Guy! Great info as always. Have a good one.
Love your studio. Also that sounds lovely. Subscribed
What else can I say. I love your tutorials Guy!
I really enjoyed watching you creating music! 😁
Your videos are SO amazing 😊
Out of curiosity, what is that controller/board at your left hand at 3:19? (the one with about a hundred buttons)
Hey Guy, I wonder if you could do some break down of a progressive rock track. I'm looking specifically at the artist Steven Wilson and struggling to understand how he develops his productions.
Love this guy! I'm starting to write
@ThinkSpaceEducation why did you choose to work with Cubase?
I am looking to learn a DAW for long use. I have Macbook with Native Instruments, hardware and software + 3rd party.. Currently, I am going thorugh multiple musical styles, as I am learning.
Fruity Loops is not a solution, as it is a memory hog, after adding 3 instruments, it already started clipping.
Native Instruments Maschine does not recognise some 3rd party plugins. With 3rd party, it takes a lot of memory. It has a cumbersome flow
Apple Logic seems ok, even memory wise, it is fast, no clipping,but I had some issues with mapping and its instruments do not sound natural and what I produce with it sounds low quality. With sound quality, I am pretty sure it is my fault, something I did not set up right.
I have not tried Ableton, Cubase, ProTools, Sonar and all others.
I need your wisdom . Thank you!
Counter melodies are the key ingredient in brining music to LIFE! (in my opionion)
Very cool video. What I usually struggle is with rhythmic composition. How to make it all fit in a groove, and make it more dense, making rhythmic variations and motiffs. Usually i dont have trouble picking the chords or the notes for the melody, but making a good rhythm section is hard. Could you make a video about that?
Hello Guy :) In Cubase you have “recall” function in Midi track hehe with recall you are always recording “underneath”..now we don’t have the “rec” mental pressure
These improvisational videos are always entertaining.
That is so inspiring, thank you so much for showing your progression and not just the result!
I was 'predicting' where the notes would fall (a couple of beats ahead) and got it about right. I'm far too 'Countryfile' for my own good! Brilliant channel, thank you. P.s. Maybe a bit too 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' at 9:22 ? :)
I vividly remember me explaining this exact way of writing melodies and countermelodies to my music theory teacher when I was studying at the conservatory. We really had quite an argument about it. He was frantically against this for I had to be far more considerate.
Then I showed him countless examples of "well known" composers who did basically the very same thing.
Some people make it really WAY too complicated, while it isn't and it was never supposed to be like that (well, we've done it for a few hundred years, but still)
I basically said something like: well, the melody just has to be diatonic - just follow the information contained in the given chords.
But he said something like: nope . . . you have to take into account every voice within a chord and let the melody (mostly the soprano part of the SATB) dictate the ATB - AND they have to follow certain set of rules.
Now, I've tried both ways of course. And I found out that he was kind of right . . . melodies stick out way better within a context of chords that follows its development. Especially when writing orchestral work. Sometimes it may involve a very complicated tetrad to do the job. Otherwise any melody AND countermelody will sound lazy af. But sometimes, especially with singer songwriter stuff it works out really good and one can get away with anything.
Today I see a lot of fellow composers using the first way of working (the singer songwriter approach) for making underscores for movies and series. It happens so often that we all got used to it. I don't really mind, but I still think - quality wise - one can stand out more by being more considerate in writing good melodies WITH the accompanying harmonies that would fit like a glove. It challenges you to come to your own original choices instead of the same choices that everyone else makes, making everything generic.
However, I really love the way you explain this to give other people a chance to think about how to consider developing a countermelody.
it's so nice to see your videos Guy :)
23:08 Wait! John Williams “Jurassic Path” (that's what you said) has no counter melodies? I do think he has them 🤔
I’m trying to add a sax counter melody to a pre existing vocal line. Could it works even if the vocal melody is quite already busy and covering most of space? Thanks
i love your vibes as you teach.. God bless you