Why The Hell Not?!?!

Seeing that my two-quarter project is rapidly coming to a close I thought I would take a moment from posting music theory stuff and get back to the songs that made me want to study music theory in the first place. So I am going to take the opportunity to post a 30 Day Song Challenge I found earlier this week. Since I don't have 30 days to fill this out, I will do it in one day. I think it will be fun to look back at this a year or a few years from now and see how much of a difference a few rotations around the sun can do when it comes to my taste in music. The funny thing is, all of these songs in the challenge are Day 01. Laughter, next to music, is the best medicine after all!!

Day 01 - Your favorite song: "Be Quiet And Drive" by Deftones
Day 02 - Your least favorite song: "This Love" by Maroon 5
Day 03 - A song that makes you happy: "Do You Realize??" by The Flaming Lips
Day 04 - A song that makes you sad: "The Last Day On Earth" by Marilyn Manson
Day 05 - A song that reminds you of someone: "So Much Beauty In Dirt" by Modest Mouse
Day 06 - A song that reminds you of somewhere: "Svefn-G-Englar" by Sigur Ros
Day 07 - A song that reminds you of a certain event: "The Great Below" Nine Inch Nails
Day 08 - A song that you know all the words to: "Parabola" by Tool
Day 09 - A song that you can dance to: "Space Cowboy" Mighty High
Day 10 - A song that makes you fall asleep: "Joseph Merrick" by Mastodon
Day 11 - A song from your favorite band: "Hexagram" by Deftones
Day 12 - A song from a band you hate: "All-Star" by Smash Mouth
Day 13 - A song that is a guilty pleasure: "Better Off Alone" by Alice DJ
Day 14 - A song that no one would expect you to love: "Joyful Girl" by Ani DiFranco
Day 15 - A song that describes you: "Present Tense" by Pearl Jam
Day 16 - A song that you used to love but now hate: "The End" by The Doors
Day 17 - A song that you hear often on the radio: "Eleanor Rigby" by The Beatles
Day 18 - A song that you wish you heard on the radio: "Eulogy" Tool
Day 19 - A song from your favorite album: "Knife Party" by Deftones
Day 20 - A song that you listen to when you’re angry: "Cheyne Stokes" by Chelsea Grin
Day 21 - A song that you listen to when you’re happy: "Float On" by Modest Mouse
Day 22 - A song that you listen to when you’re sad: "No Giving Up" by Crossfade
Day 23 - A song that you want to play at your wedding: "Act Nice and Gentle" by The Black Keys
Day 24 - A song that you want to play at your funeral: "What A Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong 

Day25  - A song that makes you laugh: "Friends" by Flight Of The Conchords

Day 26 - A song that you can play on an instrument: "My Own Summer" by Deftones
Day 27 - A song that you wish you could play: "Mouthful Of Cavities" by Blind Melon
Day 28 - A song that makes you feel guilty: "Televators" The Mars Volta
Day 29 - A song from your childhood: "Revolution #1" by The Beatles
Day 30 - Your favorite song at this time last year: "Diamond Eyes" Deftones

Turning One Cool Riff Into Several Cool Riffs

Once again, as I searched through my old stack of Guitar World Magazines looking for inspiration I happened to find this article by John Petrucci of the band Dream Theater. I'm still not a fan of his band but the more I read stuff by him and see his tutorial videos online, the more I have respect for him as a guitarist.

In the article John talks about permutating one simple riff and turning it into several cool ideas. He provides the following advice to those who may have fallen into a musical playing or writing rut. While tinkering around with a riff and still retaining its original melodic and harmonic intent try:

1) Play the riff an octave higher or lower

2) Harmonizing it either diatonically with intervals such as thirds or sixths, or with parelled power chords (root-fith)

3) Add different effects to the riff

4) Split up the notes in the riff and have a different guitar play each section

5) Change the riff's time signature

*CLICK ON THE ARTICLE TO ENLARGE IMAGE*