General Music Chat

Someone has told me that part of my problem with my songs is that I sing off pitch. So, I started checking one against my guitar (note by note) and the notes I am singing sound to me to be on pitch. The only issue seems to be that I am playing this chord...

|---|---|-o-|---|---|-----
o---|---|---|---|---|-----
o---|---|---|---|---|-----
|---|-o-|---|---|---|-----
|---|---|-o-|---|---|-----
|---|---|---|---|---|-----

...and singing Bb Bb D D D. Is this what they mean that I am singing off key? If so, if I change the chord to include the Bb on the guitar I still like the sound of the chord. So, wouldn't it then be ok to sing Bb? Or do I have to play the chord with the Bb in order to sing the Bb? And if I have to change to chord to include the Bb then the chord no longer has the D...so, do I then have to play the chord with the Bb while I am singing Bb then playing the above C chord above while I am singing the D?

I HAVE STRICKEN MY COMMENTS FROM THE RECORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am really stupid and did not get almost anything of what you said. lol But, as I was showering this morning I remembered that I said Bb...when indeed I was singing a B. So, the chord if changed would be:

|---|---|-o-|---|---|-----
o---|---|---|---|---|-----
|---|---|---|-o-|---|-----
|---|-o-|---|---|---|-----
|---|---|-o-|---|---|-----
|---|---|---|---|---|-----

Which is CEBBG...so singing a B works fine. The song is Black Stain which can be heard at www.purevolume.com/clintmurphy...does it sound to you that I am singing off pitch? Because maybe my ear is just that bad...I played the melody on the guitar and it sounded to me that I was singing the same notes...at least in the beginning, I didn't go through the whole song since I was getting frustrated thinking I was singing a Bb....I know...I have confused the whole matter. lol It all started because I wanted to try and find the harmony for the song....and I was going to try and sing it.

Hey Clint, I listened to you rsong, and I'd say you are singing flat for sure. Not a whole pitch off, just not quite making it up to the true pitch you are going for. Practice singing your pitches into an electronic tuner and see if you can hit and sustain the note you want. I've got a tin ear too (drummer's ear, I call it), but with practice you can get better.

Good songs, just gotta work on the delivery!

Thanks. I have someone who said they will help me to improve my pitch. I wish I could hear it. lol

|---|---|-o-|---|---|-----
o---|---|---|---|---|-----
o---|---|---|---|---|-----
|---|-o-|---|---|---|-----
|---|---|-o-|---|---|-----
|---|---|---|---|---|-----

Assuming by this you are talking about an open voicing for the cmaj chord with a single extension? It depends on what you consider the root and I am not familiar enough with the song to say how you are using it but...
that would be from a string to e string... c e g b g?
Cmaj woud be C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1
you are playing 1 3 5 7 5
if we considered the c the root of the chord we'd be talking about a Major Family chord with a major 7th

now if we took the second note as root... the e...
Emaj would be E F# G# A B C# D# E
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
c e g b g
so then we're talking about a: b6 1 b3 5 b3 -wow that's a complex one. that would be a minor family chord with a flat 13

I'm sure that's not what you meant so on to the g...
G A B C D E F# G
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
that would means our inversion is...
remember: c e g b g
4 6 1 3 1
that would mean... you have a major family chord with an added 4th and 6th or 11th and 13th depending on how you wanna look at those extensions.

finally with the d as the root...
D E F# G A B C# D
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
so that would mean we're palying b7 2 4 6 4
this one's a real long shot. there's no 3rd or 5th. with a minor 7th and 11 and 13 for extensions... it's anybodies guess.

NOTE I EDITED THE ABOVE FOR ACCURACY...

So in summation... are you sure that's what your singing? Or is this diagram NOT at the zero fret?
FINALLY... in answer to your question... no I don't think they were talking about your note choice at all. if I may, I thiink they ment pitch and I think your not far off, but a hair off tuning wise.


-hey buddy. I think the amount yer off is minimal. it takes time to get yer ear to a point where you can here the small things... but I think yer on the right track. I would be happy to explain anything I wrote... cause i think it's within your grasp... but admittedly it was a lot to take in and I made it more complicated than you needed... feel free to aske specific q's... there are no dumb questions to me... I will give you all the respect in the world. In short... what is above it a look at each note in the chord as the root or home base of the song... for each note I built a major family scale. sof for the c note I built a c major scale with: c d e f g a b c
then i numbered each note... 1 - 8. each not is numbered and refered to as a degree so that you can talk about how the not relates to the root. The most basic chords are made up of a 1 3 5, in general. so a natural c major chord would be the 1 3 5 from the c scale. c e g
I was then comparing the notes from your chord to the degrees from each scale and writing down the degrees they correspond to. The reason for all this was to determine a likely key center... and thus determin if what you were singing is in one of those keys... ie to determine if you were singing off key in the sense that the note you were singing wasn't present in the key you were singing in/to. I know I get too excited when explaining. I really believed you were most likely in the key of G making the notes of the G scale fair game... and that's why I doubted the Bb... BUT AS IT TURNS OUT YER IN C.
mv

technically I should edit myself from before... I said you had a b in there but looking at it you have an e as the second note... so c e g b g
so compared to cmaj
c e g b g
c d e f g a b c... 1 3 5 7 5... that makes a lot more sense! standard cma7 chord...
or compare to e maj
c e g b g
e f# g# a b c# d# e ...so b6 1 b3 5 or an eminb9
or g maj
g a b c d e f# g ...so 4 6 1 3 1 or a gmaj with a 11 and 13

bottom line yer in the key of c!

|---|-4-|---|-5-|---|-6-|--
|---|-1-|---|-2-|---|-3-|--
|-5-|---|-6-|---|-7-|---|--
|-2-|---|-3-|-4-|---|---|--
|-6-|---|-7-|-1-|---|---|--
|-3-|-4-|---|-5-|---|---|--
--0---1--2---3---4(frets)

SOMETHING I THINK YOU'LL FIND USEFULL...
KEY OF C HARMONIZED... I E SOME OF THE CHORDS YOU COULD USE IN THIS KEY...
Cmaj7 Dmi7 Emi7 Fmaj7 G7 Ami7 Bmi7b5

try a few of them for a new part to your song...