Yeah...

I'm pretty much allowing this blog to die. I knew ahead of time it wouldn't get much attention, but it's still somewhat discouraging. Plus, the file hosting service that I use--the only service I've found that allows you to host midis and play them in the browser, as opposed to downloading--has the fucking annoying habit of deleting files after two months of no views, so my links are dying in large numbers. The lack of attention and the lack, as far as I can tell, of a single goddamn free file hosting site that does what I want are making this blog more trouble than it's worth. I'll post finished things in my deviantart gallery from time to time, but until then...whatever.

Ruins updated

I was only planning on making a few adjustments to this, but when I ended up making some major additions to the final portion of the song.
Videogameish, South American temple-ish, lots of strings, pan pipes, and percussion.

Ruins

Through the Clouds

A little melody I played with on the guitar and liked. As I worked on it, a nice innocence vs. menace feel started to appear. Unfinished.

Through the Clouds

Riffs

So, here are some random riffs of mine, both for the guitar and ukulele, so far unconnected to any larger piece of music.

A Little Mischief

I've since added a little more to "Bleak," but I don't have a midi of that draft to post.

Bleak

Many of my riffs and songs began when I put my fingers over random frets and seeing what kind of chord it made. I thought this one had a nice East Asian flavor. I play this one as close to the bridge as possible to get that tinny sound.

Pagoda

The title of the next one is obviously a play on "Dust in the Wind," from which I got the picking pattern.

Lint in the Breeze

Here's another little riff that began as a random chord that I liked.

Pyramid

This last one is an ukulele riff. The title is a combination of Flea, the model of ukulele I play, and blue, since this is played in a blues scale.

Flue

That's it for now. Most of my subsequent updates will probably be single riffs like this, since they're easier to come up with than complete songs.

Loss, The March of Time

I'm not usually one to get my emotions out through creativity. Art and music are things I do for happiness and enjoyment, not to express my depression, anger, or neuroses (not that I necessarily have depression, anger, and neuroses). However, about a year ago, I had my heart broken, and I attempted to do just that. Here is the result. It didn't make me feel any better. The self-pity is palpable in these notes.
The main "dun-dun" melody of this song, and the one following, is highly influenced by this, a background song from Super Castlevania IV.

Loss

A few weeks later, I reworked the main theme into a new song. This one is much more trudging and ominous, and less mournful. It's a product of creativity, rather than sadness. It's also one that I really need to record, because it probably sounds fairly boring in midi. Too bad I don't have a microphone anymore.
I play this song a lot, and it's growing naturally. If I play it enough, the last part of the song will eventually let me know what needs to come next. It's a very active work in progress. This version is actually unfinished; there are subsequent riffs that I have not added to it yet.

The March of Time

I feel that both of these songs have their moments, but I'm more creatively involved with the second one.

Autumn

I have an odd little instrument from a thrift store. It looks kind of like an autoharp, but without the auto part. Its range is very limited and it's probably out of tune, but I like picking out little melodies on it. Here is one of those melodies adapted for the guitar, but set to different midi instruments.

Autumn

Dance with Darkness

If a melody comes too easily to you, beware. You might be subconsciously copying it from another song.
I came up with the main theme of this song one afternoon. I liked it, and created what I think are some nice riffs based on it, but it seemed...familiar. I mulled it over, and several days later, I realized why. The first two phrases of the melody are basically the Law and Order theme music. Crap. I liked this song, too. Oh well, maybe no one will notice.

Dance with Darkness