Radio rock...any ideas?

[Pawn]

So this song is not a song that made it onto our first album, mainly because it wasn't finished yet. Any ideas on where to take it? Or does it sound good how it is? The second file is the same song with some sample drums and extra strings to show where I might go with it. It's pretty different from our other stuff so any advice would be awesome.

Thanks a bunch,

Josh - Ghost in the Attic (myspace.com/ghostintheattic)

[oldmusicguy]

I like the second version better. I think what you have is pretty strong, I wouldn't introduce another theme or anything like that. Maybe you could bash into a heavy verse with the distorted guitars and pounding drums and then end the last line like you started with the acoustic... or has that been too overdone??????

[Pawn]

Hahaha. It has been overdone...but that doesn't mean it can't be done again. And the second verse when the vocals go up the octave is when the distorted guitar comes in when we practice with the whole band. This is mainly a quickly put together acoustic version. You're thinking what were thinking, and that's a good sign.

[jimmyc]

oldmusicguy says you should basically leave as is, but I have an idea for if you wanted to change it to a full band kind of tune all the way throughout. I think you should start the song right off with the first verse, with only vocals and acoustic, and then play 8-bar intro after, but add in a lead guitar line that mimicks the vocals, and electric rhythm guitar, bass and drums, to make it a 'big' entrance. and then go back to that same verse again, but have the bass be playing the chords that the acoustic guitar was playing in the beginning, and the rhythm guitar(s) can either play the chords (strummed once and held out until the next note) or figure out a picked guitar riff in an upper octave thats kind of quick since the bass and drums alone would be a little bit slow, and so the guitar line would kind of pick up the verse. And then the chorus could just be the quarter notes of the chords to just make it 'to the point' musically. I like this song, its got a nice standard rock feel to it, so you just have to stylize it a little bit and stray away from nice 'cliche' rock feel. :P
But I like what you've got so far, theres alot of potential!

[jimmyc]

I thought of a little bit more haha.

Neither parts of the song feel like a chorus, so I think either rewriting the vocals or writing another part for a chorus would make it stronger. However, I do like the fact that it just keeps building without that kind of 'release' that a chorus gives a song. I'm not sure if thats what you're going for or not, but either way could work. If you're trying to stick with close to the exact layout that you've got now, I think it would be cool to have an instrumental 'release' with a big reverb-y lead guitar at the end and maybe some oooh's (think Thrice's ending to Red Sky).

[Pawn]

Thanks a lot. The way we typically play the song with the whole band is we have a little bit of feedback, with a Linkin Parkish volume increase into full blown everything, distorted guitars and stuff. When it gets to the singing at the first verse it's a sharp cut off to only acoustic guitar, the constant bass kicks and light vocals. Then the whole song kinda just builds up and builds up and the last chorus is how it started, with everything full blown.

Thanks for all the input, good stuff.

Josh