Hey, I can tell you took a lot of time and effort to create that piece.  I myself am envious of what you have accomplished.  I really appreciate the song.
 
I must also say that I enjoyed the dialogue from the other commenters.  I did not understand a lot of it, but it did reveal to me the depth of peoples knowledge and their feelings.
 
Unfortunately, this is the internet, and much of what is meant will be lost in translation.  It happens to me all the time in other forums.
 
I'm not sure about the "status quo," nor do I know if there are a lot of new people around this forum, but the song helped me think of new ways to compose, and the comments helped me realize that there is an infinite variety of music.
 
JB, I hope you post some more material, and jkoseattle, I will search the internet for some of your work, maybe better, you can post it here....maybe you have, but I'm new around these parts.
 
Jesse Q. Screed
 
More derailment, jkoseattle, can you tell me the chords I play in my song  "Snow Day...Mix 4x?"  I have no idea what I did.
 
 
 
 

Thanks, Jess.
 
I appreciate your kind words but I don't think I will be posting here anymore as there seems to be a small group among the posters here who seem to think that I'm just an idiot who bangs on a keyboard and knows nothing about how to produce a "good" song.  I should've learned my lesson a year ago.  Frankly, I don't need the drama.  This place has too much class for my style of amateur songwriting.
 
JB

I'm sorry, but I found this thread fascinating.  I think jkoseattle is being a little misunderstood here.  He seemed to voice his opinion very civilly and constructively.  And he clearly stated none of this "conflict" was a problem, just that it needs to be pointed out to the artist so it becomes a purposeful rule breaking and not accidental.  After all, if I had a conflicting note and I didn't realize it, wasn't hearing it, I would want someone to point it out to me.  
 
And they did...on a song I posted a year or so ago.  It was a pop-piano type piece and I was doing a half-step climb up to the next note on the scale and it sounded kind of funny to people.  I actually did that on purpose, and I liked it (reminded me of Lennon's "Jealous Guy" progression)  but I was thankful that people pointed it out to me on here.  I left it that way, but I appreciate knowing the impression of others.  

I do agree there's a strict limit to that sort of thing, because we're getting into extremely subjective, and personal creative expression.  I am very thin skinned, myself, but I thought jkoseattle walked that line very well, and respectfully.  

Well, I refrained from further comment on this thread a day or two ago. What I was going to say was that voicing and arrangement are just as important as any other aspect of a song, and perhaps some styles lend themselves more than others to this type of examination, e.g Jazz vs Rock. Also - to be fair - I think I was the only one to use the term 'Conflict', which I did in my earlier post, to describe several bass-range notes being sounded by different instruments at the same time. Nothing more.
 
I am just beginning again to post a couple songs here to this forum, and to balance this, feel it is my duty to take an honest look at songs and give my honest opinion, delivered in the most thoughtful, civil manner one can manage using this medium. Just yesterday I critiqued "Never In My Life" : A tune much better than anything I can do. But what good does it do anybody to just be bombarded with nothing but "Great tune...Nothing more to say"?
 
Maybe anyone who posts a song here should declare the level of "observations" he or she is looking for. This could range from "Just HOW great did you say my song is?" to "Anything at all, plus the horse I rode in on". 
 
You may notice that my latest song posting contains "Critiques welcome" right in the subject. Sometimes I find it difficult to know what some folks who post here are really looking for. Maybe they just want to be heard, which is fine...but it would be nice to know that so feelings are not hurt, nor egos bruised.
 
jkoseattle - I would need to look back, but I am sure some of the most well thought out critiques of my tunes came from you. Thank you!

rbecker - I also have thought it would be great when people are posting songs here to say what kind of critiques, if any, they want. Honestly, often a body will just want to say "Look what I did! Yay me!" and critiques are not wanted or welcome or anything, and there's nothing at all wrong with that. I certainly hope there's room for it, (otherwise why are we bothering?). Other times, they may want to know "Is this anything?" or "Do you like my guitar solo?" or "Can you hear the lyrics?" 
 
Johnbee did NOT ask for critiques when he posted his song. We just all took it upon ourselves to provide them, me included. On one hand, someone could say "When you post here it's understood you are opening yourself up to reactions", but on the other hand, he didn't ask for them, so maybe we're in the wrong for providing them.
 
I for one am really sorry, Johnbee, that I provided a critique that was not asked for. I really hope you don't stop posting here. Clearly, the heart and soul is in your endeavors, I just hope the strength you need is within reach.
 
In any case, I think there is absolutely a difference between someone just doing show and tell vs someone requesting critiques. I'm going to be careful from now on. Suffice to say, I'm extremely sensitive to songwriting quality, and that's always what I hear first. I have no patience for a song I've heard ten thousand times before. I would rather hear unique failures all day long than uninspiring work from someone who can tweak all the knobs and yet doesn't understand why he hasn't made the big time.
 
It should be:
Be myself - fail, ow
Be myself - fail, ow
Be myself - fail, ow
Be myself - fail, ow
Be myself - fail, ow
Be myself - succeed - yeeeahh!
 
And not:
Be someone else - fail, oh well
Be someone else - fail, oh well
Be someone else - fail, oh well
Be someone else - fail, oh well
Be someone else - fail, oh well
Be someone else - succeed, meh
 
 

@Jesse - I wrote my thoughts about Snow Day in that song's thread just now. There's a link to my first album in my signature at the bottom of my posts.

rbecker
Maybe anyone who posts a song here should declare the level of "observations" he or she is looking for. This could range from "Just HOW great did you say my song is?" to "Anything at all, plus the horse I rode in on". 

 
Very thoughtful post, I don't think we need to  go to extreme and don't think you really meant that we should.  Who would want to bother posting on a site where all you hear is "that is great."   Well, maybe some people would like that  ......but probably not anyone who posts here...
 
The reason I commented on this thread was two-fold.   I don't think it is productive to continue pushing ideas on someone's post after they have dismissed your opinion.   That is my opinion and certainly anyone is free to accept or reject that opinion.   Personally, I have done that (pushed comments) on several occasions and wish someone would have said something about it.    Everyone here is very respectful and extremely helpful, it is an amazing place to learn and get ideas      I don't think anyone was "out-of-line" or anything to that effect.  Just realize that when giving critical suggestions sometimes people take it and sometimes they leave it.  If they leave it, respect that and let it go... More often than not, when people get multiple comments on the same thing, you will see a follow-up mix or change in the song which suggests that they accepted the ideas.  Other times the person may say, "this is it and I'm done with this project."
 
Secondly, people are here for many different reasons.   Some people are trying to become better song-writers, producers, musicians, collaborators,  some to development their mixing or production skills, some for fun, some to blow off steam after a hard day at work, some because they are retired and do this as a hobby, et. al.      Personally, I like as much critical mix input as possible because I am here to become a better mixer/engineer but others may be here for different reasons and may not care about certain aspects of critical comment.  Or, they may simply not agree with your suggestions.     In those cases, we should simply respect that and move on. 
 
Certainly the Internet is rife with messages being mis-understood or taken out of context, fully agree there.   People have different ways of looking at things and that keeps it all interesting.      Everyone on this Songs Forum has offered great submissions and suggestions and would not want to see that change in any way.  I am saying what I wrote above is how this Forum should run, it is simply how I look at it and why I responded as I did. 
 
Sorry again, John, for the de-rail...
 
Regards

You know, I think that I am going to post a thread titled something like...
 
"Songs forum host and members: Clarification on forum interactions"
 
...and ask this question.
 
I just took a look at the forum "Code of Conduct" and "Community Handbook", but there is not a lot there, other than saying that replies should be courteous, and an example of a good and bad reply regarding instrument volumes. It would be nice if there was an addendum to the "Code", or a third sticky thread titled "Rules of Engagement"  that spelled it out more clearly.

I like it alot. I think the mix (levels and eq) could use a bit more effort but I like the arrangement chords and melody.

Johnbee58
Thanks, Jess.
 
I appreciate your kind words but I don't think I will be posting here anymore as there seems to be a small group among the posters here who seem to think that I'm just an idiot who bangs on a keyboard and knows nothing about how to produce a "good" song.  I should've learned my lesson a year ago.  Frankly, I don't need the drama.  This place has too much class for my style of amateur songwriting.
 
JB

Don't do that JB.  As an aside, I was reading reviews of the Let it Be album, the one by the Beetles, and it got slammed by more than a few experts.  Post more songs!!!
 
Jesse Q. Screed
 
PS, I try never to make a big deal out of anything, because it never is until you do.