Songwriting Habit: Using Call and Response

When composing a melody, sometimes using the technique of Call and Response can develop your song, giving it some variety and interest.

Call and response is when you have the call - that is the first melody, usually a soloist. This is then answered by the response - a different melody, responding to the first. The response is sometimes done by another instrument or group of singers.

Here are some examples….

  1. Under Pressure - Queen. The opening bass riff is the call followed by the piano playing two notes which is the response.

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Songwriting Habit : Using GarageBand for iPad to get you started.

GarageBand is an excellent tool for helping students develop their songwriting skills. Today I am posting a video on using GarageBand on IPad.

Before we start you need to know some basics of songwriting first. Songs are build from a chord progression. What are chords? They are a series of notes that you play together on guitar or keyboard that provide the accompaniment to your melody. As I have described in a previous post, the chords I, IV & V the most common chords used in a song.

In this example the chords used are based on the scale C major. Thant means Chord I is C, Chord IV is F and Chord V is G. Your aim is arrange these three chords over 8 bars. Each bar has 4 counts.

Watch this short video which explains how to use chords on Garage for iPad....

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