Brian,
I should think the three PARTS of my own that I 'program' most into AR STYLES (and of course have to do each one individually) are an arpeggio; a 'repeating piano' .. high up; .. and I quite often change the 'pattern' for the BASS PART.
With the BASS pattern I often find it's not suitable for the song I am playing. It's either too monotonous (eg. C, C-C, C, C-C); or the BASS is all over the place (to make it sound more interesting in Yamaha's eyes?) when all I want is a straight C, G, C, G etc. So I would program these notes into the BASS PART.
I then have another issue. Something that is not mentioned in the video above, but is in others. They say
Use the QUANTIZE' in order to get your notes 'spot on in time with the rhythm'.
Well, no thanks! This makes everything sound very 'mechanical'. I think this part of it is designed for people who are incapable of 'playing notes to a rhythm'. When
I do eg. the 'Repeating piano', I would come in just a fraction
before the first beat in the third bar (with a 'pattern' of 4 bars before the repeat); and on the Bass, if I were doing eg. C, EG: C, EG, I would have the C and G spot on the beat in the bar .. but play the E just a fraction
before the beat. And this would be deliberate.
So no, I wouldn't want it all 'ironed out to be in exact time with the rhythm'. Playing music is not about having all your notes sounding exactly as it's written on the sheet music in front of you. What you play has got to 'flow. It would be like talking to someone without putting any expression into your voice and your words sounding like a computer would do it.
Here's one where I hardly ever come in where the 'dots' say you should. I suppose that a 'backing' should be fairly regimented (this is the 'default backing I have used for this one) .. but not 100% all of the time. And this too has that BASS PART just repeating itself on the same note constantly. I certainly wouldn't want it dong this from the beginning of the song to the end!
Click the left arrow after listening to get back to this page.Nobody's Child DEMONote: In the video above, Jeremy See starts his explanation on recording his own PART at 11:15. He doesn't mention QUANTIZE because
he has played his new PART with little 'skips' that don't come in exactly 'on the beat'. And this is what I'm on about.
And another thing. You can have the PARTS that you
want to hear 'play' while you're doing the recording (put the PARTS you
don't want to hear on MUTE). I find it easier to put my own PART in whilst listening to eg. the Rhythm and maybe CHORD 1 rather than just having the Metronome to time it with.
Hugh