Confused ? Naive ? Lost ? Overwhelmed ?

[img]https://www.brushstrokesofatheonerd.com/assets/What_am_I_doing_here.jpg[/img]

So, you found out about wikiloops, you had a look around, seemed like a friendly, happy, busy place and you signed up.
Now what ? Where do you start ? Is this the right site for you ?

Maybe you never jammed before, you've been making music, creating songs all alone, it's hard to restrict yourself to a simple add. Maybe you are bossy, greedy, extrovert ! ... or maybe you are shy and feel like a fish out of water !

This thread is for members like me who have trouble finding out what's what at wikiloops.
OK, it's a simple site but you may be confused about it's identity and purpose or how you can integrate.!

The skills and talents of other members might seem intimidating.
You may wonder how you fit in, find friends, help, things to do and places to go.

Now, I am not the person to help you as I am quite simple and old fashioned in my outlook, limited in my knowledge and technical ability or grasp of new concepts but I'd like to hear from like minded folk, (new or old members)

I'd also welcome 'Guardian Angels' who have the answers and are willing to share, mentor or support lost souls :)

Lately I've been feeling that a jamming site is not the right fit for someone like me.... all I do is sing and write - There is a place for vocalists here but finding suitable templates is difficult sometimes. Drummers, bassists, guitarists or pianists will always find work here and if you play sax, or a stringed instrument you will be in demand.

If you want to declare your ignorance and admit to being "Confused, naive, lost or out of your depth" then please say "Hi" and I'll be here to listen, understand and commiserate :) (even if I can't help too much) :D

---

I get you Shamika. As much as you are feeding yourself music templates I'm feeding from singers like yourself. We just live in this ecosystem depending on one another.
There are days I wished Wikiloops would bring more vocalists but that's just the way of this beast. And you know what? After more than two years I still get so much joy digging up a track that gets me to create something new.

All I'm saying is; you are not alone and don't think for a second that what you do is useless. You never know what others will create from your art.

A friendly reminder: #273495 ;)

---

Hi Gees, thank you for your response and WOW! I had completely forgotten about that mix, it just shows that others often see different opportunities than you can imagine yourself.

When you are told that someone has remixed something you did it is always very exciting isn't it !

---

After reading what Gees 17 wrote I thought it was worth noting that sometimes you find a wikilooper who uploads just the right sort of template that suits your style so you always look out for what that same person has in store. It's very reassuring to build up a musical relationship with someone who 'gets' what you do or want to do :)

---

Dear Shamika, without singers and writers this place would be boring to be honest. Who wants to listen to me soloing pentathonic scales for 5 minutes solid, eh? Not even me :D . But we all love a good song. Maybe it's not always easy to find the right track, but there are so many tracks available... keep at it my dear, and if help is asked for, there are always people here happy to help <3

---

I'm not sure what a "pentathonic scale" is TG but I'm sure I could add a little excitement to one haha! By the way, without making you blush, I think of you as a wikiloops 'Guardian Angel' and it's good knowing you're there when little doubts creep in, so thanks for that.

---

Don’t worry about Pentecostal scales. Singers add legitimacy to our noodling and meandering and for that I thank you. Brad

---

"Pentacostal" ? This must be something to do with Gospel singing then :)

---

Not sure about the angel bit, that sounds more like you, but I graciously accept the Guardian bit with a bit of blushing :D


P.S. the pentatonic scale is the basic scale that we guitarists use [youtube]uuraAIKyPiQ?si=6CX-EBv3AEUVF_pM[/youtube]

---

Thanks for that .... but ......
[img]https://edexec.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/iStock-1223734759.jpg[/img]
Maybe one day I will need to know :)

---

aka - oh look, there's a butterfly. :)

---

aka - oh look, there's a butterfly. :)

---

I never heard that phrase before so I had to Google it - short attention span ? I think it was more a "pie in the sky"... I would love to be able to play a guitar and I have had lessons but I just found it too uncomfortable and hard to tell one string from another at a distance :D :(

---

Oh, no angel for sure! ;) :D :P :P :Y

Still a lovely man ;)

---

eGil, you're right :) I don't know why we use the word "Angel" but we have plenty of Angels at wikiloops :)

Definitions of an Angel =
* a person who looks after or is concerned with the welfare of another !

* a person who supports a business financially, typically one who invests private capital in a small or newly established enterprise !

I think we may even have a few Saints here too. Not so many cherubs and virgins
perhaps :)

---

Hey Shamika, you ask what you are doing here ? YOU ARE DOING GREAT and okay I know its all in caps which I don't usually do, but just to reiterate, you write cool lyrics and sing and do lots of fun things around the place and add positive energy and make us laugh and get us thinking about stuff too and adding a whole new perspective...[img]https://media.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExNHZ4cWpqdXd5ZGhlNThwNWdqc2Q5em50Z3ZzdjBkc2RnMTVodm1mNiZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/CibMYDbrlvnFyjY2Ag/giphy.gif[/img]

---

Oh Shi, you are also a real Angel, we all appreciate your loving, caring ways. I'm full of self doubt on many occasions but there's always someone like yourself who jumps in to save me <3

PS, I hope this thread wasn't created just to make me feel worthy, I want to find others who need an injection of positive energy ... where are you ?

---

Another way of thinking of a pentatonic scale is to think "the sound you get when you play using nothing but the black keys on a piano".

---

Would you say that the black keys are for sad songs and the white are for happy ... just a silly major v minor thought

---

Not really, one can play happy and sad on both black keys and white keys.
(Also, what sounds happy and sad is different in different cultures, but let's not go there for now :D )

In Western music, "minor" keys are associated to "sad" and "major" keys are associated to "happy".

Your question may stem from the fact that the best known major scale is C major ("happy") which indeed uses only the white keys on the piano and is used for happy songs. On the other hand, the A minor ("sad") key, also only uses the white keys but is used for sad songs.

The difference between the two, from the musician's point of view, is mostly which notes you gravitate to during a song, e.g. in the A minor ("sad") key, you would often use the A note in important places like the starting and the ending of the song, whereas in the C major ("happy") key, you would start and end on the C note.

To get a bit more technical: the difference between a major key and a minor key is the distribution of whole steps and half steps in the scale. On a piano keyboard you have some keys that have no black key in between them. The distance between those keys is "half a step".

Then most white keys do have a black key between them, so if you go from a white key to the next white key, while skipping a black one in between, you now have set two half steps (white key to adjacent black key would the first half step, and black key to the next white key would be the second half step; together they are 2 half steps = 1 full step).

To jump from one note to the next in C major ("happy"), you sometimes need to visit an adjacent white key where there's no black key in between (where it says +1/2), and most of the time you go to the next white key while skipping a black key that sits in between (where it says +1)

C
C + 1 = D
D + 1 = E
E + 1/2 = F (on a piano, there's no black key between E and F)
F + 1 = G
G + 1 = A
A + 1 = B
B + 1/2 = C again (on a piano, there's no black key between B and C)

In A minor ("sad"), on the other hand, the exact same notes are present, but the +1/2 appear in different places:

A
A + 1 = B
B + 1/2 = C (on a piano, there's no black key between E and F)
C + 1 = D
D + 1 = E
E + 1/2 = F (on a piano, there's no black key between B and C)
F + 1 = G
G + 1 = A

And because you consider other notes the most important notes in C major or A minor, you get the happy or sad effect.

(Sorry if I sounded like a music theory book - it's probably easier to follow if you look at a picture of a piano keyboard :D )

---