Well, there is a whip in the first 2 bars ...
And a rattlesnake ...
No. Really ...
Oh, all right then ...
WIP is just another variant on a familiar theme, when is the music complete, hence the title, Work In Progress.
In sections.
The main riff in WIP is played over the chord progression I-II-IV-I in the key of E.
The first section A is a rocker using mostly E and A chords and ending in the main riff. The main task was to figure out the rhythm, especially the tempo. What started out at a frenetic 160bpm eventually calmed down to a more sedate but still fast 148bpm.
The second section B rings the changes. The chords cycle between E and F# making the key ambiguous, it could be E, it could be F#, it could be B. The rhythm changes too and a nice bass line added.
The last section is different again.
It started as a fun experiment to harmonise all 12 notes in the chromatic scale in sequence starting on note E. It works if you cheat slightly and use passing notes. It also works if you drop the occasional note, as in the above example, and it lets you come up with some interesting harmonies too.
Then its back to basics. Organising and rearranging the sections, adding stuff to the instrument parts, tweaking bits and pieces here and there. Plus the attraction of adding a melody and a harmony, which is fairly easy to do just by extracting and rearranging the notes in the parts, but the temptation was resisted, and the piece left as an instrumental.
Exhausting, eh? Wheres that whip again ...
Title: WIP
Key: E
Tempo: 148bpm
Length: 3' 52"
Track 1: grand piano
Track 2: nylon guitar
Track 3: fingered bass
Track 4: drumset
Genre: Pop, Rock
