Simple Arpegios

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Forgive me if this is a dumb question, just found LMMS and so far absolutely love it.

My problem

I am using LMMS to create simple backing tracks that I can jam away to on guitar.
Obviously for this product to work for me I have to be able to set a track to guitar playing simple arpegios.

Have found the arpegio function and so far fairly easy to use EXCEPT when your chord sequence is a mixture of major and minor chords

I need a track that plays Bm A G and repeats

The problem I have is the arpegio function plays all chords in the track as minor or all chords as major. :(
There doesn't seem to be a smart way for the software to recognise that the Bm chord I added to the track is a minor chord but instead plays a B Maj arpeggio, or vice versa

Surely there is a better way than having to have multiple tracks for same instrument just so that you can use mixture of chord types when playing arpegios.


Also is there a way to play alternating arpegios. rather than go straight up the strings and back down again but play strings in a 43231323 order,( every guitar player will recognise that as picking sequence to Stairway to Heaven).
i made a solution years back, but its still valid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBN6Hjom6S0
-Some of the other tuts may interest you too :)

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Have already watched that video. While useful not what I would like

The problem with your approach is that I might as well enter every single note manually without ever going near the arpeggio function

I was hoping that their would be a way where I could simply enter a Bm chord for a whole bar, an A major for the next, a Gmaj for the next and finally a Bm in the last, and then have a plugin or function fingerpick those chords and then be able to have this sequence repeating for as long as need.

I want to be able to put together simple jam tracks in 20 minutes or so, tracks that dont take hours to enter and your method means entering every single note individually. If this is not possible then as much as I like LMMS, it simply is not the product suitable for my needs
How about using Automation to change the Arpeggio chord? You'd still have to manually place a midi note for each tonic, but every time you want to change from, e.g., Cm to Csus4, you use an Automation track that runs on value "2" (for minor) and then switches to value 6 (sus4) whenever you want a new chord, etc. To do this, you'd have to make a new automation track in the Song Editor, then hold-down "Ctrl" while you drag n' drop the "Chord" drop-down menu into the blank automation track block. Obviously, you'd want to use the "histogram"-type of automation curve for instantaneous/discrete changes, not the smooth vector curves. If you do it correctly, you'll notice that your cursor morphs into a "fist+" icon when you hover over the automation block. The most challenging thing about this would mentally mapping the names of the chords (as listed in the dropdown menu) to the discrete values in the automation block, which is kinda obvious (0: octave, 1:major, 2:minor, ...).

HTH
Really it sounds like you don't need most LMMS features. If you just want instant backing tracks to jam along with have you tried something like ChordPulseLite http://www.chordpulse.com/lite.html . The full version has a lot more styles and chord types and still doesn't cost much. It's not exactly what you're asking for but it is incredibly easy to stick in chord sequences and play along to find out what works with them etc. It's a sort of very simplified Band in a Box.

Steve
I hear what you are saying Steve.

Have tried a few of those products, but they dont give you the flexibility you get from being able to actually edit individual bars.

I have previous used a product called NoteWorthy, (very old but at its time 10+ years ago a truly fantastic product ).
What I am looking for is a product that will let me experiment, and gradually build up a song to a high standard.
I previously played in a band so have some MIDI equipment lying round and it would be a waste not to use the sounds they can generate.

So my plan of attack was
* build a simple chord sequence
*put in a thumping bass line and drums
*add additional tracks to 'fill out' the sound (keyboards etc),
*and then finally when I think a song has potential develop it into a polished finished product that could potentially act as a demo or as backing to a live performance.

Noteworthy is basically old-school music composition (you literally put in every single note without knowing how it will sound until you play it), very hard to experiment with, but with time and effort can give professional results and output files in various formats MID WAV MP3
Obviously what I am looking for is a halfway house, a jam machine that then lets me develop a piece of music to professional quality. LMMS seemed to fit the bill and when I saw the arpeggio function I got extremely excited. LMMS would be the perfect solution to my needs.

In the mean time I have been playing with the Automation track as farawayinspace has suggested. Progress but still tedious and time consuming, maybe experimentation and practice will improve that.

I find it impossible to believe that what I am looking for has not been done and not in demand by other guitar musicians working on tight budgets.
I am now trawling through tons of VSTs and addons as I am sure someone somewhere has done what I want

Will keep everyone updated, but if someone has suggestions I would really appreciate them.
I had a look at free guitar VSTs a while ago and there are some that sound reasonable strumming chords but I couldn't find one that did a reasonable approximation of picking. It's the controlled picking that defeats the LMMS arpeggiator (and many others) because it's essentially keyboard based so has no concept of "strings" just notes in a chord, from the root up.

If you must have authentic sounding picking styles then maybe you want to look at some of the arpeggiator VSTs. I think something like https://www.xferrecords.com/products/cthulhu would do a lot of what you want and there must be some free VSTs that are similar.

Steve
slipstick wrote:
Mon Jul 27, 2015 10:10 pm
Really it sounds like you don't need most LMMS features. If you just want instant backing tracks to jam along with have you tried something like ChordPulseLite http://www.chordpulse.com/lite.html .
Exactly my thoughts. Or use Chord Pad which has styles,tempo,key,and you can create good backing tracks in minutes (probably less). You can mute instruments so it is is easy to tailor minus one backing tracks to practice your instrument

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