Modal Iteration - A Simple Idea for Escaping Musical Ruts

Musicians and composers eventually reach a point where we feel like we’ve done everything. In a late ‘90’s interview with Guitar World, Billy Corgan and James Iha of Smashing Pumpkins stated that they were done with the guitar; every riff had been written, every chord progression had been adequately explored. (They eventually re-embraced this wonderful instrument.) But within every great, memorable song lies a simple melody.

To compensate for this feeling, sometimes we add layer upon layer of things to augment (read: distract from) the core riff or melody.

Abandoning simplicity can create amazing, layered music. But this can also lead to creating compositions which are overly complex, as we seek 100% originality and novelty in our work. When you’re done with this article, you’ll have a concrete plan to get you out of that rut and tease some new music out of yourself.

Why royalty free music?

Laws related to copyright in music are very protective of the artist’s and publisher’s rights. If you decide to use music in your work without obtaining the appropriate permissions beforehand, you can find yourself in hot water pretty quickly if the wrong people hear it.

As a small business ourselves, we understand and cater to the needs of other creative artists who need great music for their projects without breaking the bank (or the law).