Last time (part 3), we added some rhythm guitar parts to our session and imported another drum loop to play concurrently with the original loop in order to add some energy to the track. Now the groove is happening, you're probably getting tired of the one-chord harmony. You could play a new part or copy the chord clip that you already played and transpose it, but let's use Live 4's new Simpler sampler instead. It is as easy as dragging the Simpler to a MIDI track and then dragging the chord clip that you already recorded into the Simpler. Next, use your computer keyboard to play a two-chord pattern on the Simpler by pressing any two 'letter' keys. Let's say that the two chords work well against the bass line, but the funk rhythm doesn't. Each horizontal row of clips is a "scene," and can be launched simultaneously with the play button on the right-hand side of the screen, underneath the Master track. You can play everything you've recorded up to this point by launching the first scene. Then, go to the Insert menu and choose "Capture and Insert Scene." Now, you have a new scene from which you can remove the funk part, as well as the original one that contains the funk part from which you can remove the two-chord part. The ideas keep coming: Over the two-chord vamp, try a single-note lead line. Keep creating and arming tracks as fast as you come up with ideas: 2 harmony lines for the lead, a "telegraph" style octave part, or whatever.

For the next installment we'll start building an arrangement. See you then.