Default Having the root key in the background playing while songwriting?

[samsome]

while songwriting

is there any benefit to having the root note of the key playing consistently in quarters all along the track...

For example in C Major Key...having the note C repeatedly softly playing on a piano in quarter notes


i feel like it could help remind me of where i need to return every so and then?

but just checking your songwriting process if it involves anything like this

whats your songwriting process starting a track in terms of Key/Chords?

[guitfnky]

interesting idea. it would drive me insane after a couple of minutes, and since I do everything by ear, with little care for theory, it wouldn’t do me much good anyway. definitely curious about other interesting ideas/approaches like this, and how well they work for others though.

[DaveyG]

Having the root note of the chord playing all the time makes some sense, or the whole chord, but not the root note of the key.
I compose lots of straightforward pop/rock. I always have a chord track running through the whole song, usually playing strings but sometimes a cheesy synth. That track does not make it into the final mix but it's really useful for staying musically on the right lines.

Samsome, what was the last track you made? What genre?

[samsome]

DaveyG, i don't make full tracks yet consistently, but i would say EDM

[pushedbutton]

I don't think I'd like that but if you wanted you could sample the note and get redrum to play it ad nauseum.

[Zac]

It happens all the time with tuned kicks but I guess the short decay and low pitch make it less obvious

[jam-s]

Isn't that what's called a "bassline" in EDM? *scnr*

[orthodox]

If you mean the root key of the composition, I think, there is no point in playing it. The tonality of the composition is a vague thing, it is just an attractor, something which everything tends to get back to eventually. It can sometimes even be dissonant to the melody, so if you are playing the composition root key, that would limit the variety of the harmonies. It is the current chord that defines the current melody scale most of the time. I would play that in the background.