September 2026 challenge response – Denise, Amby & Chetty

[Denise]

Hi AMers

For the September challenge, I took a feeling with me from our recent holiday in Madeira (PT), a beautiful island in the Atlantic Ocean. Besides the amazing landscape, fado music and delicious food we enjoyed swimming and snorkeling on the cliffy coast. The underwater experience gave me a “major 7 feeling”…. a mix of lightness, slowness, space and melancholy.

The chord progression is Am7 / Cmaj7 / G / Dsus4 and the lead is mainly G major.

For the backing track I experimented with sound layers in GarageBand and had fun with it.
Denise

More Blues!

[Alan L]

Light and dreamy, surely evoking some beach vibes. Cool layers and I love your lead licks!

[charjo]

Absolutely beautiful, Denise, the layered sounds were an amazing addition and really evoked the feeling of floating. Can you tell us a little about how you created those?

John

[Ben C]

Your videos never disappoint! You definitely got the feeling right (not that I’ve ever been to Madeira!)

Glad to see you’ve been playing around with GarageBand too!

[JoeD1]

The only time I went snorkeling was in Hawaii and this certainly brings back those memories. Very cool backing track too.

Joe

The sight of a touch, or the scent of a sound,
Or the strength of an Oak with roots deep in the ground.
--Graeme Edge

[Werner]

You’ve done a fantastic job again, Denise. Your experiments with Garageband go perfectly with this dreamy guitar music.

Thank you, Werner

[Martin W]

Hi Denise , love the layers of different sounds really adds a lot of depth and interest .
Sweet chord progression with that dreamy maj7 sound coming through nicely
And those added harmonies sound great .
Beautiful imagery of your recent trip .

Martin

[Michael Krailo]

That definitely had an underwater snorkeling vibe to it. Great job Denise.

Root note patterns >>> CAGED shapes >>> TRIAD'S. Just put in the work and watch your guitar skills soar.

[AndréM]

Dreamy and relaxing.
Your composition add a peaceful feeling to your scenery.
Love it.

AndréM

AndréM

[James B]

Wonderful piece of music you’ve created here, Denise. As a musician and a composer and a recording engineer you’ve done a fabulous job. Loved the underwater scenes with your song.

James

[Richard G]

A very subtle and harmonious feel to that Denise, so well suited to the stunning underwater images. Beautifully played and recorded …….

Richard

[Mike W]

What a lovely composition, played so well. The floaty sensation was evident, and even more so when the underwater film was playing. Madeira is lovely – we shall be returning in December.

[Laurel C]

Creativity on display with the translation of your holiday into a musical arrangement which was done beautifully. The ‘feeling’ translated with every aspect of it. The dreamy holiday to the underwater life and intermittent bubbles. Just an awesome piece of work.

[Juxi]

Over and over again, I am awed by your fabulous tone, Denise. From the first stroke on your acoustic I loved the warm and simultaneously airy sound. Of course, Chetty did very well, too.
A thing of beauty! 👍🏽👍🏽

Bluesige Grüße
Juxi

[wannaplayblues]

That was an awesome piece! The composition worked so well with all the different parts!

Outstanding!

"I hear you talkin' son, but you 'aint sayin' nothin'" - Will McFarlane quoting Muddy Waters hearing a really fast guitar player

[Manfred M]

Great work, Denise. The interplay between your acoustic and electric guitar is fantastic. I don’t feel melancholy at all—it actually puts me in a good mood. These sound layers work perfectly.

Take the chance to meet your AM friends on Zoom.
The next Meetup will take place on October 31

There will be a detailed announcement here in the forum very soon
I look forward to meet you.
Manfred

[Dieter]

Wonderful relaxing music.

Dieter

[JoLa]

Denise, you are becoming a great music composer right in front of our eyes! Loved the dreamy Summer vacation-vibe music that evoked peace, relaxation and a beautiful underwater world! It not only sounded beautiful but also intricate and hopeful to me – so well done, in every detail! It must have been an amazing holiday, this music video will be a great souvenir of it for you for years 🙂

🎸JoLa

[Mark T]

What a beautiful submission, Denise 👏👏. It gave me a feeling of tranquillity

Your sound layering was exquisite, and added a certain mystic quality to some fine Guitar composition and performance 👍👍. Then, to top it off, you treated us to some wonderful tropical underwater video – just perfect. – Mark 👍🎶😎 ♥️

[Bill]

That does have a nice breezy, care-free feel to it Denise. Nice to see Chetty making an appearance and love that edge of breakup tone. Very cool use of the different layers too.

[Author]

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