General Music Chat

I posted my "Molasses Blues," sung by Julie Jazz.
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I deleted "The 4th Emotion" to make room for it. I realized the uploaded copy of "The 4th Emotion" had a bass track which was time-shifted several milliseconds late . . . I'll re-record it next week or so, and with a better intro.

RhythmMan, what a beautiful voice Julie Jazz has, brilliant. It is that blues/jazz voice, it is great to listen to. The guitar playing sounds fine and perfectly fits the vocals in my opinion. Well done!

By the way, I like the "Indiana Jones Hat" on Myspace, I had to zoom in on that one, lol. Nice hat, nice music! Long live the blues!

Peace out, GuitarAnatomy.

Thanks.
The song actually started as a Bass pattern I had running through my mind.
Then I wanted a rhythm guitar that was different than the standard blues, so I wrote a not-quite-standard rhythm.
It is different - try playing it, & you'll see (Blues in 'B').
About a year later I wrote some lyrics for it, and asked Julie, who lives in Australia, to sing it for me.

No problem.

I see, that explains the abstract sound the guitar has. I am happy you wrote those lyrics and had her sing them, it adds flavor to the song. She has a very beautiful voice, and if you talk to her you can tell her I said so.

It is rare to hear that kind of talent, nice writing, and nice singing on that track. If you put any other stuff up let me know, I will be glad to listen to it.

See, that is the great thing about this forum, there are so many different styles of musician here that you get a taste of many different genres. It is great for learning.

Peace out, GuitarAnatomy.

Alan,
I like that lady's voice. I like blues in general. I don't particularly like the "backup vocal track" . Good shuffle beat, but I detect a timing problem in spots. Enjoyed the "listen", so keep em coming!
John

Yeah, the older song recordings had timing problems.
'Molasses Blues,' and 'the 4th Emotion' both had timing problems related to the software . . .
Some of it was my playing, but a bigger part of it was the way I had my (then) new recording software set up.
The first track would be ok, but the subsequent track would always start late, and somehou also wind up to be a fraction longer in time than recorded.
That is, if it was, say 3:31 long. the 2nd track would be maybe 3:32 or 3:33. The time shifting was only about 1/10 if a second, so after aligning the beginning correctly, the end was off. I could shrink it by a certain percentage, but besides changing the end point, it also changed the beginning.
I was getting the beginning in tempo, then the entire track would gradually change tempo, until the end of the song was off by as much as a whole beat . . .
It took forever to try to fix the timing of the 2nd track.
Let me tell you, brother, it was a Royal P.I.A.
And, I found that all it takes is a few milliseconds to sound wrong . . .
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I had a post on this very topic, way back in 2006 . . . but Sony helped me fix it. It was the way I'd set it up . . .
(so, please, folks, no suggestions on how to fix it - I've learned what to do since this recording was made (in 2006).
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All my newer recordings - the last 9 months or so - have better timing.
My practice is paying off . . .
My last 15 recordings or so have real nice timing - good tempo, and pretty good rhythm, MUCH, MUCH tighter playing . . . but I won't be posting anything new I've recorded in the last 9 months or so, until I've gotten my ass in gear and copyrighted them in the Library of Congress.
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All of the recordings I've posted are from 43 songs I copyrighted in a one year period; but it takes longer than 1 year for just one guy to play all the parts of a song, mix it with computer-drums (yech), and mix in vocals.
When I had Julie Jazz do the vocals for "Folks I Knew (If You Catch Me Crying)" I rejected something like 39 tracks she emailed me . . .
She was a real Trouper; it wasn't even her song (she's a lyricist/singer). The mixing took me about 39 - 40 hours . . .
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Hey, when you say "keep them coming," do you mean blues, specifically, or what?
Thanks for listening . . .

Hello RM I liked the blues post. Me n the boys been workin up a 12 bar tune. The kinda off beat timing has been hard for me. Very different from the driving rock I love so much. Maybe Its just me but if you picked up the tempo a smidge, could make the difference right there. What do ya think?
And the Lady does have some nice pipes. what kind of accent do I detect.

I started doing blues over 30 years ago, with some friends next door.
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Yeah, I like rhythms that are different than the standard driving stuff . . .
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That's an Australian accent.

Hey, sanshouheil & HowlinJ,
I checked back in the original sound-recording for 'Molasses Blues.'
That was done with no rhythm track at all.
Back then, I'd only record with a rhythm track sometimes . . . and then delete it before converting to Mp3.
- I didn't like canned drums so much . . .
But that particular recording was done freestyle.
I'm older and wiser (hopefully) now.
I've learned that I should have a good solid background tempo (drums), to use as a framework to work off from.
. . . especially with the types of rhythms I love to play.
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A lot of my newer songs have carefully chosen spots where the guitar goes completely silent, letting the drums play a beat or 3 . . .
Sometimes I let the guitar & drums stop - and the bass will do a solo 2 - 5 notes . . .
Somrtimes the whole soung pauses . . .
In a song, silence speaks . . . .

I still like .. BB King!
There are a lot of great Blues players out there!

I like that pause Idea, been working on a new one that might be just the ticket to tie it all together. Thanks.

Sanshouheil, yep . . . silence speaks . . .
There's nothing like playing a song in a club, getting a good steady rhythm going, and hitting that pause in the song, and then hearing the echo come right back at you . . . .
Peoples heads turn when that happen, and they LISTEN . . .
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I just now re-recorded "The 4th Emotion." The rhythm is a lot tighter, and there's a different intro and ending.
So, it's back up on my profile, as promised . . .
Listen for the pause . . .
Also, I posted a new picture of me and some of my "playmates" . . .

RhythmMan: The pause was very subtle. Were there two? Looks like a good group of guys in the photo, My appology I dont recognise the "style" from the uniform or decore. However the Gentleman in the Photo on the wall behind you is familar to me.

Yeah there were a couple of pauses, just enough for the echo to come back.
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Re: photo.
Goju Ryu. There are two 10th dans in that photo. The american fellow, Master Van Lenton, got his 10th Dan in Okinawa, from 3 other 10th Dans . . . I got my Shodan (1st degree) from him.
The asian fellow, O Shihan Imoto-sama, has 3 - 4 black belts; one tenth, and the rest 7th or higher, in various styles. I got my Nidan (2nd Degree) from him 10 years ago; it's a different style of Goju than my 1st degree. I've got a few colored belts in other styles, too. (Got a brown in Shotokan, about 36 years ago . . . that started it all.)
The back row is all 7th Dan or higher.
The 2nd row is 2nd to 6th Dan, and the front row is all first degree.

Congradulations, all of the Goju players I've been associated with were very practicle fighters, makes me want to get back in shape. Shoulder tears are healing nicely. and my Gung Fu brothers arnt gonna leave me in peace anyway.