General Music Chat

New down load from NKF playlist. Recorded in rehersal.

Wow, twenty views on a post and no one takes time to tell me music sucks. What's the world coming too these days. Oh well
Its off to Nacogdoches to drop my boy off at orchestra camp. At least that much is going my way today.

Hey Sans,

I just got back in town this morn..Hey , I like the tune...I like the way the pwr chord gtr part serves as a pad for the sycopated acoustic part to lay on..Decent job on the vocals too ..BUT, (you knew thered be one right ) ..Your slightly outta tune..The in-harmonic overtones of the music can sometimes make vocals "pitchy"if the tuning is out.. Especially at he ends of phrases where your holding out notes..(Sorry , I have a critical ear.. )Now, getcherass back in there, tune up , then let us hear it.. ...

John

sans; I listened 1st thing I got on in here...I had to look again at your line up in the band after hearing it. I saw you had 2 guitars (as I'd thought), & was waiting for the lead in "My Sweet," but it never came. How's come?

Nice tune, but it could use some lead. Have you ever messed with a slide? Somehow I thought it might fit, but it isn't necessariy the onliest way to go on it.

I liked the doubling up of the voices, but I think you might want to start working on harmonies. Think of the notes in the chords 1st. When the lead is on the root, take the 3rd or the 5th of the scale for each chord, to add color to the melody. You'll hear it all in your head once you start thinking along these lines. (I'm not sure, but I seem to recall you bemoaning the fact that you don't harmonize in another thread..if I'm wrong, feel free to correct me!)

Still, a cool tune that could develop into a wonderful piece with a good lead & some cool bass lines. (I always wanna juice it up on bass when I hear something new...LOL)

Hey San the song in a minor root, minor chords get my attention all the time; can I make a suggestion? I'd play and sing this song in an higher root chord thus making the vocals higher and maybe better for the singer to stay on key, it might make the difference between recite the lyrics and performing the lyrics unless you think this move would take away from the dramatic mood that the song projects, I'd give it a try.

It's a good song and it can be a great song in the right key and implementing the advices of the KIDD and Philbymon.

Keep on posting new material, I love to hear yours and other's new originals, for me it's the best feature that Bandmix offers, every time I log on the first thing I do is look for new music and your profile is one of the first I click on because you guys have shown me to be prolific song writers.

Thanks for the listen and advice. I,m wondering Kidd what was out of tune? Ray is on the acoustic, I was playing the Les Paul for the metalic back drop and emphisis. ( was a lot louder on the ambient (live) sound) I'll be sure to double check my tuner before I record again and increase the output of my guitar through the PA. Some of the songs we are doing Ray is using a capo, and of course I dont. Cant remember if this is the case with this tune or not.
Was the second full practice with Tony doing the backup vox. I'll bet that the boys harmony will improve as we work the new format more. I'm sure you could hear that their timing wasnt the best.
Some lead licks would be good on this song for sure but I'd have to drop in and out of the emphisis rythem line to insert them. I dont think that would work for me. As far as a key change, I'll have to bounce that one off of Ray, We are somewhat limited due to his range.
Just as a side story. Our Bassist Eric Davis, wrote this as a poem in the 70's.

George, Sorry Im late to the party. I like this song. You guys are really coming together. I was waiting for you to unleash the beast and throw in a little ripping lead somewhere. Something you might try to do is layer some single note electric guitar behind the chorus sections. Just play the melody that he is singing. This is a little trick that can thicken up the sound. Harmony vocals would help but I get the feeling that your singer kind of sings depending on the emotion that hes feeling so it might be hard to nail him down. Good song, you guys songs are getting more direct and shorter to the point than some of the earlier material. Keep on rocking. Thanks for sharing.

Hey Sans,

Yeah, I think your B string is slightly sharp..F and Em chords are right on..C note in Am sounds sharp when the chorus comes in with the other gtr..You can kinda hear that open B note sharp in the G chord too (not as much as the C note in C and Am..Some of it is EQ..It doesnt seem to be as noticable thru the cans??? BUT, the cans are more true with less harmonic dist.thus seperating fequencies better..Am I making any sense JW?..Hey man,I dont mean to be so critical.Just want your vocals to not have anything causing them to be "pitchy"..I just know that in a tune like that where only a couple of instruments are carryin the load, tuning can be more critical...

John

He may be pushing a little hard into the frets. My Strat has the taller frets and I have to play it with a lite hand in order to not push notes sharp.

When Im recording I retune every take. It drives people crazy but theres nothing worse than getting this great take and your guitar is out of tune. A recording is a document that hopefully will with stand the test of time. As you play more and more you want to be able to listen back and be proud of what you did.

Once again you guys have come a long way, just keep pushing and recording. It only gets better with age.

Thanks for the props guys. Means a lot to me n the boys. I was playing my new Les Paul on all that, I had been having some trouble keeping B in tune now that you mention it. I recently changed out the strings though.
Ive been working a lot with the newist job, and it's been so freakin hot in my shop / studio in the evenings I really have not been practicing like I should.
But I will by God. Ya can take that to the bank!

sans - not to get too far off topic or anything, but is your new job better than your old one? We're pullin' for ya out here in the sticks.

It's funny how sometimes ya get a set of strings that shoulda been factory seconds or something. It's happened to me a few times where you just can't make a set work. I had a real bad run with Ernie Balls there for about a year. Seemed like every other set would constantly go out of tune or break too easily.

Eventually I switched to D'Addarios.

D'Addarios eh. Humm I'll have to give em a shot on my next change.
Job? Wow - I quit the $30/hr Nurse job. Was a salary job doing 10 - 12 sometimes 14 hrs a day. Being on call. Corporation said "we will give you what ever you need to get the job done." I asked for one extra staff person. Just one. Did the time studies, safety vs effeciancy and all. Sent them a letter telling and showing them where they were deficiant. Well it's not in there California corporate buget. Bang I'm outa there. Now I am selling guns and sporting goods out of a Pawn shop for less than a third of my preveous rate of pay. And I love it. Working weekends in the hospital to help my wife make ends meet for now. Want to do my own place. George's Guns -n- Guitars. Hell of a combination.

I was gonna say that this is the kinda song that you, vocally, belt out like a biatch. Then it got a lil more intense. Yes, I was waiting for a BIG change in the direction (solo or a catchy bridge). Really dig it. Major potential.
Tell the vocalist to open his mouth a lil more. I'm serious. I used to sound like I'm mumbling all the time. Now it's much less. Turns out all that was needed is that I open my mouth a lil more. And you said that was live? Bigger props for that!

Yes we record straight off the PA. Ray usually likes to tweek them some. Me, hell I just post it as recorded. I want you guy to hear what we sound like raw. Or as close as I can get from a recording.
On this song I am adjusting volume / intensity in three steps for my part.
It and we are a work in progress. LONG LIVE ROCK!!!