Continuing the “exam rehearsals” from my last thread , here an acoustic cover of Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay:
Hello again all! I’m a bit ashamed as since the holidays I was a bit disconnected from everything and haven’t posted or lurked anymore here. Still practiced with the electric, not much with the acoustic though…
I hope to get back into the groove soon and participate again.
Today finally I found some time to record the last of my " grade 3 exam rehearsals".
I must admit I already dove a bit into Grade 4 with the electric
This was a one-take as getting everything up and running again took some time as it always does with those things. Hope it’s still palatable.
Have a great rest of the day, much love to all Justinians! Rock on
Hi Siff,
Seems an authentic version you got going on here. Though I have not heard that original for a couple decades. I think you did pretty well overall. Here is a couple things I heard… maybe?
Something seemed just a tad out of tune. Due to the second point that follows, I am not sure of this. If it is out a tad, perhaps tuning? Perhaps pushing the strings down too hard? I struggle with the finger presses myself.
I found it a little hard to hear your guitar. You seemed to have it plugged in direct. If so, you could up that a tad as the vox to me overpowers the guitar by a fair margin.
That was nice Marcel. What I liked about it was, first, you pushed the chord changes (something I forgot to do when I posted my version), second, your dabbling in grade 4 seems to have had results, I’m jealous of that barre chord walkdown, and finally, I love those percussive hits, Once you’ve got the knack they’re fairly easy, but getting the timing right can take a lot of practice. Well done
That’s the final grade 3 consolidation song then? For a one take it was good I think😊 Really liked the percussive hits and enjoyed the barre chord walk down… I agree with LB though that sometimes something sounded so very slightly off…
I got curious and checked your other consolidation songs. I think - taking playing and singing as one entity - together with House of the Rising Sun this one deserves a spot at the top even if your singing sometimes had a tendency to “leier” ( too lazy to search a translation, guess you understand) a bit
Thanks Ian for that kind comment. True, it’s a great song to start getting into barred chords as they are all major and the walk down is possible.
Thanks Nancy for the kind words, happy you enjoyed it.
I tried to lock in so hard into the percussive hits that I forgot to not play them in the bridge, as I normally do. But it helped to stay a bit more in time when playing without backing.
Yes, much later than anticipated, so I had a few months to consolidate. As I aspire to compose primarily rather than perform, I expanded my practice routine to some more chords (7th- E/A-Barre etc.) and already started the first two modules while still doing lots of G3 consolidation.
I assume the barred chords are still a bit sloppy sometimes. Or my vocals are too off and don’t harmonize.
Thank you for your analysis of my consolidation. Yes next step is to do vocal exercises and get rid of those unwanted pitchbends that make me “leier”.
Albeit today was the first time I tried a vocal warm-up, so I’m happy you rank it up there and there seems to be some improvement.
Good progress here and welcome back Marcel. There is something buzzy going on with your guitar which takes away a bit from your performance. I suspect either the action is too low, strumming too hard or a vibration in the bridge. Do you hear it? It sounds like it’s happening on open chords too
Thanks for listening. Yeah now that some folks said it, I too hear it better. Gotta check it out. I’m still not enough precise listening it seems, to hear it right away.
I will soon go to a guitar teacher for a “check-up”/refine practice routine session.
Will bring in my Guitars and check if they can identify better how much is bad playing or bad setup. I‘m having a hard time identifying it still.
edit: I think you seem to be right with the low action. The low E and G don’t need much force to quickly buzz in the open position now that I tried honing in on the buzz more. I somehow often overheard the buzz and just thought that it was part of the timbre of coated acoustic strings.
@Siff
Marcel,
I agree with LBro that the balance between vocals and guitar is slightly off. Well, you can take that into account next time, no problem.
But you have a great impeccable rhythm, hats off! Many people have difficulties with this
Keep on rocking,
Leo
Congrats on finishing up on your Grade 3 rehearsals, Marcel!
Probably I checked in on almost all of your rehearsals and your progress during consolidation time is quite obvious. This was on of your best performances. A lot of good advice was already given by others, so I don’t think I need to repeat.
. Personally I think you are so ready for grade 4 . Keep rocking bro!
