This song, maybe 1-2 years ago now, was my first ever attempt at fingerpicking. Therefore I have a particular affection for the song. My first attempt (unfortunately deleted) is performed with most basic chord progression and fingering. This one embellishes on that quite a bit making the fingerpicking more interesting (hopefully).
Anyway, I revisited this song and here is the latest edition. Apologize for no video. I know it’s the preferred method here, so I anticipate a lot of folks will bypass it. Perfectly understandable, I’m just not ready to introduce that complexity just yet. And as I’ve said before, I have a face for audio
I really enjoyed that Mike. I thought your playing was beautiful and it’s not easy to fingerpick and sing at the same time. I still can’t do it! You have a nice voice which suited the song and if I were to offer you any feedback it is that I thought you were holding back on the vocals. You have a good voice so trust yourself and let it out!
Keep them coming Mike!
@Eddie_09 Eddy, thanks so much. It’s funny on another thread I mentioned that in probably over 100 of “listens” I have had on my songs I have never had a compliment on my vocals. I really appreciate this. I’m definitely self-conscience regarding my vocals.
I have two separate tracks, guitar and vocals, on this one. Maybe I’ll give your advice a try and sing with a bit more gusto on the vocals track and maintain the guitar track. I thought of the song though as kind-of a person contemplating his future and essentially talking in his own head (to himself). I notice this is how Blaze Foley kind of sings the song. A bit melancholy.
Well played Mike, a tough yet beautiful song to sing as well as accompanying with complex fingerpicking.
I’m inclined to agree with Eddie on the voice/guitar level differential.
Perhaps “red light nerves” but I thought your right and left hand got out of synch at times; hard to pin it down but through my ears it felt the right hand was running away slightly at times.
No doubt you’ve listened to Blaze Foley’s performance , and I know John Prine covered it too.
I think you have all the components of this song learned; perhaps slow the tempo down (maybe 20% ) and bring the components together at a lower tempo … just some thoughts from my own experience.
Well done … (add have just put down on my ever growing song list ! ) …
Thanks. You very likely correct about the “out of sync”, the method of playing this song I learned from a youtube video. Glenwillow, instructs on the technique where there are some hammer-ons and pull-offs on nearly every chord through-out the progression. This certainly adds to the complexity for a beginner especially. But it was a fun challenge. What is good about this song is, as long as one continues to play it often, there is a lot pf progress to be made over time. I have a ways to go to improve on it.
Don’t know the song Mike but I liked your cover of it. I’ve read what you said about your voice but I’m pretty sure that you’ll get a number of comments this time. Personally, I think your vocal fitted the song very well.
Some super fingerstyle on display there Mike. That sounded like quite a tricky pattern and you did a great job. Don’t know the song but I enjoyed your version.
Perhaps a few vocal tuning issues here and there but overall a good vocal.
Well done.
Thanks Gordon. Greatly appreciate the listen. The pattern itself is fairly straightforward but the fretting hand is pretty busy as well in this one.
Vocals is definitely a WIP. My weak link for sure. Occasional pitch problems I can deal with I just always hope I don’t sound like a diesel truck misfiring . Thanks again much appreciate the kind feedback.
I didn’t mean to imply Clay Pigeons is only performed by John Prine. Blaze Foley also performs the song. I think Prine, with his wide following, made the song better known.
Sounds great Mike. I haven’t heard that one before. I’ve recently been doing a lot of fingerpicking stuff and always looking for something new to try. Vocals is a weak area for me as well and I try to find songs that sound good as just an instrumental. I do like the tone of your voice, though, and think it fits the song well.
Thank you so much for listen and kind words. If you think you’d like to try this song I highly recommend Glennwillow’s lesson, easy to find on youtube. This is what I attempted to model mine after. Glenn, though, does a fabulous job.
Good things going on here, Mike. I’m not a finger-picker, but I so admire all of you who are. It’s great you’re expanding on the first version. I think your vox on this one really fits the song. Good job!
Thanks Dave for the listen and the kind feedback.
I view rhe fingerpicking as a tool in the toolbox works with some songs better than others. Clay Pigeons is one of those that it works very well with.
% have it in you!
. Thanks again much appreciate the kind feedback.