Dear Prudence rendition, wooden music

Community Recordings Audio-Video Of You Playing
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Well, I’ve been a little slow posting here lately.
Partly due to I’ve been taking lessons from Justin. I decided that I really need to get back into them lessons, but I only got so much time so me posting here has slowed a bit.

Been working on this song now for a bit.
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I got a new camera. As I’ve said before, I seem to have trouble doing the video part and it seemed having a place to put a camera was part of my problem.
So I got a webcam. Clips onto my monitor. That I like. Now I can have the darn thing pointing at me w/o it falling over.
Anyways.

Here’s my rendition of Dear Prudence.

https://youtu.be/Gu4BhxFtyJk

This was a hard task for me to complete since I’ve not posted a video of me for a bit. Most of what I learned about how to get my song to a video I’d forgotten. A big bummer.
I still may not have it right. I thought the movie program would have sync’d. my audio and video, but it didn’t so I had to manually line up the two. Hope I got it close enough for folks to listen/view to.

This is my guitar plugged into a cheapo joyo tremolo peddle and then plugged straight into the audio interface.
Mic is plugged straight into the AI.
It’s two tracks, guitar has no modification, vocal has minimal daw reverb added. I ran guitar track to the right channel, vocal track to the left.
Then I copied both tracks.
The copy guitar track has minimal daw reverb added and the vocal track is dry. Centered both copy tracks.

fwiw, my wife said I should do it over?
She’s a big critic of mine… For one, she didn’t like the very intro to the song (the part where I’m getting ready to play some music), she said that part should be gone? Then few negative comments on my vocals. I get that. Seems strange and I kinda get it. As apparently I can’t read. I had the music right in front of me with the words. And I still miss words. Guess I’ll need to work on my reading skills.

Any insight from you folks as to how I can do this better would be appreciated.

Last comment on this.
I’ve not listened to the real song lately.
This is pretty much how I hear this song in my mind.
I modded the music a bit too. At the break it’s supposed to go to a F chord. I changed that to the Bb, C#, C, then back to the main song.
The intro and outro are also not in the music I have. I’ve no idea where or how I can up with the inro/outro. I believe the book I have to be the same Beatles Complete book that I’ve seen Justin refer to. It’s a great song book for sure.

Anyways. Feedback?
I’m always hoping for comments as to how I could do it better.
Thanks for listening.

14 Likes
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Hi Jim, I don’t know how you can improve it because it is already very good the way it is. A very enjoyable listening! Very delicate and sweet playing, bravo!

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Nice playing Jim. I enjoyed that. New camera makes a big difference, we can see you now.

Reading your intro post, and asking for feedback - seems like quite a few of the things you’re concerned about are to do with the production rather than the playing? People upload all sorts of videos, some upload whatever they record, some trim the front and end of the video, there’s different amounts of post-editing… so it really depends what you’re going for? For sharing on a guitar forum I thought that was totally fine.

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Jim

Really enjoyable cover. You maintain a steady rhythm and the mixed picking / strumming works really well. Your playing and singing are very melodic and sincere. Your belief in the song is audible in your performance.

Brian

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That was a nice and polished performance Jim. I don’t play finger style so I am not going to try and offer any advice as I am not qualified to do so. That was very enjoyable and pleasant to listen to! :sunglasses:

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Thanks Silvia for listening and the very kind words.
There’s always rooms for improvement and I can hear some places in what I did that could be improved. Starting with my singing I think, along with a couple of mistakes in playing too.

Thanks for the listen and kind words jk.
Very glad to hear that my new camera has made a difference for the viewer. It makes a big difference to me too as I don’t have to set it up.

This is true. If I can’t perform all the production tasks, you’ll never see or hear me play as I won’t be able to make the video for you to see. And I am just barely above that (computer skill wise) too in being capable of making a video.
But I am looking for any comments on my playing. This finger picking is still pretty new to me. Like I am being confused by which fingers to pick with. Should I use my pinky as a home place and keep it put, or should I use it to play with. I’m going back and forth as to picking with the thumb doing the D string, pinky doing nothing, or my index finger doing the D, pinky doing the high E. I’m trying another song with finger picking and it’s not going real well do to my confusion about this. I don’t suppose going back and forth is good to do either. I don’t know and to me, my finger picking is a work in progress.

Thanks for listening and kind words Brian. Interesting you picked the words “belief in the song”. Thanks for that comment. I think when playing this really does come through. I, of coarse, did several takes of this before getting one I liked and thought was sharable. And perhaps what you say is true. I felt I was in the groove for this take. I was feeling the music, and apparently that can be conveyed to the listener. Interesting. I really never thought of that and it’s quite difficult to express with words.

Thanks for the listening and kind words Eddie.
I don’t know about polished though. That was cut early in the morning and I just was playing it as I usually do. Perhaps what Brian said is closer to the way I was feeling about my playing. I was feeling ‘in the groove’. Cool that, that came off to the listener as polished.

Thanks to every one’s comments. They are all so positive.
I thought for sure someone could pick out something that needs improving though. Especially along the lines of my right hand picking technique. I ain’t been trying to finger pick for much time and it is still a work in progress for me. I thought Dear Prudence was a good song to try it on as the song just kinda flows to me.

2 Likes
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Beautiful performance of a great song. I love how you finger pick it and sing at the same time, I would find that really hard!

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Hey there Jim In the light :smiley: :grin:

Nice …very very nice :clap: :sunglasses: :clap:
Greetings

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Thanks for the kind words and listen Greg.

There’s no joke about your comment.
I find it very hard. Heck. I find it hard to sing and play at the same time. I’m really trying hard to get to doing that. Many of the songs I’ve recorded in the past have been done with a guitar track, then I come back and do the vocal track (which is near the hardest part for me since I find singing hard to do). So I’ve been working on singing and playing at the same time.
I’m only kinda getting the idea I think and have much to work on in the future I think.
It helps a lot if I can feel the song though. I’ve really got to feel the song in my mind and body or I’m likley not successfull in putting together any song that sounds good.

:slight_smile:
Thanks Roger. Real good for me to hear that the new camera is working well enough for you to see me.
I kid you not, the video part has been making me crazy since I joined this forum. I’d done audio recording before, but never video. So it’s been a big (and still is) learning curve for me.
Just can’t tell ya how happy it makes me that folks find it more enjoyable experience when they can see me.

Thanks for the kind words and clapping. :slight_smile:
I appreciate the listen and kind words for sure.

1 Like
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So cool to be able to sing and play at the same time. I would like to be able to do that and try to work on it. I think you are ahead of me on the recording process as I just use my iPhone. I did buy a phone holder which I clip on my desk. Anyway I really liked your tune, I had not heard it before, everything flowed and sounded great to me, very natural. Thank you for sharing, Susan

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Appreciate the listen Susan.
For me, singing and playing is very hard. I don’t do it. But, I am trying. Nothing ventured, nothing gained I reckon.

Many folks do I think. I do/did, depending on the circumstances.
Great idea on the phone holder. I’d kinda thought of that but never did anything about it. Hence, it was near impossible to find somewhere for the camera.

You have that correct I think.
I had to learn from others.
@AlyKat taught me the audio part.
@Siff taught me the video part.
(A big thank you to both of them)
Both are very in depth to be able to control them and make them work. I only barely do so.
I’m so envious of folks that can just seamlessly make a good sounding video.
Anyways, really glad you enjoyed my rendition.
The original can be found on the Beatles White Album if you wanna have a listen, Dear Prudence starts @ 2:44, the second cut on the record. For that matter, listen to the whole record (if you want to of course) and go back to 1968 (I think), :wink: .

Thank You so much for the kind words.

2 Likes
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Oh My!

I’d really not listened to the real song for awhile.
Just did.
Man, there’s a lot going on it that song.
What I did is only a kinda sorta (at best) rendition after listening to the real music.
Love the Beatles!

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Well I thought your version was excellent Jim and your take was “real music” too. Few of us, whether on this site or one of the many other sites, can ever hope to sound like the original. We can make our own sound, our own version of a song. If we could sound like the original we’d be driving our Bentleys to our holiday homes in the south of France! :joy:

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Hello Jim, oh wow, what a beautiful rendition :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:.
To be honest, I’m not very familiar with the original version, but I do like the way you interpreted this song. Great picking skills, super dynamic changes by incorporating the strumming part, very soulful playing and singing. It’s obvious that you’ve put a lot of time and effort into it.
Lots to like!!

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Thanks for the listen and kind words Gordon.
Appreciate that ya think it is real music. That’s a high compliment.
Your for sure correct that I will never sound like the original. I don’t even try really but I do my own rendition, which if I’m lucky, you, may be able to recognize the song I’m trying to do.
Your right too about my personal car. I drive a '91 toyota pickup that’s crashed and burned, but still driveable. While not a Bently, it still gets me from A to B reliably.
Thanks for the encouragement and nice comment.

Thanks so much for the listen and kind words Nicole.
Cool that you picked up and the dynamics. That I really was trying to do and thank you so much for picking up on that. Very cool you thought it was soulful playing and singing.
As for the effort. Maybe not so much. I’ve played this song for a while now and this is what it morphed into from something that was not much more than almost the right chords. The finger picking is something new that I’ve been trying and appricieate your comment on that.
I really want to finger pick I think, so have been devoting some time to that.
Now, if my singing could just improve.
While I claim to kinda play guitar, I for sure don’t claim to sing…

Thanks again for the comments and listening to my ‘rendition’.
:slight_smile:

1 Like
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Oh really enjoyed that performance Jim. Really good playing, and the lighting in the video is fantastic!

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Hi Jim,

I’m rubbish at finger picking so can’t really comment on that aspect.
I came to listen to what is a great song and thought you did a great job.
Had a really nice vibe.
On the vocal - thought the delivery was good. On the production side, maybe add a little processing to the vocal so it blends with the guitar tone more? Perhaps some reverb or a little delay?

Really enjoyed your version though.

Digger

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Hey Jim. I enjoyed this. Pretty song. Your playing and singing sounded great. I loved the video’s lighting. Were you only using the light from your monitor?

If you don’t already know, there are some Fingerstyle lessons on the website in Intermediate/Grade 5. There are also at least a couple lessons in the Club Archives. One thing taught is about which fingers to use on which strings.

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Great rendition of a classic. Well done!

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Or maybe just make the guitar a little louder in the mix?

I think you said you recorded to two separate channels, so no need to re-record.

BTW, you are a much better singer than you seem to think you are. I hope all this positive feedback will give you more confidence…that’s 90% of the battle!