GNS July songs

Well, since it’s July 6th, my country is celebrating the coronation of the first and last king way back in 1253 as a good will that “we can also in to Christianity”; and I was thinking I could do a finger-picked version of Vytautas Kernagis poem/song called “Paukščiai” (Birds).

And, well… suffice to say that this was the most awful 8 takes that I’ve done recently: strings are ringing out, wherein they shouldn’t, my picking hand keeps occasionally missing dedicated strings, my fretting hand fingers seem to not want to fall in to places at times and dead notes are ringing out etc. Eh. In the future, I’ll make a better one; let’s just call it demo 1 :smiley:

The chords used were: Em, Am7, D7, G, B7, Cmaj7 and E7. The verses are Em - Am7 - D7 - G - Em - Am7 - D7 - B7; the choruses are Am7 - D7 - G - Cmaj7 - Am7 - B7 - Em - E7

For reference, if anyone’s interested what the song is about, here’s my translated lyrics:

Verse 1:
From whirlwind clouds the snowflakes are falling as if white fluffs,
The birds flew towards heavens; it’s so quite now, their love songs ceased.

Chorus 1 (twice):
Let them chirp far away, let them forget sleet and rain.
The birds will fly back home when the sunny Spring comes.

Verse 2:
What suspenseful calm around us; everything is so empty and dull,
When above the fields no one can hear our winged song singers.

Chorus 2 (twice):
My dear friend, stay calm. The birds were scarred off by a ribbed cold hand of Winter.
Even though it scarred them off, but they’ll be back when the sunny Spring comes.

Verse 3:
While we, wingless birds of the ground, greet them with our eyes.
And again, anticipating storm, we look warily towards the gruesome North.

Chorus 3 (twice):
An angry and fierce faith often tosses humans like nothing but rag-dolls.
I envy the birds, because they’ll fly back home when the sunny Spring comes.

Verse 4:
They will fly above the hills and valleys, they will fly on the blueish roads of sky,
And again, as last year, they will land, on an old and sturdy oak.

Chorus 4 (twice):
And their song - so many times heard - will delight young and old.
The birds will fly back home when the sunny Spring comes.

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So, decided to attempt something more serious. And this is a result of a week’s (~15 min. per day) practice of it. Paint it Black by Rolling Stones. It’s not perfect; it took five takes to make it decentish; and there are still some muck ups regarding either finger picking at places and/or with the long Dm strumming pattern cause I can’t seem to nail it at fast pace this sequence:
Dm Dsus2-Dm-Dsus4-Dm-Dsus2-Dm
D-D-D-DU |U-D U D U D U

Not to mention that I at times forget the lyrics and just… eh, just roll with it. But, IMO, it’s quite better than V. Kernagis Paukščiai, which I’ve done a week ago (no dead notes and what not).

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Hello Aurimas, and sorry, I (and obviously I’m not the only one) have overseen your posting of 6th July :see_no_evil:.

I think, it was the first time I heard someone sing in Lithuanian. Again, it shows the huge variety of nationalities this community has :smiley:.

It was a lovely tune. And as I haven’t heard it before, I couldn’t hear those things you are a bit unhappy with :blush:.

Regarding Paint it Black: this song I know, and I think you did quite well. I like the changes between strumming and picking. The song was absolutely recognizable.
I think, also your singing is improving :+1:.
Keep on the great work :grinning:.

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Haha, it’s all right. Thank you for the kind words :slight_smile:

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None of the new songs I wanted to record were successful to day. It’s one of those days when you hit a ‘players’ block; so, I decided to look through my song-note-book and search for some simple songs with simple progressions, and… my eye got caught on U2 “With or without you”. And, yes, it was quite simple enough to record in one satisfactory for my level take… and what do you know? It raised my mood a bit while playing, even though the lyrics are moody.

So, yeah, U2 “With or Without You” (Capo 2) (though, my acoustic was set also to E flat). All open chords: C; G; Am; Fmaj7.

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Decided to redo V. Kernagis “Paukščiai”. And I think that I did it a bit better than the first time; still, something with my chosen way of arpeggiation just does not sit well with my fingers and 7th chords… :joy:

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4 well done songs there Aurimas and they were good, I especially enjoyed the Stones one.

Remember, if you are not happy with certain things in your song, slow it down and work on that section. Also, playing along with the originals will help you greatly improve the fell of the song you are playing and singing.

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