These were the two songs I did for last week’s Open Mic night (25 April 26). Before the night I recorded these versions as a test but on the night I somehow screwed up the volume settings furing the sound check trying to match other volume settings - still don’t know why or how but the recording reflects what I think is continuous clipping. Anyway, here are the songs a bit closer to how they should have sounded.
Any comments on how I can improve on anything greatly appreciated. I won’t be offended.
I love your all down strumming to basket case. I played that song with more of a mixed down up eagles style strum and people hated it lol. Makes me want to pull this one out from the back shelf and try it with your rock style. Thanks for sharing. Good riddance is my go to song for open mic performances for an easy crowd pleaser. Great choice and bravo.
@SDKissFan - cheers Jeff - you are very kind - yes, too great songs. I think Basket Case is worth the effort - there are so many different bits - 8 note chugging at the start - then adding accents on 2 and 4 and other places and then switching to DU strumming just before the second verse - and then a bit of sus fun in the outro
Your two performances are good. The tempo of both songs is inconsistent, with fairly obvious changes when you vary the strumming and / or picking pattern(s): perhaps slower practice with a metronome would help. Also your voice projection could be improved: rather than singing into the mic imagine your voice landing at the back of the room: I know it sounds a bit daft, but visualising your voice being cast into the audience really helps your vocals.
I’m so sorry about the sound issues in the OM and feel also a little guilty in it as during soundcheck, I advised you could turn up the volume a little more as even in my headphones, the overall level was a little low. But it is kind of weird, as even in the second soundcheck, there was no clipping noticeable at all for both guitar tones. Apologies for this less than suboptimal advice from my end.
Nevertheless, you did very well that night and also in both of the recordings! I enjoyed it the night and I enjoyed it while listening to the recordings and for sure, the sound setting for those was really good. I still am a little confused when seeing an acoustic guitar being played, but hearing a distorted guitar instead. But that’s a me-problem only. It’s great to have this option without switching instruments in between, though.
Now I’m curious what you will pull out for the upcoming OM as I’ve seen you will join once more.
Nice strong rhythym on boih recordings Jon. Vocals not too shabby either! Sorry it wasn’t alright on the night but they’re striking the right chords here.
@beejay56
Thanks for the comments Brian. Your tempo point definitely resonates with me as I know this can be a problem. Only very recently I watched through a recording I had done of a different song and immediately saw the timing was suspect. When I analysed it using a metronome I realised that I cut the up strum notes off too quickly and got way out of sync by the end of even a 4 bar progression. It’s definitely on my top do list!! Again your comment on my singing is pretty spot on - although I think that’s self inflicted!! I purposely hold back on the projection as I feel my singing is average to poor and I lack the confidence to put more into it. J
@Lisa_S
aaah Lisa, please don’t think my sound issues were your fault - they weren’t. I was experimenting with using my Spark Amp feeding into a small joyo mixer and then into zoom. Using the acoustic through the amp seems to give a bit more depth to the tone compared to using an electric (without a backing track). I hadn’t really understood all the intricacies of the mixer and when changing my volume in the sound check (which is always going to be something that everyone might have to do), I think I pressed a gain button that should only be used with a passive sound input like an electric rather than a hot active pick up from a plugged in acoustic). It will probably be the acoustic again at the next OM night as it seems to work best when singing (but, again, I could be doing something wrong on my recording settings!!).
Thanks for comforting me a little, Jon. This recording settings with all their options and possibilities turn out to be really tricky sometimes, but with every show or recording, we get to learn it better.
For me, too. I like the possibility to take off the headphones and still be able to hear the guitar in that surrounding.
Hi Jon, as Brian I found the timing to be inconsistent…something that would help you is playing along with the original recording, that is a fun way to improve.
There are also Drums Metronome Apps, I have one from the Google Play Store, which is free and is much fun to play along with, looks like this
@Silvia80 - thanks Silvia - i have been avoiding metronome practice because I know it is going to be hard work but I also know I have a weakness - I can usually feel the rhythms of songs quite easily but definitely get lost a bit on the tempo - the drums metronome looks like fun and might also add something extra to some performances. I have tried using the drums from original songs (using moises to strip them out) but find that difficult as there isn’t always a clear beat on 1 and I get lost. J
Getting used to practice with a metronome requires some work at the beginning but the more you practice the more you get better at it just like anything else.
At the beginning timing and Rhythm were my biggest struggles and the metronome really helped me (and still does!) to let things fall into place and make me feel good while playing, even only a few bars at the time.
I definetely can relate to getting lost if I don’t have a clear beat I can rely on! And when a chord is hold for more than 2 bars than I’m very likely to get lost as well
The MetroDrum I have is like a metronome and provides a consistent drum beat on differet styles patterns such as dance (the easiest one) rock 8th notes or 16th notes, jazz , blues, raggae.
Apologies for this less than suboptimal advice from my end.
It’s great to have this option without switching instruments in between, though.
