SDKissFan - May 2023 - Dear Agony - Breaking Benjamin plus Shadow Of The Day - Linkin Park plus Living On The Edge - Aerosmith

Thanks Toby. I’ll work on it some more. Glad it was somewhat recognizable.

I really enjoyed this one Jeff, a great way to rock it. I liked the string hits as well (is there a technical term for it?)

I hope you’re feeling better.

Thanks Stefan. I’m still working on a better version and standing up playing.this one. Finally feeling a bit better so maybe this weekend I’ll record a new one. Have a great week.

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Hi everyone. Here’s today’s version standing playing the purple ESP. Hope it sounds better and I enjoyed playing this one a lot😎

Jeff

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Let me know if this one is any better if you have a chance. Looking for madman approval lol. Hope you’re feeling better. Being sick for weeks sucks

Jeff

This is so much better, Jeff :slightly_smiling_face: Just the whole mood and feeling about it. See, things are working much better if you enjoy yourself :kissing_heart:

Definite improvement Jeff. Strumming is more consistent in timing and dynamics. You could do with raising the vocals in the mix, so they sit higher. You seemed more relaxed on this take. Very difficult to capture the essence of the original as Perry and Whitman are doing a lot of fancy stuff end to end but for a one man show, boy done good !

:sunglasses:

Hi Toby,

Thanks for this listen and feedback. I think a need to get me a real microphone to get my vocals louder, getting better though. I don’t know if you caught in the video I tried to stand so my face was in the middle of the 100 dollar bill on the wall. Thought it would be funny.
Jeff😎

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Hi Stefan. Here’s the standing version I promised.

Hi @SDKissFan,

This is only a very small thing, but I noticed in the sitting down video that you seem to be tapping your foot on the same side as the guitar is resting. I was always told to use the opposite foot to reduce the amount of movement in the guitar. I just double checked, and Justin recommends this as well.

I decided to dust off the 12 string and play this Linkin Park song from back in the day. Hopefully I sound better than the first time I played. This is my third appearance playing standing. I hope everyone has a good weekend.

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Nice 12 string Jeff. :+1:

Good to see you standing again and you look real comfortable doing it too. You can’t beat some Linkin Park, a great group and a sad loss. You did a good job on this one and my only critique would be to ease off on attacking those strings so much and try and bring a little dynamic into it. I’m guilty myself of doing the same and it’s something I’ve started to try and work on and consciously think about when I start to learn a song.

Thanks Stefan. I’ve only played this 12 string a handful of times. I agree I need to lighten up on the strumming. Thanks for listening.

Hi Jeff, nice work mate! :clap: Like Stefan mentioned, you’re looking comfortable standing and solid strumming throughout. :sunglasses: I’m not familiar with the song, but enjoyed your rendition. Would have loved to hear your vocals a bit higher in the mix but I realise that is very tricky when recording with a phone :slight_smile:
How do you find playing the 12 string? I have never considered them as a option, always thought the basic 6 strings were hard enough to play! :sweat_smile: My same rationale applies to 7 & 8 string electrics… although love the grunty tones you can get from them :metal:

Thanks for listening. The 12 string has a really unique sound and it is not too much different with your left hand fretting the strings. The difference is strumming technique with getting the right consistency and dynamics. You should give it a try sometime and see how it goes. I was kinda sick the day I recorded so not quite there with vocals. We’re all a work in progress. Have a great day.

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Ah! That’s good to know, thought it might be quite difficult with that hand but interesting to hear it’s not much different. Yeah, I’ll definitely check one. Thanks! :slight_smile: :+1:

RE: Living On the Edge - Aerosmith - 2nd time around - (I Think)

Hey Jeff,
Much improved mate! I like the tone better and your more fluid in your play to me. The vox could still come up more. You want it a tad over the top of you guitar.

Maybe on your mic stand setup you change it up to add a mic boom. Then you could possibly come in from overhead and get closer to your vocal source (mouth). Not at all familiar with your setup chain. But there is a lot more you could do with 2 mics, or going DI with the guitar and then just sing into the mic. You would need a 2 channel AI for that though!

All the best and keep up the good vibe!
LB

Hi there. Thanks a lot for listening. We’re all a work in progress but i feel I’m getting better each day. . Based on what everyone said it’s time to invest in a real microphone lol. Have a great week.

Jeff

Hi Jeff. Agreed, you getting better and better. Youre down the right path. Think you choose a lot of cool songs to play. And they are for sure not the easiest to sing and play either :grin: dont forget to work on dynamics as well when playing :grin:
On your vocal… i have noticed that you usually lying a bit under your guitar in tone and power.
I get this feeling that you maybe are using your vocal on top of your lungs and that you dont use youre breath that much…
if that makes any sense? Dont know how to explain it properly. I dont know the theory behind this stuff :rofl::rofl::rofl:

But…. Try to focus that you are going to bring youre voice out from deep deep down your stomach.
And that you need the right amount of force to bring that voice all that way from the deep and out youre throat.

And in order to do that you need to bread in a lot of air… if you have the focus that youre voice is just in your throat you dont use the right amount of force or breath to bring youre voice out.
Dont know how to describe it any better than this Jeff… there are a lot of people on the forum that know this stuff better that i do that maybe can correct or add what i have written…

Breath is a very very important thing when singing. And if you dont bread enough you will always struggle to get on top, you will also struggle to get dynamics and melody in youre voice.
And keeping youre voice back is probably one of the worst things that can be done, it is almost impossible to sound good if you hold back and «drown» your voice. let it all go!

Keep at it Jeff and keep on rockin!! :metal:

I have seen youre recording some different places outdoors… i am waiting on the one that you do a recording in front of the Whisky a go go bar :grin:

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Hey Trond.

Thanks for the singing advice. It made a lot of sense and something I’ve noticed that I need to win. I can sing really well if I’m just singing and not Plato. Maybe I’m overthinking or over complicating doing both. A professional guitarist I frequently watch perform at a local restaurant sent me this advice which seems to match what you’re saying

Jeff, good song selection and volume levels; I was observing your technique. Allow your posture to be in a natural state, shoulders back, head up, level, not bent forward, be aware when your thumb reaches over the neck you are limiting your ability to reach and allowing your thumb to rest in the center of the neck. Sometimes we do need that thumb to wrap around but not as a general rule. With your right hand, I would take exercise time and practice individual fingerpicking.This will improve your control. For singing, open up your mouth, sing from the diaphragm, use the vowel system to relax your voice. Let your natural airflow do the work. So be aware that singing and speaking are not the same. Relax your tongue, sing into the upper pallet. I hope this helps. Vic