Hey all,
Well that’s me reached the one year mark in learning guitar and currently consolidating Beginners Grade 2.
To mark the milestone I’ve recorded a song by one of my favourite bands of the 90s, Ocean Colour Scene.
Its one of my favourite songs of theirs, so hopefully I do it some justice.
It fits in nicely with the consolidation of sus chords with the addition of my nemesis the Bm Chord.
As always appreciate the feedback from the community as it helps with my development.
plus
Congratulations on your guitarversary and what a lovely way to celebrate. Its been a long time since I heard this song.
It was nicely played and sung. 
Nicely played and sung, very relaxed and in a groove with yourself.
This is one of many, many songs I learned for rehearsals with a covers band that never made it beyond the rehearsal room. I used to enjoy playing it a lot, there are some rasty lead riffs and licks I seem to recall. We also rehearsed The Riverboat Song a few times I think.
Congratulations on the one year milestone.
Blow out that candle, eat a slice of cake and have drink to toast your achievement.
Congratulations James on your anniversary! That sounded really great both the playing and the vocals and you certainly sound like you have been playing longer than a year. Super stuff! 
Ooooooooo so nice James. Really nice. No sign of the nemesis nipping. Inviting rhythm, very appealing vocals, gorgeous tones from your guitar. A wonderful performance missing just one element - your face - such an important part of connecting with us.
Hi James,
Congratulations on this milestone. 
…well played and sung well 
…when you consider how you were doing a year ago, you would have found it hard to imagine…be proud of yourself 
.
And… the Batwoman is always right 
Greetings,Rogier
Bravo, James, that sounded wonderful. Looks to me as if your nemesis is defeated and must’ve gone to find somebody else to torment, the embelishments all sounded good, and the quick sequence of chords handled without a hiccup.
I enjoyed your singing, though as is often the case, am left wishing for a better quality of recording to really enjoy it. I know the simple phone recording has that limitation.
Congrats again on the first JGversary and you can celebrate excellent progress made.
What a fab performance to mark your 1st guitarversary 
Congratulations!
Steady toe-tapping rhythm with nice plucked notes and strumming, clean and quick chord changes, singing in tune… Top job
As for the ‘nit-pickery’- well, I never give a hoot about the sound quality of AVOYPs. It’s quite easy to get a good impression of what it actually sounds like (and there are very few recordings we would listen to if we didn’t have a vested interest in the performers in our community).
I do agree with some of the others regarding not chopping off your head. It looks unnatural and gives the impression of self-consciousness. AVOYP recordings are designed to encourage us to share all our warts and discover they don’t really matter 
You know this yourself, of course, as you mentioned in @Buncey’s recent debut how you enjoyed her smiling performance.
Don’t do this till you’re good and ready, as I will probably be the first to recommend going back to the headless version, once you’ve shared your ugly mug 
Oooooo,no Roger,don`t talk now to Brian…this is about James,
what you want to say is way too easy and others have thought of it too … and luckily there are wigs and stuff that make it bearable now and then … stop now, don’t go any further,… … 
Wigs on
… gloves off! 
Well done James. Congrats too on reaching your first guitar anniversary. That performance shows you’ve put a lot of time and effort in during that time.
That was a super performance and certainly gave your Bm and dim chords a workout. I don’t know what it is about Bm but it is a difficult one especially moving to it from D. I think because that transition involves a lot of finger movement. I’m still working on playing it without looking. You played the chords perfectly with a lovely steady strum.
Excellent vocal too
.
OCS is not a band I’m familiar with but as is so often the case on AVoYP you’ve introduced me to something new.
Clint Eastwood played ‘the man with no name’. If you want to be the ‘man with no head’…….
Nice Socio! Congrats on your 1 year mark! Nice vocal and steady strumming throughout!
@R.F.W Thanks for the listen and feedback, Rob I’ve found myself going through that stage of revisiting songs that I haven’t heard for a long time and listening from a different perspective now.
@Richard_close2u Thanks for the listen and feedback, Richard It’s a song that I’ve really enjoyed playing and singing. It was one of the songs that had on my to learn list when I first started. You’re memory serves you well the original version that they played had some tasty lead riffs and licks. Steve Craddock was a fantastic guitarist and Simon Fowler had great vocals. You must have had fun rehearsing them especially the likes of The River Boat Song and Hundred Mile High City. I think next on my list of their songs to learn will be Get Blown Away and The Day We Caught The Train.
@Eddie_09 Thanks for the listen and feedback, Eddie It’s a testament to Justin’s teaching methods the progress made over a year. If only I had started off earlier when Justin first brought out the classic course.
@batwoman Thanks for the listen and feedback, Maggie I’m glad you enjoyed the performance… If you look closely there was one face on the video… just not mine though… but that moment will come
@roger_holland Thanks for the listen and feedback, Rogier I’m glad you enjoyed the performance… I’m very happy with how far I have come since starting the Beginner’s Course… Yes, Batwoman is always right that’s for sure.
@DavidP Thanks for the listen and feedback, David Glad you enjoyed the performance mate. Yes, my nemesis has been tamed with the help of the advice that you gave me. I’ve still got a bit more work to do with the Bm chord in order to change to it without looking at my fretting hand but I’m happy to say it no longer torments me. A better quality of recording is something that I am working on achieving.
@brianlarsen Thanks for the listen and feedback, Brian Glad you enjoyed the performance mate. Hahaha my words come back to bite me… yes the chopping off the head will disappear at some point when I’m ready until you give the order “off with the head”.
@sairfingers Thanks for the listen and feedback, Gordon Glad you enjoyed the performance mate. Yes, that change between the Bm and D chord is something that I’m still trying to nail as the landing can be hit and miss sometimes. OCS were an underestimated band in my books due to being overshadowed by the likes of Oasis and Blur.
@Bytron08 Thanks Byron Glad you enjoyed it mate and thank for the feedback. It will be a while before I have my strumming up to your level.
Congratulations on your one year anni, James.
That was great. Excellent playing and singing.
Whatever happened to OCS? They were a really good group.
Congrats really enjoyed that and thought you did a good performance. Haven’t listened to any OCS for a long time so really enjoyed it. Still love “The day we caught the train” by OCS. Now I bet that’s got pretty straight forward chords.
@SgtColon Thanks for the listen and feedback, Stefan I’m glad you enjoyed it mate. OCS are still kicking about gigging away doing their thing in the background.
@Rossco01 Thanks for the listen and feedback, Jason glad you enjoyed it mate. Yes, “The Day We Caught The Train” has got pretty straight forward chords and looks like a good one for practicing the B7, Bm and F chords along with some chugging on the strumming. It does have an A#dim7 chord thown in the mix (at least that what I think the chord is called X12020).
Bravo James! Really well done, Bm chord is no joke (I still can’t do it right, lol). What I loved most about your performance though was the dynamics. Really felt the highs and the lows with this one, really good job.
James that was fantastic, happy Anniversary! I still remember one of your first recordings which exactly point out what amazing step forward you made since starting. You shine an example to other beginners and calling you a beginner now is definitely way below your playing grade. Again well done and all the best!
Congratulations for your anniversary…such a good result for just one year! I don’t know the song but your cover sounds really nice, I like especially the relaxed feeling of your strumming and the way your singing comes along. Bravo!
I LOVE THIS SONG! Congratulations @Socio I loved your performance so much I sang along with you. 