TRJ - December 2022 - Gallows Pole (trad.) & I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You - Tom Waits

Well it was a new song to me and I really enjoyed it. Really great playing and singing Tjeerd.

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That was really cool Tjeerd. I think I’d only heard one over original style version of this song some where in my past and as you mentioned was more familiar with the Zeppelin version back in my yoof. Not surprising it was a cover. I grew up thinking most of their songs were originals but learned differently over the years, especially when I got more into the old and very old blues masters. which no doubt they were doing when they started out.

Great version. Nicely played and good vocals as well. Look forward to some more.

:sunglasses:

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Very cool arrangement and cover. I’m more familiar with the Led Zeppelin version, but I think if I were going to cover this song I’d go for something more like what you’ve done here (i.e. Willie Watson inspired). Good job!

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Thanks for sharing your video with us. As others have stated i am familiar with the Led Zeppelin version from their 3rd album; I appreciated the history you gave for the song.
Nice playing style and timing; thanks.

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Hi Phil,

thank you for the kind comment. I see that this is your first post here, so I am honoured! Why don’t you make a post about yourself in the introductory section, and tell a little about your guitar story. I am sure we would all benefit from that!

Hi,
i took your advice to introduce myself.
Mine looks like a familiar path/story :slight_smile:

So being here is also trying to get into new stuff! A month ago I had a listen to the lesson by Justin on the Tom Waits song, I hope that I don’t fall in love with you. Turns out my vocal coach is a big fan of this song, so I made it into a project. We’ll start on it in January. Gives me time to try and get the picking right. I have made an audio of it - tucked it away in Soundcloud.

I hope that I don’t fall in love with you - 3 x Verse

It’s not yet set enough in muscle memory to attempt singing simultaneously, I will make myself a full length backing tape, and use that for vocal practice.

The JG lesson is here.
JG Lesson

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Sounds to me that you’ve got the picking pretty much spot on Tjeerd. Well done. I look look forward to you adding the vocal.n
Rather than practicing the vocal to a backing tape, I’d suggest you practice by playing and singing together as that’s the only way to get the timing right and get some feeling into the song as you can then adjust either the vocal or the playing to suit. You’ll inevitably never play and sing it exactly the same way twice.

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Hi Gordon,

Thanks for the advice on that, it is part of my routine though:
(1) get the picking right
(2) make the recording of the guitar work, and use it for singing practice,
(3) sing and play simultaneously, once I have managed the intonation and phrasing in the singing, using the lyrics - record it and listen to it to find the rough spots
(4) memorise the lyrics and play and sing and record that.

I need to make the recordings for feedback. The backing tape is kind of a test whether I can play the full length of the song without hickups. In step 2 I can record the voice part separately on top. That I can share with the singing coach, and I’ll et the feedback from there. Etc.

That’s great. Whatever works for you. :smiley:

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Hello Tjeerd, that was a real treat for my ears :blush:. I’m very much looking forward to hearing the ‘complete’ version :smiley:.

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Hi Tjeerd.

That sounds spot on to me, too. I like your system might borrow it.

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Tjeerd, that sounds terrific!

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That sounded pretty spot on to me Tjeerd and I’m looking forward to you sharing your finished version.

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@SgtColon Thanks for the kind remarks. Vocals will be worked on next Wednesday.

@sairfingers , @MadModMcd , @NicoleKKB , @Will_E_Vander , @SgtColon

Thank you for the nice comments. As Nicole and Stefan requested, here is some of the progress.

I have been working on the lyrics. Because there is a lot of text, I haven’t attempted to learn it by heart (yet). Mind you I have now recorded it with lyrics and guitar played simultaneously, rather than from the backing tape - so there is progress for you. I found out that the original of the song is in D - so this was an additional challenge to make it one full tone higher than I practiced it. So here it is:

My rendition of I hope that I dont fall in love with you…

Hope you like it.

I am pasting the hyperlink to Youtube here, but is there a way to get the embedded video, I wonder?

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Hello Tjeerd, wow, you’re super productive at the moment :smiley:. Last Saturday performing at the OM, and today posting a new AVOYP.
I need several weeks or even months before I’ve practiced a song to a level I feel confident enough to present it :face_with_peeking_eye:.

Thanks so much for sharing your video of the full song :hugs:. I love the finger picking pattern, and you played it so well. And your voice suited perfectly. Learning the lyrics by heart can be a real challenge, but is really worth it, if you want to keep this beautiful song in your repertoire :slightly_smiling_face:.

Regarding embedding the video: I normally only push the ‘share’-button in YT, then I select the ‘copy link’-option, and paste it to my AVOYP thread. This way, it always worked for me :slightly_smiling_face:.

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Hello Tjeerd, great performance! I like it very much.
Just one idea from my side - have you ever tried to simply leave off the capo. Maybe it’s more comfortable for you to sing. I don’t know, just an idea.

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Well put together Tjeerd. It’s a terrific song and one that I like doing too.
Fingerpicking and singing takes a lot of concentration and you played and sang really well.
To capo or not to capo. It’s a personal thing.

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@NicoleKKB thanks for the nice feedback. I don’t feel that I am all that productive :wink: it’s just, it was the newest song, and I carried it with me as a project for 2.5 months. I just decided to write it up as a process. Anyhow, after polishing the singing part with my vocal coach, I thought I should record it whole. Yes it will be added to the repertoire, even though it strays far from the blues. It is definately more of a solo piece.

@RaiLa Also thanks, glad you like it. I had actually practiced it without a capo, and I can see where you are coming from. It has taken me quite a long time to develop a sense of security using the higher registers, and bringing it down a tone is definately in the direction of the comfort zone. I have two reasons for doing it this way, a bass tab written in D rather than in C for this song that looks like it would be difficult to transpose down, and basically going for it, to see if I could pull it off…

@sairfingers Hi Gordon, so kind of you to chime in again. I am happy that, knowing the song, you liked my rendition of it.

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