VOM 23 -- Virtual Open Mic @ HCAG, Second Sunday, January 10, 2010

[fatback]

 

Fatback ...here are some chords for you and tab. They are different and I don't know which they used.   I tried a PM but it was to many characters.   Her Majesty   G Em Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl, C D G but she doesn't have a lot to say G Em Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl C D but she changes from day to day Em I want to tell her that I love her a lot G D Em But I gotta get a belly full of wine G Em Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl C D G Em Someday I'm going to make her mine, oh yeah, C D G Someday I'm going to make her mine.       also some tab     I want to tell her that I love her a lot But I gotta get a bellyful of wine Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl Someday I'm going to make her mine, oh yeh, someday I'm going to make her mine.

[fatback]

That was simply beautiful. I wish I'd learned more classical pieces when my boys were still babies. Thanks, Phil, My boys aren't quite "cute" anymore either. You can hear my almost-3 year-old there. He still has his moments but you know how 2 year-olds are! I thik gthom could really cash in on the "awwwww" factor though. A few years ago there was a guy from Scotland named Cams who regularly posted vids of himself serenading his little daughter. I loved it! That "bouncy" music always gets my toes tapping. Sometimes I like to dip my toe in that pool too. Ever try Guy Van Duser's "Cindy and Norm?" It fits right in with John Loudermilk/Chet Atkins' "Windy and Warm."

 

I just remember Cams myself. I'll have a look at your suggestions as well.

 

Hope all goes well till next month

 

Phil

[g6120]

Sorry All! I just realized I provided the wromg link to my song!

Here is the corrected link:

 

In Love Again With The World

 

Just finished recording this one.

This is a collaboration with a lyricist.

She sent me lyrics and I changed and added some of my own.

Lyrics written by: Sue Mrithujayan and Gil

Music composed and song performed by Gil

 

[video=youtube;w7F-hn-AEGU]

[C70man]

Kwak, really appreciate the support/encouragement. But I'm afraid my real voice was kinda lost some years ago...I still had it when I was around your age (you lucky dog you) but the last 10 years especially, have taken more than its toll on the pipes. Some mornings I can wake up, have a cup of java and actually sound decent, but then I get the guitar out and set up the H4 and it slowly deteriorates again...and to add to that, its getting hard to hold the notes as long as I used to. I kinda forgot how to breathe....and I'm not about to be taking voice lessons again.

 

I would however love to have one of my songs done. I'm hoping on one out of six that I submitted will make the cut. Won't know for awhile though. I will submit another next vom...maybe I'll know something by then...again, thanks for the support.

[gitnoob]

I just want to say that I hate you all.

 

Every time I think I'm getting good enough for a noobish attempt at a VOM, I hear your playing and think "hmm, maybe next year."

 

You guys all have excellent chops. Excellent sounds. Off-the-scale creativity.

[Galabar]

I just want to say that I hate you all. Every time I think I'm getting good enough for a noobish attempt at a VOM, I hear your playing and think "hmm, maybe next year." You guys all have excellent chops. Excellent sounds. Off-the-scale creativity.

 

Gitnoob,

 

Here is a record of some of my VOM attempts:

 

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=882506

 

None are very good (including the current one). However, when I listen to older ones, I smile because I can play them better now. For the next VOM, you should just throw something up, no matter the quality. Just go for it.

 

p.s. "Midnight Melody" is not me -- it is an original song by my 7-year-old daughter.

[C70man]

Gitnoob, Here is a record of some of my VOM attempts: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=882506 None are very good (including the current one). However, when I listen to older ones, I smile because I can play them better now. For the next VOM, you should just throw something up, no matter the quality. Just go for it.

 

Totally!

[gitnoob]

For the next VOM, you should just throw something up, no matter the quality.

 

Yeah, if you heard my playing, you'd throw something up for sure.

 

Maybe after HC 2.0 launches we can do a Noobstock VOM. Noobs only!

[riffmeister]

Gthom & Galabar: Oh yeah baby......glad you guys got them classical chops in at the last moment supporting the event, and BACH no less! Great job, both of you! I know the Bouree is not an easy piece......I've been playing it, like, forever, and a couple of parts are still hit or miss for me.....

 

Misha: Nice job with that one, I like the slightly syncopated guitar part and keep blowin on that harmonica!

 

Gil: Very nicely conceived and executed, I was humming along on the first listen. Great job!

[riffmeister]

Thanks to all who commented on my "sketch".

 

Kwak, you asked if I minded if you played it......no, I don't mind at all.....to the contrary, I'd be delighted! Here is the music, it's in drop D tuning. It's really an easy piece, the most difficult aspect is getting the trills (mordents, whatever they are called) to flow smoothly.

 

 

[poppytater]

Great stuff all! I hope to submit something in a year or two.

[g6120]

Sorry about the bad link to my VOM submission. I fixed it.

Got a chance to listen to each and every song and what a great VOM!

 

Tbryson - Excellent! What a fun song to do! Really enjoyed your cover. You gave it your own flavor.

 

Kwakatak - Great take on a Holiday classic. Really like your vocal quality on this!

 

Garthman - Really liked your take on this Leoneard Cohen song. Like the tuning you used too!

 

FussenKuh - Leave it to you to come up with a Black Sabbath cover! Great acoustic take on this one!

 

Bobc - Always enjoy your stuff Bob, this is great and nice tone on that Start too. Just right for this song.

 

DeepEnd - Hey sounds great for just two chords! You keep the song going with your vocal and pgrasing. Sounds great!

 

Stackabones - Clean Recording! Sounds great and the song has a great groove!!

 

Starrshine - Wow! Thisn would make a great soundtrack! Sounds like a beautiful dream sequence!

 

Michael Martin - Great song and great sounding track you put together! The mix sounds perfect.

 

Fatback - Enjoyed that! Acually sounded like an old time recording which added to the charactr of the performance!

 

Fendouglas - Wow! What a well written song and your perfromance was great! Had an Irish folk song feel for me.

 

Frets99 - Not a big Alicia Keyes fan but I enjoyed your performance because you made it fun to watch and listen to! Great ending!

 

Riffmeister - What I love about your performance is that from the very first note it prompts emotional engagement with your instrumental. What a great journey! Thanks for this!

 

Chriscarnucci - What a wonderful instrumental take on the Floyd song!!

 

BlackHatHunter - Great take on this Brooks and Dunn tune! Great job on singing this!

 

Chicken Monkey - What a fun song. Great title and great perfromance!

 

TSMusic - Enjoyed your composition!

 

C70man - What a masterpiece! Awesome song and good luck with the labeled artist!!

 

Taylor Davis - Wow you have a real Don Henley vibe going there! Great song!!

 

Daklander - Beautiful!! Loved everything about this!

 

Samilyn - Wow starts off with a haunting melody and builds from there! Great performance!! Great recording too!!

 

Hypcollector - Great song!

 

FXR - I'm a big Nirvana fan and you did this song justice!!

 

Queequeg - Beautiful rendition of this timeless classic!

 

Northstar - Very peaceful composition, so nice to listen to!!

 

Chordchunker - Murder? I detected just outstanding playing!! Enjoyed!!

 

Gthom - What a nice mellow contemplative piece! Nice playing and feeling!

 

Misha - Some great playing and I like the added subtle harmonica!

[g6120]

 

Gil: Very nicely conceived and executed, I was humming along on the first listen. Great job!

 

 

Thanks for listening!

[DeepEnd]

Let's see, where to begin? I think I'll take everyone in order.

 

TBryson-Brought back memories but the harmony could be slightly better. Decent lead playing, better than I can do anyway.

kwakatak-Lovin' that new Martin but what happened to your head? Sounded like it was a bit out of your range at the end. BTW, the "kid noises" in the background were cute.

garthman-Enjoyed the tune. Wasn't familiar with it so I had to look up the original. Nice playing and singing.

FussenKuh-Guitar sounded okay but your voice was distorted. Also, you seem to have the same "No Head Syndrome" as kwakatak. BTW, sweet Masterbilt.

bobc-Enjoyed the song. As long as you keep playing like that I guess it's okay that you're playing electric.

Stackabones-Up to your usual standard. Great playing and an enjoyable, listenable tune.

Starrshine-What can I say? You play several instruments better than I play one. Nice tune. I usually say instrumentals need lyrics but this one stands alone nicely. An older guy in our church plays the hammer dulcimer and I love listening to it.

Michael Martin-Intriguing title. I think we've all had times like that. Anyway, I like the way your songs are never quite what I expect. Plus you're another who plays multiple instruments better than I play one. It ain't fair, I tell ya.

fatback-Really nice playing. Loved both songs.

Fendouglas-I'm with fatback. Great song well performed.

Frets99-You obviously had fun with that one in addition to doing a first rate job.Very enjoyable. The "interpretive dance" was a neat addition.

g6120-Another nice collaboration but your voice seems a bit melancholy for a song about being in love with the world again.

riffmeister-Lovely song well played. It felt familiar but I can't say what it reminds me of. Another instrumental that stands on its own although I'd like to hear it with words as well.

chriscarnucci-I didn't hear your breathing, just well played guitar. I listened to the original to refresh my memory and you did a good job.

BlackHatHunter-I love that song too. Nice to see someone playing and singing Country. I applaud your nerve; you're right about Ronnie Dunn.

Chicken Monkey-Loved the song and I can sympathize about the interruptions during previous "takes." Hope you get the volume issue resolved because your singing and playing need to be heard.

C70man-Wow. What a song and what a story. Reminds me of Bobby Goldsboro's "Honey" or George Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today." Good luck getting the song picked up (or whatever the term is).

Taylor Davis-Enjoyed the song. Nice storytelling. But I'm confused by the couplet "and I wonder/if my boy had thundre". What the heck does "if my boy had thunder" mean? from context it sounds like you're trying to say "if my boy had survived". Or perhaps you're referring to "nobody even whispered/he did'nt have to sang real loude" from the third verse, as in "if he had thundered instead of singing softly"?

daklander-Simply great. Wow. Nothing else to say.

hypocollector-Nice old style Country/Mountain song. Reminds me of something Grandpa Jones or someone similar would've played Plus you have a great voice for that style of music.

Samilyn-Nice job, close to Kate Wolf's original version. Wish for the umpteenth time I could fingerpick. A tad bassy through my small harman/kardon speakers though. I got a better sound (to my ear) by tuning the bass down.

Queequeg-Very nice. I was working on "The Girl From Ipanema" last year (just strummed chords) and I appreciate the difficulty involved in both playing the melody and playing it well.

Northstar-The Varichord looks like something Rube Goldberg or an engineer with too much time on his hands might come up with. That said, I liked "Pin

[garthman]

Another great VOM with fine performances by all participants. Many thank for the kind comments on my submission.

 

A couple of questions were asked:

 

Chriscarnucci and Kwakatak mentioned my nylon string dreadnought. You cannot buy them Chris - you need to convert a standard steel string dred for use with nylon strings. If you are interested, I gave brief instructions how to do it in a thread a short time ago (Post#17):

 

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?t=2525487

 

Michael Martin and Gill mentioned the tuning I used. It's actually in standard tuning, guys. I'm playing in the key of E (as Cohen wrote the song) and I'm using these chords:

 

C#m G#m C#m

C#m G#m C#m

B A

B F#m

A E

A E

 

I use a full barre for the minor and B chords although I'm selective in the strings I'm picking. The intro and verse break is a simple riff just played on the 6th, 3rd and 2nd strings:

 

E:---------------------------------------------------:

B:------0---0-------0---0-------0---0-------0---0----:

G:----4---4---4---4---4---4---1---1---1---1---1---1--:

D:---------------------------------------------------:

A:---------------------------------------------------:

E:--0-----------0-----------0-----------0------------:

 

I slide up and down on the 3rd string; The opening phrase with the duplication of the B (V) note on the 2nd and 3rd strings and the E (root) on the 6th string probably acounts for the "open tuning" sound.

[Michael Martin]

 

Michael Martin and Gill mentioned the tuning I used. It's actually in standard tuning, guys. I'm playing in the key of E (as Cohen wrote the song) and I'm using these chords: C#m G#m C#m C#m G#m C#m B A B F#m A E A E I use a full barre for the minor and B chords although I'm selective in the strings I'm picking. The intro and verse break is a simple riff just played on the 6th, 3rd and 2nd strings: E:---------------------------------------------------: B:------0---0-------0---0-------0---0-------0---0----: G:----4---4---4---4---4---4---1---1---1---1---1---1--: D:---------------------------------------------------: A:---------------------------------------------------: E:--0-----------0-----------0-----------0------------: I slide up and down on the 3rd string; The opening phrase with the duplication of the B (V) note on the 2nd and 3rd strings and the E (root) on the 6th string probably acounts for the "open tuning" sound.

 

Ach so. Mystery solved. I just tried playing this--cool! And I may have to attempt the nylon dread thing too. That's such a distinctive sound--would never have thought of doing that. Thanks for the pointers.

[Queequeg]

Great job, Garthman.

My brother-in-law gave me 'Live In London' for Christmas.

Can't go wrong with a Cohen tune but your style adds a refreshing new dimension to it.

Bravo!

[orbm1]

.... orbm1-Wow! You remind me of a Peruvian Tony Bennett. Great voice. I wish I could sing like that. BTW, I found a YouTube video of Eva Ayllon singing it and I prefer your version....

 

 

THANKS!!! I actually admire Eva Ayllon a lot! and to receive a compliment like that is humbling!!! Thanks again!

 

 

 

 

Thanks to all that have listen to the song, I am not done listening to all, I will finish later today!

 

 

Omar

[Northstar]

I also wish to say "Thanks" for all the good words.

 

I listen to all the stuff and I want to say "Good work" to everyone. Not all music is my cup of tea but it takes dedication, hard work and, I would imagine, guts for some to post their music.

[FussenKuh]

Hi all... late again to the listening party (as usual), but, I'm hoping to conclude what has already been a hectic day with some sure to be quality VOM tunes.

 

I did, however, want to take this brief moment to thank everyone who took the time to watch my video and/or provide me feedback and encouragement on my performance. Like I've said at past VOMs, any insights into my performances is greatly appreciated and is (hopefully) helping me improve on my playing and "singing." I'll definitely take to heart the idea that one can always transpose stuff to a different key and, if I'm singing in the next VOM, I'll try to address the headless-playing syndrome ;-) I'm going to also try to convince my no-budget recording setup to better handle playing and singing at the same time... vocal pitch/enunciation/etc. aside, I know I need to improve upon my ability to play and sing simultaneously.

[tbry]

 

Hi all... late again to the listening party (as usual), but, I'm hoping to conclude what has already been a hectic day with some sure to be quality VOM tunes. I did, however, want to take this brief moment to thank everyone who took the time to watch my video and/or provide me feedback and encouragement on my performance. Like I've said at past VOMs, any insights into my performances is greatly appreciated and is (hopefully) helping me improve on my playing and "singing." I'll definitely take to heart the idea that one can always transpose stuff to a different key and, if I'm singing in the next VOM, I'll try to address the headless-playing syndrome ;-) I'm going to also try to convince my no-budget recording setup to better handle playing and singing at the same time... vocal pitch/enunciation/etc. aside, I know I need to improve upon my ability to play and sing simultaneously.

 

 

Singing and playing together is hard for sure...thats why I always sound diff than the original melody when I do. Your vocal is getting better. Keep at it. I use chordie.com and it lets you transpose the key.

[Fendouglas]

First off I'd like to thank all of those who said nice things!

 

I've just manged to finish listening to all the songs and, while I don't feel qualified to comment on them individually, let me just say there were some I liked, some I liked a lot and some that just blew me away!

 

Listening to that superb (in style, genre and content) range of music has reinforced my belief that I've still got a lot to learn - but, thankfully, not as much as I feared!.

 

Singing (for public consumption) into a mic in an empty room is never, IMHO, going to be a substitute for live performance (but at least the furniture can't get up and walk out on you - unless it's got a wife attached that is) and I'm really full of admiration for all of the contributors.

 

I'm certainly going to keep coming back for more - and what I've heard over the last day or so will be my incentive to improve.

 

Thanks a lot folks!

[fatback]

I have enjoyed listening to this vom as well. Thanks to all who contributed and listened to the contributions. That covers everyone I think. See you again next month. Hopefully with a zoom and no hiss.

 

Phil

[FussenKuh]

Singing and playing together is hard for sure...thats why I always sound diff than the original melody when I do. Your vocal is getting better. Keep at it. I use chordie.com and it lets you transpose the key.

 

Thanks for the encouragement and the chordie.com tip. I'm sure I'll be checking it out in the not-to-distant future

 

And, yeah, before I ever even though of attempting to sing, I always took anyone who could sing and play for granted. It always looked so easy when watching people

 

BUT, I take solace in knowing that I've been able to chew bubble-gum and walk without issue for quite some time... I'm hoping one day I can make that same claim with playing and singing... even if the singing remains off key

[TSMusic]

Been kind of a busy week here again but I have been listening to all the submissions as I got a chance. It was great job by all who participated.

 

And as always, I want to thank all who listened and commented. I do appreciate it very much

 

Tony