IanD

Thank you everyone for the really kind comments. Ian

Wow Kevin @WATSON43, what a wonderful recording. It sounds really beautiful, I couldn't play it just once. I love the harmonies and the fact that the vocal is somehow full, yet very gentle. Superb job! Ian

Ha ha, I realised that most of my previous songs have either had fairly dark lyrics or been about break-ups. This was a deliberate attempt to lighten the mood ?. Good memory by the way, that song was 6 years ago! (and for the record, was completely fictional!). Ian

Here's a very late entry from me. @Blue Dog suggested a while ago that I try this song. He'd been listening to the excellent 'Disturbed' version though, so I'm not sure if this is what he expected. I recorded this in the bathroom to see if the sound would be any better... apparently not ?. Ian

Great job Randy. Superb vocals! Ian

Good job Wim! I think you can teach yourself so much by improvising. Ian

Hi everyone, A couple of weeks ago, I shared the first draft of a new original song I'd been working on, called 'You'. I got some great feedback and comments, primarily observing that it just had two chords alternating throughout the verses and choruses. It was only the bridge where I got adventurous and added two more chords! Well, I went away and played around with it and tried to add in more chords or different chords but I just couldn't get anything that felt right, other than substituting a Dsus4 for part of the D chord parts. So, I decided to just go ahead and record it and try to add some interest and movement through the arrangement. Here's how it ended up. Ian

Beautiful! ian

Wow, that's fantastic Cap. I had a listen and it sounds great too. How were your nerves? Have you got the next gig planned? Ian

Mandy, that's great... well done! Ian

Thanks Greg. It's all good. The feedback from everybody has really inspired me and I've had great fun the last couple of days playing around with the song: adding chords; taking them out again; adding a few sus chord variations; playing around with rhythm/phrasing/words... and that's before I even start trying to arrange a multi-instrumental version. I'd always intended to add interest and let the song build via other instruments, including electric guitar but I'd quite like it to stand up on its own with just an acoustic in a live setting too. Funny you should mention the looper. I do have a ditto looper pedal already, but I haven't used it much. I've been watching quite a few live videos of Ed Sheeran and KT Tunstall, they both use loopers very effectively and both can deliver songs well with just an acoustic guitar and no band. I saw a clip of Ed Sheeran the other day, he said he used to write as many as two songs per day to 'get all of the bad songs out of the way' so he could start writing some good ones. I heard someone else on the radio (I forget who) say a lot of people try writing songs and stop because the songs are not very good, but it's actually like everything else... you have to practice, make mistakes and learn. I appreciate every single comment from this community, it's all helping me to learn. Oh, and I have lyrics ready for four more songs already... trying to get all the bad ones out of the way ?. Ian

Thanks @Six String, I really appreciate that. I did try to deliberately keep it simple, but did wonder if I was just being lazy instead. I've already started playing around with some harmonic embellishments, I'll try a few variations but will use your post as an 'ok' to come back to the simple version if the others don't work! Ian

Great, thanks @CapM! Ian

Thanks @Oldjock, I use Apple Logic for doing multi-track recordings and it comes with a 'virtual drummer'. I just set something up quickly on that as the percussion track. I've also used a cheap and simple app called 'DrumBeats' though on occasion for noodling or practice with a slightly cooler sounding metronome. Ian

Wow, Neil this sounds fantastic! Well done to you for just getting out there and doing it. It sounds like you really enjoyed it and it will undoubtedly have helped both your confidence and your playing generally. Next time, let's see some recordings of you in action ? Ian

Thanks Neil and Greg, great comments! Ian

Hi everyone, I just finished writing a new original song, called 'You'. Here is just a rough recording of me playing it 'live' with a percussion track running in the background. I hope you like it, but I'd really welcome any feedback or comments before I start to record and arrange a multi-track version. Ian

Well done Randy. To be honest, it's just great to hear you back playing again. I did miss your vocal though, that's not broken too is it ?. Ian

@WATSON43 Well done, you really did justice to this fabulous song (which was allegedly written at Widnes railway station, about 15 miles from where I live). The harmonies were sublime, the guitar was great and the whole thing just worked. Bravo! Ian

Cap, I love this one! I really like the beautiful simplicity of the piece. Dare I say that the vocal line feels a little more melodic than usual and this is a really attractive aspect of the song. I love the way you introduce the keys and, again, their subtle beautiful simplicity. They do say that sometimes "less is more" and I think you really proved it with this piece... superb! Ian

Fabulous Henk, well done! I'm loving watching these clips of everyone perform. Ian

That's great Greg, you're really getting out there! It's good to see clips of forum members out there performing and having fun. It's what all the hours of practice has been about, right?! Keep it going Greg. Ian

@mark_h This is a fascinating read, and quite inspirational! Thanks for sharing. Ian

@mark_h and @Wim VD, another superb submission from each of you this month. Thanks for keeping them coming, I enjoyed listening to both. Mark, I love that you changed the title of your original composition just to make it fit, that made me chuckle! Wim, I swear that you get noticeably better each month. Keep it up guys! Ian

Aww Ron, that's great! I love the concentration on all of their faces. I love that Malene politely apologises when somebody knocks at the door. You know Trygg keeps better time than a lot of pro drummers, right?! And Torunn just looks so serious! I can't wait to see their first band performance with grandad as band leader. Cherish these memories. Ian