​ 🎼🎶 ​​Summer Recording Challenge - Blues / Open Mic ​ 🎙️🎸 July - September 2021

[Wim VD1]

Dear guitar friends,

I'd like to try out a new format for our recording challenge. So far it has been monthly, but lately we have usually had only a few submissions per month.

Therefore, I would like to change the interval to quarterly. So from now on there will be a summer (July-September), fall (October-December), winter (January-March) and spring (April-June) recording challenge.

The number of entries allowed per participant is no longer limited to 1. You may submit as many songs as you like.

We will still draw 1 winner per challenge, who gets to pick the theme for the next challenge. Everyone is free to follow this suggested theme, but you may also submit any song of your own choice.

For this summer, we will start with the theme "Blues...or any other song you like".

 

Looking forward to hearing you play,

Wim.

[Eracer_Team-DougH]

well I tried to get this done for the June Challenge. but didn't work out.

You have two choices.. you can listen to the no vocal version or add lots of ear protection and listen to the vocal version.

This is out of Steve's Song Hits.. Session 5 if you will.. there wasn't much in the way of rhythm track to the song, so I ran the melody mostly on the neck pickup of a Epiphone Sheraton semi-hollow, the solo (I must come up with a more inventive solo idea) was switch to the bridge pickup and yes.. is "just" the melody  played in the 12th position.

it was a mix of mic'ing the speaker and since I run a very loud 30w tube amp, I have an attenuator on it that has line out .. so the lead is a mix of the two types of inputs.. speaker and speaker emulation.

the rhythm track was done on my acoustic straight in to the mixer.

last was my Dean Edge 4 bass to give a little more bottom end.. 

(if your ears are bleeding.. don't sue me.. you were warned about ear protection)

 

 

 

[Wim VD1]

Well played, @Eracer_Team-DougH. You get a nice sound out of your Sheraton. Thanks for sharing.

Wim.

[NeilES335]

@Eracer_Team-DougH Good job Doug😊  I know you worked hard on this one. Playing 3 parts, ( plus vocal track ) and getting most notes clean and in time is not the easiest task on this tune. Just a suggestion... I wonder if the tempo was a bit quick.(?) If it was slowed down a touch it could play and sound a bit smoother. Otherwise very good.😉 N.

[NeilES335]

@Wim VD1 Hi Wim; I wonder if you saw my personal message ? Neil

[Eracer_Team-DougH]

@NeilES335

Thought about tempo, and actually would make the song a bit longer. Which probably I'd prefer 

Lyrics  are tricky with the "they've been down that lonely street " all crammed into that triplet.

I listened to 4 version of Elvis and they all run 2'08" roughly as well, so either they dropped the triplets or they smoked through them like I did 

At least I can now sing and play live (which I match playing to my singing instead of the other way around)

On to the next song..

 

[Wim VD1]

Rosedale Blues is a slow steady thumb blues in E from David Hamburger's Fingerstyle Blues Factory course on TrueFire.

Wim.

 

 

[Eracer_Team-DougH]

@Wim VD1 sounds good slow acoustic blues. 

Sounds like blues, I bought Chris Buono's Guitar Lab Blues solo ($5 on sale) doesn't sound bluesy to me, I'll work and learn best I can from it, but certainly not making me a good blues player,  

This blues Fingerstyle course sounds like it's doing that for you

[Plantsman13]

@Wim VD1  I liked the muted base, good ‘thump’ separation from the melody.  Your right hand timing is coming along nicely.   Well done!

[matonanjin]

On 7/18/2021 at 10:11 AM, Wim VD1 said:

Rosedale Blues is a slow steady thumb blues in E from David Hamburger's Fingerstyle Blues Factory course on TrueFire.

Wim.

 

Wim, really nice recording.  I enjoyed it a lot.  David has some very good blues courses on TrueFire.  And I don't know if you are on his mail list or not.  If you are, you know his writing is right up there with his blues teaching, always fun and entertaining.

[Plantsman13]

Fretboardconfidential.com with YouTube pdf download page I believe.  

[Wim VD1]

23 hours ago, matonanjin said:

Wim, really nice recording.  I enjoyed it a lot.  David has some very good blues courses on TrueFire.  And I don't know if you are on his mail list or not.  If you are, you know his writing is right up there with his blues teaching, always fun and entertaining.

Yes, Ron, I am on his mailing list. He teaches the style of rootsy blues I want to be able to play. I am working my way through his TrueFire courses, which will keep me busy for many months.

 

 

[Nairon]

On 7/10/2021 at 10:23 PM, Eracer_Team-DougH said:

well I tried to get this done for the June Challenge. but didn't work out.

You have two choices.. you can listen to the no vocal version or add lots of ear protection and listen to the vocal version.

This is out of Steve's Song Hits.. Session 5 if you will.. there wasn't much in the way of rhythm track to the song, so I ran the melody mostly on the neck pickup of a Epiphone Sheraton semi-hollow, the solo (I must come up with a more inventive solo idea) was switch to the bridge pickup and yes.. is "just" the melody  played in the 12th position.

it was a mix of mic'ing the speaker and since I run a very loud 30w tube amp, I have an attenuator on it that has line out .. so the lead is a mix of the two types of inputs.. speaker and speaker emulation.

the rhythm track was done on my acoustic straight in to the mixer.

last was my Dean Edge 4 bass to give a little more bottom end.. 

(if your ears are bleeding.. don't sue me.. you were warned about ear protection)

 

 

 

@Eracer_Team-DougH This was a lot of fun to listen to man!

[Nairon]

On 7/18/2021 at 11:11 AM, Wim VD1 said:

Rosedale Blues is a slow steady thumb blues in E from David Hamburger's Fingerstyle Blues Factory course on TrueFire.

Wim.

 

 

@Wim VD1 the blues sound real mellow. Really like it.

[Nairon]

Worked on Cold cold heart by Hank Williams from the Song Hits session 5 this month. Still working at the strumming accuracy but so far so fun.

 

[Wim VD1]

On 7/26/2021 at 2:06 AM, Nairon said:

Worked on Cold cold heart by Hank Williams from the Song Hits session 5 this month. Still working at the strumming accuracy but so far so fun.

 

@Nairon, I enjoyed listening to your rendition of this classic Hank Williams song. You are progressing well in your learning!

 

Wim.

[Wim VD1]

I am still used to the monthly cycle of learning and recording a song. So this is some more playing on the porch of another dead thumb solo arrangement (composed by D. Hamburger).

Wim.

 

 

[Plantsman13]

@Wim VD  Enjoyed your rendition.  Thanks for sharing.  👏👏👏

[Eracer_Team-DougH]

@Nairon good multi track , Songs Hits is actually pretty good to work with,  

@Wim VD1 need some "rusty voice " vocals to go with South St Pete track . I ain't got my woman,  naw she done run away... I ain't got...

[Wim VD1]

This is my last recording for this summer challenge.

It's another David Hamburger tune who dedicated it to Dave Van Ronk.

Wim.

 

 

[Eracer_Team-DougH]

@Wim VD1 nice smooth and clear 

[Plantsman13]

@Wim VD1 Great job.  Very clean and well played.  Don't take this wrong, but I would love to hear you inject some of 'your soul' into it to develop a groove with dynamics, not just a lot of well played notes.  

[Eracer_Team-DougH]

Well not sure where to put this . 

we sort of have 2 threads running at the Same time.. the "Recording Challenge" and the "Open Mic" subject threads.

Open Mic was setup as a non-subject based recording where the Recording Challenge thread was subject based, which has sort of fled it's original subject theme this year..

which makes for a small dilemma: which thread do you post a recording.. anyways I picked here.

Taken me a while to get this one done. the Main rhythm track took a while to get down with a lot less mistakes (mistakes are free of charge and gives music it's 'organic' feeling). knew the lead and subsequent vocal tracks would go quicker.

 once again we're using @Steve Krenz LMG Song Hits to provide the base of this song.

This time I was hitting up Day Tripper by the Beatles as presented by Steve in Session 7 his course.

I've added back the 3rd verse and I've added the B solo back into the song as well (the B solo riff keeps my fingers confused)

Technical stuff.. the Base rhythm track was played on all things .. My Les Paul (I wanted to get away from always using the Sheraton) in the lead pickup . the Lead track was played on my MIA Strat on the bridge/lead pickup and last there was supplemental rhythm track played on what else.. the Epiphone Sheraton a Beatles type of guitar 

again keeping with me .. "you choose your poison"...  first track is just the instrumental and the second track is how it would be heard at any party my relatives or wife's friends had enough to drink and beg me to play.

(some day I'll invest in an auto-tune plugin)

 

 

with Vocal

 

 

Edited September 16, 2021 by Eracer_Team-DougH

[Wim VD1]

On 9/6/2021 at 1:20 PM, Plantsman13 said:

@Wim VD1 Great job.  Very clean and well played.  Don't take this wrong, but I would love to hear you inject some of 'your soul' into it to develop a groove with dynamics, not just a lot of well played notes.  

@Plantsman13, thanks. It is this kind of feedback that pushes me to improve.

Maybe I should not record this kind of solo arrangements to a click/metronome any longer. I have the feeling that this takes away some of the natural groove.

Wim.

[Plantsman13]

@Wim VD1  D. Hamburger and Eric Skye have posted You Tube presentations, in the past, focusing on using a metronome focusing on the 2 & 4 to maximize groove.  E. Skye's was in a 30 Day Challenge format (very casual and chock full of great ideas each day) and D. Hamburger was in a Fretboard Confidential presentation.  Both sources are free.

Bryan