Well guess who had a gig on April 5th?
You're right, it was me! Now, in my defense, this is my first public performance ever, and, even worse, it was caught on video tape.
To add insult to injury, I decided to upload all the songs in a blaze of masochism to, hopefully, get some contstructive criticism from more talented people.
taylor
Cookie Jar
Eli, the Barrow Boy
Windbreak Run
Wonderwall lol
Glimmer of Hope
One of these songs is original!
i love how wonderwall starts eerily with your shadow on the wall.
great job
my only complaint is that you did not play "House of the Rising Sun"
Would have been a better cover than Wonderwall which was terrible. I like the original but yours was a bit....gay...
Kind of how I imagine John Mayer would play it (without the 12 minute blues solos, 'comedy' introduction and obligatory autofellatio that comes with being a sexy-genius-blues-reinvention-god's-gift-to-would-be-14-year-old-Eric-Clapton-fans-and-ex-sitcom-superstarlets).
That being said, the other two I listened to were pretty brilliant.
Yeah, was cool thoughOriginally Posted by gwahir
Good performance I think. Nice hat.
Taylor was good, Cookie Jar was better. That's as far as I've gotten so far, but I intend to listen tot he rest later.
My only criticism is that when you're singing the songs of someone like Jack Johnson who wrote the songs, wrote the music, and plays them himself, you may want to try little adaptations on the songs to make them your own. Obviously your voices are somewhat different but the actual music was a carbon copy. Just an idea, maybe try fucking around with new ways to play the songs, new tempos, just little changes in the arrangement. The more unique you sound the better. So far though, good stuff Coq.
And props for having the balls to post it on the internet.
I only watched 3/4 of Wonderwall but can probably still give you some yays/nays:
Good:
You have a unique voice, if you could write a cheesy song a la 'Hey There Delilah' you could be famous the world over maybe
Bad:
As said above, you need to take a bit of creative liberty with covers. Even more important though, is you don't seem to care about regulating the volume of your playing - by that, I mean you need to mix in volumes of very quiet to very loud, to build emotion and story into the song. Wonderwall had pretty much the same volume throughout, but there are a lot of opportunities I think on that song to have some quieter, more intimate, parts as well as some loud all-out parts for the chorus. (just make sure you have the ending chorus end in an exasperating calm quiet! Cliche, but it works!)
Yeah, that's a leftover from the the way the camera moved from the previous song (taylor, if I remember correctly).
Thanks, though, in spite of not talking about the music; it is very nice to hear good things about stuff liek this.
Well, I mean, I know that song, and I suppose I could play it, but I was generally trying to avoid cliche'd cover songs (with the obvious exception of Wonderwall). I guess if you asked nicely I suppose I could record a shitty cover of House of the Rising Sun for you.
Also, thanks!
Which other two did you listen to?
Also, I am aware that Wonderwall was essentially an exercise in me masturbating with my voice, but I needed a filler song and I learned it about 3 days before the show. In a mildly related note, I do enjoy a few John Mayer songs, and I'm fairily envious of his ability on the guitar, even if he tends to do on the fretboard what I did on Wonderwall with my voice. Neon is a very, very good song in my books, and I know how to play about half of it, but I can't do it cleanly. He has a couple others I don't mind covering - Another Kind of Green and I'm not going to lie, for acoustic guitar, his cover of "Free Falling" is a good adaptation and can pretty easily be pulled off on a acoustic.
Thanks for the compliments by the way, I appreciate it.
I am rather fond of that hat. Thanks benz - I appreciate hearing that from you.
I'm a fairly big fan of Jack Johnson, partly because I really enjoy his first two albums, and partly because he's one of the few male singers whose voice I can actually sort of cover (it's not out of my vocal range).
I know what you mean about changing the covers and sort of making them my own. It is something that was a concern to me that I chose to ignore for this performance, mostly because the majority of people wouldn't know those songs or would appreciate just hearing a simple cover of them. I'm someone who truly values artistic integrity, and if I ever actually started touring or playing regularly, I wouldn't play a straight cover without putting something of my own into it. As it stands, with what I've already said, and the fact that the guitar is a glorified hobby for me (that I practiced religiously leading up to the performance), that's pretty much why I opted for straight covers of the songs there.
Thanks though, I suppose like I've said to everyone else, I appreciate the fact that you like what I do - I hope that the fact that I've said this to everyone doesn't cheapen the sentiment - I'm quite honest about it.
Well, I did end Wonderwall with a quiet part, but you're right - that song in particular could have benefited from more dynamics being incorporated into the playing of it.
Although, I want to say that I do pay attention to how I regulate my voice, in volume and in tone. Maybe it's more obvious in Eli the Barrow Boy, but I tried to do the same in Wonderwall, although perhaps to lesser effect. It is something I am very conscious about and I will certainly pay more attention to it in the future.
You're also right about the creative liberties, but my only defense is that the guitar has been, until recently, a glorified hobby. I haven't sunk a ridiculous amount of time into it, and I've never really formally studied music, but it is something that I am slowly working on. Ideally I could imprint something unique from my vision of a song, but I mean that's beyond my meager abilities at this point. I am currently satisfied with being able to relatively accurately cover a song.
And, of course, yet again, thanks for complimenting my voice. It is something I am extremely self-conscious about, and I've never sang in public, or even among private friends, ever. I try to take pains to make sure it sort of sounds good, and I am aware it still need a ton of work (mostly in vocal control to hit the right notes, maintain some serious vibrato and I would love to get that edge that blues belters have to their voices... daaaamn), but it's something I'm paying more attention to and practicing more often.
Last edited by coqauvin; 04-18-2009 at 07:13 AM.
i'm pretty useless about music discussion, unless it's music in musicals. i can only comment on what i like, and since nobody cares what you like when it comes to music, i stick to stuff i know (like shadows)!
I did ask when you were taking requests in Flames.
I'll ask again.
Pretty please play House of the Rising Sun.
I'll second that request. House of the Rising Sun is one of my favourite covers ever along with Summertime, which I'd also like to request. In fact I think you could do a really good job of the Sam Cooke version (which I'll upload somewhere if you want it and can't find it).
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