Leonard Cohen Hallelujah by MarkM

MarkM
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Wed Feb 29, 2012 7:34 pm

Well just what everyone needed. Yet another cover of Hallelujah. Sorry folks. I had this song in my head the past few days and remembered it was a lesson so I gave it a go. Not very complicated to play but I applaud anyone who sings this song well. I tried this all over the fred board to find a good key but none really did if for me. Beautiful song. I just wish I could done it justice. Anway as always I look forward to you suggestions and comments.



MarkM










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buddy
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Wed Feb 29, 2012 7:52 pm

Mark, I can't get enough of this song and you did it justice. It is a good song work on your finger picking. You set a really nice tempo through this whole song.

Buddy


BobR
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Wed Feb 29, 2012 8:04 pm

Hi Mark,

I'm with Buddy, I really love this song and can't get enough, and you did a fine job. Steady tempo and fine finger picking throughout. And your vocals sounded real good to me.

Hope all's well down south. You're missing a bit of snow up here :laugh:
Bob


dennisg
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Wed Feb 29, 2012 8:34 pm

Yeah, we've heard a lot of versions of that song, but let me just say that not one of them was played any better than yours. Just awesome, Mark. That's about as sweet and perfect as finger picking can be. Flawless. I'm envious.

And that guitar? It sounds spectacular.

A note to Al: if you're wondering what the potential of a 12-fret grand concert is, you just heard it in this video. This is a very small Grand Concert body that produces huge volume and great tone.


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Music Junkie
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Wed Feb 29, 2012 9:44 pm

Mark:

I agree with the others. Classic song and always makes for a good up by a fellow TG'er.

Love the new guitar! You played that so smoothly and the sound was fabulous. I have really been exploring the act of singing more lately, and finding it to be so darned challenging, so I understand your statement very much. I thought that you found a very good key for your voice though, and that you did a very nice job signing as well. For remembering that it was lesson and then recording this version in only a few days, I find it to be that much more impressive.... :)

Great Job Mark!

MJ


AcousticAl
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Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 3:10 pm
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Wed Feb 29, 2012 10:21 pm

Mark-

How can you apologize for such a great upload?? As usual, your guitar work is excellent. I think your fingerpicking chops have caught up to your strumming chops.. And we're all a little jealous!

Re. The singing- I'd say Mr. Cohen would be very proud! Love the vibe you give it.

AND THE GUITAR!
Thanks for pointing it out Dennis- but no way I could miss it! Gorgeous sound and nice size. Too bad about the price. :angry:
I think I may have found my new guitar though but I'll save that for another thread.

Tell us a bit more about yours Mark. Mahogany? Playability?


willem
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Thu Mar 01, 2012 4:39 am

Mark,,fabulous,,really fine job

for the singin(my opinion),,well when I try to sing it now i use your vid for play/sing along,,maybe you could tell the story a bit more,,well you moved in by god now and thats a great hallelujah...

nice looking and sounding guitar..

great job,,I listen twice now.

Willem


pbraun
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Joined: Thu Apr 09, 2009 6:00 pm
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Thu Mar 01, 2012 5:10 am

Hey Mark that was great! I would have to agree-no such thing as too many covers of this song! Haven't seen that guitar before?
Pete


MarkM
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Joined: Sat Mar 21, 2009 8:26 am
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Thu Mar 01, 2012 9:48 am

Thanks everyone!!

Bud- Thank you very much!! I'm with you. I could listen to this song all day.

Bob - Thanks!! Good luck with that snow. We had tornado warnings last night with that same storm.

Dennis - As always thank you for your kind words. As you can tell I'm really enjoying this new toy of mine. More on that below.

Jason - Thank you!!! Ah the act of singing. Yeah I really never tried it unil about a year and a half ago. I just couldn't play and sing at the same time. One morning it just worked. Not sure why. Now that is different than having a good voice which I don't have. I think alot of it has to do with just being very comfortable with the song. I leanred this song quickly because I've probably heard it 1000 times so that made it easy. Usually the phrasing of words is tricky but the verses in this song are all pretty much the same.

Al- Thanks!! You never cease to crack me up :laugh: :laugh: . I'm glad you like it. I'll have to pick up one of the other guitars and strumm for a while before I forget how to.

Willem - I alway appreciate your comments. Thanks and I'm glad you liked it.

Pete - Thanks so much Pete. I hope all is well. Some storms last night huh??? Yup its new.

OK to the new guitar. About 6 months ago I had been toying with getting a new guitar but something a bit different. To be honest I just had a bad case of G.A.S. Now let me preface the rest of this by saying I absolutely don't need another guitar and feel very fortunate that I was able to do this. God knows I don't have the talent to need such nice instruments.

Something different.... I was searching for a sound that I didn't get from what I currently had. Don't get me wrong I LOVE the other two guitars and won't be parting with them anytime soon. I was intrigued by the 12 fret design (the neck joins the body at the 12th fret instead of the 14th like on most modern day guitars) because it was a short scale (a bit more slack in the strings) and the bridge was pushed farther down on the lower bout. What this did was create more of a vintage sound. I had played a few of the standard models in stores when I was travelling to get the feel. This is a smaller guitar than either of the ones I currently have therefore its a bit different to play. It's based on a Grand Concert sized guiter. Not sure what that means in the Martin world though.

After playing a few of these I noticed that Dennis had just recieved one and I was blown away by the sound of his. I had called him up to get the low down and as usual he was just great to talk to. He explained how he decided to get his and then we discussed wood combinations. This was going to be a custom build because what I was after, like Dennis, was not on the main menu for Taylor. So I went with a very similar guitar as he had but with some minor changes.

Here is the run down. It's a build to order 12 fret with Cocobolo back and sides and a Sinker Redwood top. Sinker redwood is from a log of Redwood that was found at the bottom of a river in California that had been sitting there for 150 years. What this does is gives the wood some fabulous coloring due to the minerals soaking into the wood. Besides its a nice little story to tell. It has ebony binding and an edgeburst on the top. The sinker top is a warmer tone than the Sitka spruce tops that I have on the other guitars. Whats nice about this is that is has most of the characteristics of a nice warm cedar top but has the headroom like a spruce top. Thus giving me the ability to actually strum this thing fairly aggressivley if I want to. With the smaller body and Cocobolo I get less overtones than I would with rosewood on a bigger guitar. This generates a nice "bell" like tone and note articulation. Really sweet for finger picking. This guitar does have it's limitations. If I want to belt out a Neil Young song this is not going to be the guitar. I'll go to the dreadnaught for that. This guitar works well in drop D but any other alternate tuning I'm going to one of the other guitars. What this guitar excells at is just incredible tone when finger picked. I've been playing Bread's IF with this and I just melt everytime I play it.

Well enough of this. As you can tell. I really like the guitar. I ordered it in the beginning of November and got it the last week of January. I'm very happy with the process as I was worried a bit because I didn't have a change to play it first. Alot of research and Dennis's reassurance really helped. So that's it. Thanks for all the comments and intrest in the new toy.

Here are some pics.

http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee4 ... C01550.jpg

http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee4 ... C01551.jpg

http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee4 ... C01559.jpg

http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee4 ... C01558.jpg

http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee4 ... C01557.jpg

http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee4 ... C01556.jpg

http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee4 ... C01552.jpg


MarkM


schm040
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Thu Mar 01, 2012 10:19 am


Mark, nice job all around. Enjoy your new guitar.

Matt


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