Collaboration on Elton John's Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me
Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 8:14 pm
Hi All. Wasn't sure where to place this, I guess we need a collaboration section but its about singing so....
Collaboration is the flavour of the day at TG at the moment and rightly so as it can add real value to learning and playing. Getting a project done is motivating and puts you on the line to deliver the goods best you can to a deadline. That definitely sharpens the creative process.
I mentioned on a thread that I’ve found myself hung up on Elton John’s Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me. I never thought I’d be able to sing it so I’ve never tried to play it. It’s a piano song, of course. But after finding the chord sequence and after realising that if I drop the tuning of my guitar down a half step, I can sing it in that key, I decided to take it further.
The original chords are G F C with an Am and D in there too. Tuned down a half step I‘m actually playing F# E B with G#m and C# but still using the easier shapes of G F C etc.
Having got this far, I’d like to make more of the song and wonder if anyone else would like to join me in the fun on making it something much better. It could use a more sophisticated strumming and certainly a few embellishments with acoustic or electric guitar, some fill-ins or runs. It could be done as a duet complete with backing vocals. So what I’m looking for here is any one who would like to contribute:
- the basic guitar track
- fill-ins, riffs, embellishments on acoustic or e-guitar
- a second male voice (the version with George Michael comes to mind - as a reference)
- female background vocals… ideally 2 voices
- a bass line
I have some ideas of where I want to go with this but am also open to all suggestions. The video below shows you where I’m at with this at the moment. I just recorded it quickly after coming home from work to day, as you can see! As you can also see I have not got further than getting the basic shape of the song and the phrasing of the singing partly done. The guitar part is not very sophisticated and may not be quite right in the timing etc. I thought, if I post this as a starting point, it could be interesting to see how it develops. It’s pretty much how I’ve gone about learning all my songs before joining TG.
Please sign up here and leave your feedback, thoughts, suggestions etc. in this thread so other’s can watch how it develops…. We can switch to pms when we are ready to retreat to our rooms to work on it.
It would be really cool if this goes somewhere.
Chris
Collaboration is the flavour of the day at TG at the moment and rightly so as it can add real value to learning and playing. Getting a project done is motivating and puts you on the line to deliver the goods best you can to a deadline. That definitely sharpens the creative process.
I mentioned on a thread that I’ve found myself hung up on Elton John’s Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me. I never thought I’d be able to sing it so I’ve never tried to play it. It’s a piano song, of course. But after finding the chord sequence and after realising that if I drop the tuning of my guitar down a half step, I can sing it in that key, I decided to take it further.
The original chords are G F C with an Am and D in there too. Tuned down a half step I‘m actually playing F# E B with G#m and C# but still using the easier shapes of G F C etc.
Having got this far, I’d like to make more of the song and wonder if anyone else would like to join me in the fun on making it something much better. It could use a more sophisticated strumming and certainly a few embellishments with acoustic or electric guitar, some fill-ins or runs. It could be done as a duet complete with backing vocals. So what I’m looking for here is any one who would like to contribute:
- the basic guitar track
- fill-ins, riffs, embellishments on acoustic or e-guitar
- a second male voice (the version with George Michael comes to mind - as a reference)
- female background vocals… ideally 2 voices
- a bass line
I have some ideas of where I want to go with this but am also open to all suggestions. The video below shows you where I’m at with this at the moment. I just recorded it quickly after coming home from work to day, as you can see! As you can also see I have not got further than getting the basic shape of the song and the phrasing of the singing partly done. The guitar part is not very sophisticated and may not be quite right in the timing etc. I thought, if I post this as a starting point, it could be interesting to see how it develops. It’s pretty much how I’ve gone about learning all my songs before joining TG.
Please sign up here and leave your feedback, thoughts, suggestions etc. in this thread so other’s can watch how it develops…. We can switch to pms when we are ready to retreat to our rooms to work on it.
It would be really cool if this goes somewhere.
Chris