Busking U2

sbutler
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Sat Jul 23, 2011 10:50 am

Tony, all in all I thought it was great. I'm not qualifiied to give advice here, cause you did it so much better than I could. I thought your singing was right on for such a hard song.


I would be curious to hear it with an acoustic guitar, but that is just a curio for me.


Keep up the good work man. Your doin good.


SCott


Yamaha48
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Sat Jul 23, 2011 1:13 pm

Hey Tony my friend.

Good to see you with a new guitar.
What is the brandname of the guitar?.
The singing part is litle to high for you my friend.
I know you can do it,maby litle lower singing.
When i watching the video 3 times,i pick up my guitar and do diferent capo posisions for my voice,
Wrench words are right,easy songs are good ,than you can more focus on the singing part.
Thanks fore sharing,i like to see your playing ,singing.
Hope to see more like this.

cheers.............from Holland


Chasplaya
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Sat Jul 23, 2011 3:18 pm

Very nicely done Tony. How am I not surprised you got a Taylor lol. A bit of techy advice, change the pick up to middle and bridge, to get Edge sound tune down half step do the Intro sig riff to at least the intro i.e. harmonics 12th on e, 7th on BGD arpeggio then repeat if you have one use delay, if you really want to get techy buy another Amp and a splitter box and two delay pedals lol! The main riff is 10th fret high e, then 10th fret B then 12, 11 12 fret G string then back to 10 B string.. These are the signature sounds for this song making it instantly recognisable .

No real singing advice from me, I liked your voice on this, maybe the guitar one step down will make a difference as observed by others. However, as it stands I believe good enough to go open mic.


Chasplaya
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Sat Jul 23, 2011 3:36 pm

Bob Dylan speaking with Edge...


“Everybody’s going to remember your songs, it’s just that nobody’s gonna be able to play them” - Bob Dylan (in reference to Edge’s delay-ridden riffs)


tovo
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Sat Jul 23, 2011 3:39 pm

Hey guys. OK officially embarrassed I must say. Everyone has done precisely as i asked and given me raw, critical feedback. Reading over them all again there is a LOT of great advice there.

I've always encouraged brutal honesty with my efforts, so to get disappointed and down when I do stupid things like fail to tune up properly, well it has no place in the learning process.

Trying to address some hints:

I'll experiment with moving the key a half step. I'll also try tuning up (could be something in that! ;) )

I do have an effects box that I got with the guitar with so many effects combos it will take me until the 2nd coming to work them out. I'll experiment. I'll try to think of ways to vary the strum.

Thanks for the tips on head position (lifting my head) and mouth position (I'll try the smile on the high notes)

I like the Edge....but not trying to copy his look! :)


I'll certainly try the tips on positioning and after sleeping on it I'm very happy to take a heap of learning from this and move on.

Thanks all.


michelew
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Sat Jul 23, 2011 4:06 pm

Tony, there is absolutely nóthing to be embarrassed about....

As for tuning up properly....sure I noticed (and yes it's important), but geez wt.....it doesn't say ánything about your performance here, so personally (since this ain't a open mic) I couldn't care less.

As for choosing in what key to sing, well sometimes it just ain't that easy and you need to try it out. When planning to record Vincent, I just couldn't decide, 3th or 4th fret. I even send a tryout to Shel and Suzi first, to get some feedback for that matter.

With this one, your voice sounds great on the low parts, but the high parts gotten a bit difficult. If you play it a half step down, then maybe the higher parts sound totally okay, but the low parts 'feel' too low...although I'm pretty sure this thing will be fixed immediately if you indeed take it a half step down, I actually really hope you will give us a video-update on that.

As far as effects and so on.....hmmm....personally I wouldn't, keep it simple...that was the whole point here anyway, play a relatively easy song and focus on the singing. And you're playing this by yourself. When Edge does his riffs he has a véry solid bass and drum backing him up. You on the other hand don't, so you need to focus on the rhythm of the strumming, that's réally enough.

Alright, I'll stop my advice-ramblings, but I just don't want you to feel embarrassed, and I'm 100% positive that you can do this....period.

Ness


Chasplaya
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Sat Jul 23, 2011 4:11 pm

tovo wrote:
Hey guys. OK officially embarrassed I must say. Everyone has done precisely as i asked and given me raw, critical feedback. Reading over them all again there is a LOT of great advice there.

I've always encouraged brutal honesty with my efforts, so to get disappointed and down when I do stupid things like fail to tune up properly, well it has no place in the learning process.

Trying to address some hints:

I'll experiment with moving the key a half step. I'll also try tuning up (could be something in that! ;) )

I do have an effects box that I got with the guitar with so many effects combos it will take me until the 2nd coming to work them out. I'll experiment. I'll try to think of ways to vary the strum.

Thanks for the tips on head position (lifting my head) and mouth position (I'll try the smile on the high notes)

I like the Edge....but not trying to copy his look! :)


I'll certainly try the tips on positioning and after sleeping on it I'm very happy to take a heap of learning from this and move on.

Thanks all.
Hey mate to hard on yourself , U2 songs whilst sounding straight forward are often not quite so easy. Edges use of delay gives them that unique sound and he used a splitter, two delay units , 2 Amps pan left and panned right, check my Bob Dylan quote , very true word from Bob Dylan. And then Edge has guitar and sound guys on mixers changing things up mid way through songs. You have essentially got the essence of the song a few refinements and you're away laughing. I just checked and the strum is best mostly down strokes, maybe try one quarter note followed by 16th notes, emphasis on 1st beat but swell volume as you go in each bar, but listening to song gets the 'swell' in right places.

So chill man it was very good.


suziko
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Sat Jul 23, 2011 4:28 pm

As Ness and Chas have said, there's no reason to feel embarrassed. I think we have all had the experience (I know for certain that I have) of posting something that you think is fine, then getting constructive feedback, and feeling a bit personally affronted. I think it's totally natural. Posting videos of ourselves playing and singing and asking for feedback.... wow, how much vulnerable can you get? It would take a pretty tough person to take all that in stride immediately. The fact that you slept on it and woke up with a positive attitude- that impresses me.

You CAN do this song. Like others have said, regarding the singing, your weakest point is the high notes. You know and we know that you are great on the low end. My guess is that you could drop it a half or even full step lower with your capo and still be fine with the low notes, and then the high notes are less of a reach for you. I'd love to see you give it a try. I also think that you should NOT go the effects route. I'd like to see you just work on varying your strum a bit throughout, but keeping it really simple and letting your voice be the showcase. You've got a great voice, Tony. It can be the star of the show.

I also wonder if maybe using your acoustic Taylor might be better for this, if you're keeping it more simple and not playing it with effects. Was there a reason you chose the electric instead?

I hope we see an update of this, Tony!

Suzi


tovo
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Sat Jul 23, 2011 4:38 pm

suziko wrote:

I also wonder if maybe using your acoustic Taylor might be better for this, if you're keeping it more simple and not playing it with effects. Was there a reason you chose the electric instead?

Suzi
Ah Suzi like my wife you are VERY persistent! ;)

Yes I chose to use the Taylor as it was a recent acquisition from a friend. I had hoped to show him it had gone to a good home. I got it mainly because I have a real burning desire to play blues, I've been using it mostly for that and splitting my practice.

Yes when I said I would experiment with effects, that's just for my own benefit. Obviously not so easy to sit in a pub and dial up effects. Possible, but probably not in keeping with the vibe of an open mic night. I'm sure it would be better on the acoustic Taylor.


lueders
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Sat Jul 23, 2011 7:05 pm

Tony, I hope I am not overstepping my bounds by putting this here. :unsure:
But I had an idea or two for you, while incorporating some of: Suzi, Vanessa, Chris's rhythmic ideas. Suzi (acoustic
simplicity) Chris(downstrokes) Vanessa(palm muting. I don't know why you should feel embarrassed either. Besides,
as I see it...this place is a grand testing/learning ground.. (Remember when Elvis Costello and the Chili Peppers
kicked my duff? Those were train wrecks...your's was just fine. ) There was nothing wrong with your way of doing it
at all. Lot of ways to skin a mountain lion. ;)


I think this way is a simple solution. It is super easy and a minimal way to accent the driving rhythm and
still keep the guitar in the background & still keep it kinda minimal & atmospheric sounding....



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