Busking The Town Pants — Coming Home

spinland
Posts: 0
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2016 10:12 am
Status: Offline

Thu Mar 16, 2017 10:20 pm

Okay, this song nearly kicked my happy ass. There are only 4-5 open chords in the whole tune (based on my analysis, there exists no tab or chord sheet anywhere in the Intertubez so this was my first crack at a by-ear arrangement) but it's played at 130BPM with chord changes every two beats. For my skill level, this was over-the-top hard but I've worked my butt off for weeks to get the progressions down to where I could keep up. No way I was going to try to play and sing this beauty at the same time, so you get a dual track offering.

My only regret was I wanted to play the Celtic flute part live. I wrote it myself based on the violin track in the original but the snow storm prevented my flute from being delivered in time to make it into this video. I had to settle for playing it on my MIDI keypad. Next time. :side:

This band plays a lot of gigs in Upstate NY and my daughter is a big fan. She gave me a CD of their stuff as a birthday gift last year and I fell in love. They bill themselves as "aggressive, fast Celtic-infused rock." I had to arrange the tune for solo guitar and voice, and I tried some production tricks to give myself a chorus kind of sound where there were multiple vocals in the original. It's all good. Enjoy. B)

[video type=youtube]INv1RZsutDc[/video]

Mark


User avatar
neverfoundthetime
Posts: 48
Joined: Sat Aug 01, 2009 2:14 pm
Status: Offline

Fri Mar 17, 2017 6:07 am

Well done Mark! Quite a production on an energetic song which you sang really well. The singing alone is quite a work out. And the video is very well put together... obviously you know your way around the technical issues. Great post!


spinland
Posts: 0
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2016 10:12 am
Status: Offline

Fri Mar 17, 2017 6:59 am

Thanks, Chris! That was quite a workout for both fingers and pipes. It was difficult to inject any real expression into the playing, I was busting hump just trying to keep up. :blink:

The song struck a chord (see what I did there? :silly: ) with me and I decided I had to cover it. Plus, all that fast-paced chord changing has to be good practice, right?

My next busking project is much, much less caffeinated. :side:

Mark


TGNesh
Posts: 111
Joined: Tue Aug 24, 2010 8:25 am
Location: The Netherlands
Contact:
Status: Offline

Fri Mar 17, 2017 7:16 am

Indeed a full on singing song Mark, well done! I can imagine you didn't want to record both parts at the same time.

What I in particular liked about your chord changes is that you land with all fingers at the same time (yes, I dig the chordshaped for G and Em too! ;) ). You did leave out your middle finger for both D and C, right? Was that intentional and why?

Ness


User avatar
daryl
Posts: 22
Joined: Fri Dec 17, 2010 9:21 am
Location: Massachusetts, USA
Status: Offline

Fri Mar 17, 2017 7:20 am

Good job Mark. Definitely a challenging fast-paced piece. A few comments...

- I'd like to see your camera for the guitar moved a bit closer so I can better see your playing/technique.
- Impressive drum work but I thought the drums were out of sync in a couple places. I thought it was the drums because your singing and playing seemed to be steady.
- You might want to consider uploading this to the student review channel to get some tips on improving your playing.
- You play the flute? Cool. Love to see a video someday.


spinland
Posts: 0
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2016 10:12 am
Status: Offline

Fri Mar 17, 2017 7:28 am

TGVanessa wrote:
You did leave out your middle finger for both D and C, right? Was that intentional and why?
Not intentional at all. Those were flubs when I'd fall behind and race to catch up and the fingers just weren't in place quickly enough. This song, apart from the easy chords, was probably well above my playing level but i wanted to give it a go. :side:

Mark


spinland
Posts: 0
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2016 10:12 am
Status: Offline

Fri Mar 17, 2017 7:36 am

daryl wrote:
Good job Mark. Definitely a challenging fast-paced piece. A few comments...

- I'd like to see your camera for the guitar moved a bit closer so I can better see your playing/technique.
- Impressive drum work but I thought the drums were out of sync in a couple places. I thought it was the drums because your singing and playing seemed to be steady.
- You might want to consider uploading this to the student review channel to get some tips on improving your playing.
- You play the flute? Cool. Love to see a video someday.
Thanks, Daryl!

I do indeed need to work on my camera angles. It's on a little tripod that sits on my desk which limits where I can spot it; but I have an old camera tripod that I should start using so I can be more flexible.

The drums were almost certainly drifting. I tried to keep this piece as unenhanced as possible (apart from adding the chorus vocal track) so I don't get in the habit of relying on tech tricks at the expense of learning. I timed my guitar and vocals to the original track (after I edited it some to trim down a few long solos and improve its timing) and, well, my drum hands need just as much practice as the rest of me. :lol:

Methinks I could do another video run showing just the guitar work, at a higher resolution that might make the fretting easier to see. I'll do that and post it there, thanks for the tip!

I used to play the "Penny Whistle" as a lad (and teen), had quite the repertoire of Christmas carols and my Irish pastor loved having me join in with the pianist when our choir did holiday shows. It was a lot of fun and when I was arranging this song I decided the violin parts cried out for some Celtic Flute love. Six holes, two octaves, pure sweet tones. Looking forward to getting my paws on it, hopefully it arrives today. I'm so going to get sharp on playing that solo the "right way."

Mark


wrsomers
Posts: 0
Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2011 8:32 am
Status: Offline

Fri Mar 17, 2017 7:48 am

Nice one Mark. You're coming along well. As Daryl and you both noted, the drums were out of sync, I look forward to you next one.
Bill


spinland
Posts: 0
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2016 10:12 am
Status: Offline

Fri Mar 17, 2017 8:47 am

Thanks, Bill!

Already working on two more (plus our little side project), and both are much, much slower-paced. :blink:

Mark


spinland
Posts: 0
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2016 10:12 am
Status: Offline

Fri Mar 17, 2017 1:33 pm

My Celtic whistle finally arrived! :woohoo:

It's an honest-to-goodness Robert Clarke whistle from the family factory in England. Here it is next to what I've been using to "play" one (as well as drumming) up until today.

Image

I have a new video with the guitar playing filling the screen and all the tracks except the guitar turned down low so it stands out. I have issues with posting it to the student video page using the form but I have a trouble ticket in so hopefully they'll sort it out.

Mark


Post Reply Previous topicNext topic