A Game of Two Halves

Well that was an interesting rehearsal.

The first 20 minutes were soul destroying.  I'm talking real proper awful terribleness that made me want to pack it all in and never play or listen to music ever again.

The rest of the time was probably the best rehearsal yet.  How weird is that!

Before it all kicked off

I thought it'd be a good idea to warm up by doing a few acoustic songs.  Big mistake.  A blues/soul band were in the room beside me running through their set (Mustang Sally, Knock On Wood, Tush, etc) and I could hear them quite clearly.  They were rather good but I clammed up completely and couldn't play or sing for toffee.

After running through a few songs and thinking I had maybe dreamt ever being able to play the guitar, I gave up and tried giving the set a go.  Best decision of the night by a country mile as I immediately felt far more comfortable (it's amazing how much confidence a bit of practise at something gives you).  I ran through the set in its entirety and I'm not struggling singing any of them now so they just need repeated practise to iron them out and get them memorised.  With that in mind, I can use the rest of the rehearsal time working on the guitar side of things.

It's clear to me that I work far better when I've got a project to focus on so I'm going to set myself a challenge.  I'm going to document the process I go through in learning a song.  From having to rely completely on the chord & lyric sheet all the way through to the finished article, fully arranged and memorised. Depending on the song, I might stray from the original arrangement ('cause I like making it sound my way) and to make it a bit more daunting for myself... I'm going to video it!



To start with, I've decided to give What a Good Boy by Barenaked Ladies a run through since I was talking about it in the last blog.

If I'm being pedantic, this is actually week two for this now as I played it for the first time in a very long time last week and it sounded... just as bad as you'd think that sounds - thankfully for my fragile ego, I don't have video of that session.

This week I had my first stab at putting in some variety and colour into my playing which basically meant throwing in some random picking alongside the strumming pattern.  It sounded better structure wise and has given me some ideas to try at the next rehearsal and my singing was also a lot better than last time - still not quite getting the high parts so there's a way to go before I'm happy but it was certainly better than I expected it to be at this stage.

You can see for yourself what I'm talking about below.

Anway, onto the set.  That's the main reason I'm rehearsing after all!  I won't run through the notes for every song like I've done previously as I'm fairly comfortable with what I'm doing for them now.  The main take aways were:

• I still need to watch the plosives for Punch & Judy, particularly at the very start
• I'm still singing too low a register when starting History Repeating 
• I still need to watch my phrasing on Two Tribes (but getting better)
• I'm having a rethink about editing War Pigs as my original plan of an early end point doesn't sound right. 

I felt like I wasn't fully paying as much attention to playing as I had been previously which is a shame as I think I was more comfortable singing but I made more mistakes than before.

That said, I was pleased with the tone and phrasing of each song so left feeling rather chuffed and a bit proud of myself as that was the happiest I've been with how my vocals sound and I'm starting to feel a little bit of confidence creeping in.

Pay attention dagnammit!

One technical point to remind myself of.  I've a feeling the vocals would sound better with a bit more more reverb behind them.

Righty oh, until next time.

I Brought The Acoustic

Another week and another rehearsal.

This week I brought the acoustic along so I could try a few different songs just to shake things up a bit.  I figured it'd keep things interesting, it's a bit of variety for singing practice and it gets me playing the guitar again which I'm missing a fair bit at the moment.  I guess that's some kind of Pavlovian response thing with the gig on my mind, or something.

Photoshop much?

So as well as a couple of run throughs of the set, I also managed to squeeze in a batch of acoustic songs for the shnizzles.  I did four acoustic songs but for some reason I can't fathom, I could only be bothered to actually record three of them to listen back to.

In case you're wondering why I'm recording stuff, I find that how I think I sound in real-time doesn't always translate to how it actually sounded when I'm free from the distraction of playing when I'm listening.

So, how did it go?  How did it go, how did it go...

Holy crap I am so out of practise when I comes to playing the guitar!  Jeesus, I REALLY need to start some regular playing time again so I think I'll be doing this for all my remaining solo rehearsals.

As Long As I Can See The Light (CCR)
The first song I attempted and the only one I didn't record.  Muppet.  From what I remember, it sounded nasty and not in a good way.  I didn't manage to get it right at all, timing was appalling and I was all over the shop.

Sunny Afternoon (Kinks)
I remember being able to play this at quite a decent standard back in the day, even if I do say so myself.  Those days have gone.  Gone, gone, gone.

Twelve Eyes of Evil (Broken Family Band)
I was starting to warm up by the time I got to this one I reckon, as it sounded alright albeit very rusty.  This one's going to be my marker for progression as since I know it so well, it's all muscle memory when I play and that makes it easier for me to gauge how well I'm playing it or not. 

What a Good Boy (Barenaked Ladies)
I used to love playing this song but it's one of a few I stopped playing and never really came back to.  I don't know why I thought about trying it, I hadn't planned on it and didn't have any lyrics to hand but it turns out it's also one of those songs where muscle memory takes over so lyrics (or lack thereof) weren't an issue.  Rusty as hell but I enjoyed playing it and it also gave me the desire to try and do it properly.

And lo, an idea was born.

I figure I know a heck of a lot more about song structure, playing the guitar and all that malarky now than I did way back last time I played this song and up until now I've only ever really busked it.  Badly.  Same repeated strumming pattern over and over, no change of pace, very dull, very boring, very bedroom ballardeer.  It can be done so much better and dagnammit, it will!

My plan is this.  Have a proper think about how to do it as a one voice, one acoustic guitar song and what it would take to structure it in an interesting way that captures and keeps the listeners' attention.

It'll be good exercise for getting back into playing the guitar if nothing else. 

Anyway, onto the set list.

War Pigs (Black Sabbath)
Yeah this will make for a great opener.  We'll need to cut it down a bit though as it's a seven minuter but I've got an idea of a good end point for the song already.  I'll try and edit the .mp3 I have for it to see if it works or not.

Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode)
I think this works as a good one to follow up War Pigs with as more folk should know it.  It's also a good foot stomper that grooves so should hopefully get a good reception.

Punch & Judy (Marillion)
I'm doing this one for mostly selfish reasons as I've always wanted to do a Marillion song but I think more people should remember this one than not.  Well, most Gen-X'ers at any rate.  Got to watch my plosives with this one.

*To myself* Sing to the side of the mic for the plosives and then come back to face it for the rest of the singing.

Otherwise it's going to be a poppy plosive experience for everyone and that will be just as icky as it sounds.








History Repeating (Propellorheads)
I'm not sure why I chose this but I love the groove and reckon we could do a good job and have some fun with it.

Istanbul (They Might Be Giants)
This is fun to do.  That is all.

Breathe (Prodigy)
Tiger's choice and a top one it was too! I would never have thought of doing in a million years but I'm starting to think I'm singing it too cheesily though didn't spend too much on it.  Am having a think about how to find my voice for this one.

Stone Cold Crazy (Queen)
Getting there with this one.  Didn't stumble over the words much and was able to put a bit of gravel to the voice which is usually a sign that I'm starting to get comfortable with a song.

Love Rears Its Ugly Head (Living Colour)
I'm now starting to think I'm over singing this which kinda sucks.  I dunno though, I didn't manage to relax that much at the rehearsal and I noticed that I was looking at the clock more than usual so maybe I just wasn't feeling it as much as the week before.  I'll have a better idea after the next one or two rehearsals, I guess.

Whippin' Post (Allman Bros)
Another one where I could be over singing.  Or it could be the opposite for all I really know.  I certainly felt more comfortable singing the notes the week before but this week I felt a lot more comfortable with the song structures and lyrical phrasing.

Two Tribes (Frankie Goes to Hollywood)
This should be a good, fun way to end the set and hopefully leave everyone on a high.

So that's it for this time.  I think I'll try and split my time at the next rehearsal to something like an hour for the set and and hour for acoustic stuff.  It depends on how the set sounds though as that will always be the priority.

Toodles

Last Week's Rehearsal

Vocal rehearsal #3 done and dusted.  I had an enforced week long hiatus due to the Beast from the East forcing me to stay indoors and wishing I was teaching the kids how to build snowmen a-la Calvin & Hobbes.

Glad to say I wasn’t as rusty as I thought I’d be.  I hadn’t listened to the songs at all for a fortnight but felt that I wasn’t looking at the lyric sheets as much as I have been in previous rehearsals so was actually quite chuffed with that.

What I wasn’t so chuffed about though was the later start time.  All the rooms were booked for my usual 9pm slot so I had to do a 10pm-midnight shift instead.  That in itself wasn’t so bad but the 5am alarm to get to the early shift at work the next morning hurt.  A lot.

As for the singing, I’m feeling quite comfortable with all the songs now so I think it’s time to start looking at the running order a bit more closely .  Currently, I'm not 'feelin' it much' as they say so I’ll be trying out different orders as there's a better running order in there somewhere.

So for next week I'm going to be trying this run. 

War Pigs (Sabbath)
Am thinking this might be the set opener and looking forward to hearing Ali having fun with this on drums.  It's a bit long so there might be a need to trim it down.

Breathe (Prodigy)
Could be a bit too heavy a start along with War Pigs but they do sound good as a pair.  Need to give more thought as to how to sing it as I'm probably too cheesy at moment.

Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode)
Quite confident with this one.

History Repeating (Propellorheads)
Got to remember to start singing in my higher register.  Need to watch pitch, I sound a bit flat in places.

Istanbul (They Might Be Giants)
A bit flat in the 'oooohs' but otherwise fine.

Punch & Judy (Marillion)
Sounding ok and will hopefully get better with more practise.

Love Rears Its Ugly Head (Living Colour)
Another one where I'm looking forward to hearing Ali play.  Got to watching breathing at the multiple 'ugly' section.

Stone Cold Crazy (Queen)
Got the proper lyrics now!  What a difference that makes.  Phew!

Whippin' Post (Allman Bros)
I really like singing this one.  I hope I don't clam up in front of people but I fear I might.

Two Tribes (Frankie Goes To Hollywood)
Still got issues with phrasing but no so much now.

ON THE BENCH: Crazy Horses (Osmonds)
I'd still like to try it out but due to set length and that it needs a second singer for the register jump in the verses, this is probably first on the subs bench.

I kinda like the way this set starts with doomy heavy metal and ends with 80's NRG electro pop.  I would NEVER have seen that coming!

I really, really hope I don't clam up and start singing within myself in front of people.  That's a big fear for me at the moment as I'm actually pleased with how the singing is progressing.  I'm being a bit of a sad sack at the moment and watching a lot of vocal coaching videos on YouTube 

This guy

I guess it must be sinking in as I hear a lot of improvement in my vocals.  I'm not there by any means yet but I'm gaining confidence the more I practise.  Having said that, I realise this could easily just be nothing more than delusional thoughts but I'm going to put all thoughts like that down to my brain trying to fuck with me.

I've also joined a lunch time choir at work who meet for an hour once a week.  It's not much but it's still good practise and a lot more fun than I thought it would be.  I can certainly see myself keeping that on long after the gig's over.

Anyway, that's all fir the noo.

F

Another Vocal Rehearsal...

Just back from another vocal rehearsal and feeling pretty chuffed with how it went although I have to admit that as well as feeling a lot more comfortable with the songs, another big part of my chuffness lies with the purchase of a new toy.  The Zoom H1 portable recorder.

I don't have a scooby about its reputation amongst the audiofiles and I don't really care.  I think it's awesome.  Brilliant sound quality and I should have had one of these things years ago!

Aaaand the good news is that is that after listening back on the rehearsal I'm feeling pretty good with how things are going.  I've replaced a couple of songs from last time and put them into a potential set order.

Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode)
No concerns with this one.  It'll be good to hear the band rock this one up.

Breathe (Prodigy)
I need to watch where to come back in from some of the breaks but I think it'll be easier to follow the musical cues from the band.

History Repeating (Propellorheads)
This is fun to sing, the songs got a great groove.

Istanbul (They Might Be Giants)
Getting to grips with the phrasing now and also figuring out the best parts where I can take a breath.

Love Rears Its Ugly Head (Living Colour)
This was more comfortable to sing than last week.  Another song where figuring out where breaths can be taken is key.

Punch & Judy (Marillion)
Getting better with the intro and first lines of the verses but still needs work.  I also stumble on the second line of the last verse which was odd as it wasn't an issue before.

Crazy Horses (Osmonds)
Not sure if this is fitting with the other songs but that's likely down to the fact that I need a second vocalist so currently I'm not singing along with a chunk of the song when I feel I should.  Hopefully if someone can do the second vocal part it'll sound better.

Stone Cold Crazy (Queen)
Damn it, I printed off the Metallica version and they changed some of the lyrics.  Curse you Hetfield!!!  Hadn't tried this one before tonight and wasn't sure if I could do it.  Changed second and third verses aside (grrrr), I got through those lyrics that I could use and am quite happy it'll come good.

Two Tribes (Frankie Goes To Hollywood)
My phrasing is all over the shop with this one.  I think it's because Holly Johnson doesn't sing a verse the in the same way throughout the song.  I'm hoping it won't be so tricky when singing it with the band as I can do my own thing with the phrasing and it's not going to clash like it does now.

Whippin' Post (Allman Bros)
I really wasn't trusting my ears with this (the driving force behind buying the H1) but I've listened back a couple of times and I think I can trust them now.  Happy happy, joy, joy!

War Pigs (Sabbath but with the FNM faster pace)
Another one I tried for the first time and it's a lot of fun to do.  My only concern is that it might be too long for the set.

The set's probably going to need a trim by a song or two but I'm really looking forward to getting the band in to see what they can do to them.  

That's all for now!

Frazzappa Gig

I've been asked to put a band together for a charity gig my work's putting together for their charity of the year, SiMBA and thought I'd blog about the process.  It'll likely be an immediate thought diary thing that I do after each rehearsal to help me keep track of how things are going with the songs but who knows, it may change along the way, I don't know.

Anyway, to bring you up to speed...  

I did a similar thing a couple of years ago and at the time I thought I'd challenge myself by being the singer of a band.  I'm normally, in fact scratch that, I'm ALWAYS the guitarist with occasional backing vocals when I'm gigging.  It's what I do and love but in all my years of playing live I've only ever sung lead vocals once and that was as an emergency stand in as the singer who was supposed to play dislocated his shoulder a couple of days before the gig (that'll sound familiar to some, I'm sure).  Weirdly, that was also for a charity night, for Comic Relief.  It was a tiny room in the basement of a pub in the Grassmarket area of Edinburgh and I only had to play three songs (Oliver's Army, People Are Strange and Sunny Afternoon if I remember rightly). 

It was awful.  No, I, was awful but it was a long time ago and possibly the first (or certainly close to) the first time I'd ever played in front of an actual audience.

Preparations for this gig have already begun and I've had a couple of vocal rehearsals on my own to see if I could actually sing any of the songs before I get the band in for rehearsals.  Here's the set along with my thoughts:

Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode)
No issues with this one so far.

History Repeating (Propellorheads)
Need to practise a couple of line but not too bad.

Shout (Tears for Fears)
Haven't really tried this one yet.  I'm not sure it'll make the final cut as I'm only really thinking about it as it's my daughter's favourite song at the moment.  The pace of the song might jar a bit with the rest in the set.

Istanbul (They Might Be Giants)
Oh, that's a lot of words to sing quickly!  Fun to do though and the biggest test is not to get tongue tied.  Might need another vocal to help out with some of the overlapping singing.

Punch & Judy (Marillion)
It went a lot better than I thought it would.  The opening line of each verse needs a lot of work though.  Fish sings weird.

Breathe (Prodigy)
Oh yes, this is going to my favourite I think.  The key appears to be to just go for it.  It'll be interesting to see if I manage to give it as much laldy in front of people as I do in a room by myself.

Love Rears Its Ugly Head (Living Colour)
If I can nail this one I'll be very happy indeed as it's quite a vocal work out.  Needs work but I think I'll get there.

Whipping Post (Allman Brothers)
Wow, I don't seem to struggle with the powerful singing that's required for this one.  I think it sounds pretty decent but not sure I can trust my ears as I thought for sure I wouldn't get close.

Crazy Horses (Osmonds)
This is fun although someone else will have to do the end of the verses and the bridge.  It's what the Osmonds do on the record and it's waaaay out of my range.

Two Tribes (Frankie Goes To Hollywood)
We can definitely rock this one up.  I need to listen to the vocal lines a lot more though as I'm all over the place with it.

Delilah (SAHB Version)
I think this will be ok.  I can't reach the big line at the very end at the moment although I hope it's more of a lack of practice than actually out of my range.

Right, that's all for this one.  I've got another vocal rehearsal booked in for the same time and place next week so until then!

Let me know if you've found this interesting at all and any and all comments are appreciated about the set as well as any other questions you might have!


F

Auto tune - Good or Bad?

The face of the auto tune beast!

These days it's very rare to hear a song that's not coated with lashings of auto tune all over the vocal tracks and it's not hard to understand some of the reasons why.

• Iron out the imperfections to appeal to as large an audience as possible.
• Make a marketable face with a poor voice sound decent enough to sell records
• Reduce the amount of studio time wasted on vocal re-takes

But is it really necessary, would you stop listening to a song if it wasn't auto tuned, shouldn't singers be properly rehearsed before recording and should pretty faces with poor voices be selling records?

Like with most things in life, it's not a black and white argument, there are so many levels of auto tune that you can't really just say that you don't like it as chances are, if you're listening to a song that's been recorded in say, the last ten to fifteen years, the vocal track has auto tune applied to it.

I've no issue, per se, with using auto tune.  In fact, we've used it on some recordings in the past and I’ll very likely use it again in the future but where my problem with it lies is when it’s used without subtlety, for no apparent reason or as a vocal effect.  It’s in these situations where I am actively turned off as I find it overpowers the song.

I think auto tune should be like a referee in a game of football.  You know it’s doing a good job because you don’t notice it’s there but this is something I find to be an increasingly rare thing in music these days.  Mostly, auto tune is used like a sledgehammer and while manufactured pop has been a major culprit, it’s not exclusive to that genre.  It affects most genres to a certain degree but it’s also prolific in today’s Rap and R&B which are styles that, to me, are now mostly all about image – video first, music second. 

It appears that it’s more important for Rap and R&B ‘stars’ to spend their time in the gym rather than practicing their vocals.  Of course, this is a sweeping generalisation and it doesn't apply to all artists but I’d say the over use of auto tune is rife, particularly in the three genres I've just mentioned.

 just... just no.

It’s also particularly frustrating when it’s used for no apparent reason.  The best examples of this are ‘divas’ like Cristina Aguilera, Beyonce and the like.  These are singers famous for their strong vocals so surely there’s absolutely no need to apply auto tune to their vocals but yet every one of their songs have a thick coating of auto tune on them.

makes my ears bleed and not just because Xtina sings the arse off each and every note

Another use of auto tune that really grinds my gears is when it’s used as an effect.  The song everyone thinks about for this is obviously Cher’s “Believe” but even when that first came out and the technique was all new and shiny, it still sounded bloody awful. 

Of course, this is all just personal opinion but whenever I hear a song that uses this effect I instantly switch it off and there are no exceptions to this rule.  It’s not even a rule as such, it’s more an involuntary reaction.  To demonstrate this, I’m a big fan of Alice Cooper and bought his latest album, “Welcome 2 My Nightmare”, when it was released.  As I do with every new album, I got myself comfy and settled down to listen to my purchase (I was brought up with vinyl and still like to hear music for the first time with no distractions so I can pay attention).

The first song started and when the vocals came in, they were plastered with this auto tune effect so I instantly stopped listening went and did something else.  It was couple of days later before I heard anything else from that album and discovered that, thankfully, it was the only song on the album which had his vocals treated like that.

good song, shame about the auto tune

As a fan, I put up with the fact that he releases some right guff (I’d say that for every good album, he releases two right duffers) but I've never before stopped a first listen of an album before hearing every track. 

Now this post may just be an old fart ranting about today's technology so to counter balance I'd say that when auto tune is used correctly, it’s a good thing which can make a record sound more professional and appeal to a wider audience but the over use and over application means that it’s ultimately defeating its intended purpose.

Effects in general should be about enhancing the music; they shouldn't distract from the music.

  

Covers vs Originals

I was having a wee think about cover and original songs recently and then stumbled upon a blog from Red Dog Music where they were discussing just that so I thought I'd give my take on the debate.

I'd better point out at the start that I'm talking about recorded music here rather than playing covers live.  I've played both original and cover gigs far too many times to count and although I find them totally different experiences, I've had just as much fun playing both.

Also, it'd be far too easy to just write a (very long) list of covers that completely destroy the original but that wouldn't be very big or clever.  We all know what they are and I'd be forced to talk about X-Factor contestants and a slew of turgid, done for maximum profit, cash in releases and it'd make me angry... and you wouldn't like me when I'm angry.

Anyway, back to my point.

My default stance is that the original is always better but I'd also argue that this is not always the case.  Take Bob Dylan, for example.  There are a lot of his songs where I've heard a cover before his actual recording and have, pretty much 100% of the time, preferred the cover version.  Now this could just be that I'm not a fan of his vocals and while I think there's something in that, I also think there's more to it and it's probably because when people cover Dylan, it's usually more of a re-working of the song than a direct copy.

I'd say that it's in this bracket where I'm more open to covers as I find them far more interesting to listen to than just a plain old re-hash of someone else's song.  So here's a few which I'll ponder over.

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow - The Shirelles/Bryan Ferry

Bryan Ferry is a master at re-working cover songs and I absolutely love his version of The Shirelles, "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow".  He's turned an upbeat pop song into a melancholic ballad and flipped it from a song that wouldn't sound out of place at a party to one that you'd listen to in a darkened room when its all gone wrong.  Two completely different versions of the same song and I couldn't actually say which one I prefer.

I Just Want To Make Love To You - Willie Dixon/The Sensational Alex Harvey Band

Alex Harvey was very skilled in making a cover song sound like his own.  With this one he's not strayed so far away from the original as Ferry did with The Shirelles but here he's given it a harder edge and a killer groove.  Just listen to the groove of his version, it stomps along full of arrogance, swagger and menace.  I love the Etta James version of this song too and while that's a far more popular choice, I think the SAHB version really nails it.

We'll Meet Again - Vera Lynn/Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash doesn't stray too far from Vera Lynn at all but the pared down sound combined with the context of his version (it's the last track of his last album and recorded with increasingly failing health), the song has a real personal poignancy to it.  Most people usually point to his cover of "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails and I wouldn't argue with that but it's this song that really touches my soul.  It's a beautiful song to finish any album and what a way for Johnny to say a musical goodbye.  On a different note, the guitar playing in this song is fantastic.

Crazy in Love - Beyonce/The Puppini Sisters

Now this is a good example for me where I was completely un-fussed by the original but love the cover.  The music was good but I was totally turned off by the auto-tune in Beyonce's voice and rapping mid-song doesn't do anyone any favours.  The Puppini Sisters version just sounds so alive and joyful that its almost impossible not to dance when listening to it.  It's one of the very few songs for me that, when finished, I could hit repeat and start it all over again.

So there you have it.  To sum up I guess my take on the issue is that it's totally fine to do covers so long as it does something interesting and isn't just a re-hash of the original.