Topic: There's a Bright Side Somewhere

[eagle rockin daddy]

Hi All,

Well, this is a work in progress even though I've been working on it off and on since february.  I learned the Reverend's arrangement differently than I have in the past, in that I never listened to it with my guitar in my hands.  I listened to his version over and over, mostly while driving to work, and then got it in my head and then worked it out on guitar.  I'm not sure if I can reccomend this approach.  It may have worked because this is a fairly simple arrangement, and while it may be simple it is NOT easy to play.  I find it tires my left hand and forearm out more than just about any other piece I play.  Another thing I learned with this arrangement is this:  Many times I don't play a song the same way twice.  Quite often there are small variations here and there.  While it is ok to vary things a bit it is important to NOT vary the fingering.....duh.

I love this song.  It is so much fun to play.  It seems to be the best when I get into it, close my eyes and just get the groove going. It's got a tremendous groove.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Mike

[uncle bud]

Hi Mike,

Nice playing. I agree, it's got a good groove and you move it along well. I'll have to go and listen to RGD's original, as this is one I can't recall.

My advice has nothing to do with your performance but with the encoding of your file. At a final size of 682K, I am wondering whether it is possible to play with the settings a bit to get a better representation of your performance, which, because of the severe compression, is hindered by wavering audio. We can't accommodate huge files on the Back Porch, but I think Slack raised the maximum file size to 1 MB a little while ago (could be wrong). If you were to take your original recording, convert it in *mono*, not stereo, and with 32 kbps as your setting, I think you'd come under the minimum and it would sound much better. Stereo doubles the file size, and so you need to throw away that much more to come under the 1 MB limit.

[Slack]

If you were to take your original recording, convert it in *mono*, not stereo, and with 32 kbps as your setting,

Yup that is the key.. and the file limit is just a tad over 1 megabyte.  So Mike, you can get over twice the sound quality you have now and your tune deserves it!

[eagle rockin daddy]

ok. here's the same version with mono and less compression.

thanks for the advice, and kind words.

Mike

[uncle bud]

That's much better.

I'll humbly offer one bit of hopefully constructive criticism that I need to listen to and act on myself in my own playing. Vocally, I think you need to be pushing more air and singing louder. Nice playing, as I said, and it's impressive that you can have the Rev's music in your head enough to just sit down and come up with an arrangement. I've done this with other songs, but nothing as complex as RGD.

cheers,
Andrew

[Blue in VT]

 

Sounds Great Eagle Rockin Daddy...way to represent the Green Mountain State!!!

Blue

[eagle rockin daddy]

Bud,

Wow, I should sing louder?  You don't have to say that twice, I usually expect people to suggest I sing solo, as in so low they can't hear me....(sorry).  That is good advice, and I'll keep it in mind.  I do find it easy to really get into the Reverends stuff vocally, and I guess I am wary of that, but really losing yourself in the performance is really what it is all about, isn't it?  Thanks for the kind words.  This is still sort of new, so singing it and playing it at the same time is a challenge.  And of course if I put half the time I put into the guitar into the vocal performance, it would be much easier.

Thanks for the encouragement Blue, hope to see you around sometime.

Mike