Hi all,
This is a slightly different angle on the theme of how things can be taken the wrong way. :wink:
Last week I took the safe option of "Three Chords and the Truth", so this week I've pushed the boat out a bit and gone for "Four Chords and an Outright Lie"..... (Bill is entirely imaginary).
Unfortunately I've run out of time to finish the song completely (...I think that sounds better than "I've run out of time AND talent"...). So what I've posted at Soundclick is a sort of vocal walkthrough. Vocals and added comments, but just simple strums at the chord change points instead of a full musical accompaniment.
I tried a few musical takes and arrangements but couldn't come up with anything that I thought was satisfactory, in the time available. So any suggestions would be welcome (apart from "Find a hobby that doesn't involve musical instruments"...). It's been a steep learning experience this week trying to rapidly acquire a wide range of missing skills, having been purely a strummer and noodler up until now. These assignments are a great motivation to try and learn how to keep time, sing, operate a recorder, work out some sort of musical arrangement, and generally get up to speed in a number of neglected areas. So please excuse what will be some pretty rough attempts for a while.... :roll:
The chords are just C, Am, Dm and G. I'm not sure if I've unconsciously cribbed an existing song or whether it's just similar in general style to others.
BILL THE GARDENER
Now this is the story of gardener Bill
Who always means well but is over the hill
With a fork or a spade he is better than most
But sadly for us, he's as deaf as a post
(Used to be a drummer apparently…)
It's not that he's cussed or awkward or thick
He just has the auditory range of a brick
I shout the plan at him but he doesn't hear it
And his random guesses don't even come near it.
(so we have an unusual looking front yard…)
My garden's a riot of colour and cheer
But the balance is odd and the layout is queeer
So I'm down on my knees picking baskets of peas
In the spot where I asked him for apricot trees
(you should try my pea jam sometime….)
The garden looks tidy, he's banished the weeds
But he can't read the words on the packets of seeds
So where I expected a manicured lawn
He planted tomatoes and cabbage and corn
(our lawn has red, yellow and green stripes – looks like the national flag of Bolivia)
You never can tell what will pop up and where
What's supposed to go here ends up over there
But we'll never fire him, and we love him like mad
‘Cos he works here for nothing…. he's my.. wife's …. Dad…
(and on her birthday Bill and I were able to give my wife a magnificent bunch of one dozen long stemmed …um… broccoli. Not many women get a treat like that these days…)
Reprise verse 1?
Cheers
Chris
This is great Chris :P I love the lyrics - really funny and clever too.
How about giving them a more pacey backing though?
Thanks Ray. :)
I think your suggestion of upping the tempo is good. I tried a bunch of different speeds and rhythms, but just couldn't get anything to really gel properly. It's such early days for me that if I get one thing right then I surely screw up several other aspects, so it's all great learning experience. Does get a bit frustrating at times though. :shock:
I have been doing some work on your tip from last week about trying to record the tracks separately. It's going to pay very good dividends once I can nail it, but it's going to take quite a while before I can get up to speed on it. Most of my guitar takes came out leaden and boring when there was no voice to take the attention away from how dull it all was, and the voice takes wandered all over the place with poor timing and voice control. But all that is to be expected - the main thing is that I feel I've at least begun the journey and have taken the first steps. 8)
Your encouragement and suggestions have been much appreciated. :)
Are you going to have time to post some music for your Brotherhood song this week? It's quite a challenge to get the whole thing completely done in the spare time for just a week, but it's certainly an interesting exercise to have that deadline looming. If I get time before Sunday I'll do some more work on some faster music.
Cheers,
Chris
Chris
Very entertaining.
I agree with Ray it would work well if you picked up the tempo a little.
John
hey chris.
love the lyrics. excuse the word, but i think they're cute:-) (and clever)
and i really like your voice :D
if you want it more up tempo, that'll be interesting, too, but i actually think it's great the way it is.
(as for the guitar on the recording.. speaking from the background of my very poor abilities.. and laziness..... i like it... i'll be head over heels withe finished mp3, i expect :lol: )
cheers,
straycat.
"oh, eventually it will break your heart" - anders wendin
hey chris.
love the lyrics. excuse the word, but i think they're cute:-) (and clever)
and i really like your voice :D
if you want it more up tempo, that'll be interesting, too, but i actually think it's great the way it is.
(as for the guitar on the recording.. speaking from the background of my very poor abilities.. and laziness..... i like it... i'll be head over heels withe finished mp3, i expect :lol: )
cheers,
straycat.
Thank you! I think you just earned 12 months worth of free praise from me for anything that you post! :wink:
I've been very reluctant to post my alleged 'singing' so you hit me square in the vanity spot there. :D It's been a real joy for me to play back a recording and think "Well, that's not exactly Frank Sinatra, but it's a start, and it wasn't nearly as awful as I feared..." I think it's great that we can all encourage each other in our efforts even though we're sometimes completely different ages, have differing styles, and live on the opposite sides of the world. There's something quite cool about that!
I had another listen to my track, and it does sound a bit funereal. Then I found some old rejected takes and they started out much faster and perkier, but full of errors and usually ending with an oath or two... Each take then got slower, and with less music, as I tried to get something that didn't have so many stuff ups in it! :roll:
Fortunately, I discovered today (with some suggesting from CitiZenNoir here ) how to sing and play at the same time but have them each go to separate tracks. If I study the manual for the recorder a bit more I can apparently also edit, copy bits and even 'punch in' better playing over the mistakes (in theory anyway). So I've got a lot to work on over the next few weeks.
Cheers,
Chris
Beautiful ...
Bravo mate ,
So you know my father in law then Chris ? :lol: :lol:
Like already mentioned very clever , but unlike everyone else I like it the way it is , I think its a very well told story ..
Kudos Mr Chris C
Trev.. :wink:
Here is to you as good as you are
And here is to me as bad as I am
As good as you are and as bad as I am
I'm as good as you are as bad as I am
:D my pleasure.
sing and play at the same time, but have it record in two seperate tracks? what i always wanted :o does this work with audacity, too?
cheers,
straycat
"oh, eventually it will break your heart" - anders wendin
sing and play at the same time, but have it record in two seperate tracks? what i always wanted :o does this work with audacity, too?
cheers,
straycat
I don't know, but I imagine that the tricky part would be getting two separate input sources to your computer??
I've spent some of today practising recording to different tracks and it's quite a challenge. :shock:
I can now see why I should have spent more time practising playing alongside a metronome or drum track. My timing needs tightening up a fair bit before track by track recording will feel comfortable. So I've set a 'click track' at 120 bpm and tried just playing through the song first, then trying only singing, and also doing both together. It's amazing how hard it is to keep track of exactly where to start and stop singing, and keep it all smooth and confident sounding, if I'm not actually playing the guitar at the time. But it would be absurdly optimistic to expect it to just fall into place in the second week, so I'm thinking that I'll be doing some daily work on it for a long time before it feels comfortable, let alone any good. Great to have a motivation to do it though. :)
If you can't get Audacity to do exactly what you want I think you could still get a lot of benefit from trying record two tracks one after the other. Maybe play first onto one track and then record the voice afterwards, with the guitar recording playing in the background. Another way might be to put the microphone near your mouth when recording, and play guitar softly. Then record a second track with the mic on the guitar, having the first take playing in the background as reference. One trick seems to be to use a 'click track' to help keep your timing tidy on both takes. Of course, the click or drum track can be left out of the end mix. I found headphones handy too.
I'm sure that the more experienced people here could tell us what the best methods are - both with Audacity and with a hardware type recorder - but whichever way you go, working on timing does seem to be an important factor, at least it has been for me.
Good luck with it all.
Cheers,
Chris
My method for recording on Audacity is tried and trusted......
Learn the song you're going to record thoroughly first. This'll involve playing through it a few times, so you know where all the rhythm guitar changes are and you know exactly where the vocals come in.
Next - play the rhythm guitar track. Don't sing - just record the guitar. Keep time in your head by THINKING the vocals etc......
Next - record the vocals over the backing track you've done.
Then - maybe add bass, or tambourine, or a drum track, whatever.....but get the rhythm and vocals down first, that's my advice. If you can master that - or even playing rhythm and singing at the same time - when it comes to overdubbing, you've already got the backing track. LISTEN TO IT.....remember it, keep it in your head while you're adding bass keyboards etc. And yes - headphones are your bestest friend while playing back and overdubbing...cheap ones are good, you can actually hear what you're playing live over the backing track.....
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Oh yeah - forgot to mention - love the song, Chris - very funny, I could even stand to listen to it more than once - great lyrics, very witty, well thought out. Nice logical progression between verses. I could critique all day, but at end of said day, I'd have to say, LOL that was a fun song! Not rock'n'roll - but fun, all the same!
Keep 'em coming....
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Thanks for all the input Vic - much appreciated. :)
From what you say, I'm probably more or less on the right track with learning how to get the balance and timing right when recording. As usual, it seems to be Practice , Practice, Practice, until it becomes second nature. It all felt very odd and awkward to start with, but my ability to stay in time, and in sync with what's happening on another track has improved a lot in just a few hours of practice. Another week or two and it should be getting closer. I've also found that you can build in little 'cues' for the vocal track in the way that you play the rhythm. I used to just run it all together in a 'muddier' sort of fashion, but it seems that if you bear the vocalist in mind when you play, you can subtly signpost the way. I'm still discovering how that works, but when I do get it right I can almost hear the guitar saying "OK, take a breath....ready.. Go!.. ". I guess it's a combination of making small changes in the playing, plus trying to develop a singer's 'ear' as well. Annoying at times, but fascinating to learn, and very satisfying when it does come together.
Yes, I do seem to be taking the S L O W road towards rock-n-roll. Last week it was Frank Ifield and this week I seem to be more Benny Hill than BB King. Never mind.... I'll get there... eventually.... :wink:
Cheers,
Chris
Hi Chris
This did make me laugh when I read it through. However, I did read it through a lot quicker than the MP3 sounded, as with most people I had this a lot quicker. That'll come with time as will the recording issues. What you are showing is an astonishing ability to write a story with humour and put it into a song.
Things like long stem broccoli - you even paused to allow the expectation of roses to form in our minds before completing with the broccoli. Shows good comedic timing.
Clever stuff
Bob :wink:
You are what you eat, eat well
