Daniel (Elton John)

Saying you're not talented enough (or not talented at all) I think is a simplification.  Its like saying I didn't eat enough vegetables as a kid to explain something thats difficult as an adult.  Some people connect very quickly with a certain activity for a specific reason likely traceable back to an experience from childhood and others take a longer time, but an innate proclivity for playing music is a myth I think.  Unless you're a Mozart who was a genius at 4 years old - but those are so rare that it doesn't make sense to compare yourself to a child prodigy.  Saying Michael Jackson was talented is easy to say but in reality we'd all be pretty talented if our dad's kicked the crap out of us from 6 years old for screwing up dance steps.  Then again Mozart's dad probably kicked the crap out of him too.  In the end you just have to practice to get good and motivation can come from many places like boredom, necessity, or a traumatizing fear of being humiliated by your parents.  Talent isn't real.  It doesn't necessarily have to be hard work because I learn a lot more a lot faster when I'm enjoying what I'm doing - thats why I have to alternate because if I just played classical guitar week after week I'd probably murder someone.

Pop keyboard is hard because varying the rhythms of chords is tricky against singing a melody.  Piano is so bright and penetrating that playing too similar rhythms over and over again your ear becomes fatigued - like when you hear (or had to play yourself) Mary Had a Little Lamb with block chords supporting the melody.  It does feel good when you're in the zone though syncopating individual notes of chords in both hands in interesting ways.  This recording isn't great but I been playing it so long I gotta move on.

The guitar licks are a frankenstein track of random noodlings - but because all of the takes line up with the vocals you can just transplant what is good into a single track.

My mom said my last song was too sad, so here is a happier song with lyrics by Bernie Taupin about Vietnam veterans coming home and suffering from PTSD given the trauma experienced during war.

Pro Tip
 - iMovie is horrible
 - Bass is an easy instrument to start playing, so if you've always wanted to play an instrument maybe pick up the bass!  I wouldn't really call it a separate instrument from guitar though - its the same notes and same technique except you generally just play one note at a time.


Ishida
 

Your Song (Reginald Dwight (AKA Elton John))

You know the tune - attached is a an 'acoustic' version by Elton thats pretty different from the popular version.  I didn't really try to imitate his changes, but its neat hearing an errant note and hearing how he takes a brief conversational turn makes me think he must have listened to a few American country singers back in the 1960s.  Anyway, my theories on voice are becoming ...less abstract maybe.  The past few recordings were always put in a higher key, as high as possible, because its my belief that what should come first is finding the sweet spot in the throat where you can hit both high and long notes comfortably without straining or flexing which means keeping everything light light light - the downside is that you sound like a young kid. 

This one is in EJ's key and the highest / loudest note is an E flat which is there in the tenor's passagio (the tough cluster), but the goal should be not have a significant change in tone as you navigate notes in and out of the passagio - it should sound smooth.  I tried to add a little more 'muscle' to my voice and although I don't think it sounds much louder, I can hear the upped intensity.  I think a pitfall might be trying to imitate the quality / timber of your fav's voice right from the start, but once your voice and throat are all beefed up from working on an intense, loud, or diva-like sound its way harder to relax in order to sing higher or longer, so you might have to drop your keys and steal breaths where you can.  I think an example of the perfect blend of power, lightness, height, and speed is young Michael Jackson - an example of too stressed, too flexed, and too intense would be old Michael Jackson.  But the most insane singing style that dominates all others is opera.  By the way this is all based off a few voice lessons I had in college and after college.

Recording
I sympathize with people who have to record in a band or a group because just recording by myself makes me want to murder the player and the device operator both of whom are me.  This one was recorded in much fewer takes because I rehearsed the spots like crazy that had even a whiff of uncertainty - even the unironed small parts honk out mercilessly on a recording.  Then if some freak accident happens but everything else is good - it can become a keeper.  Just thinking about how to rehearse has become a priority as well and not just the middle man between recording and practicing because it totally sucks when you do a 99% good recording and then final chord or something is screwed up. 

If your curious I use a Tascam DR-40.

Mixing
I think you can make a lot of money fiddling with the virtual knobs and selecting presets in a recording program, but I hate it.  One thing I think I've definitely learned is that after about 5 minutes (or maybe even less) you can't even trust your own freakin' ears.  Its like your ears adapt to what you think sounds normal but when you come back later to what you screwed around with for so long it sounds like total crap!  I see that if I had money I would pay someone to do this for me. 

Hopefully my ears will develop here as well as I compare past recordings and sensitivity increases.


Ishida