I've been playing guitar since 1987, and it's still my favorite hobby. I even bought a cheap accoustic guitar over at the Iraqi bazaar. More about that place some other time. Don't get too much free time to play, but I can usually be found sitting on my front steps once or twice a week playing The Eagles, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Steve Miller, Rush, Led Zeppelin - even some obscure stuff like Michael Reno Harrell or Cat Stephens.
In terms of my own writing, my favorite stuff is Texas Country/Americana music and blues. But I think it would be excessively charitable to say that I have a mediocre singing voice. Hence most of what I record, when I do record, is instrumentals.
Of course, I couldn't lug a 4-track recorder over here, so the best I can do is post a few songs that I did back in Texas. My brother*, who's 10 times better as a musician and 100 times better as a producer, is being kind enough to throw a few onto the Internet for me to share.
The following is a brief little jazzy number I wrote from scratch and recorded all in the space of about 3 hours on a Saturday afternoon about 3 years ago. The recording was rough, but not bad. However, shortly before I came over here, my brother cleaned the recording up, jazzed up the drums somewhat, threw in some bass and extra rythmn guitar, and it sounds a whole lot better.
I never did come up with a perfect name for it, so I'm sticking to my working title, "Slinky." I'm not sure why, but it's kind of smooth, cool and jazzy. In a word...Slinkyesque.
Hope you like it. I'll try to do some more later on.
(To play the song, click the arrow next to the title)
*My Brother's songs. Much of it's HeavyMetal, which I'm not that into, but the coolest stuff there are his more traditional rock songs. The ones that I think are real gems and recommend are "The Other Side" and "Soaring" (That's me on the second guitar in the intro).
7 comments:
Actually, that's all you on guitar, there. I took your single rhythm track and slightly offset it and panned it hard right and left. The only thing I did on that version is bass. I found that any extra rhythm guitar seemed to confuse things.
The comment above mine is spam.
James...I loved this...I think otc is right you were being a bit self effacing...I notice that in a lot of milfolk...my 3 year old made me play it twice...
hope, it's not that...
I ended up mixing about 5 different versions for James to choose from. Then a computer crash caused me to lose my masters, although I still had the final mixes. When I went to put them online, I chose the one that I thought was best. It had already been several months since I'd listened to all the versions with a fresh ear. There were some versions I did add rhythm guitar to, and even one with a solo of my own and organ. It just confused and muddied up the essence of the song. So when I went to decide which one to put online, I went with the one that was mostly James.
Oh my gosh, James! It sounds awesome!! I love this kind of music too. I guess it's from growing up near Austin.
Take care. I'm glad it's boring there for you.
Here's another one I finished mixing today.
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=795352&songID=6195519
--otcconan/aka John
ohhhh...well leave it to email to loose things in translation...nonetheless it really is something we have enjoyed here in Texas.
Hey Jimmy,
Your cousin Steve in Houston here. I have been reading your blog since August and have enjoyed it all. I have even sent it out to all of the Cub Scouts in Pack 595 (of which I am Cub Master) in Clear Lake City (Houston) for their reading. I have gotten great comments from the parents about it and your thoughts. This is the first time many of them have gotten an insight into what it's like over there. I know you're not in all of the heavy action, but they still can get a different perspective of life over there. I especially enjoyed your music. My son (9 yrs) and wife are both learning the guitar right now and he thought your songs were cool. Stay safe, keep your head down and I hope we get to see you again soon, this time on a happier note.
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