[Detman101]

Originally Posted by getbent

Recording live is always a revelation.

I listened to the song 2 times.... so, I may have missed some things... First, it sounds like the folks in the church were into it, so, that is the goal and you hit that one.

Thank you so much!!

Originally Posted by getbent

The difficult thing about playing in combos is that you come together, learn some tunes, it sounds pretty good, you play for a public (or church) and you feel good about it. But, you can sense some problems. So, you record it and listen for what is right and and what needs to be cleaned up.

The sad thing is that perfecting the sound is not the priority of the choir I guess.... We have no real leadership or anyone to do what you mentioned. So I just practice to what was recorded at home and the next sunday try to play better. But no one else practices...They have even been cancelling choir rehearsal lately for other stupid things like movie night!?!?! I mean, come on...what's more important?

Originally Posted by getbent

In this one, it is too loose... the tune is going too many directions and the directions are not being driven by the melody or the lead voice. The lead voice has some pitch struggles... but more importantly she appears to be a little lost as to the melody in some points and I think that causes some of the pitch problems. Rule 1: Everyone should know the song and that starts with the melody and time.

The thing is that everyone knows "He's Able" but they always seem to change it from the original version that we learned. It's never the same way twice..and while that's great for everything else in this world. It sucks for playing music.

Originally Posted by getbent

I don't know how many times your band has played this song, but it clearly has some really cool stops and starts that a couple of folks are trying to play, but the others 'smear' through it....
It would be good to rehearse that tune and break down the places where you have stops, starts, walkdowns, walkups and holds. The production value of the song would really pop and instantly your listeners would say 'that sounds great'.

I will admit that I sometimes get lost when they decide to repeat the chorus 4 times in a row just because they want to when the artist version of the song only does it once. If our church had sheet music that it went by...we could really do some professional stuff.

Originally Posted by getbent

In this song the piano player is kind of playing the role of drummer. That can be a good thing, but here, the drummer (was there a bass player?) and the bass player or the piano player's left hand should be establishing and creating the rhythm.

Well, the Piano player is also a drummer and when there is no drummer he asks one of the deacons to play the drums. I believe that is one of the deacons playing in both of the songs on my soundclick page. The keyboardist plays two keyboards stacked one-on-top-of-the-other. One for all the bass you hear, and the lower one for the melody notes you hear.

Originally Posted by getbent

The guitar playing: My favorite guitar players who just own this style are Curtis Mayfield, Pops Staples and Teenie Hodges. I'd sure like to hear that guitar on the front pickup, some double and triple stops and some soulful bends that demonstrate that you are listening to and feeling the singer while expanding the rhythm of the song.

I will look them up on youtube and see if I can copy some of their styles. Also, since I figured out that my autowah should be the first pedal in the chain everything works a LOT better. I will be playing on my neck pickup from now on like I used to before I got pedals. The sound is a lot better now! On my youtube page I have a few videos where I play with backing tracks on my neck pickup and it sounds worlds better! Http://www.youtube/detman101

Originally Posted by getbent

If there are to be repeated phrases, they should be repeated in a cadence not unlike what the choral singers do. The guitar part here should serve two purposes: 1) support the song rhythmically 2) be added flavor and richness to the melody and harmony 'fleshing' out the juicy emotional bits.

Wow...I have no idea what you mean. Not that you're not telling me right, I just need to see an example of how it's done. I learn best by watching (unfortunately), my head is too noisy to try and visualize much.

Originally Posted by getbent

I enjoyed the song and would have loved being at the service where you played. I think you have a solid start on what could be some really really memorable music.

Wow, that's the best compliment that I've gotten in a long time. Thank you so much, the fact that you would be willing to listen to us play live warms my heart.

Thank you,
Dm