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Post by nursedad on Feb 7, 2014 9:16:41 GMT -6
I thought I would create a thread where we can post our attempts to play a BYCU lesson. This thread is meant only for the original BYCU lesson tunes (maybe there can be a thread for the lessons of each book) and can be a link to audio only or video with audio. I know it would help me to hear and even see others playing them.
One rule if you are going criticize it must be constructive in nature.
Now lets not be shy and post.
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Post by Phil on Feb 7, 2014 16:26:21 GMT -6
Nursedad,
I like the idea, but it sounds like tbone has some actual experience that indicts that there's some kind of problem with this. However, I say we give it a try and fine tune it as needed.
Today I got my Behringer Guitar Link interface and plan on posting something as soon as I figure out how to use it. Should I post it here?
Phil
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Post by matonanjin on Feb 8, 2014 10:29:54 GMT -6
Nursedad, I like the idea, but it sounds like tbone has some actual experience that indicts that there's some kind of problem with this. However, I say we give it a try and fine tune it as needed. Today I got my Behringer Guitar Link interface and plan on posting something as soon as I figure out how to use it. Should I post it here? Phil I love the idea of posting recorded songs here for others to critique. In the next couple days I will record and post BYCU lesson 1. There. I said it. I've committed! Now I gotta do it! Maybe we can convince John to make a thread for this a "sticky"? Phil, just a heads up. I don't recall your posting what DAW you are using with the Behringer. I am using Reaper. I got lazy and just used my usb port on the front of my computer for the Behringer and a card reader for photo files. I would switch back and forth. One time I started Reaper before I plugged in the Behringer. Reaper would not recognize the the interface. I stopped Reaper and plugged in the interface and restarted Reaper and it still would not recognize it. I had to reinstall the driver for the Behringer interface. Then I made sure it was plugged in and started Reaper and all was fine. I don't know if this is a Behringer issue, a Reaper issue or a Windows issue. but just be aware. I have since just dedicated a usb port on the back of my computer and leave the interface plugged in all the time with no issue. It may not happen to you but, again, just a heads up.
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Post by Phil on Feb 8, 2014 11:28:43 GMT -6
I You are now committed and we will not let you forget it. I can't get the friggin' thing to work at all. I went out and bought an adapter for the headphone plug and was up till 4:00 AM fooling with the thing. I don't know if it's defective, or my old computer has a problem, or if it's the headphone plug, or if I'm defective. I never throw away the boxes for anything I buy until after I check them out - except this time, so I'm stuck with it. I threw the damn thing in a drawer and maybe I'll look at it again next week. If should have held off and bought some kind of Line6 unit. I had to look up DAW. I'm using good old Audacity to record. Since I can't get the Behringer to function I'm going to work with what I have and see if can improve the sound quality. I'm currently just plugging my Fender Mustang I into the computer via the USB. I don't want to hijack yet another thread - maybe you could post some recording tips and ideas in another thread. Maybe a sticky thread dedicated to recording would be the way to go. Getting back to the original point of this thread - I will post my next recording on this thread. I like tbone's idea of keeping it limited to BYCU studies. Phil
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Post by Phil on Feb 8, 2014 16:40:56 GMT -6
OK, kids. After 473 takes I just can't record this again. So, here's my attempt at "Preaching Gospel'. There are some dead notes and I flubbed the ending, but this is the best I can do right now. It will be fun to re-record this in 6 months and compare them. I'm really frustrated with recording and trying to get a decent sound. However, I want to make it perfectly clear that I am not playing a banjo through a Gramophone. It's time consuming and frustrating to record myself, but right now this is what I need to keep me focused and progressing. As time goes on and I gain some experience and my playing improves, I'm sure it will becomes less time consuming and frustrating. I'm open for any comments or critiques - just don't say I suck and should take up the tambourine or something. Phil soundcloud.com/jack_e_blue/2014-preachinggospelblues
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Post by grampalerxst on Feb 8, 2014 21:08:03 GMT -6
Pretty awesome Phil!! You displayed a lot of musicality in that. I'm not even sure that's a real word, but I heard Geddy Lee say it once, so good enough for me. No critiques no, but my ears are tired. Hard to imaging there's much to say anyway. I think that one just needs a little smoothing out. Hat's off.
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Post by nursedad on Feb 9, 2014 12:40:01 GMT -6
Great Take, I think it sounds great
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Post by matonanjin on Feb 10, 2014 9:36:58 GMT -6
Well, Phil, I jinxed myself. I warned you about issues with the Behringer and now I'm having issues with the Behringer. I am playing the backing track in Reaper to record to it and I'm having difficulty getting the track with my guitar playing loud enough that I can hear it.
This is not a "my dog ate my homework" excuse!!! I was trying to record my lesson one to post! I just gotta figure this out. I am thinking about looking at another interface.
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Post by Phil on Feb 10, 2014 11:03:43 GMT -6
Well, Phil, I jinxed myself. I warned you about issues with the Behringer and now I'm having issues with the Behringer. I am playing the backing track in Reaper to record to it and I'm having difficulty getting the track with my guitar playing loud enough that I can hear it. This is not a "my dog ate my homework" excuse!!! I was trying to record my lesson one to post! I just gotta figure this out. I am thinking about looking at another interface. I finally got my Behringer to work! However, I haven't tried recording with it yet. This thing is not intuitive at all and the one I have does not function the way the instruction indicate. It's supposed to plug-n-play without the driver even being installed. I got it to function purely by accident. I was looking at the instructions for setting up Ableton Lite - a recording program that came bundled with my Fender Mustang amp - and was able to open the Behringer driver interface, but it did not show the Guitar Link as a device. I uninstalled and re-installed the driver, rebooted, and voila - it worked. Then I unplugged it and moved it to another USB plug and it stopped working! Re-installed the driver and it's working again. DO NOT unplug it once it's working. Also, it will only work if I have Ableton or an amp modelling program like Amplitube open. It works fine now, but why don't they tell you these things and save you from all that frustration? Phil
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Post by matonanjin on Feb 10, 2014 17:44:08 GMT -6
I am looking at a Tascam 600 interface. It's also USB. Are you able to get enough volume from your guitar out of the Behringer to record a trac? If listening with headphones I can barely hear my guitar. The wave form on the track with my guitar is practically flat. This is the ongoing problem Ive had with the Behringer.
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Post by grampalerxst on Feb 10, 2014 20:32:01 GMT -6
I don't know much about either of those interfaces, but somewhere in the chain I think you want some sort of a preamp between your guitar and the recording software. If the interface doesn't have one you'd have to either run the line out of a guitar amp into the interface or use some sort of a "software preamp" to boost the gain of the guitar once it's inside the computer so it's on par with the usual audio levels. There could also be some impedance mismatch problems depending on what the Behringer interface is designed to do.
It's always fun! My Line 6 preamp wants to usurp the role as the computer's sound card whenever I hook it up. It was quite an adventure the first time through. But at least it's digital outputs are hot enough to hold up to an mp3 file (although when I actually record I dial down the mp3 volume a little so I can hear what I'm doing better, and restore it when I'm done and they mix together okay).
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Post by Phil on Feb 11, 2014 6:35:17 GMT -6
I'm running the Behringer through the Native Instruments amp modeling software that came with it, and I finally figured how to get Ableton (I guess this is considered a DAW)to accept the input from this modeling software. I did a test recording and it worked. It was getting late and I didn't have time to play with recording levels. The waveform was pretty narrow, but recorded volume was OK. Now I need to figure out how to import the MP3 backing tracks and record the whole thing.
I suppose in the long run the time I'm spending learning this stuff will be worthwhile, but it's sure cutting into my practice time (and sleep).
Just realized that we have really taken this thread astray. Sorry, nursedad. Maybe we should start a new thread dedicated to the recording process.
Phil
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Post by nursedad on Feb 11, 2014 10:17:12 GMT -6
Since I started this thread I guess I should post an attempt. Again I struggle with rhythm, basically I have no natural rhythm it is real work for me hopefully it is slowly getting better. Anyway here is my attempt at True Blue. I am using My Fender American Special Strat, through my Fender Mustang III (the Fender 57 deluxe model with a little reverb). True Blue
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Post by Phil on Feb 12, 2014 8:16:21 GMT -6
Nursedad, Keep plugging away, you will get it. Are you absolutely sure that you are not having latency issues with your equipment when you record over the backing tracks?
I have second thoughts about what I said earlier regarding posting all recordings into a single thread. Now that I’ve done it I see s problem - the recordings get lost in the shuffle of the thread. Every thread is a discussion and discussions tend to end up far from the subject that got them started. Also, new people coming onto the forum will never find these posts of submitted recordings.
Right now there are 3 main forums: Tips from John, Blues and Jazz. Maybe we could ask John Ganapes if he would be willing to set up another sub-forum where we would only post recordings and the discussions about those recordings. We could try to have a standardized naming convention like - "True Blue by (your forum name)". Things would be easy to find and be better organized.
Just a suggestion. I’d like to hear what other people here think about this and get some other suggestions.
Phil
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Post by nursedad on Feb 12, 2014 15:54:10 GMT -6
I like your idea Phil. And yes i'm sure that is it the latency is the problem
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Post by grampalerxst on Feb 12, 2014 15:57:53 GMT -6
nursedad, this is meant constructively so please take it that way ...
To a fair measure you remind me of myself at one point not so terribly long ago. Rhythm is a very natural thing, and for me it was just a matter of getting past some self-consciousness blocks to break out of the arrhythmic gridlock. I still struggle with it and have a long, long way to go before I'll consider the rhythmic dynamic of my playing competent or better. The good news is that I feel strongly that it's something that can be cultivated. The bad news is, for me at least, it wasn't easy.
If you don't already have one, get yourself a metronome. Whenever I practice, for all but a miniscule fraction of the time, the metronome is ticking. The first thing to learn to do is set the metronome at a variety of settings and just sit there and tap your foot to it. Don't overlook the relatively low settings (60 bpm and down), as it can be much harder to manage the spaces between ticks when they are longer. It may take some time to be able to reliably sync up with the metronome. Then, once you're tapping, learn to count out loud along with the clicks, 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4... etc. When your listening to the "full" bycu tracks (your guitar is on the stand) sit there and do the same thing, tap and count out loud (use the count in to get the "1" right), and finally, when you do have your guitar in hand, learn to play notes while you're tapping and counting in sync with the metronome. I couldn't even play "music" at that point, so I'd just pick an open string in time with my tap/count/the metronome. I still do that every single day to kind of guide my mind into rhythmic mode.
Frankly, it sucks not having a natural and strong-flowing rhythmic instinct close to the surface and easily accessible. But it's down there somewhere. Your heart does it constantly. It's quite humbling to have to sit there and "work" to simply count, tap, and pick a string--but I think you'll find that the ability can be developed, and you'll find it makes an immense difference in your playing. Of course, that's just the tip of the iceberg because if you're like me you'll also have to grind through every permutation and combination of note values there is. Fortunately, if you stick with it a lot of momentum develops.
And regarding what Phil said about latency, that's worth looking into. I know with my "setup" I have to mute the track I'm recording on while I record otherwise I get a latent/delayed version of my guitar (coming "out" of the recording s/w) through the headphones along with my guitar signal going into the s/w and the backing track. Makes for a real mess figuring out what's what.
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Post by Phil on Feb 12, 2014 17:28:16 GMT -6
I just saw this video 5 minutes ago. I think it's well worth watching and practicing. It's called "The Disappearing Metronome"
Phil
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Post by bluesbruce on Feb 12, 2014 21:12:18 GMT -6
Hey Phil, really nice job on Preaching Gospel! Enjoyed that.
Nursedad, it sounds like you've got all the elements there, but you recognize that rhythm and timing is an issue. It WILL get better because you realize you need to work on it. I'd like to hear you keep posting, because we'll all see the progress.
I don't mean to just drop into the forum and criticize. I haven't been playing since I injured my left index finger last summer. It is ever so slowly better, to the point where I'm sort of wanting to get my guitar back out. I'll post when I do - I was most of the way thru BYCU, really enjoyed it.
Bruce
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Post by Phil on Feb 13, 2014 15:07:32 GMT -6
Hey Phil, really nice job on Preaching Gospel! Enjoyed that. Nursedad, it sounds like you've got all the elements there, but you recognize that rhythm and timing is an issue. It WILL get better because you realize you need to work on it. I'd like to hear you keep posting, because we'll all see the progress. I don't mean to just drop into the forum and criticize. I haven't been playing since I injured my left index finger last summer. It is ever so slowly better, to the point where I'm sort of wanting to get my guitar back out. I'll post when I do - I was most of the way thru BYCU, really enjoyed it. Bruce Sorry to hear about your injury, are you willing to share what happened. It seems inevitable that set backs like this happen when you are about to reach a milestone. You can console yourself with the fact that when you get back into playing you will catch up very fast. There's a part of you that remembers what you struggled to learn, and you will progress at lightening speed when compared to the 1st time around. Phil
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Post by Phil on Feb 13, 2014 15:51:50 GMT -6
@ Phil: Great take! Nothing to say here, although I enviously was waiting for you to mess up the ad lib ending a bit, because that's what I did... but you didn't... about the BYCU-takes thread... hmm, I already rolled my 2 cents over... @ nursedad: Don't worry too much, you'll get it if you just keep practicing and playing - and keep the posts coming, they'll help you and others judge your playing, and you'll surely benefit from that... and I'm glad that no one knows how bad my timing was/still can be, hehe... @ bluesbruce: Ouch!!! How very iommish from you! Hope you get well soon! Thanks, tbone, but I did mess up the ending. I was out of sync with the bass where it slows down. You might want to have your ears checked by a qualified professional. I'm going to re-record that in a couple of months and see if how (or if) I improve. Regarding the thread - I'm not suggesting a thread, I'm suggesting and separate sub-forum dedicated to uploading recording and comments on those recordings. I've seen this on other forums where they have various sub-forums for specific subjects. I certainly hope bluesbruce didn't suffer a Tony Iommi type injury! I'm waiting for your next upload. Phil
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