Tag: singing

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Adam Levine – Payphone Acoustic + a few thoughts

I am a big fan of Maroon 5. Ever since I heard the album ‘Songs About Jane’, particularly the song ‘Sunday Morning’ I’ve been hooked on them.

Their sound has changed a lot in the last few years, but they are still a great band putting out great songs.

Here is an acoustic version of their single hit ‘Payphone’.

Now, though I share this as it’s a great performance and Adam Levine is a great singer and artist, notice the one or two fluffed notes near the beginning. Makes your butt-clench they’re so out right?

Adam is an excellent singer and more than capable of hitting those notes with ease and great quality, as is demonstrated aptly throughout the rest of the video. The challenge of hitting every note live is far harder than people give singers credit for. We are also held to an incredibly high (arguably unattainable) standard from perfect recordings created from hours and hours of endless takes, spliced from the best bits of each take and mastered to within an inch of their lives.

So I share this not just to share a great performance, but to encourage you that EVERYONE misses notes from time to time, even people who are paid JUST to sing, and who are performing their OWN songs, and only really have to prepare to perform these songs during their working week… so don’t beat yourself up if you miss the odd note. It’s OK!

Now, enjoy!

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3 Musical New Year’s Resolution

NOTE: I’ll be asking you ‘what would your 3 resolutions be?’ at the end of this post, so do have a think while you read mine, and do also leave a comment on yours below! I’d like to hear from you!

When I was at school and university, I used to love holiday times not just because they were time off from studies, but because they gave me uninterrupted time to focus on ‘woodshedding’. This is a term often used by guitarists and jazz musicians to refer to time spent locked away in (often!) a woodshed away from the world honing particular aspects of their craft.

While I won’t be doing these in a woodshed, here are 3 of my resolutions I’m working towards this year. Some people opt for more, some for less, but I feel 3 gives me enough resolutions to stand a chance of doing at least one without getting stretched too thin!

1. Get better at piano – While I play it sufficiently well enough to teach, I spend far so much time in front of a piano everyday for voice and teaching, that I am out with a vengeance to learn to play the thing properly. I will then go through every song in my repertoire that I can already perform vocally with a guitar and learn to play an equivalent version with a piano. That way if I ever am presented with guitar OR piano, I can do my entire repertoire equally well on both.

2. Reduce the amount of gear I own – I’m a true minimalist at heart, and while I love exploring new equipment and how it works for me and my sound, once I have experimented and branched out, I like to strip back to the basics. This last year I’ve started to develop more of my own sound, or rather, develop a confidence in the sound I had already started to develop, and this requires a more simplistic approach to gear (if not musically). As such, I plan to shed at least a 1/3 of the remaining gear I have.

3. Add 10-20 more songs to my repertoire – One of the problems with having come from a technical instrumentalist background is that I am quite fussy about songs. I want songs that challenge me, and that present some technical challenge to my development. Which means I find it increasingly hard to find things I want to work on as I develop and get better. This is obviously helpful in some respects, as every song I work on develops my voice such that other songs become easy and often automatic, but it does mean I struggle to find new songs to add to my repertoire. In this regard I’m going to be less picky and just find 10-20 songs to add to my repertoire over the course of this year, regardless of their difficulty, just based on whether I like them or not!

I’d also add that I will be ‘writing more songs’ as a resolution, except that this is an ongoing resolution, so it’s hardly new for this year!

What are your resolutions?

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Lisa Hannigan – Live Acoustic Folk

I’m currently waiting on a new acoustic guitar to be built by Fylde acoustics guitars in Penrit – Check Fylde Guitars Out Here. Once a quarter or so they send out a newsletter with details of what they and their favoured artists are getting up to, This was a link to one of their talented artists – Lisa Hannigan – performing at Sessie Border Crossing 2012 (no idea where that is!). In any case, this is some really relaxing acoustic folk by a lass with a beautiful voice and gentle playing style. Check it out here!

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Fitz and the Tantrums – Don’t Gotta Work it Out

I tweeted about this band a while ago but only just realised I hadn’t blogged about them. Basically they are a band with NO guitars (exc. bass guitar) – that’s right… NO guitars. So when I say ‘they’ve done an acoustic version of one of their songs’ you might think ‘hold on… how?’

With a sax of course! Check it…

Yes, Fitz does strain a LOT of notes, but as catchy songwriting goes, and as creative stripped back arrangements go, it’s hard to beat.

Check them out.

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Stevie Wonder – For Your Love

The last few weeks I’ve been listening to lots of Stevie Wonder – he is an absolute monster songwriter and vocalist. This one is particularly excellent. In particular, check out the epic key changes and effortless pure high notes towards the end. The man is unbelievable.

I should also point out that he is a long-time student and friend of Seth Riggs – if you want to know more about Seth and his contribution to the progression of vocal technique (trust me, it’s important!) then just click here.

Love it.

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500 words or less: Stuck in a rut

Stuck in a musical rut?

Are you stuck in a rut? Just rehashing the same stuff over and over? Maybe it’s singing, guitar, piano, bass, whatever, you just feel like you are going over the same ground again and again…

Well, here’s my top tip for getting out of a rut:

Listen to something you’ve never listened to before

Why? Let me tell you why…

Something from nothing.

Music is a wonderful thing. It can take so many different forms, encompass so many different sounds, be expressed in so many different styles, be incredibly complex or ridiculously simple, pieces can be hours long or less than a minute. It can be created from nothing, and can feel like it becomes everything in a given moment. It really is a beautiful thing.

Those who are able to make their living from music are truly blessed. They get to make music and play around with it every day.

One thing that surprises me about a select number of musicians, professional and amateur alike, is their propensity to listen to just ONE style of music to the exclusion of all others. They might profess that they want to be the best at that one style, to shine out above everyone else operating in that genre… and I say that they are shooting themselves in the foot.

Products of our environment

We are all products of what we surround ourselves with. People, television, music, etc. This is reflected in our personalities and in our music. If all we do is listen to one particular style of music, then we will only regurgitate combinations of music that already exists. There is nothing wrong with listening to music we love, nothing wrong at all. But if all we do is indulge in the SAME stuff over and over, how can we ever expect to produce anything OTHER than the stuff we’re indulging in?

However, if we immerse ourselves in as many different styles of music as we can, we can take in new ideas, play around with undiscovered – or at least underutilised – combinations of sounds, and we can still further identify things we DON’T like and why… which means we can become more discerning with the music we make. All music is useful in some way. If you like it, learn how to play it, ask yourself why you like it. if you don’t like it, maybe learn how to play it, and ask yourself why you don’t like it. By doing this, you can expand your musical horizons and creativity. Why would you consciously limit yourself?

You want to get out of a rut? Ask someone to lend you the most quirky thing in their music collection, and listen to whole album. Ask yourself what did you like and why, and what didn’t you like and why. Try and incorporate ideas from this quirky stuff, and expand your horizons. If you’re a rocker, get some jazz. You a jazzer, get some country. You a bluegrass artist, get some opera in your ears…

Listen to something new today.