I don’t remember posting anything for a long time so I thought I’d throw something up here and perhaps we can continue the " plays badly" series that Tom so bravely started.
Here’s my own notes about the song:
I had the blues in September and since I had a couple of days off work, sick, I wrote and recorded a song! This kinda just fell out as I hit “record”. Even the words were made up as I sang them. Sure there are a few bumps and scrapes but it felt good, and sounds pretty good too. My first attempt at recording drums played by me. “I woke up this morning…”
If You Got the Blues the use 'em
Religion warning: Don’t listen if you don’t want to hear God stuff sung about. OK? 
Great playin and writing Mark - I likes it.
Doyle Dykes made an off hand comment one time about playin’ the blues. Something like “I feel too good to play the Blues” I’m gonna tackle that line one day.
I like it!
THAT is awsome.
Written well, played well, recorded well.
Hey, the " plays badly" thing only works if it is really and truly the case that you play said instrument badly!
Did you play the drums to a click, or just sort of free hand it, or what?
Quote: (TomS @ Mar. 04 2008, 11:35 PM)
Hey, the " plays badly" thing only works if it is really and truly the case that you play said instrument badly!
Did you play the drums to a click, or just sort of free hand it, or what?
Thanks for the positive comments folks.
I cheated a bit with the drums. I recorded them to a REALLY LOUD click with a couple of overheads and triggers on the kick drum and the snare. I've got one of those drum trigger module thingys which then gives me a midi track with a kick and snare form what I played. I tidied it up a bit in midi and triggered a couple of samples from the Midi.
Cymbals/hats are real so to speak but I seem to remember a couple of edits, but a song at that sort of pace is fairly easy to tippety-tap along to.
Tom - the thing about " plays badly" is that we are probably much more intimate with our own work than what other people hear. Your drum playing, for example, sounds fine to me in the context of the mix. Sure, we compare ourselves to Moon or Bonham or Peart but there's plenty of great songs around with average playing on some of the parts. I play within the limitations of what I can do and use technology, rightly or wrongly, to fill in the gaps.
I was pretty pleased with this song. You know how sometimes when you hit record everything just comes out right and sounds nice straight off? Well this was one of those. It's also a return to "home base" for me - my first musical language as it were.
Quote: (Poppa Willis @ Mar. 04 2008, 2:22 PM)
Doyle Dykes made an off hand comment one time about playin' the blues. Something like "I feel too good to play the Blues" I'm gonna tackle that line one day.
Ain't that the truth. I can't claim to have any real blues sitting here in my warm suburban home, surrounded by recording gear; nice car on the drive and food in my belly, but I wasn't feeling too great when I did this song so I decided to use it for something useful. :-)
I remembered this from somewhere:
Quote:
by Lame Mango Washington
(attributed to Memphis Earlene Gray with help from Uncle Plunky, revisions by Little Blind Patti D. and Dr. Stevie Franklin)
1. Most Blues begin, "Woke up this morning."
2. "I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the Blues, 'less you stick something nasty in the next line, like " I got a good woman, with the meanest face in town."
3. The Blues is simple. After you get the first line right, repeat it. Then find something that rhymes ... sort of: "Got a good woman - with the meanest face in town. Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher - and she weigh 500 pound."
4. The Blues are not about choice. You stuck in a ditch, you stuck in a ditch; ain't no way out.
5. Blues cars: Chevys and Cadillacs and broken-down trucks. Blues don't travel in Volvos, BMWs, or Sport Utility Vehicles. Most Blues transportation is a Greyhound bus or a southbound train. Jet aircraft an' state-sponsored motor pools ain't even in the running. Walkin' plays a major part in the blues lifestyle. So does fixin' to die.
6. Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin' to die yet. Adults sing the Blues. In Blues, " adulthood" means being old enough to get the electric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis.
7. Blues can take place in New York City but not in Hawaii or any place in Canada. Hard times in St. Paul or Tucson is just depression. Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City still the best places to have the Blues. You cannot have the blues in any place that don't get rain.
8. A man with male pattern baldness ain't the blues. A woman with male pattern baldness is. Breaking your leg cuz you skiing is not the blues. Breaking your leg cuz an alligator be chomping on it is.
9. You can't have no Blues in an office or a shopping mall. The lighting is wrong. Go outside to the parking lot or sit by the dumpster.
10. Good places for the Blues:
a. highway
b. jailhouse
c. empty bed
d. bottom of a whiskey glass
Bad places:
a. Ashrams
b. gallery openings
c. Ivy League institutions
d. golf courses
11. No one will believe it's the Blues if you wear a suit, 'less you happen to be an old ethnic person, and you slept in it.
12. Do you have the right to sing the Blues? Yes, if:
a. you're older than dirt
b. you're blind
c. you shot a man in Memphis
d. you can't be satisfied
No, if:
a. you have all your teeth
b. you were once blind but now can see
c. the man in Memphis lived.
d. you have a retirement plan or trust fund.
13. Blues is not a matter of color. It's a matter of bad luck. Tiger Woods cannot sing the blues. Gary Coleman could. Ugly white people also got a leg up on the blues.
14. If you ask for water and Baby give you gasoline, it's the Blues.
Other acceptable Blues beverages are:
a. wine
b. whiskey or bourbon
c. muddy water
d. black coffee
The following are NOT Blues beverages:
a. mixed drinks
b. kosher wine
c. Snapple
d. sparkling water
15. If it occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, it's a Blues death. Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is another Blues way to die. So is the electric chair, substance abuse, and dying lonely on a broken down cot. You can't have a Blues death if you die during a tennis match or getting liposuction.
16. Some Blues names for women:
a. Sadie
b. Big Mama
c. Bessie
d. Fat River Dumpling
17. Some Blues names for men:
a. Joe
b. Willie
c. Little Willie
d. Big Willie
18. Persons with names like Sierra, Sequoia, Auburn, and Rainbow can't sing the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.
19. Make your own Blues name (starter kit):
a. name of physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame, etc.)
b. first name (see above) plus name of fruit (Lemon, Lime, Kiwi,etc.)
c. last name of President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.)
For example, Blind Lime Jefferson, or Cripple Kiwi Fillmore, etc.
(Well, maybe not "Kiwi.")
20. I don't care how tragic your life: you own a computer, you cannot sing the blues. You best destroy it. Fire, a spilled bottle of Mad Dog, or get out a shotgun. I don't care.
Well, the midi/editing/sample replacement thing isn’t cheating, it’s using the tools to make better music. I think it sounds great. 
Quote: (TomS @ Mar. 05 2008, 12:29 PM)
Well, the midi/editing/sample replacement thing isn't cheating, it's using the tools to make better music. I think it sounds great.
I'll take your word on that Tom :-) Thanks.
I did do an acoustic blues, slide guitar, thing around the same time. Not that was cheating - you most certainly shouldn't play the blues on a Taylor!
I'll see if I can dig it out.
Hi Gents:
Thanks for that link Mark A…
He’s a guy that had
a lot of stories to tell… The stories that make a Blues Musician…
a Blues Musician…
His Stage
and the stages I worked on,
followed one-another from Bar room-to-Bar room (at the local level) for years…
However, his stages got lots of visibility… He got the title of…
and then a Governor General’s Award for his efforts…
He didn’t kill anybody…
but he probably did everything else as
Blue’s Musician…
to gain the stature…
I have lots of stories relating to his attitudes…
He struggled for years with his health…
Then he went…
Bill…
Blues on a Taylor acoustic…
http://www.psalm149.com/marka1/river-blues-mix003.mp3
And no drums…
but with authentic foot stomps on guitar case and plenty of slide-hits-fretboard.
That’s pretty traditional Blues…
Yea can’t play that stuff unless you got sensitized to Tim’s doughnuts and you found yourself scratching through a dumpster looking for something to eat… 
Bill…
Hey I like that Mark - you have a great gift - I even heard a couple of my dad’s old licks in there. I always loved it when he played like that. dunta dunta dunta dunta…
cool
Your dad was a musician, Poppa?
I dunno, that Taylor sounds might fine on that there recording. OK, you really should have been playing a Dobro, but…it’s a kinder, gentler kind of blues… 
That Taylor sounds real good don’t it.
Yep Daddy was a picker - I was #7 of ten. If you wanted to feel like part of the family you had to sing, play or clap.
Any tone-deaf siblings?
Huh? Whut? oh TONE deaf… yea 2 out of 10 - they are the biggest fans of all… it all worked out fine.
Quote: (Poppa Willis @ Mar. 05 2008, 8:56 PM)
That Taylor sounds real good don't it.
Yeah, It's a lovely guitar.
I use an Ovation live but it sounds like a cardboard box when recorded.
I saved up my pennies a few years ago and bought the cheapest (full size) Taylor going. I can't remember the model number though. It's taught me a lot about mic placement because it can be quite bright and "big" especially when mic'd with my Rode NT1a, but actually with the K-micro mics it sounds a bit more "pop song".
Quote:
Yep Daddy was a picker - I was #7 of ten. If you wanted to feel like part of the family you had to sing, play or clap.
That's a big ole family. I've been listening to some of the stuff on that link you sent me Poppa. You certainly inherited the musical gift. You've got some great sounding songs going on up there.
Quote: (woxnerw @ Mar. 05 2008, 2:42 PM)
That's pretty traditional Blues..
Yea can't play that stuff unless you got sensitized to Tim's doughnuts and you found yourself scratching through a dumpster looking for something to eat..
Bill..
:-) Does that mean I can't sing the blues if my pension stocks have crashed or I've lost my Apple powerbook?