Author Topic: Going through the Beginners Songbook... (Read 150196 times)

JulieSun · « **on:** October 17, 2013, 01:04:25 pm »

Hi all,

Not sure if its ok to do this, but Im going to do a full play-through (and record it) of the Justin Beginners songbook in the hope to be making good progress along the way.

I must warn you, it's probably sounding awful. But I hope you'll be guiding me a bit here and there to tweak where it's necessary.. because I realized that browsing the beginners lessons, there WERE things I did not memorize and things can be done so much easier.

Recording, rhythm, vocals, these are things I have to work on a lot. (I know that : ) )
Is it allowed to bump this topic whenever I have a new song? I wonder, any of the moderators think it's fine? Saves me from creating a new topic every time.

Thanks to everyone who is giving me new energy and curiosity to do this! I love music and I really want to learn how to write my own songs and to become a singer.

Here's the first two songs of the Beginners Course:
Three Little Birds https://soundcloud.com/danielle-vd-wijngaarden/dont-worry
Feeling Alright https://soundcloud.com/danielle-vd-wijngaarden/feeling-alright

I just realized that the guitar track on the first song is pretty low, sorry about that I'll try to fix it..

~ JS

Andreas Fischer · « **Reply #1 on:** October 17, 2013, 07:03:41 pm »

good idea to go through it and record it (dont forget to record it again later and see the difference yourself)
brave idea to link to your recordings

looking forward to see more of this thread

knotworthy · « **Reply #2 on:** October 18, 2013, 12:56:41 pm »

Great idea. So far so good. Keep it up!

JulieSun · « **Reply #3 on:** October 18, 2013, 03:16:26 pm »

Just uploaded the first song, its still not the new recording, but I'll post it asap

digger72 · « **Reply #4 on:** October 18, 2013, 04:38:41 pm »

Hi Danielle,

The key thing for me is to focus on timing and phrasing. Try and get them as tight as you can. This helps bring the guitar and vocal together, and any other instruments you introduce later.
Try and play along to a drum track - honestly it makes such a huge difference whether singing or playing.
This doesn't mean you have to stick to the original - always nice to hear a new interpretation.

I like the idea of working through the book - and it will be interesting to hear how you develop as you progress.

Good luck.

Digger

JulieSun · « **Reply #5 on:** October 18, 2013, 05:13:52 pm »

Thank you guys,

Maybe I am making it a bit too difficult for myself playing without a drumtrack. I'll see and look up some tonight or tomorrow. This might help me loads

Thnx digger.

Andreas Fischer · « **Reply #6 on:** October 20, 2013, 03:16:51 pm »

just can speak for myself, and i have more questions than answeres ...
but a drumtrack would disturb me and it would be more difficult, wouldnt it?

i would try to get the guitar right
than the singing
and than bring it together

on the other side
why not first guitar with drumtrack or metronome
then singing with drumtrack or metronome
than all together .... i dont know

anyway what i was asking myself while listening the first song recording
do voice and guitar fit? is it the right key? wouldnt you need a kapo?
i dont know, but to me it did sound like the voice is to high or the guitar to low to fit

i think we all can learn a lot here, if we just find someone who knows ;-)

JulieSun · « **Reply #7 on:** October 20, 2013, 04:18:03 pm »

You must be right about the singing Andreas! Thanks for pointing that out... Ive yet to see if the drums will distract me. But Ive been playing along with Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Blur, Skunk Anansie and those songs were pretty fast. To be honest I dont hear the metronome when I play along with it, so maybe drums will be better. (plus I want to learn about drumming too)

So Ive just began creating my own drumtracks...

A fella who went to the conservatory (and also my colleague) helped me out with the track for Bob Marley, I went and created the one for Feeling Alright myself... they're both in 60 bpm.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/31595434/JulieSun/ThreeLittleBirds-fbniels3.wav
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/31595434/JulieSun/FeelingAlright.wav

feel free to use them!

katja · « **Reply #8 on:** October 20, 2013, 04:50:34 pm »

Hi Danielle,

I agree with Digger. You should focus on phrasing and timing. It makes a huge difference once you get them down pat. You need to get into the groove. Awfully important.

Drum tracks help a lot when you're playing. It is easier to play to a drum track then to a metronom. I like the fills in between. They help to keep timing even better. You don't even need to create drum tracks yourself. Just use a simple drum loop and change the bpm whenever you need to.

I'd love to listen to your drum tracks but I don't know what software to use.

Keep it up! Can't wait to hear the next track.

Katja

JulieSun · « **Reply #9 on:** October 20, 2013, 05:05:42 pm »

Got it fixed

i saved the files as .wav now you should be able to listen to them

stifflittlefingers · « **Reply #10 on:** October 20, 2013, 07:36:19 pm »

Very interested in your progress with this , keep it up , I thought it was great for a learner .

mouser9169 · « **Reply #11 on:** October 21, 2013, 01:20:52 am »

@ JulieSun

There's a reason you see singers (and musicians) wearing headphones when they record in a studio...

Andreas Fischer · « **Reply #12 on:** October 21, 2013, 01:51:54 pm »

@ JulieSun

they sound nice to me
but i have a problem with them, its me not your tracks, and probably i shouldnt have this questions anymore after a year but ..... is it 3/4 or 4/4, where do i find my "1", "2",.... i guess its the louder ones ;-)
you see, there are to many beats/sounds for me, i get confused

i will try to play to it maybe that helps

Quote from: katja on October 20, 2013, 04:50:34 pm

....
You don't even need to create drum tracks yourself. Just use a simple drum loop and change the bpm whenever you need to.
....

do you have an example? what should i be looking for?

well, i feel stupid today :-(
but with your help i hopefully get smarter ;-)

katja · « **Reply #13 on:** October 21, 2013, 02:24:15 pm »

Hey Andreas,

Quote from: Andreas Fischer on October 21, 2013, 01:51:54 pm

where do i find my "1", "2",....

The kick drum is playing on beats 1 and 3. It is the louder drum.

Quote from: Andreas Fischer on October 21, 2013, 01:51:54 pm

do you have an example? what should i be looking for?

Well, there are drum loops in my DAW that I can use. I'm sure that you can search the internet for drum loops as well. JulieSun found a website recently, didn't you Danielle?

Andreas Fischer · « **Reply #14 on:** October 21, 2013, 02:42:37 pm »

Quote from: katja on October 21, 2013, 02:24:15 pm

...
The kick drum is playing on beats 1 and 3. It is the louder drum.
...

thats what i tought
yeah, i am glad to got that right ;-)
(feel less stupid now)

about the drum tracks, i am sure io can google them, but what for i should look in this speacial case/song? 4/4, or reggea...?

katja · « **Reply #15 on:** October 21, 2013, 02:48:15 pm »

4/4 is fine. I would use a reggae drum loop because it suits the song but you said that you're easily confused by drums tracks. Therefore, I'd suggest playing to a simple kick and snare beat (as simple as Julie's drum tracks). However, a reggae track shouldn't be too complex as well.

JulieSun · « **Reply #16 on:** October 21, 2013, 03:59:04 pm »

Its easy on http://www.guitarbackingtrack.com/ just type in the name of the artist or the song, its quite different what kind of track you get though. Sometimes just drums, other times with vocal I believe.

Quote from: mouser9169 on October 21, 2013, 01:20:52 am

There's a reason you see singers (and musicians) wearing headphones when they record in a studio...

Somewhere I feel like I knew that.

Is there any need for more drumtracks as I follow the course?

I can keep posting them here.

Andreas Fischer · « **Reply #17 on:** October 21, 2013, 04:07:29 pm »

i will try to play with drumtracks - if it works i will be interested in your tracks

Andreas Fischer · « **Reply #18 on:** October 22, 2013, 04:16:49 pm »

your thread did finaly make me restart with my beginners songbook - thanks

i bought it, started and than tried some songs of higher stages ... and than learned and practised for a while other things like classical guitar

but your thread made me finaly start again with the first song "3 little birds"
even if i started a year ago with justins course i still didnt know to play this song, i mean i did play it with downstrokes, that was easy but than i didnt play it anymore ;-)

so now i sat down and practised this song, worked on my singing WHILE playing, tried to find out a way i like to strumm it, made some recordings.... annd still have to work more on it to be happy with it ... to make a long story short, i did learn that song as well now

AND........, everytime i learn to play a song on an instrument
i listen to it a lot, to several versions, get inspired by all that different interpretations and possibilities
and i do that on youtube, by creating playlists

probabbly this list can help others too

so here is my (temporally!!!) playlist for 3 little birds
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfvMseK8igT1SPmjK2nGlC1bVz3meZ47c
maybe its usefull for you or others as well
it beginns with some bob marley versions to play a long or just listen and sing along (getting it into the head by listening a lot)
than several covers by amatuers and professionals
and last but not least some other tutorials (but who need them, we learned it already from justins video wich is on top of the playlist of course ;-) - but there are different possibilities in them, cant harm to watch them additional)

have a look and hopefully it helps you (if yes, dont forget to bookmark what you like cause its just temporally- i change my playlists a lot and often)

Cal · « **Reply #19 on:** October 22, 2013, 08:30:56 pm »

I like your "playlist" Andreas. Thank you.

JulieSun · « **Reply #20 on:** October 29, 2013, 01:17:19 am »

Great to hear youre inspired AF!!! Keep them coming

Unfortunately.. I still dont manage to play everyday and its been like a week or so.. But Im aspiring to upload a clean version of these songs by the end of this week... I already did one but you can hear the facebook messages through my rec, right, Lieven? :p

Anyway, so here's something I felt like doing : https://www.dropbox.com/s/5lturu81gd50r5j/Funky%20Alright.wav
This is a part of Feelin Alright with a bit of me lol ( my chords arent clear, something going on there, probably ringing a string that shouldnt!)
Im much more a fan of faster and happy music !

I HAVE to get back to it...

Andreas Fischer · « **Reply #21 on:** October 29, 2013, 09:02:11 am »

sounds good so far

JulieSun · « **Reply #22 on:** October 29, 2013, 10:46:14 am »

Thank yu

Its just getting ideas down! Which im also doing atm wherever I am... this morning I had just GREAT ideas but I was driving... so I couldn't work on it. Friend of mine told me once to just sing and rec whatever you got just so your ideas dont get lost and you're at a loss when you CAN work on it...

First time recording myself in the car

Great that you got the beginners course btw!
And doing your research on different styles, awesome

Are you uploading any of your sessions then?

Andreas Fischer · « **Reply #23 on:** October 29, 2013, 06:08:03 pm »

me?
yes i will post recordings when i am ready
still trying to the the reggea rhythm right - will need some more time

JulieSun · « **Reply #24 on:** October 29, 2013, 07:21:04 pm »

Looking forward to it!!!