Wow, well, I missed a few days due to headaches and that threw off my schedule, and then it seems a week has already passed so I missed an entire update. I guess its a reminder of why I’m disabled and doing this low stakes musical project instead of traditional work where people expect you to be reliable and consistent. I’ve been mostly consistent with my practice and recording videos at least, but this extra layer of writing and posting and sharing with the world is a bit more of a challenge.
Anyway, here’s last weeks and this week’s videos. Looks like I even failed to make the week 6 video public, though I did share it with the Uke Tribe. Better late than never!
Week 6 progress
Blind Melon – No Rain
Song Choice
Its one of my favorite songs from the 90’s alt rock radio era, and I resonate with the lyrics pretty strongly. Even before becoming disabled, I always had a rather unique perspective on life that often left me feeling awkward and strange. And now my life really is pretty strange. Plus I really just want someone to always be there when I wake. Maybe some day.
Instrumentation
I know a lot of new players struggle with the E chord, and this song is a great one to practice it because the chorus is literally just switching between D and E. For me the major challenge was figuring out something interesting to do for the instrumental break, which I think I managed to simplify enough while keeping it interesting. It could always be better though.
Vocals
This song always makes me want to sing in a somewhat nasally voice, maybe in an imitation of the original? I’m not sure why or how I picked it up. I guess I like it because I keep doing it though. The original line is “read a book to stay awake” but I think replacing it with “isekai” is rather apt, and it does truly rip my life away sometimes.
The Killers – When You Were Young
Song Choice
I’m quite fond of The Killers, and felt like this song was probably the most appropriate to include on this list. The runner up was “Human,” which I do know how to play, but mastering it seemed more difficult so I went for the easier route. I can also play Mr. Brightside and Somebody Told Me, but they seemed a little too much for the context. And Smile Like You Mean It didn’t really seem to fit either. I’m down with the theme of this one, and its fun to sing too. It’s the closest nod I could make to the 00’s post-punk revival bands I like that I could think to squeeze in.
Instrumentation
This one was a little tricky just because of the rhythm and chords for the key that I’m singing it in. It’s also a rather unconventional song structure, but it mostly makes sense so it wasn’t that bad. The descending chord break is something I still don’t have complete accuracy with yet either, but luckily I landed it for this take. I decided to sing the synth line that follows most of the verses because… I couldn’t think of a way to play it. I also didn’t like the way that the chart I was using came out of the bridge, so I just came up with something that made more sense to me for that. It may not be how the recording works, but they’ve got a whole band to work with.
Vocals
In some ways, a song like this that doesn’t have a standard verse and chorus structure is a little easier to memorize than something like Lovesong by the Cure where each verse is altered by exactly only two words. I also feel the voice lessons have helped immensely in the progress that I have made. I definitely got much further than if I had been doing this solely on my own.
Crosby, Stills, and Nash – Love the one you’re with
Song Choice
This is another song I picked up from Uncle Wilmont down at Castaway Cafe. Like I mention in the video, I like the ambiguity of the lyrics. I also like how it suggests accepting the position you find yourself in, instead of wishing for something different, which is a very prescient message for someone disabled. Its really easy to get disheartened by focusing on what other people can do freely. No, I need to love what I got, because well, I do have a lot, and it could always be worse.
Instrumentation
That instrumental break was bugging me immensely for this entire month, but I think I figured out a decent enough way to play through it. Playing in a group that section really opens up to very fun solo time, but having to carry the rhythm through the break while playing solo is a real challenge. I’d like to have gotten even more intricate in the instrumentation, but alas, good enough has won out over perfect this time.
Vocals
Memorizing the order of verses was a little tricky on this one, as was getting good at hitting the initial pitch. Otherwise though, the main reason it took so long to get this one playable for me was that instrumental break. It’s a fun one to sing, and I’m pretty happy with the way I’ve sung it here.
Recording
It’s quiet for some reason, but since I didn’t write down my thoughts immediately after doing it, I honestly don’t remember what I was trying to do. So it goes.
Performance
Aside from the volume, I’m overall pretty happy with the progress. I made it through without dropping anything completely, and actually played the instrumental breaks. I’m feeling pretty good about the vocals, and even though I know I still have a long way to go, I think that the progress is sounding good.
Week 7 progress
Old Crow Medicine Show – Wagon Wheel
Song Choice
This is yet another Uncle Wilmont special! I’m told this is actually a rather popular song, but I had never heard it before. It’s a bit outside of my usual musical preferences too, but it is a fun one to play. It’s kind of a very nice warm up song. It’s straightforward enough to play and sing, and the message is relatable enough even if you don’t recognize the song.
Instrumentation
There’s a couple sections where the original song features banjo picking, which I try to emulate, but actually struggle with while using a pick. And I normally play this with a pick and skip the plucking. However, I have learned that I need to not change between fingerstyle and pickstyle while doing videos, so whatever I start with is what I need to stick with. There’s a button on my flyrig that I need to press to boost or cut the signal if I want to swap between styles. I have more control with fingerstyle, but my nails don’t last so I prefer using a pick for most of the rhythm heavy rock stuff I do.
Actually, I tend to play all three of these songs pickstyle, but I guess I just wanted to be more accurate and not risk messing up, so I chose to use fingers for today’s recordings.
Vocals
This is a quintessential warm up or break song, one that doesn’t push the voice too much so I can recover and push on the harder ones. And this is another one I tend to try add a twang to just to mimic the original. I’m not sure how convincing I am it it to a native southerner, but I’m happy enough with my style at least.
Neil Young – Harvest Moon
Song Choice
Have I mentioned how influential Uncle Wilmont has been on my song choice for this setlist? Well, the idea was to make a set of songs to play by a poolside bar, and Castaway Cafe is literally a poolside restaurant that’s facing the ocean so. The songs are essentially safe battle-tested bets. These selections are a combination of the songs I liked, and what the audience of people who could afford to eat at a restaurant liked to hear. I had never actively listened to Neil Young before this song, though I did recognize his name from the annals of rock and roll.
Instrumentation
This is actually a pretty fun one to play on uke. This is one of the few songs I’m actually using a chart written for uke that described how to play that iconic riff. It seems that the notes that ring out at the start of each verse are typically harmonics, which can be done on a guitar or bari uke, but harmonics are also a lot easier when you can look down at your instrument to see exactly where to pluck. Unfortunately laying flat like I do makes that rather difficult, so I typically don’t worry much about harmonics where possible.
This was another song that kept getting pushed back because the instrumental break was important, and difficult for me to figure out what to do with. Also because I couldn’t really work on those sections during the whole unitar exercise. But I think it came together, and was mostly successful for this recording.
Vocals
I cracked a little here because I was trying to sing softly and in a high pitch, but overall the song is pretty straightforward. I like the change in tone during the bridge sections. I also like how the lyrics describe a kind of peculiar situation (“when we lovers”) which is a unique challenge to try and embody. Its an interesting challenge,
The Platters – My Prayer
Song Choice
This one was actually inspired by Fallout 4. I mean, classic music is timeless. It shouldn’t matter where I heard of it, just that I liked it and wanted to play it. This was intentionally chosen to push my vocal abilities. I felt like I still didn’t quite nail it, but it’s coming a long. I kind of like this as an ending song because its somber but hopeful. And hey, if you are also a Fallout enjoyer, even better!
Instrumentation
I missed a chord. I had one job, and I blew it! So it goes. This one has been hard to memorize because of its somewhat unconventional structure. I think its the only song on this setlist that actually uses a diminished chord as well… and that’s the one I missed. Go figure. I want to play more jazz, but never felt my vocal chops were up to the task. Maybe now after the lessons settle in a bit I’ll think about trying out some proper standards soon.
Vocals
As mentioned earlier, this one was supposed to be a challenge and I didn’t quite nail it. Maybe a C grade. This was always kind of a stretch goal. But I do think I have improved quite a bit from the first attempt at the start of this journey. Hopefully. Actually I have yet to listen to my progress side by side with the original. Guess that will be part of next week’s adventure.
Recording
I boosted the level a bit on my uke and on the mixer, and I think it came out well. Last week I had tried recording some of my baritone uke and it came out super quiet, so I decided to double check my volume levels this time.
Performance
I think it sounds good. And I think it could sound better. But overall, I’m satisfied with the production this week. I’m a little bummed about missing last week, and subsequently being stretched a little thin by doing two performance reviews on the same day. Always better late than never though. Missed notes aside, the music is pretty okay, but the process of sharing needs work.