My New Song - Review it!

[fullmetalguitar]

This is my latest instrumental. It's all acoustic. I was going for something with a classical flavor. Keep in mind that I have absolutely no classical guitar training at all, and it was all played on a steel string acoustic. Opinions?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuqFmg-axpE

[Hellbat]

Is this through piezo only? It sounds too clean to me. None of the strings ringing against the frets or natural guitar resonance at the bottom end. Musically I like it a lot, just not loving the production.

[fullmetalguitar]

Is this through piezo only? It sounds too clean to me. None of the strings ringing against the frets or natural guitar resonance at the bottom end. Musically I like it a lot, just not loving the production.

Yeah, it's recorded direct. Glad you like it musically at least. Thanks.

[BayRocker]

I'm with Hellbat on this one. I really like the composition of the piece, but it just doesn't breathe. It almost sounds unnatural or robotic. I love the different layers and how you wove the lines together, but I'd imagine that would sound killer done with mics and not so clean.

[axmann]

A bit sterile sounding to me. But I guess also I'm not into a flavor like it should be played on a harpsichord in a 1700's parlor in the UK somewhere. I prefer the more Spanish flavor, like Al Di Meola pulls off. Just my take. But....... I'll take "Desert Sun". That talks to me. I just wanted to say how much I enjoy that work by you, immensely.

[fullmetalguitar]

A bit sterile sounding to me. But I guess also I'm not into a flavor like it should be played on a harpsichord in a 1700's parlor in the UK somewhere. I prefer the more Spanish flavor, like Al Di Meola pulls off. Just my take. But....... I'll take "Desert Sun". That talks to me. I just wanted to say how much I enjoy that work by you, immensely.

Fair enough. It definitely has that sterile harpsichord type of feel to it. I played it very precise to a click track and purposely without any vibrato. I wanted it to sound that way, so I'm happy with the results. Just something different for me to try.

I'm already working on my next instrumental and it's back to the 80s shred with a definite Racer X influence. I'll post it up when it's done to redeem myself.

Thanks for the Desert Sun comment. It's nice to know someone appreciates that one.

[axmann]

Admittedly I suck on acoustic. I do appreciate the playing and diversity , but maybe because I can't do shit on one ,I can't analize it all correctly or totaly appreciate what it takes. I wouldn't stop exploring. I watch Tommy Emmanuel and can't breath.He's a freakin' alien. I get exhausted watching him. Guys that can clean it on acoustic have my nod no matter what. I started to listen to Al Dimeola, John McLaughlin,Paco de Lucia and such, back in the late 70's and my metalhead friends frowned on me. Thats when I knew we had no where to explore together. Metal to the core but love all guitar. Give me an afternoon with Johnny Winter and I would be in my "heaven". You are on my " hey this dude plays" list. Cheers, oh yeah, I don't appreciate Desert Sun, I flat out dig it! All the best out to L.A.

[fullmetalguitar]

Axmann, thanks again for the kind remarks.

Just a little more background on this song. The past several months I've been hearing lots of traditional classical music like Mozart. Why? Because my ten month old son watches those darn Baby Einstein videos and they feature lots of classical music. So speaking of harpsichord stuff, they have a lot of it! That's where I kind of got the inspiration/idea to write something like this. I'll be sitting here playing along on my acoustic while he's watching those videos.

[Nimitz]

I don't know what those other dudes are talking about being sterile and all that... sounds freaking great man.

Hellbat set the tone for responses but I think he is wasted I can hear the strings against the frets.

[axmann]

No one sets my tone for a response. It was my opinion. Thats what he was looking for.

[fullmetalguitar]

Thanks Nimitz! I think it's great too.

It's all good guys. Yes, all opinions are welcome. I asked. While I might not agree 100% with someone's assessment, I can usually see the point of view of a well constructed response when valid points are made.

[Hellbat]

I bet that if it was recorded acoustically at the same time as the direct and mixed it in, even just a TINY little bit in the background it would liven it up a lot. It's just when it's all recorded from the piezo it sounds like a guitar synth to or midi playing it. It's missing all the complex overtones. Combine that with the effort to to play as clean and accurate as possible, without vibrato, and it sounds like it's coming off of a piano roll.

I'm not dissing Richard or his music. Like I said, I like it musically. My opinion, that nobody else in the world needs to share, was that the production made it sound somewhat artificial. It's also my opinion that it's a great composition. But that could be me just being wasted.

[fullmetalguitar]

Hellbat, I appreciate your critique. And I definitely never felt that you were dissing me or the music. You're right. It probably would sound better if I had a mic track mixed in. And yeah, it does have that midi kind of feel to it. Again, all valid points.

Check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMJ7thDHkog&feature=related

This is the type of stuff I've been hearing because of my son. You can hear that it's not guitar at all. In fact, maybe it was all done with midi. I'm not sure. But it was all this kind of stuff that made me think, hey maybe I can do something like this on guitar. Can't wait till my son starts listening to the first Van Halen album!

[Forrest]

2 thumbs up man. I like both the composition and the feel. Doesn't sound artificial to me.

[rocksoldier]

The "sterile" feeling makes it kinda sound like an old video game. Nothing wrong with that, made me feel like playing some Final Fantasy or something.