glissongs

Put together a video of you playing 15 to 30 seconds of a variety of the songs you play. It might be as many as 20 songs. Open a Youtube acct and download the video on your channel. When you approach bar or restaurant owners, hand them a business card that has your Youtube channel listed, as well as your email addy. Emphasize to the owner to take a listen when he has the opportunity. Also, stop in and get the business card of every owner of a place you want to play. Then send him an email with a link to your Youtube video. If you are good and are attractive (will make him money) to the bar owner, he/she will call you. (but follow up anyway)

Ha! Thanks David. Most of mine are just playing directly in front of the Zoom Q3 video recorder. A few are playing thru an amp with some reverb, or with the Tascam in the background and playing on top of it. (But the recorder is still just the Q3. Cool little gizmo). My stuff is really 2nd rate stuff, 'cos I'm such a tech retardo. I wish I knew just 1/2 of what you and Michael know, and what Dave will soon know.

Thanks guys. That all makes perfect sense now. And now that we've covered THAT, you all's playing really sounds good. What other effects are you adding for your simple acoustic playing..........your 1 +1's as an example? Delay, reverb, echo, anything?

All you guys who play and record your acoustics so well, (specifically Hobo and Michael and Dave)....do you use compression during the recording or are you adding it afterwards in your DAW?

James Dupree went from Youtube to the Ellen Show to Nashville https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0xqu0Nuwek

Well, hopefully this thread will quickly die. The written word over the internet is SO subject to misinterpretation. Stuff you say person to person over a friendly beer in a bar comes across COMPLETELY different in a post on the internet. For example, a smiley face emoticon at the end of a post can TOTALLY change how that statement was interpreted. (not that a smiley face was appropriate here, but the thread was SUPPOSED to be a friendly one) Anyway, I'll save any future big questions for the bar and I apologize to anyone who felt put off by the way I handled this topic. Bob

Yes, I wasn't sure where to post (pose?) my question, but I thought it would be most read here. I wasn't trying to start any negative vibes, or single out a response. (The internet is SO hard to try to convey a point. Undoubtedly someone is going to take something you say wrong, others are going to think you're asking something completely different.) What I was asking (quite poorly I might add) was, do most people WANT to know small recording details on the songs they post, or do they want a critique of the song, musically and lyrically? There is a "Lyrics Critique", but songwriting is lumped in with "Songwriting and Recording Critique", so I guess you're going to get your recording skills (of which I have none) critiqued even if you aren't interested in that. For what it's worth, Michael ASKED for "music/vocals/MIX", so any recording critique is warranted. I was just using that as an example. For me, I want to write a song, put it to music, then get opinions on whether it's any good or has promise. I figure if it's any good and I want to then really do something with it, I would get it professionally produced. I wouldn't try to do it myself, so I wouldn't need small recording details and missteps pointed out. What do most people posting here want from the critiques, just an opinion on the song itself, or the whole package including the mix?

Michael, you in particular would be someone that I wonder about. Speaking only for myself, I think you are the best here...the most ready to cut a record. As great as your postings are tho, there are improvements that could be made by a professional. I would LOVE to hear your album that you are wrapping up the songs for, "produced" and finished by a professional recording engineer. What many of us think are great songs now, would probably be incredible. When I see someone post that there is "a hum in the right channel" or something like that, I think to myself, "WHAT!!!! This isn't a professionally made recording. Somebody is doing this in their HOUSE on their computer. It ain't gonna be perfect!!!" I'm listening to peoples postings and asking myself, "would I buy that? Would I want to hear that on the radio? Would I download that on my computer?" I'm not trying to cherry pick the recording quality. But then, it IS "songwriting and RECORDING critique".....

That actually sounds like a good song title.... So again, maybe I'm looking at this all wrong, but I'm not judging these songs I'm listening to here on this forum as "cd quality", or "done" by any measure. I am assuming people want their songs scrutinized and perfected, advice given when asked for, suggestions made on things to add or cut. BUT, that these songs posted here are a far cry from being ready for print, so to speak. I'm thinking that a song, when finally considered "finished", would then go to a professional recording studio and be produced by an expert. I'm not thinking anyone here is an expert producer, but I could easily be wrong. What are people here trying to do with their finished works....sell them, make a record, just post them to their Reverbnation channel...what?

If you're a solo player, you probably speed up as you progress. Knowing this, force yourself to start a new verse or chorus slower. It isn't hard to do this, you just have to remember to do it.

To me, it depends. "Story" songs MUST have great lyrics...they have to draw the listener in. If they have a great melody, even better. The great singer/songwriters (James Taylor/ Jackson Browne/ Dan Fogelberg/ etc) usually did both. Newer songs like "The House That Built Me" or "Highway 20 Ride" have great. emotional lyrics AND good melodies, which is why they are huge hits. But Maroon 5's "Payphone" is a GIANT hit with mediocre lyrics...but tremendous melody. No one cares too much how great those lyrics are 'cos you're just bopping in your seat listening to it.

I would say that, for FREE, it's a pretty good program. Also Reaper, which I heard is maybe a little bit better.

Look, I know I'm never gonna be famous....I just want something simple to record and edit some songs. Anyone out there using the iPad version of GarageBand for their songs?

Shape of a heart- Jackson Browne Georgia Rain-? The House That Built Me-?

Was this in a different language? Or was it just a kind of warbling?